As a leader-facilitator of capacity building efforts, you are constantly coaching. You are supporting and learning from others just all the time. Be a guide by the side, not a sage on the stage. Here are some tips to embrace that role.

1. Enter with a sense of possibility. You are coming to this relationship with a sense that something more is possible. Something wonderful is possible.  And you are looking for it.  

2. Listen! As a general guideline, the coach should aim to meet the 80-20 Rule. This calls for the coach to listen about 80% of the time and talk for only about 20% of the time. The coachee sets the agenda. The coach’s role is simply to listen carefully and ask thoughtful questions that will help you recognize what is wonderful in the coachee.  And help your coachee clarify where they want to grow and what the next steps should be.

3. Encourage people to build on their strengths.   As the outsider, you recognize the strengths in others that they cannot see themselves.  Help coachees identify their strengths and ask them about potential obstacles to achieving their goals. By identifying what might get in the way, you can work with them to establish an action plan for overcoming barriers to success. 

4. Equip people to tackle areas of improvement. Help coachees think through the potential consequences of various actions and decisions.  This does not mean you tell them what to do. It means you are a sounding board, a critical friend who can see in them what they cannot see in themselves.

5. Enable people to achieve ongoing success.  Make sure you encourage coachees to celebrate the small successes and milestones they experience as they make progress toward achieving their goals.

You support others. We support you. You’ve got this. ❤️