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    You are here Home » executive coaching

    25 Coaching Questions to Create your 2013 Leadership Development Plan

    Last updated on Dec 18, 2012 by Dan McCarthy · This post may contain affiliate links

    As the year
    winds down, it’s a good time to reflect on what you’ve accomplished and learned
    as a leader and what you’d like to focus on for the coming year.

    Creating an
    Individual Development Plan (IDP) is a great way to capture those actions and
    increases your chances of keeping your commitments to yourself.

    Senior
    leaders often hire executive coaches to help them create their development plan.
    A good coach has the ability to ask just the right question at the right time
    in order to create insight and inspiration to change. However, a good executive
    coach doesn’t come cheap.

    For those of
    you on limited budgets and working for frugal or cash-strapped organizations,
    have no fear, you’ve come to the right place. I’ll coach you right here, right
    now – for free! Just remember, you get what you pay for. (-:

    When you are
    ready, take out a piece of paper and a pen, or a tablet for you techies, and
    answer each one of the following questions. Managers, once you’ve created your
    own plan, use the questions to coach your employees to create their plans.
     

    Purpose
    and commitment:

    1. Why are you interested in developing your
    leadership skills?

    2. How is
    becoming a better leader going to help you achieve the results you are trying
    to achieve?

    3. What’s
    motivating you? Are you challenged in your current role? Do you have
    aspirations for a new role? If it’s just to be a better leader in your current
    role, why is this important to you and what do you hope to achieve?

    4. How
    inspired and committed are you to changing?

    Identifying
    the “what”:

    5. What does
    great leadership look like to you?

    6. Who is a
    role model leader for you and why? What do they do?

    7. What
    leadership competencies (skills, knowledge, attributes) are important to your organization,
    for your current role, and/or for the role you aspire to? Why?

    8. How do you
    stack up against these competencies? If you don’t know or are not sure, how can
    you get feedback?

    9. What are
    your greatest strengths as a leader and why?

    10. What are
    your greatest opportunities for improvement as a leader, and why?

    11. What are
    the three areas (strengths or opportunities) you are committed to work on that if
    improved, will have the biggest impact on your desired results? Why?

     Identify the
    “how”:

    12. Is your
    current role the best opportunity to develop these three areas? If not, are you
    ready to consider a new role? If so, what would it be? Why?

    13. What will
    you do, and who should you talk to further explore this possible change?

    14. What are
    some challenging assignments or projects, both on the job and outside of work
    that would give you an opportunity to learn and apply these new competencies?

    15. Who’s really good at any one (or all) of those
    things? How can you approach them to ask for their advice?

    16. Who can
    you meet with on a regular basis to get further advice and/or support? You
    manager, a mentor, a coach?

    17. How can
    you find a good course, a book, articles, websites, blogs, podcasts, and other
    learning resources related to your learning goals?

    Implementation
    and follow-up:

    18. What’s
    your action plan? Who’s going to do what, and by when?

    19. What
    resources and support do you need to achieve your goals?

    20. How will
    you share your plan with your manager? What support do you need from your
    manager?

    21. In order
    to hold yourself accountable and gain additional support, who else will you
    share your plan with and how?

    22. How will
    you ensure you do what you say you were going to do?

    23. What
    roadblocks do you expect or need to plan for? What are some ways to overcome
    them?

    24. On a
    scale of 1-10, how committed are you to your plan? If anything less than a 10,
    why? What would you need to change to make it a 10?

    25. What will
    you do to ensure those new learnings become a regular part of who you are and
    how you think and behave and a leader?
     

    Side note: It
    was an interesting challenge to limit myself to only asking questions, and to
    use as many open-ended questions as possible. I have to admit, I’m more of a “teller”
    than an “asker”. Try it sometime, as a way to explain something you think you
    know a lot about to someone. It will challenge your ability as a coach.
    « How to Expand Your Leadership Capacity
    The 10 Elements of Positive Performance Management »
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