A big part of leadership is coaching. As a leader, you are likely going to coach others and be coached yourself. 

An important key to coaching is having good listening skills. This skill will not only help you through challenging conversations you are bound to have but will also contribute to your success as a leader in general.

I recently had the opportunity to discuss all of this with Michelle Luebke, the founder of Highlight HR Consulting, on Leading the Factory Forward.

So, why is coaching valuable to leaders?

Coaching in the professional sense is widely misunderstood. We think of a coach as someone who shares their expertise on a particular topic with you. However, in the professional world, coaches often don’t have expertise in the area in which they are coaching you. 

This might not make sense at first glance, but it is actually where the magic happens. In this kind of coaching, the coach acts as a great listener who pulls out all of the great ideas swimming in their client’s mind. They are like a sounding board where the client can articulate their thinking out loud. This is something that is incredibly beneficial for leaders to have. 

Additionally, coaches can help us strengthen our gaps. They aren’t just there to be our cheerleaders. They can and should encourage us but they should also provide us with feedback or constructive criticism that will help us get better.

As mentioned, listening is a huge part of coaching. If you want to improve your listening skills, here are some ideas:

• Be honest about your availability and only offer to have a conversation when you can give the person your full attention.

• Commit to your conversations.

• Give everyone the gift of being heard.

• Don’t interrupt or respond too early.

These skills can help you greatly as you prepare for challenging conversations. We tend to dread challenging conversations, but they’re just a part of life. Therefore, it’s in our best interest to work at getting better at them. 

Besides working on our listening skills, to prepare for hard conversations, think about the other person’s perspective. Consider how they are feeling about the conversation and what it will be like for them. When you’re in the conversation, be all there. Focus on the solution that will benefit both of you. Imagine you and the other person sitting side by side, collaborating on the best possible outcome together.