Coaching Leads to Higher Emotional Intelligence for You and Your Employees, VBC Instructor Says

By Meredith Woodward King

It's easy to laugh at Steve Carell as the socially inept boss who leads a dysfunctional team of employees in television's "The Office." But, the truth is, many of us are ill-prepared to successfully negotiate the interpersonal dynamics of the workplace, according to Lea Belair, a professional certified coach (PCC).

"If you read all this new literature coming out about top leadership practices and emotional intelligence, you see that we have not been trained in our society in emotional intelligence and self-awareness," Belair said. "It's not sufficient for what we deal with in the workplace. Unless we get that mastered, how the heck are we going to keep up with the technology on top of it?"

Belair works with business leaders to rise above the emotional fray, initiate better communication and active listening practices with their employees and create an atmosphere in which everyone can achieve - which, in turn, improves the company's bottom line.

As part of the Vermont Business Center's new Business Coaching Professional Certificate for Leaders and Managers, in affiliation with The Coaching Center of Vermont, she is teaching a Management Development Seminar on "Coaching to Enhance Teamwork in Your Organization" in April 2007.

"Business leaders will learn coaching skills, a new communication tool where they can be more collaborative and more effective with the people they work with so that they spend less time micromanaging other people and instead look toward the future and manage the company in the way it needs to go," said Belair, part of a team of coaches with The Coaching Center who offer personal and business coaching for individuals and groups. Belair also runs her own business, Leap Coaching, out of her home in Westford.

When you hear the word "coach," it might conjure up images of a professional who grooms athletes for their next big game. That's not so far off, she said.

"If somebody wants to excel in athletics, they hire a coach. You would never think of going to the Olympics without having a great coach," she said. "It's the same thing in the workplace, the same thing in your life."

Belair has worked in the coaching profession since 1999. She is affiliated with the online coach training company, CoachVille. Attracting people through her Internet-based coaching business and her book, Walk on Water: How to Make Change Easier, she has coached individuals from throughout the world. She received her PCC designation through the International Coach Federation. She also is a certified graduate of Coach U, the original online training program for the profession, which was started by Thomas J. Leonard in the early 1990s.

She brings a mixture of business expertise and spiritual centeredness to her coaching. For five years, she worked for a private-label women's clothing manufacturer in New Hampshire, holding several management positions. For more than a decade, she helped entrepreneurs start and grow businesses, first through the Women's Rural Entrepreneurial Network in New Hampshire and then through the Women's Small Business Program in Burlington.

As she worked on her own personal growth, she began practicing yoga and meditation. She holds an advanced certification in yog science, Vedant Philosophy and the theory and practice of meditation from the International Meditation Institute in Kullu, India, and a master of meditation degree from the World Development Parliament in West Bengal, India.

She applies that training to her coaching, she said, teaching "people to be very discriminating about their focus and giving them the tools to get where their focus is, with more inspiration."

Through interactive group activities in the VBC seminar, Belair will lead business leaders in practicing how to apply coaching skills to their workplaces. Participants will begin to pinpoint their own patterns of thinking and acting -- and learn new ways of interacting with others. Through group dialogue, coaching demonstrations and a facilitated Coaching Circle, "everybody in the group will have an opportunity to coach and be coached," Belair said.

As a result, business leaders should leave the seminar with an understanding of how they can develop a "coaching presence" and better leverage talent within their organization.

"In developing a coaching presence, one of the main pieces of self-awareness is how can you be really present for someone else? How can you dance in the moment, versus your own agenda? How can you see a new opportunity and give up your old habits and automatic behaviors?" she explained. "Number one, you have to be aware of what you do and what your pattern is. You can practice a new pattern and begin learning a new habit.

For business leaders, self-awareness may lead to a deeper appreciation of employees. "Something we could be better at is acknowledging people and championing them," she explained. "One of the biggest reasons why people leave the workplace is because they don't feel acknowledged in the workplace.:

Belair also will help business leaders take a bird's-eye view of their companies. "One of skills we don't have is being genuinely curious. ... If we are an expert or think we're an expert, we're missing a lot of information that might help us achieve insight," she said. A coach asks "provocative questions" and helps "you become curious, even if you're an expert. Managers and leaders who want to be innovators need coaching in their toolkit."