#7 Learning – A coaching superpower for leading teams

Hi, we’re Helen and Cathryn. We work closely with leaders and teams, and we know that leaders face an array of challenges. We’re sharing a series of 10 coaching superpowers for leaders to experiment with. 

We’ve broken them down into two categories:

# 1 - 5 Mindset superpowers: How you think and show up.

# 6 - 10 Behavioural superpowers: What you do, your actions.

These superpowers often blend together.

⭐ Superpower 7: learning

Active learning is a collective process. Leaders who encourage reflection, feedback loops, and knowledge-sharing help their teams evolve in real-time, rather than getting stuck in old ways of working and business as usual thinking. It also means normalising failure. When mistakes become stepping stones instead of stumbling blocks, teams build resilience and agility and make far greater progress.

A few ways to encourage learning in your team and organisation:

💡 Be curious: value questions and options rather than the right answers (see superpower #2)

💡 Make mistakes learning moments: cultivate a no blame culture and ask what can we learn from this?

💡 Learning labs: schedule time to share insights and future thinking.

💡 Experiment: treat new approaches as tests and feedback loops.

💡 Unlearning and relearning: Futurist Alvin Toffler believed the key to thriving is the ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn. Question assumptions, let go of outdated ideas, and continuously embrace new knowledge.

📌 Practical tip - leverage technology

The next time your team is discussing options, create space for shared knowledge and input. If online, use a collaborative platform (Whiteboard, Miro, Mural etc) to brainstorm, capture ideas and insights. Identify new ideas and actions.

Create a team library of collaborative thinking process and ideas to refer back to. 

Consider habits, current thinking and assumptions. What could you unlearn and relearn that would make a positive difference.

Interventions like this help you and your team become more aware of your environment. 

Stay tuned as we share more coaching superpowers. 

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

Image: Cathryn Lloyd

Which version of you is real?

We often talk about “acting” in different situations, but I prefer to think of it as “shining” a 🔦- highlighting different aspects of us in different circumstances. We can be authentic, true to our values, and adapt ourselves, all at the same time. For example: shifting tone in a conversation, adjusting energy, or balancing confidence with humility. Sometimes we need to be direct and decisive, other times warm and empathetic. We can be curious and listen, take a back seat, or step forward and lead. It's still us - even if we are "acting".

Experiencing Olafur Eliasson’s interactive art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki recently highlighted this for me – literally!  Light shining from different angles revealing multiple variations of the same thing - all of them were the real. All of them were me!

In every situation we have a choice - which parts of us need to shine🔦 !

#6 Sensing – A coaching superpower for leading teams

Hi, we’re Helen Zink and Dr Cathryn Lloyd. We work closely with leaders and teams, and we know that leaders face an array of challenges. We’re sharing a series of 10 coaching superpowers for leaders to experiment with. 

We’ve broken them down into two categories:

Nos 1 - 5 Mindset superpowers: How you think and show up.

Nos 6 - 10 Behavioural superpowers: What you do, your actions.

These superpowers often blend together.

We’ve shared the first 5 mindset superpowers - self awareness, curiosity, character, flexibility and candour. We now shift into the behavioural superpowers. And our first one for this series is - 

⭐ Superpower 6: sensing

Sensing means actively picking up on signals, patterns, and dynamics in the environment.  It is the ability to perceive and respond to shifts in context, organisational culture, or wider system.  Sensing helps leaders identify emerging challenges, recognise patterns and interdependencies, anticipate change, and enable proactive rather than reactive decision-making.

In some ways 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.

A few ways to build the ability to sense:

💡 Body Language: watch non-verbal cues.

💡 Listen for what is not said: what may be hidden in the silence, the unexpressed and shifts in energy.

💡 Group dynamics: notice engagement, withdrawal and interaction. 

💡 Recognise patterns: notice early signals and connections between events, decisions, and outcomes, even when they’re not immediately obvious.

📌 Practical tip - the silent observer

In your next team meeting, ask for a volunteer to take the role of observer. Instead of speaking, they watch for:

Who speaks the most/least.

Who seems engaged, hesitant, or withdrawn.

Any energy shifts.

Any conversation patterns.

Any misalignment of body language and words.

Debrief together and uncover insight on how you work together as a team.  You might agree to change a few things going forward.

Small exercises like this help you and your team become more aware of your environment. Stay tuned as we share more coaching superpowers. 

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

Image: Cathryn Lloyd