Unlocking Potential
Seven Coaching Skills That Transform Individuals, Teams & Organizations
Book Edition Details
Summary
In the realm of leadership, being a manager isn't enough; the true art lies in becoming an inspiring coach. Michael K. Simpson, a seasoned consultant with FranklinCovey, invites you to redefine your leadership approach with insights drawn from over a quarter-century of experience. This transformative guide unveils the secrets to invigorating your team, cultivating their potential, and forging a culture of innovation and commitment. By weaving practical coaching techniques into your leadership style, you'll not only elevate individual and team performance but also amplify organizational success. Step beyond traditional management and into the role of a motivator who energizes, galvanizes, and inspires—because the future of your business depends on it.
Introduction
Every leader faces a fundamental challenge: how do you bring out the absolute best in your team while navigating constant pressures and competing priorities? Whether you're managing a small department or leading a global organization, your success hinges entirely on your ability to unlock the potential that already exists within your people. Yet most leaders struggle with this essential skill, often defaulting to outdated command-and-control methods that leave talent untapped and teams disengaged. The truth is, people want to be coached—they crave meaningful guidance that helps them grow beyond their current limitations. When you master the art of coaching, you don't just improve performance metrics; you transform lives, build lasting trust, and create a culture where everyone can contribute their unique gifts. This transformation requires moving beyond simply managing tasks to truly developing people, shifting from telling others what to do to asking powerful questions that help them discover their own answers.
Building Trust and Challenging Limiting Paradigms
Trust forms the bedrock of all effective coaching relationships, serving as the foundation upon which genuine transformation becomes possible. Without trust, people remain guarded, defensive, and unwilling to explore the vulnerable territory of personal growth. Trust emerges when you demonstrate genuine concern for others' welfare, maintain unwavering integrity in your interactions, and consistently protect confidential information shared in coaching conversations. A compelling example comes from a coaching relationship where an executive was struggling with a toxic work environment. His CEO had created a culture of fear through unpredictable outbursts and broken promises, leaving the leadership team demoralized and constantly walking on eggshells. When the executive's wife stepped into a coaching role during a particularly difficult period, she didn't offer quick solutions or empty reassurances. Instead, she created a safe space for him to process his experience and asked powerful questions: "What have you learned from this situation? What would be the benefit of moving forward? How can you best move toward your future career path?" Her genuine concern and commitment to his best interests, rather than her own agenda, allowed him to reframe a negative situation into new opportunities. Through this trusted relationship, the executive gained clarity about his values and career direction, ultimately making the difficult but necessary decision to leave for a more fulfilling role. His wife's coaching approach demonstrated how trust enables people to examine their deepest challenges without fear of judgment or manipulation. The transformation occurred not through advice-giving but through patient questioning that helped him discover his own path forward. To build this level of trust, focus on showing authentic care for the person's success rather than your own convenience or agenda. Practice active listening that seeks to understand rather than to respond. Ask yourself: "Am I genuinely committed to this person's growth, or am I trying to solve my own problems through them?" When people sense your sincere investment in their wellbeing, they become willing to engage in the difficult work of examining limiting beliefs and exploring new possibilities. Trust creates the psychological safety necessary for breakthrough moments to occur.
Creating Strategic Clarity and Flawless Execution
Strategic clarity transforms vague aspirations into concrete, achievable outcomes that energize and focus your team's efforts. Without clear direction, even the most talented people become lost in a fog of competing priorities and daily urgencies. Great coaches help individuals and teams cut through this confusion by establishing what truly matters most and creating measurable pathways to success. Consider the story of a management consultant who found himself professionally successful yet personally unfulfilled. Despite teaching strategic planning to Fortune 500 executives, he lacked clarity about his own future direction. The irony was striking—here was someone helping others find their path while feeling completely lost about his own journey. After weeks of deep reflection and seeking guidance from trusted coaches, he experienced a breakthrough moment during a business trip. In the middle of the night, he woke with sudden clarity about his vision and immediately began mapping out specific steps toward his goals. His roadmap seemed counterintuitive from a short-term perspective: leaving a well-paying position, selling his home, and taking a teaching role in China for a fraction of his previous salary. However, this strategic clarity gave him the courage to make difficult sacrifices in service of his larger vision. Within months, he was teaching at a Chinese university, developing management programs for Nike, and pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University. The experience became transformative because he had taken time to define his "wildly important goals" and create a concrete plan for achieving them. To create strategic clarity, start by helping people identify their most important goal—the one that, if achieved, would make everything else easier or unnecessary. Use the "From X to Y by When" format to make goals concrete and measurable. For example: "Increase new client revenue from $2 million to $3.5 million by December 31st." This specificity eliminates ambiguity and creates accountability. Focus on lead measures—the daily and weekly actions that drive the goal—rather than just lag measures that show results after the fact. Remember that people can handle only one to three wildly important goals at a time before their focus becomes scattered and ineffective.
