iDevelop Series - Listen as coach

One of the most important coaching skills is listening – active and intense listening. Your communication style is certainly important, but great coaches make their impact with exceptional listening skills. To help you coach more effectively, here are five strategies you can use to improve your listening skills. 1. Listen on a deeper level. Great coaches know how to get team members talking so they can access their approaches. Not just their solutions, but how they arrived at those solutions. They listen for that information by prompting them with open-ended questions, like - What options have you explored? - How did you choose your final recommendation? - What results are you expecting? Coaches who listen for broader context can guide team members to make smart decisions and improve their decision-making skills. 2. Be patient with your listening. Before you start with a coaching session, try to get into the right mindset. Remind yourself that their success is a shared success. Your position as a coach is to be on their side, to be their advocate, and if need, be their accountability system. Then give your colleague your full attention. Focus, be patient for them to finish rather than cutting them off mid-sentence, and don't jump in with advice or volunteer the answer.

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