Published 20 June 2015. Updated 16 March 2026.
All coaches and leaders need to nurture their people, whether you are a corporate leader, run a Mastermind group, have a small business or are a business coach, mentor or trainer. Leadership, training, and coaching should be actioned where you lead by example and help others grow. Becoming a quality leader encompasses many skills and actions, one of which is nurturing people.
One might ask, so why does it matter if you nurture your team? Well, there are many excellent reasons. From their perspective, it boosts their physical and mental well-being and health, which in turn increases job satisfaction, retention and improves general overall productivity. Workers spend about half of their waking hours at work, so quality work, feeling valued, being able to develop and generally enjoying work, makes all the difference. A happy worker is protected against burnout, doesn’t feel lonely and has a sense of purpose. If you’re purely focussed on the business’ bottom line, then a happy worker is a productive worker and a productive worker not only stays longer, but makes you greater profits.
So, Let’s Look at HOW We, as Coaches and Leaders Can Nurture Our Team
Provide a Safe Environment
In coaching, and at work, those participating need to feel safe. They need to feel that they can be open and honest and share their ideas without fear of being sledged, or being told their idea is stupid, or has no merit. A good leader, coach or trainer will encourage questions with the philosophy that there is no such thing as a ‘dumb question’. If you need to ask it, then you should. Positive reinforcement like “that’s a great question” or “I get asked that one so much” or “people rarely ask that question, but they should”, delivered in a genuine manner helps those you are leading or coaching to feel they can be honest, open and engaged in your coaching or training in a greater way.
Leave Your Ego at the Door
There is a fine line between promoting your service and overselling yourself. Let me use this example. If you are a personal trainer (fitness coach) and you can, literally, run circles around your students, please don’t. Bragging about how great you are will not inspire the majority of your class to greatness. In fact, quite often the opposite will occur. You definitely need to demonstrate what to do, but being conceited and a show-off will not make your students feel good about themselves. In fact, you should be acknowledging their achievements in an authentic and positive way. Inspire them to do well and if they ever say something about ‘not being as good as you’ – be honest with them and recall what you were like when you started out. You remember what it was like in the beginning and the struggles you experienced; you were not always good at this, but worked at improving. And still, always are looking to improve. Growing in your career or life is an ongoing learning and growth experience; you never ‘get there’ but are always learning.
Don’t Feel Threatened
At times in coaching, the coach will hold back. This isn’t necessarily ego, but more so about protecting his/her place. The business coach might not be willing to coach other business coaches from fear of loosing work to them in future, rather than seeing there is more than enough work out there. The supervisor may hold back, thinking that if they help their subordinate too well, that person might end up being their boss. A business coach may hold back, thinking that if they give their client everything now, they won’t need them in a few months’ time. This ‘small’ thinking does nothing to enhance the leadership relationship. A small business owner might think that if they teach an employee too much, they will go out in competition against them. Sure, all these things can happen, but the open minded coach, leader or trainer will recognise that by helping people fully, they make themselves even more valuable and will get benefits in other ways. For example, I’ve received heaps of fabulous Google reviews, had clients refer friends and associates and had other clients stay longer, because they recognise I have so much ‘gold’ to share. Don’t be small minded and closed in sharing your brilliant ideas, wisdom or experience.
Listen & Ask Questions
A good coach or leader invites questions and listens to people’s ideas. Participation gets the most engagement from a person, by having them participate (in the PT scenario somewhat critical), and be involved and do things and share their ideas, then they and others in the room will get the most from the session. This is particularly important in Mastermind groups. Whilst you who are leading the group may have a mammoth amount of experience, recognise (and appreciate) that others in the room offer their own (often extensive) experience as well and also may offer alternative options and perceptions and ideas. Listen to and value others’ input into the group and make them feel appreciated for their input; others will follow their (and your) example and become more involved too. What is often a challenge in a Mastermind group however, is not letting a strong personality take over the session or browbeat others – that type of participation can be very damaging to some of the ‘quieter’ participants.
Ensure also, whether you’re a trainer, or a leader, to regularly ask if they have questions. Also I encourage you to encourage your team to offer suggestions. Teaching your team to show initiative is a fabulous skill to practice; even if there are guidelines around that initiative, like running it past you first. Make sure you give team time to talk with you AND be sure to listen to what they have to say.
Recognise a ‘Bad Idea’ Might Be The Beginning of a Brilliant Concept
As a coach we often have extensive experience and of course our beliefs can often be tainted by our experiences (particularly if negative) and so there is often the temptation to say “that won’t work”. For a start, as a coach, it is not our place to declare that someone else’s idea is doomed to fail. If you have your concerns then ask relevant questions such as whether the person has done their research and due diligence. If by researching the idea fully, they come to the conclusion that it’s not the right choice, then you’ve done your job. We need to show our clients how to research, think through and process their ideas so that they learn these skills for future ideas to come. They (and you) should be asking questions about how it will work (or not) and what are the pros and cons. You absolutely have a responsibility to guide and support, but not to just take someone’s dream and stick a knife through it. Possibly by working with them on an idea which has some merits, but needs work, you can guide them to adjusting their approach, concept and strategy to create something which has the potential for absolute brilliance.
Celebrate the Wins
I know myself; I am a driven person. Hey to be starting by eight book speaks to that. However, with your participants or mentees, recognise their wins. You may not perceive what they have just achieved as being wonderful, but look at it from their perspective and maybe what they have done is pretty great. I recently got a client to do his first newsletter. Now you might think “so what?” as perhaps you knock one out every week. However, for this person, he had been trying to get his first newsletter out for two years! When it landed in my inbox, I sent him a lovely little email saying how great it was and congratulating him on that achievement. It might be a little achievement, but all those little things add up, and if we keep the enthusiasm, motivation and positive attitude, then before we know it, they are achieving numerous big things.
As you can see, there is more to being a leader or coach, than simply getting people to take action. It’s more than directing someone to do a particular task, or meet a specific deadline. It’s more than teaching, more than setting KPIs and definitely far more than keeping them on task. Being a coach, mentor, trainer or leader is a huge responsibility. Often those we are working with look up to us. We need to lead by example, give them our best and be sure to nurture and support them to achieve their own successes. In my ‘Coach the Coach’ program I cover off on this and so much more. In general coaching of business owners, we go into this to a degree as well; ensuring you get the most from your team in a positive and nurturing way. If you’d like to know more, please contact me via phone or email donna@donna-stone.com.au.
Read Stop Strangling Your Business & Overcome Negative Mindset!