Giving Effective Feedback and Tapping Into Talent
Effective feedback serves as a catalyst for growth rather than a source of defensiveness or discouragement. The key lies in creating a balanced approach that acknowledges strengths while addressing improvement opportunities in a way that builds hope and motivation. Most people possess far more talent than they currently express in their roles, making the coach's job one of unlocking existing potential rather than installing new capabilities. During a leadership development session with a Malaysian bank, a young leader became visibly upset after reviewing her 360-degree feedback. The data revealed gaps between her self-perception and how others experienced her leadership style. Initially, she rejected the feedback entirely, feeling attacked and betrayed by her colleagues' honest assessments. However, through careful coaching that focused on understanding rather than defending, she began to see the feedback as valuable information about her impact on others. The coaching process helped her move through the natural stages of receiving difficult feedback: from shock and anger to acceptance and, ultimately, humility. Instead of trying to fix everything at once, she identified two key areas where small changes could create significant positive impact with her team. She developed specific action steps, such as involving team members in decision-making and providing more frequent recognition for good work. Within months, her relationships with colleagues improved dramatically, and she received a promotion to a more challenging role. This transformation occurred because the feedback process focused on the person's future potential rather than past mistakes. When giving feedback, always ask the person to self-assess first: "What do you think went well? What would you do differently next time?" This approach helps people take ownership of their development rather than feeling criticized or judged. Balance areas for improvement with recognition of existing strengths, and help people choose one or two specific behaviors to focus on rather than overwhelming them with a long list of changes. Remember that lasting behavior change takes time and requires ongoing support and encouragement.
Moving the Middle and Coaching Organizations
The greatest opportunity for performance improvement lies not in your top performers or struggling employees, but in the vast middle group that represents 60-70 percent of your workforce. These individuals have solid capabilities and strong potential but may not be fully engaged or utilizing their talents effectively. Coaching this middle group creates exponential returns because improving the performance of many people by a moderate amount yields greater overall impact than dramatically improving a few high performers. A technology company in Southeast Asia faced this challenge during rapid growth from 150 to over 4,000 employees in six years. While expansion brought success, it also created massive retention challenges as competitors aggressively recruited their talent. Rather than focusing solely on retaining top performers, the leadership team implemented a comprehensive coaching and development program targeting middle-level managers and high-potential employees. They created rotating job assignments that allowed people to gain broader experience across different functions and projects. Sixty-five talented individuals were selected for intensive leadership development, receiving training in innovation, change management, and team leadership while being assigned to run significant projects and initiatives. This investment in the middle tier created a robust pipeline of internal talent that could step into senior roles as the company continued growing. The strategy proved successful because it addressed the whole person, not just job-specific skills. People felt valued and saw clear paths for career advancement within the organization rather than needing to look externally for growth opportunities. The coaching approach helped individuals identify their unique strengths and find ways to contribute more meaningfully to organizational goals. To move your middle effectively, start by asking people: "How much of your talent, capability, and passion does your current role allow you to express?" Most will acknowledge they have more to offer than their position currently requires. Then work with them to identify stretch assignments, cross-functional projects, or leadership opportunities that can help them grow while contributing to organizational success. Remember that your competition can copy your products, services, and strategies, but they cannot replicate your investment in developing people's potential.
Summary
True leadership transformation occurs when you shift from seeing yourself as the person with all the answers to becoming someone who asks the questions that unlock others' potential. As the research clearly demonstrates, people desperately want coaching—they crave guidance that helps them grow, contribute meaningfully, and achieve goals that matter to them personally and professionally. The four principles of trust, potential, commitment, and execution provide the foundation, while the seven coaching skills offer practical tools for creating lasting change in individuals and organizations. Remember Stephen Covey's profound insight: "Most people have far more talent than they ever use." Your role as a coach is to help people access and express that untapped greatness. Start immediately by identifying one person in your sphere of influence who would benefit from coaching, schedule a conversation focused entirely on their goals and aspirations, and begin asking powerful questions that help them discover their own path to success.
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By Michael K. Simpson
