HR Insights: The Podcast, Series 6 - Evolving Leadership: From Boss to Coach

Having a coaching culture in an organisation is in an impactful way to change your leaderships management style and allow every employee to reach their full potential. This a growing trend that we have been covering over the last year and today’s guest Karen Gilhooly, Engagement Expert & Transformative Leader, joins us to talk about the transition from a traditional management style to a coaching one.

Karen joins our CEO & Host Stuart Elliott, to discuss moving from her long tenure in banking to starting her own business with True North Collaboration LLC and how the ‘boss to coach’ philosophy influences learning and failure within a team. They talk through ways to adopt a coaching style of management and how it can improve decision-making and problem-solving skills within the team, what specific behaviours and skills can be developed from this transition and how this can impact employee motivation and job satisfaction. Lastly, they speak about the potential risks of moving to a coaching management style and how to mitigate them in a hybrid working environment.

Karen is an employee engagement expert and transformative leader with over 25 years of experience driving innovation and organisational change by leveraging the strengths of their employees. She firmly believes that when employees feel connected to their roles they find meaning in their work and bring new energy to the workplace. Karen is the Founder and Managing Partner of True North Collaboration LLC and works across industries to initiate and implement strategic transformation initiatives. True North Collaboration LLC is dedicated to guiding businesses through thoughtful and holistic transformations. 

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Key Timestamps:

-  01:21 - Intro into Karen Gilhooly

-  06:03 - Founding True North Collaboration LLC

-  07:37 - The difference between being a coach and being a manager

-  16:04 - Delivering feedback delicately 

-  18:17 - Adopting certain behaviours when transitioning from ‘boss to coach’

-  24:13 - Dealing with the ‘I don’t have time’ excuse

-  27:43 - The effects of the coaching management approach on employees

-  29:27 - Mitigating the potential risks of the coaching management style 

-  39:04 - The coaching management style in the hybrid world