What can you do as a leader to boost your team’s overall performance?

In a word: coaching.

The best leaders are great coaches.

Coaching requires a different leadership mindset, one that’s based on caring and curiosity rather than control.

Coaching is a relatively simple process. But simple doesn’t mean easy.

It takes time, it takes effort. It takes a commitment to the whole person, not just the person that shows up at 8:30 a.m. each day.

The Wheel of Life is a simple but powerful tool that helps define your satisfaction with important life domains. It helps you evaluate and rate your level of satisfaction and then provides opportunities for you to boost your achievement and satisfaction in those domains. The goal of the Wheel is to increase your sense of life fulfillment.

If you haven’t heard lately that you’re doing a good job, you need to tell yourself that. 

Of course, it feels great to have praise coming from an external source. But we all would be better off if we could praise ourselves. That kind of uplifting internal conversation will help us be more satisfied with ourselves and our work. 

Coaching can help.

An effective leader delegates tasks and projects. When you have confidence in the people around you, assign them work you know they can do and work that will stretch their abilities. There’s no better way to create a successful team than to trust employees with important tasks.

This simple My Year reflection sheet will help you to review your year and find peace and calm. I encourage you to take five minutes and work through the questions.

This time of year is especially busy for nonprofits. Take a few moments to reflect on what you’ve accomplished and show yourself some well-deserved gratitude and compassion. I also hope you’ll take some time to unplug and do something for yourself, even if it’s as simple as rewatching your favorite movie.

We all need a little boost every now and then. Because let’s face it, you probably don’t get a lot of direct feedback from your board about what’s working well.

It’s most effective when we can boost our own mood rather than rely on someone else to do it for us.

I use the following simple exercise on my own, and with my coaching clients. I encourage you to try it. This won’t take more than five minutes of your time.

List some of your development successes, your personal greatest hits.

Cultivating an attitude of gratitude can help you be more satisfied with who you are and what you have. Being grateful or thankful can help you experience more positive feelings and boost your well being.