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One of the concerns that I hear regularly from people who are considering adopting a coaching approach to leadership is the amount of time that it can take. When you’re being pulled in too many different directions at once, it can be difficult to take the time to emotionally prepare for a coaching conversation and then have a full curious conversation. Even if the coaching conversation only takes 10 minutes, that’s a lot more than spending only 1-2 minutes issuing a directive. And that’s just factoring in the time for coaching, without the up front work of building a coaching culture. The benefits are more than worth it in the long run. Study after study shows that autonomy is a key component in job satisfaction and wellbeing in the workplace. Using a coaching approach creates a framework to support employees while also giving as much autonomy as is appropriate for their role. And when people get comfortable having that level of autonomy – when you have built trust that you’ll offer support instead of punishing them if things don’t go perfectly – they lean into taking more initiative and solving common challenges on their own. Over time, that builds a team that doesn’t need to take up your time getting approval on every minor detail, but that feels comfortable coming to you to talk through larger challenges. And, honestly, I also think it’s just a kinder way of leading people, because it demonstrates that you respect them as fully competent professionals. But, there is a bit of an up-front investment that you have to make to achieve those outcomes. That means that you have to find a way to make time to build these skills and start implementing this approach. That time is never going to just magically appear. Every time that you look at your calendar and think that things are going to clear up a little bit next month, someone is going to ask you to take on something else next month. That means that you have to actively manage your workload to create time for the things that matter most to you. What are your highest priorities, and how are you protecting the time that you need to spend on them? This summer, I’m trying out a new small group coaching program focusing on being strategic about your workload:
Building those boundaries includes getting better at saying “no”, or at least “not right now”. For full transparency, I designed this program around the exercises that I developed for a class that I teach at Library Juice Academy, Strategic Approaches to Managing Your Workload. This class is an excellent option for those with a limited budget and those who are more comfortable working in a fully asynchronous format. In the 4 week course, I provide a weekly lecture and exercises, and then there’s a discussion board prompt. I comment on participants’ discussion posts, but there’s a limit to the amount of individual support available in that format. The difference in the group coaching program is that we’ll meet live on Zoom every week for 8 weeks to talk through your challenges and insights. Group coaching is different from a class in that the participants set the agenda for discussions. I’ll set the stage by sending out specific exercises each week for you to work through, but I’m not going to be checking your work or insisting that you only discuss the latest exercise. I’ll keep the discussion focused on achieving the goal of building your ability to get your workload under control, but that isn’t always a strictly linear process. The group program is limited to no more than 10 participants, to make sure that we have space for everyone to get individual attention. Recognizing your busy schedules, the meetings will officially be 60 minutes. But, if more than 5 people enroll, I’ll schedule myself to be available for an additional 30 minutes for those who would like a little more discussion. Consider this a beta test to see what timing works best! I’m trying it out as a summer program, June 4 – July 23. I know that’s not gonna work for everyone because of vacation plans, but summer tends to be a slow time in academic and school libraries, so we’ll see how this goes! Click through for all of the details and to get signed up. And if this is something you’re really interested in, but the scheduling for this one just doesn’t work, I’d love to hear from you. Please let me know what sort of scheduling options would work better for you! Whether you’re interested in the group coaching program or the Library Juice class, or are comfortable working through this on your own, it’s important to keep in mind that you can’t do everything and be everywhere. It’s crucial to prioritize and defend your time to make room for the things that are important, like developing a coaching approach to leadership!
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