Help Millennial Leaders to be Coachable

Help Millennial Leaders to be Coachable

 

“Arrogance stalls creativity and growth.
A coachable attitude impacts personal & professional growth.”
~ Danita Bye

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It’s a nightmare scenario.I’m coaching a Millennial leader who’s running for a local political office. He’s seeking new strategies to handle his nightmare scenario:  he’s at a party, having a great time. Out of the blue, a constituent (who thinks he knows it all) approaches and starts berating him for his decisions.

Half the time, Jack freezes – his mind goes blank.  The other 50% of the time, he gets defensive. Neither response is helpful. He wants – he needs – a more productive strategy. Jack is committed to making a positive impact – whatever it takes.

This is the attitude of a coachable learner.

How coachable are the people on your sales and leadership teams?


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Jack is committed to strengthening one of his Sales DNA traits, Emotional Control.  Based on our research on high-performing sales people, we know they can increase production by over 35% by fixing this hidden weakness. Now he’s actively practicing “the safest move in sales” – yes, it works for politicians also – asking questions and listening.Be Coachable is the seventh action step to model an Impact Mindset.

A high regard for your work, coupled with a coachable spirit strengthens your unique wiring and ability to be a positive agent of change.

The Know-it-all Myth: In contrast to Jack, clients with a Know-it-All orientation aren’t open to coaching and mentoring.  I find they often have these underlying problems:

  • Low self-confidence – tell-tale sign: overreaction to constructive criticism.
  • High fear – tell-tale sign:  would do everything possible to “hide” their insecurities from the outside world.
  • High defense mechanism – tell-tale sign:  might “use” the avalanche of new information that’s available on the Internet to camouflage their fear of appearing uninformed.

Are millennial leaders on your team subscribers to the Know-it-all-myth or are they coachable?

Changing The Know-it-all Myth:

A survey of 1400 Millennials conducted by SuccessFactors in partnership with Oxford Economics, revealed that, overall, Millennials want feedback 50% more often than other employees – they want coaching and mentoring. That’s good news and a call for seasoned leaders to step up and mentor, if ever I heard one!

How do we challenge those on our team who might be displaying a Know-it-all attitude?

Encourage future leaders to find someone they trust to be their mentor, coach, or confidant. Their perspective will be invaluable.

Remind young Millennials that success comes when we:

  • ask insightful questions of others. (Their insight may broaden your understanding.)
  • seek to understand the other person’s story. (Their experience may provide insight.)
  • remain humble, no matter how successful they are. (There’s always more to learn.)
  • know that confidence stems from a deep knowledge of self. (Not only knowledge about their gifts and talents, but an honest acknowledgement of where they might need help from the outside.)

A know-it-all mindset limits your ability to make a positive impact. On the flip-side, I get excited when I see future leaders who are willing to learn, willing to listen, and eager to make appropriate adjustments! A leader who embraces coaching and feedback from others is a strong leader. This is the kind of leader who knows that to “know it all” is only a myth.

In the next post, we’ll take this topic one step further, and talk about why we should also never stop learning.

Leadership lesson: Strong leaders invite coaching and feedback from others.

Leadership question: How would you describe the younger generation’s willingness to accept feedback from others?

If you struggle to see how you can make a difference and be a positive change agent by doing your job, I invite you to watch this video, Work as Worship by RightNow Ministries

​​© Copyright Danita Bye, 2016


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