Snapshot of 10 coaching superpowers for leading teams

Hi, we’re Helen Zink and Dr. Dr Cathryn Lloyd. We partner closely with leaders and teams, and we understand the array of challenges leaders face. Over the past few weeks, we've shared 10 (plus a bonus 11th) coaching superpowers for leaders to experiment with. We’ve highlighted why these superpowers are essential in today’s complex and unpredictable world and provided actionable insights to help you apply them, whether for yourself or with your team.

The attached infographic summarises all superpowers - we hope you find it useful. Feel free to download it and use it as a visual reminder.

 Here’s a snapshot of all 11:

⭐ Superpower 1: self-awareness

The foundation that powers all other superpowers - understanding who you are, what drives you, and recognising your triggers. 

⭐ Superpower 2: curiosity

Stimulates growth, innovation, exploration, learning, and collaborative problem-solving.

⭐ Superpower 3: character

Trust, integrity, and consistency. Leaders with strong character create a culture of psychological safety, and positive impact.

⭐ Superpower 4: flexibility

To stay effective and resilient in a rapidly changing and unpredictable environment and thinking “what is possible”.

⭐ Superpower 5: candour

Authentic and vulnerable leadership is essential for establishing trust, accountability, and a culture of learning within teams.

⭐ Superpower 6: sensing

Actively picking up on signals, patterns, and dynamics in the environment, anticipate change, and enable proactive rather than reactive decision-making.

⭐ Superpower 7: learning

Encouraging reflection, feedback loops, knowledge sharing, and normalising failure.

⭐ Superpower 8: linking

Noticing and linking dots, understanding context and systems, embracing diverse perspectives, and encouraging innovation. 

⭐ Superpower 9: resourcing

Recognising potential, advocating, clearing obstacles, and tapping into networks to create opportunities.

⭐ Superpower 10: resiliency 

Bouncing back from setbacks, adapting to new challenges, and maintaining focus in changing environments.

⭐ Bonus superpower 11:  investing

Developing superpowers requires sustained investment of time and energy.  Allocating some current resource to enable maximisation of future resources. 

If you would like to know more, we’ve created a superpower guide with extended content. For your complimentary copy, please email Cathryn (cathryn@maverickminds.com.au) or Helen (helen@growtobe.co.nz).  It’s free to “good homes”. 

Superpowers infographic.pdf

Download PDF • 2.91MB

Investing - making the most of coaching superpowers!

My colleague Dr Cathryn Lloyd and I work closely with leaders and teams, and we know leaders face an array of challenges. Over the past few weeks we’ve shared 10 coaching superpowers for leaders to experiment with - 5 mindset superpowers, how your thinking shapes how you show up and 5 behavioural superpowers, what you do and your actions as a leader.

To make the most of these, you need one more critical superpower...

⭐ Bonus superpower 11. Investing

Superpowers aren’t developed overnight. They require a sustained investment of time and energy. Valuing these mindsets and behaviours is an ongoing process of embedding new skills into everyday work life through - learning, experimenting and practicing. 

To make this stick, superpower development needs to become a core part of your team’s culture. This means allocating some of your current resources, time, budget, energy, and focus to build future capabilities that will be crucial for you and your team’s long-term success. 

Ways to maximise investment in coaching superpowers 

💡 Dedicate time - Set aside regular time, weekly or monthly, to step out of business-as-usual and focus on building superpowers. 

💡 Daily routines - Weave superpowers into everyday team life. Include them in meeting agendas, team rituals, minutes, and follow-up actions. 

💡 Reviews - Evaluate progress regularly. Use team meetings or performance  conversations to reflect on how well superpowers are being developed. 

💡 Measure and track - Use tangible metrics to monitor progress. For example, track team resilience, collaboration scores, or feedback loops. 

💡 Professional support - Get support from a professional coach or team coach to help bring superpowers to life in a structured and supportive way. 

📌 Practical tip – making the invisible visible with a team coach 

A team coach can help your team see what they can’t see themselves— hidden habits and blind spots that shape how you work together. 

Let’s say your team is focusing on superpower 8: bringing in diverse perspectives. A team coach might observe a subtle pattern and say:

“I’m noticing that when someone offers a different perspective, the conversation quickly shifts or gets shut down. What might be happening here?” 

This gentle observation invites the team to:

📌 Pause and reflect. 

📌 Notice what’s going on beneath the surface. 

📌 Experiment with new ways of engaging. 

📌 Practice superpowers in real time.

In this way, the coach acts like a mirror, helping the team grow together with greater awareness and intention. Team and individual coaches can support superpower development in many more ways. 

We’d love to hear how you’re applying these ideas. Share your thoughts with us or get in touch - we’d love to continue the conversation.

Stay tuned as we bring all coaching superpowers together over coming weeks.

Image: Cathryn Lloyd

Snapshot of five behavioural coaching superpowers for leading teams!

Hi, we’re Helen Zink and Dr Cathryn Lloyd. We work closely with leaders and teams, and we know leaders face an array of challenges. Over the past few weeks we’ve shared 10 coaching superpowers for leaders to experiment with.

Below is a summary of superpowers 6 - 10. These are behavioural superpowers: what you do and your actions as a leader.

We previously posted a summary of superpowers 1 - 5, mindset superpowers: how you think and show up.

Stay tuned as we bring all 10 coaching superpowers together over coming weeks.

⭐ Superpower 6: sensing

Actively picking up on signals, patterns, and dynamics in the environment. Sensing helps leaders identify emerging challenges, recognise patterns and interdependencies, anticipate change, and enable proactive rather than reactive decision-making.

⭐ Superpower 7: learning

Encouraging reflection, feedback loops, knowledge sharing, and normalising failure. This helps teams evolve in real-time, rather than getting stuck in old ways of working and business as usual mindsets.

⭐ Superpower 8: linking

Noticing and linking dots, understanding context and systems, embracing diverse perspectives, and encouraging innovation. Linking leaders help their teams navigate uncertainty, value collective intelligence, and create pathways that help others connect to a shared purpose and outcomes.

⭐ Superpower 9: resourcing

Recognising potential, advocating, clearing obstacles, and tapping into networks to create opportunities. Leaders who excel in this don’t just fix problems; they equip their teams with the skills to navigate challenges independently and innovate with confidence. 

⭐ Superpower 10: resiliency 

Bouncing back from setbacks, adapting to new challenges, and maintaining focus in changing environments. Leaders who develop this quality themselves, and support their teams to do the same, create an environment for perseverance, agility and the ability to handle disruptions with confidence. 

Our top 3 insights:

💡 Sensing is similar to superpower one - self-awareness. Self-awareness is the mindset of paying attention to yourself; whereas sensing is about actively paying attention to the environment around you and the interconnecting systems you operate in. 

💡 Linking and resourcing are connected - both focus on the wider environment and how leaders and teams access and connect the relationships, tools, and support they need to thrive within it.

💡 Learning and resiliency are in concert and a continuous loop. Resilient teams reflect and adapt, and in doing so, deepen their learning, which in turn fuels even greater resilience.

🩷 We’d love to hear how you are experimenting and applying these ideas.

Image: Cathryn Lloyd