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    You are here Home » coaching

    Rev Up Your Leadership with OIL Method

    Last updated on Oct 16, 2013 by Dan McCarthy · This post may contain affiliate links

    Guest post by Great
    Leadership monthly contributor Beth Armknecht Miller:

     

    Too
    often I see leaders communicating by telling...what's wrong with this technique?
     First of all this is what managers do,
    not leaders. And, you may be missing opportunities for innovation and employee development.
    You see, telling may be teaching but it isn’t sustainable development.

    So what is the OIL Method?

    As
    an executive coach, I have been using this method for years and actually spend
    time assisting executives to develop their proficiency in this method as well. Observe, Inquire, and Listen, OIL, are the three aspects to fully
    understanding and developing others by improving the components of effective
    communication. When a leader practices these techniques effectively and
    consistently magic happens.  Suddenly the
    performance of others improves and the leader has time to do more of what she
    needs to be doing, leading not doing.

    Observation
     

    The
    ability to observe what others may not see is a huge advantage to a leader. This
    requires a dedicated focus to watching for nuances and subtle changes whether
    it is a person’s attitude, their communications, or body language. Subtle
    changes can be a precursor to potential problems in the future. These are some
    of the things you should be observing daily:

    1.   
    Employee Interaction

    How
    does an employee interact with others?  And
    whom are they spending their time with? What differences in behavior do you see
    when they are comfortable versus uncomfortable with others?

    2.   
    Performance

    How
    do they respond to performance feedback? And how do they respond to
    accountability? What do they do to encourage other’s to perform at great
    levels?

    3.   
    Behaviors

    Who
    is timely versus who is late? Who has difficulty making decisions? Who is
    proactive and bringing you solutions versus those who complain and whine? Who
    is making excuses versus taking responsibility?

    4.   
    Environment and other external factors

    A
    person’s workspace, clothing, and can give a leader clues about an employee’s
    preferences.
    Look
    for things that are out of place or behaviors that that are unusual for an
    individual or a team.
    And
    great way to observe is by
    MBWA, Management by Walking
    Around.

     

    Inquiry
     

    Most
    mangers and leaders underrate questioning skills, yet when you master the art
    of inquiry you gain better understanding, leading to better relationships and decisions.

    And
    in order to master inquiry, you first need to define the goal you want to
    accomplish. Here are some goals that a leader may want to accomplish through
    good questions:

    1.   
    Coaching employees to self reflect and commit to specific actions

    2.   
    Learning about situations, people, processes, etc.

    3.   
    Persuading others to move in a specific direction or make a certain
    decision

    4.   
    Seeking clarification and understanding to redirect misunderstandings or
    conflicts

    5.   
    Building existing or new relationships by asking people for their
    opinions

    Only
    until you have become clear about your inquiry, can you form the appropriate
    questions. 

    Listen
     

    The
    goal of listening is to gain understanding, which means that the listener needs
    to not just hear noise and words coming out of a person’s mouth but understand
    exactly what the person is trying to communicate. This requires active
    listening and it is active because it takes work and isn’t natural for many of
    us. 

    So
    what gets in the way of actively listening? Here are the top five things that
    work against a person being able to actively listen:

    1.   
    Doing other things in addition to listening such as email, text, or
    other tasks that take your focus off the person speaking

    2.   
    Personal opinions and biases can distract you from listening to the
    message being delivered. They can also cause you to interrupt the other person.

    3.   
    Emotions that you have about the subject can shut down your ability to
    listen and understand the other person’s point of view.

    4.   
    Not identifying what is missing. 
    That is, what isn’t said can be just as important as what is said.

    5.   
    Not clarifying what you just heard from the other person. We all have
    our personal filters which impact interpretation during communications. Make
    sure you ask questions to understand and then paraphrase back to the person
    what you heard.

    Leaders
    who practice these three communication skills build a reputation for increasing
    employee performance and making better decisions. How often do you incorporate
    these techniques of observing, inquiry, and listening, and how do you plan on
    increasing and improving their use?

    Beth Armknecht Miller’s is CEO of Executive Velocity, a top talent and
    leadership development advisory firm. Beth is a trusted executive consultant,
    Vistage Chair, and committed volunteer. She is a graduate of Babson College and
    Harvard Business School’s OPM program. She is certified in Myers Briggs, Hogan,
    and Business DNA. And she is a Certified Managerial Coach. Beth’s insight
    and expertise has made her a sought-after speaker, and she has been featured in
    numerous industry blogs and publications. To learn more about Beth visit
    BethArmknechtMiller.comor Executive-Velocity.com.
    « 8 Condescending Things a Manager Should Avoid Saying to an Employee
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