Rosenverse

Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.

Log in Create free account

100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.

There is No Playbook: Leader as Coach During Challenging Times (Videoconference)
Friday, April 26, 2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Share the love for this talk
There is No Playbook: Leader as Coach During Challenging Times (Videoconference)
Speakers: Laura Weiss
Link:

Summary

Managing others is hard work. Even in the best of times our talent may be restless, anxious, or disengaged. Whether conscious of it or not, people are motivated by opportunities to grow through a sense of purpose in what they do, a sense of autonomy in how they do it, and a sense of achievement for what they get done. When these needs are ignored or the opportunities don’t exist, people management can get even harder. If you struggle at times to engage effectively with your direct reports, or if you want to amplify your ability to support them on their professional journey, taking a coaching approach can help. Coaching is a mutually empowered and collaborative way to guide individual growth. It is fundamentally discovery-driven, not expertise-driven, so “there is no playbook”. Session participants will gain an understanding of how coaching differs from mentoring or advising and explore a set of basic coaching tools for improving communications, results, and accountability with their direct reports. They may also discover that these very skills can also improve engagement with peers and clients.  

Key Insights

  • Leaders tend to avoid inquiry and default to fixing or advising, often due to urgency, habit, ego, or fear of conflict.

  • Coaching works best for sustainable change because it leverages the individual's inner wisdom rather than imposing external solutions.

  • Neuroscience shows the brain forms hardwired patterns, so advice only sticks if it aligns with existing mental maps, which is rare.

  • Helping people create their own mental maps through questioning leads to more committed action and lasting behavioral change.

  • A change framework inspired by innovation—clarify, frame, envision, commit—can guide coaching conversations effectively.

  • Judgment in feedback conversations is inevitable but leaders should separate perception from judgment and hold non-judgmental stances in inquiry.

  • Power dynamics make coaching ‘up’ (to higher authority) more complex; finding shared values or goals can facilitate openness.

  • Timely, private, and permission-based feedback with specific examples (SBI format) improves receptiveness and impact.

  • Effective coaching uses mostly open-ended 'what' and 'how' questions to invite exploration rather than closed or leading questions.

  • Leaders should be comfortable with discomfort and silence during coaching; asking 'Why am I talking?' promotes listening and discovery.

Notable Quotes

"Change doesn’t always need to throw us back on our heels; we can take a proactive approach by developing our own and others’ talents."

"Mentoring leverages the leader’s experience, consulting offers solutions, but coaching taps into the other person’s inner wisdom."

"Trying to tell someone what to do only sticks if it fits their existing wiring—which is highly unlikely."

"We need to help the other person create their own map because they have to do the thinking for themselves to take committed action."

"People tend to support what they actively help create."

"Open-ended what and how questions always get you somewhere; closed questions rarely open exploration."

"In coaching, it’s not about fixing the problem but about being curious and present in the conversation."

"Judging is part of human biology, but leaders should be conscious about how they present perceptions vs judgments."

"Leaders should ask permission before giving feedback and do it in private when it’s constructive."

"Why am I talking? Sometimes the best approach is to ask a question and then listen quietly."

Ask the Rosenbot
Leisa Reichelt
The Five Dysfunctions of Democratized Research at Scale
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
James Rampton
The Basics of Automotive UX & Why Phones Are a Part of That Future
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Jorge Arango
Scale Smart: AI-Powered Content Organization Strategies
2024 • DesignOps 2024
Gold
John Cutler
The Alignment Trap
2023 • Design in Product 2023
Gold
Alla Weinberg
Workers Are Sick of Change: The Cure is Psychological Safety
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Roy Opata Olende
How Zapier Uses ‘All Hands Research’ to Increase Exposure to Users (Videoconference)
2020 • Advancing Research Community
Stephanie Wade
Building and Sustaining Design in Government
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Scott Jensen
Short Take #2: UX/Product Lessons from Your Industry Peers
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Daniel Gloyd
Warming the User Experience: Lessons from America's first and most radical human-centered designers (Videoconference)
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Shahrzad Samadzadeh
What Is My Value? Two Takes and Some Mistakes
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Bas Raijmakers, PhD (RCA)
What Design Research can Learn from Documentary Filmmaking
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Brendan Jarvis
Framing Tomorrow by Questioning Today
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
How to Identify and Increase your "Experience Quotient"
2018 • Enterprise Experience 2018
Gold
Benjamin Real
Showing the Value of DesignOps by Not Having a DesignOps Team
2020 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Erik Flowers
Introduction to MURAL for UX
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Meghan Hellstern
The Next 100 Years of Civic Design: How Might We Better Rise to Meet the Challenges of Today and Tomorrow?
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold

More Videos

Alex Hurworth

"Knowledge is power; empowering communities leads to better conservation outcomes."

Alex Hurworth Bonnie John Fahd Arshad Antoine Marin

Designing a Contact Tracing App for Universal Access

October 23, 2020

Laine Riley Prokay

"These brand new practitioners can bring fresh perspectives and new ways of thinking to hopefully see current problems in a new light."

Laine Riley Prokay Lisa Gordon

Carving a Path for Early Career DesignOps Practitioners

September 9, 2022

Eniola Oluwole

"If you come with a big idea, they’ll try to dial you back to the smallest iota you can test first."

Eniola Oluwole

Lessons From the DesignOps Journey of the World's Largest Travel Site

October 24, 2019

Nathan Shedroff

"Design researchers know customers better than almost anyone else in the organization, yet they are rarely invited into strategy processes."

Nathan Shedroff

Double Your Mileage: Use Your Research Strategically

March 31, 2020

Sam Proulx

"The smaller screen makes it easier to angle the device for adequate viewing, which computers just can’t replicate."

Sam Proulx

Mobile Accessibility: Why Moving Accessibility Beyond the Desktop is Critical in a Mobile-first World

November 17, 2022

Feleesha Sterling

"Documentation and making findings visible even without a dedicated research librarian helps maintain program momentum."

Feleesha Sterling

Building a Rapid Research Program (Videoconference)

May 18, 2023

Neil Barrie

"You get to those iconic signature actions when product excellence meets cultural tensions and what people need."

Neil Barrie

Widening the Aperture: The Case for Taking a Broader Lens to the Dialogue between Products and Culture

March 25, 2024

John Devanney

"Most organizations know they need to evaluate impact, but very few have effective ways to do it."

John Devanney

The Design Management Office

November 6, 2017

Katy Mogal

"The higher up you go, the more qualities like bravery matter compared to methodology."

Katy Mogal

But Do Your Insights Scale?

March 12, 2021