Have you thought about taking a life coach skills training program? The interesting thing about this newer set of soft skills is people come from all walks of life and working backgrounds to coach others using their real-world knowledge. Any combination of experiences could have prepared you to assist others as they pursue their life’s journey.
Here are 5 life coaching skills that managers can use in every industry to help their employees succeed:
- Teaching others how to be a better problem-solver
When people talk out their problems and look at what they want to achieve from different angles, they often discover their own solutions. Life coaches must be supportive without giving their clients all the answers, and managers can also learn to restrain themselves and do the same for employees. Sometimes, letting a person struggle a little with a problem is more helpful than solving it for them.
- Help the employee through role playing situations.
Using life coach skills here means placing yourself on an equal footing with your employee. You are helping this person or group play out each scenario without taking charge, which is also how a servant leader facilitates a team.
- Become a different kind of listener.
Change your approach: shift from listening to respond to listening to understand. Start paying attention to the nonverbal communication of each speaker, such as his/her body language and tone, to see what they are saying beyond the words. This type of listening digs into communication at least one more level, which gives you more insights into every human interaction.
- Listen to and act upon your instincts.
As you move through life, you have two possibilities: learn from each life experience or continue through similar situations again and again until you learn what you are intended to learn. People want to be around managers who maintain a calm presence and trust their own judgment. They are uncomfortable when you are uncertain and when you often change your decisions or instructions in the situation. They want to rely on you for stability and guidance. When you trust your inner voice and move forward with confidence, many problems will solve themselves and you will waste less time on worrying about those points.
- Become a relationship guru.
In this point, we mean that, as a manager, you will focus on soft skills and manage your direct-report employees better. We mean that you aren’t going to spend so much time worrying about the technical points of management, such as schedules, budgets, and performance appraisals. You will spend more time talking to and listening to employees and finding them the supports and skills they need to succeed. This kind of support should really occur on a daily basis. Employees want to keep working for a coach who has their back and helps them reach their goals again and again. The alternative would be someone who criticizes them and brings them down.
Every life coach is challenged to furnish just the right amount of guidance to other people in the workplace or in the private setting so they will harness their own power to grow in different situations.