First Thoughts on Coaching

Shane Creevy
Nov 2 · 2 min read

After Politico.ie, Storyful and WorldIrish, I’m currently involved with my fourth Dublin-based media startup, Kinzen. I spent the longest in Storyful where I served for a number of years as Global Video Editor, leading a team in multiple offices in Europe, the US, Asia and Australia. I’m incredibly proud of the work we achieved together and grateful for the opportunity.

But I have to be honest.

Much of the time I was… unsure. A growing startup requires everyone to stand up. So I found myself in management at a young age. I was lucky to have some brilliant mentors but, with little formal training, I was figuring out everything at the coal face.

What is my leadership style?

What are the best methods in motivating people?

How do you balance the demands of your boss with the complaints of your team (or: manage both up and down equally well)?

What is the best way to deliver optimal performance?

I learned a lot along the way. Some harsh lessons. Some kind feedback. But undoubtedly my management and leadership style was in its early stages.

In reflecting back, I’m reminded of Kim Scott’s delineation between leaders who veer from obnoxious aggression to ruinous empathy. I probably fell into the latter too often. She writes about the balance of Radical Candour in her book of the same name (go read it).

Did I challenge people enough? Was I “too nice”? Did I care too much about being respected?

The book is filled with insights on how Radical Candour can come from a positive place, where being nice and respected is ok, but you can also be candid. Honest about the problems. So long as your team know that you care personally.

To put these learnings into practice, I wanted more formal training. It’s critical in my current role to increase my leadership and management skills. I’d been reading up about executive coaching and hearing only positive things. So I decided to jump right in by signing up for an Advanced Diploma in Leadership and Executive Coaching.

Years ago, I partly paid my way through college by teaching guitar. What I didn’t expect was how much teaching would improve my mastery of the instrument, which led to increased confidence with it too. Sometimes the best way to learn is by teaching.

So what better way to learn about my own leadership style than by seeing how I might coach an executive?

Over the next few weeks and months I’ll come back here periodically to update on lessons learned, and implementing those lessons in my career.

If you’ve tried coaching, let me know what you think of it. If you haven’t, what do you make of what you’ve heard?

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade