subject: Better Lean Six Sigma Black Belts Use Coaching And Mentoring [print this page] Coaching and mentoring is a vital aspect of team leadership. So Lean Six Sigma training must create green belts and black belts capable of undertaking that role.
The most common role of coach that we think about is that of a sporting coach. In fact the Australian Oxford Dictionary refers to coach in the context of sport. A sporting coachs role is to take the team or individual from where they are to their full potential. In other words closing the gap between an existing level of achievement and some desired level.
The same applies to coaching in the context of Lean Six Sigma project team leadership. The team leader, whether they are a green belt, black belt or master black belt, can and should be a coach to the team. Why? Well the purpose of coaching is to help people improve their performance. As people around us increase their skill level, they perform better, and theyre able to take on more and more responsibility.
When you act as coach to the team, you will experience a range of benefits:
(1) REDUCED WORKLOAD and supervision time, and more time to devote to project leadership and getting results.
(2) INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY and follow through. When people own something, they are more likely to see it to its conclusion.
(3) Greater recognition, RESPECT and loyalty from those around you.
(4) The ATTRACTION of others towards you. People are drawn to quality leaders.
(5) The MULTIPLICATION of influence. By coaching others effectively, you are developing leaders. A leader who willingly develops other leaders, experiences a multiplication of personal influence.
(6) A greater sense of FULFILLMENT
(7) ENCOURAGEMENT in return encouragement in the growth of others makes them want to encourage you in return.
BEING A SUCCESSFUL COACH TO POTENTIAL LEADERS
Coaching is a commitment to the growth and development of the people around you. A successful coach is one who supports and helps others to grow in order that those people achieve their true potential. To do that requires the coach to develop a broad range of knowledge and skill. To be a successful coach, you must:
#1 BECOME A MASTER OF QUESTIONING - To get good answers, all you have to do is ask good questions. By asking more questions than you give answers, you promote an environment of thought, discussion and ultimately learning. Teaching people how to find answers, is much more valuable to them then giving them the answers all of the time.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
#2 INTERRUPT LIMITING PATTERNS - The barriers and limitations to our true potential are the patterns of thinking and behaviour that we have conditioned over time. A successful coach is able to recognise and interrupt these patterns consistently until they no longer exist. Pattern interruptions include the use of:
=>> Humour;
=>> Physical shifts; and
=>> Good questions.
#3 TURN EVERY EXPERIENCE INTO A LEARNING EXPERIENCE - In the words of poet Archibald MacLeish: There is only one thing more painful than learning from experience, and that is not learning from experience.
High achievers know there is no such thing as failure, only results. Results give us the feedback we need in order to learn, and the most successful coaches continually reinforce this principle by asking good questions of people.
Questions such as What did you learn from that, or What must you do differently to make it work, or What can you use from that to make the next time better, all change the way a person perceives a particular experience.
#4 EMPOWER TEAM MEMBERS - Empowerment, according to John Maxwell (1995), is fundamental in developing people around you. One of the most effective ways to empower a team is to teach them the skills of Lean Six Sigma during project work. Rather than facilitate everything yourself, try teaching the process to the team using a non project related subject. You can then coach them through the process of facilitating the process using the project content.
Empowerment occurs when you provide people with three things:
=>> Opportunity to do things they have never done before;
=>> Freedom to do it their own way; and
=>> Security in knowing that you will stand by them if the result is not as expected.
#5 MODEL THE BEHAVIOUR YOU DESIRE - Your actions speak so loudly that I cannot hear what you are saying. The bottom line to leadership is this people will do as you do, they will model what they see modelled, thus congruence between what you say and do is of the utmost importance. Albert Schweitzer was absolutely correct when he said Example is not the main thing in influencing others .. it is the only thing.
#6 PARTICIPATE IN TWO WAY FEEDBACK - Tell people what they need to hear to take them to the next level. Encourage people to tell you what you need to hear in order for you to take yourself to the next level.
