By Charlane Oliver, Director of Communication, Williamson, Inc.
Leadership is an age-old topic with 10 million ways to slice it, anywhere from mentoring and succession planning to learning your management style and finding your purpose. As Williamson, Inc. explores this quarter’s theme of “Leadership,” we’re continuing the conversation with Colleen Gavitt, owner of Patriot Coaching in Spring Hill.
So far, we’ve heard from Dr. Debra Fish about strengths-based leadership at the May 3 Business Luncheon. On June 14, we’re hosting the second installment of our 4-part Young Professionals Leadership Series with a talk by Deviate’s Amanda Blanck on “Living and Leading with Intention.”
Patriot Coaching provides lifecycle management for employees by providing hiring tools, along with team building and team assessment services. Colleen helps clients take candidates all the way from the selection process through the tenure of the employee at an organization. I sat down with Colleen to understand leadership from the perspective of building a cohesive team.
Colleen, where did you get your start?
I received a B.A. from the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada along with a M.Ed. in School Counseling from the University of Massachusetts – Boston. My teaching career began in South Korea 20 years ago, where I taught English to both children and adults. Later, I shifted to counseling students at the college and high school levels.
Life certainly has a way of changing gears when you least expect it. One conversation opened my eyes about the possibility of shifting careers, while maintaining my passion for helping people. So, with much deliberation and reflection, I took a leap of faith and became a Certified Coach and founded Patriot Coaching.
What are you most passionate about when it comes to coaching?
I am most passionate about helping people uncover their potential and achieve happiness, which is often done when they learn how to communicate effectively. Additionally, I love uncovering what makes people tick. Faith? Family? Career? What is your dream? Let’s explore what makes you happy and then develop a plan.
What do you think is the most important thing for people who are trying to grow their businesses to know about managing a team?
To have an effective team, individuals must understand themselves. After reflection, they can then start to discover how other people operate. Upon exploring these two concepts, many people realize that most miscommunication and workplace discord are based around an individual’s personality. Even though, it may be perceived as some people try to manipulate a situation or deceive others, this is not the case. The individual is not attempting to make a situation difficult; it is how their personality operates. Patriot Coaching’s training assists personnel to learn these lessons, and allows them to understand and communicate with others in a more effective and comprehensive manner.
Amongst this core platform, Patriot Coaching also provides a framework that teaches the following:
- Introduction to Your Management Style: Participants discover how their DiSC styles affect their management styles, examining their unique priorities as managers. Participants then learn how to identify the DiSC styles of the people they manage.
- Directing and Delegating: Participants learn their strengths and challenges when directing and delegating. And they learn how to adjust to fit the needs of the people they manage.
- Motivation: Participants discover how their DiSC styles affect the motivation of others. And they learn to identify and adapt to increase others’ motivation.
- Developing Others: Participants learn about their natural styles of developing others. They also discover the development preferences for each DiSC style and how to accommodate each style.
- Working with Your Manager: Participants learn to modify their approach to meet the needs and preferences of their bosses. They increase their ability to influence and communicate effectively with their managers
What is a common obstacle for managers of teams?
There are multiple issues that managers face on a day-to-day basis. During significant market research, Patriot Coaching has found that hiring the right person, retaining their existing team and conflict resolution are at the top of the list. These three challenges are the exact reason we created the employee lifecycle management plan. Patriot Coaching’s offerings address each of these issues and have had significant successes in addressing these three challenges.
Colleen Gavitt joined Williamson, Inc. in January of this year. To learn more or book her services, visit www.patriotcoaching.com. To become a member of Williamson, Inc., join here.
Charlane Oliver is a freelance writer, public relations strategist, and the Director of Communication at Williamson, Inc., the community and economic development organization for Williamson County. As the voice of Williamson, Inc., she uses her expertise to drive key marketing and branding strategies to a network of over 1,400 businesses. Connect with her on Twitter @CharlaneO or send her your story ideas at [email protected].
SOURCE: Williamson, Inc.