Anthony Onesto argues that a one-size-fits-all coaching approach is a major leadership mistake. He presents data linking leadership maturity and investment in leadership development to concrete business gains, recommends assessing employees across purpose, skills, output, work style and mindset, and endorses Britt Andretta's neuroscience-informed 'Brain Aware' framework (including levels of autonomy) to tailor coaching (skills coaching vs clarity coaching) and drive engagement and business results.
Questions this video answers
37% higher revenue per employee.
9% higher gross profit margin.
Nearly 4.5 million in gains.
218% higher income per employee.
24% higher profit margins.
Chapters
As leaders, we often fall into a trap of thinking. We can use the same approach for every employee conversation. This is the third rail of leadership. Hey everyone, it's Anthony Ernesto and this is my burn the box drop for this week. The hidden pitfalls of leadership One size fits all. A lot of leaders will look at an employee situation and do the same exact thing, approach it in the same exact way. And the idea that a single coaching framework will magically work for all your employees makes zero sense. So what you really to be a truly effective leader who drives engagement, engagement, boosts productivity and drives stellar business results. Because at the end of the day that's what we're trying to get to right the business results. You need to meet your employees where they are and listen. I'm not suggesting you coddle them, not at all. But I'm talking about understanding their unique position and challenges and tailoring your coaching approach accordingly. So let's look at the numbers. Organizations with high leadership maturity levels outperform those with low maturity levels by 37% higher revenue per employee and 9% higher gross profit margin. Companies with extraordinary leaders top 10% achieve nearly 4.5 million in gains compared to 2, 4 for average leaders and losses. Companies investing in leadership development see 218% higher income per employee and 24% higher profit margins. Folks, the data is here. The idea of doing and having great leadership has business results. In fact, here at Suzy, we're putting this into practice. We are big fans of Britt Andretta's Brain Aware framework. Brittan Andretta was a former CLO over at Lynda. Com, bought by LinkedIn. She was the CLO of LinkedIn.com, linkedIn and then eventually moved out into her own thing. And she has discovered a neuroscience based leadership framework called Brain Aware. And what's fascinating about this approach is it marries both leadership frameworks and neuroscience. So how do we apply this in the real world? She talks about about assessing your people. It's a brilliant metaphor where she uses a tree and really think about the different elements of the tree around your employees purpose, where are they in terms of their skills, their output, how much of they outputting, the fruits of the labor and then what is their work style and mindset. There are a ton of different solutions out there where you can determine someone's mindset and their personality tests. I am a fan of the Bassetter index which gives you a preference not a personality. So but really understanding every employee around purpose, skills, output and work style and mindset starts off a great Way to really understand where your employee is. And once you have this in mind, now you can start asking questions. Are they a newbie or recently promoted? Are they just starting on this journey in terms of learning what they're supposed to be doing? Are they experienced but still learning the ropes of the company? Are they a high performer who maybe needs problem solving support? Or are they both high performer and a master of their craft and they're just ready for complete autonomy? You're just and the way and the position that these employees are in within your company, within their careers is super important for how you then coach those employees and the different things that you can do. And you can see different levels of autonomy. If you have someone that's high performing and high experienced, you're going to want to give them a lot of autonomy. And Brit has a whole methodology, one to eight levels of autonomy. One being very little autonomy of no autonomy, and then eight being the highest level of autonomy. All right, so how does this play out in the real world? Here's an example or a scenario. Have a talented marketing manager. Let's call her Sarah. Sarah's crushing it in content creation, but struggling with the new marketing automation tool that you just deployed. Your initial instinct as a leader was to give her the same autonomy, the same coaching in both areas, but that would be a mistake. Instead, you pro you provide hands off support for her content work while offering more guidance and training for the automation stuff. The result is Sarah gets quickly up to speed with the new tool without feeling micromanaged in her expertise. Now, as leaders, because we don't have these frameworks, we're likely to apply the same coaching and guidance to both of those situations. This tailored approach isn't about making your employees feel good, although of course that's a great bonus. It's about driving real business results. When you coach effectively, you develop skills, cultivate engagement, boost productivity, and improve both your top and bottom lines. But it's not easy, folks. Let's be real. It takes time, effort, and a willingness to really get to know your team members. And what you need to do is take a hard look at how you're coaching your team. Are you using the same approach to everyone? Is it the same, Is it the same situation based on every employee? Should you be really looking at where is that employee in terms of their skill sets? Where is their engagement? Start by looking at your team and assessing and getting to know your teams by assessing your team. That's the first. And understand their strengths, their challenges and their engagement levels. Okay, so Once you figure out and you assess your employees, there are going to be two types of coaching you're going to provide depending on where they are. First is skills coaching and the second is clarity coaching. And each one of these coaching is specific to where your employee sits around their skill set, their engagement, where they are in terms of performance within your organization. So that's my quick drop for this week. It's all about the hidden pitfall of leadership. This one size fits all approach does not work for your employees. You got to assess your team and get to know them. We'll see you next time.
