Recently, I found myself eavesdropping on a conversation that struck a chord. A group of young professionals, all around 30 and fresh in their careers, were sharing their struggles with getting guidance from more seasoned colleagues. Their stories echoed a challenge I’ve seen play out in many workplaces: the delicate dance of mentorship between tenured employees and newcomers. 

A 6-part series focusing on impactful practices for developmental coaching conversations. 

"The hardest thing for people to understand is that the relationship is the delivery system of anything you try to accomplish."  - Peter Block

A 6-part series focusing on impactful practices for developmental coaching conversations. 

Holding people capable (accountable) is an important part of building trust, maintaining standards of excellence, and achieving goals in any organization or personal relationship.

A 6-part series focusing on impactful practices for developmental coaching conversations. 

If you have read the previous post in this series, thank you! If this is the first time you popped open one of my posts, thank you! 

Writing is not one of my stronger skill sets. Writing is an arduous experience as I tend to overthink grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, logical flow, and the greatest fear of all…being judged by an unidentified person behind a screen who I will most likely never meet. Better yet, what if they respond and like the post and I need to respond intelligently and respectfully? What if I sound like a complete ne’er-do-well? All this white noise in my head leads to me losing sight of the fact that I’m simply sharing my thoughts and ideas and that takes a ton of courage. When I write something and put it out there for public viewing, I am being completely, unequivocally, 100%, vulnerable! And therein lies the artfulness of asking questions – being completely, unequivocally, 100%, vulnerable. 

A 6-part series focusing on impactful practices for developmental coaching conversations. 

Recently I read two interesting books, Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday and Why am I Afraid to Tell You Who I am? by John Powell. Each book provided a fascinating opportunity for self-reflection (DEEP self-reflection) and although I don’t necessarily agree that ego is the ‘enemy’ per-say, I do believe it is vitally important to recognize the various shades of ego we naturally possess.

A 6-part series focusing on impactful practices for developmental coaching conversations. 

Listening as a leadership competency is talked about often, but unfortunately a lot of our own “stuff’ gets in the way of actually listening with an open heart and mind.  We come to the conversation with a preconceived context, we have unconscious and sometimes conscious biases towards the person or situation, and even our mental, physical, and spiritual state of being plays a significant role in how we show up and listen to what is being shared.

In the early 2000’s I took part in a training course which I’ve never forgotten, and nearly twenty years later, it’s still as important as the day I first began learning about it and practicing what I was learning – How to have a “crucial” conversation and stay in dialogue. The training course took place at the Danaher Business System University (DBSU), housed in the Videojet Technologies facility in Wood Dale, Illinois, and it was there that I (and those attending with me) first learned about Crucial Conversations.

A 6-part series focusing on impactful practices for developmental coaching conversations. 

Today’s manufacturing leaders are savvy firefighters – addressing and solving complex fires (situations) one after another. But what if there was a different approach? One that allows the employee to address and solve the complexity with their leader instead of being dependent on their leader to solve or fix the challenge at hand?  What might it be like if the leader paused, recalibrated, and approached the situation as a coaching conversation opportunity?

Words can mean different things at different times. It is easily confusing to understand the words diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and their relevance to manufacturing. So, let’s clarify some of the common words. But first, the reality is that manufacturing has been introducing diversity into the workplace for decades, Rosie the Riveter exemplifies how six million women joined manufacturing in World War II. Jump forward to 2022 and the workforce is ever more diverse as demographic shifts reshape the workplace.

I like this quote from Jeanne Liedtka, design thinking guru: “talk is the technology of leadership.” It is one of those quotes that came to me at a perfect time, and often I find myself reflecting on its meaning as it relates to leadership coaching practices.