106: Understanding the Coaching Effect | Bill Eckstrom

Gut + Science

Bill Eckstrom is the Founder of EcSell Institute, a global research based organization that works with leaders to help them better understand, measure, and elevate coaching's impact on performance. Bill’s primary passion is growth, especially the growth that occurs in individuals and teams as a result of coaching.

In this episode you’ll hear Bill discuss the different qualities and quantities of successful leading, and the importance of measuring the impact you want to have.

Truth You Can Act On

1. Humanize One-on-One Meetings

Supporting Quote

Bill Eckstrom: “The biggest complaint people have about having one-on-one meetings with their boss is, ‘All my boss wants to talk about are the numbers. That's my one-on-one meetings. It's really a review of my pipeline. Nothing that my boss couldn't get, my manager coach couldn’t get from the CRM. They just want to talk about results.’ Here's what's interesting. The most critical component when we think of quality of coaching, the baseline, the foundation for growth and performance, is relationship and one-on-one meetings. The biggest sin we see within those is the manager. The coach is not using them to further perpetuate a relationship. That's the biggest mistake within the one-on-ones. The way they should be done is there should be a connectivity, a way to build trust, further relationship with initial personal updates. And as simple as they sound, you'd be shocked at the number of people who don't use a one-on-one to just take the time to say, ‘Hey, how was your weekend?’ That's really what’s needed.”

2. Make Feedback Constant

Supporting Quote

Bill Eckstrom: “Feedback should be woven into the fabric of any relationship between boss and employee. Feedback should be natural. It should always be there. It should not be always so formal that it means I have to sit down. No. Feedback should always be there, and that needs to look and take on more of a form of questions than anything else.”

3. Challenge Your Employees

Supporting Quote

Bill Eckstrom: “The catalytic factor is the ability of a leader to effectively challenge me and put me in a state of discomfort to create growth, because growth only occurs in a state of discomfort. So basically what that is saying is, I could be a wonderful meter in terms of creating relationships. I could do a lot of these things, but if I don't challenge my people, if I don't make them uncomfortable in a healthy way, we're not growing.”

4. Measure Impact

Supporting Quote

Bill Eckstrom: “Measure. It’s that simple. You know, you could teach all this. You could promote all this. You could try and bring this into your organization, but that's really insignificant if you're not measuring its impact. If you don't create a baseline of it, whether it's through engagement or some other way, if you don't create a baseline and understand it. It’s just logical. There should be a force to process or measure. Train, educate, implement, and track. And step number one is to measure. What I would tell people is, you can talk about it all you want, which is really insignificant because if you're not measuring it you have no idea if it's going up, down, or sideways.”

Book Recommendations

• James Michner
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
• The Coaching Effect by Bill Eckstrom