What leadership must KNOW, and must AVOID
December 12, 2012
Going for the Green is great Leadership Coaching
January 7, 2013

As exceptional as we humans are, compared to our cousin mammals, we are still heavily influenced by our animal nature. And while human culture has changed dramatically over the past few thousand years, our bodies work pretty much the same they did when we lived in caves.

When your body senses anything it interprets as dangerous or anything that demands increased physical action, it jumps into stress mode. That’s great if you’re a quarterback fleeing a linebacker about to sack you. All your stress responses team up to help you run faster, evaluate your options, evade your attacker, and execute your game plan.

red-man1The body, unfortunately, interprets other kinds of threats as real danger. When you raise your voice in anger during coaching sessions, or make negative comments that sounds like threats, your employees’ stress response dumps adrenaline and cortisol into their bloodstream. These hormones increase their blood pressure and heart rate, dilate their pupils and tense their muscles. Instead of responding rationally and being motivated to take corrective action, their bodies compel them to take defensive action:

  • Choosing the easy way out
  • Selecting the path of least resistance
  • Taking care of Number One
  • Twisting the truth
  • Not contributing as well as they could
  • Being deflated and disengaging

 

And it’s not just raising the roof with your voice that kicks in the cortisol. You can do it with sarcasm, remarks with obvious double intentions, even by withdrawing attention. All these poor leadership responses fail to live up to the level of Leadership Coaching that leads to the success you want for others. At CoachQuest we teach the kind of coaching leadership style that steers you away from leaving people in Red.

Next time: Going for the Green

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Helanie Scott
Helanie Scott
Helanie (pronounced yeh-LAH-nee) Scott, CEO and founder of Align4Profit in Dallas, Texas, has driven stunning leadership and cultural transformations for an impressive list of organizations. She has mastered the ability to connect with her audiences in the boardroom, classroom, on stage, or in one-on-one coaching sessions. Helanie’s Align4Profit clients rave at the way her engaging programs freshen outdated mindsets and deliver results-oriented, aligned action.