Leading means coaching, just as in the sense of any sports team leader. To enhance your people's competencies and skills, you as a leader must set clear expectations and provide frequent feedback (not just corrective one). Find out more at https://www.impraise.com/#discover-impraise

1. Why coaching is the most important leadership skill
blog.impraise.com/why­coaching­is­the­most­important­leadership­skill/

2. Jack Dorsey is probably one of the most remarkable leaders of today. At the age of 29 he started what
is a 28 billion Dollar business only seven years later: Twitter. Three years later he founded Square and
grew it to a 3.3 billion dollar business within just three years.
These numbers are impressive and the products have a huge impact on the world as it is today. Of
course, this is not the work of one man, it’s all the people of Twitter and Square that boosted their
companies’ value. But the chain starts earlier. The actual value created by the people is the return on
investment of developing those talents. Dorsey’s leadership philosophy is leading by example, being a
role model to the employees in excellence and optimism and most of it all being a coach.
Leading means coaching, just as in the sense of any sports team leader.
Appreciate that you have to be there for your people, the key to success is enhancing everyone’s
competencies, skills and capacities. In order to master leadership you have to become genuine
partners with all your team members. But make sure you support them all equally and don’t show favor
for someone over the others.
Set clear expectations
In order to empower your team members to take hold of their responsibilities and exceed in their
strengths you have to set clear and ambitious expectations. You have to listen carefully to everyone’s
aspirations and set concrete deliverables. Enforce discipline that is based on pride in the position.
Praise is more impactful than criticism
Force yourself to be positive, no matter what. This is clearly the hardest part but it will allow your people

3. to believe in the solution. Never ever forget to acknowledge great work. If expectations are met or
exceeded clearly express your gratitude and praise the details you find most recognizable.
Show curiosity
Too many times we listen with a lack of attentiveness and impatience, which hampers dialogue. All too
often we are focused on our own stuff while talking with someone else. Instead, show curiosity and
convey genuine interest in what others are telling you. Coaching always starts with listening and
motivating the other to speak freely.
Ask further questions
Relevant questions not only enhance the quality of the dialogue but also give you a way better
understanding of individual interest and aspirations. Reflect what has been said with accuracy and
repeat meaningful parts of the conversation to confirm that you have digested the most important
messages.
Build their confidence
By asking open ended questions you allow for proactive exploration of solutions. This reinforces your
team members’ mind and shows them that you value their opinion, experience and knowledge. This will
increase their confidence to honestly speak up to you.
Provide instant, continuous feedback

4. This is the key for development. All to often feedback is thought of as inherently being critical.
Successful leaders provide feedback continuously and don’t evaluate but rather positively express clear
and relevant suggestions for improvement. You have to be very keen to stay humble and express
yourself as clearly as possible. Misunderstandings quickly lead to mistrust and defensiveness.
By providing the right feedback, setting clear expectations and listening eagerly with curiosity you will
build a trustful relationship with your team where everyone feels motivated to exceed the ordinary.
Valuing your people and their development directly increases their satisfaction which
highly impacts your customer’s value through increased performance and consequently
boosts your whole business.
Impraise helps you to stimulate a work culture of frequent and meaningful peer communication where
everyone highly engages with their own and each other’s development allowing managers to turn into
their team's best coaches.