Is leadership coaching important?
Good leaders needs to have a range of important skills and qualities. Self-awareness, self-regulation, a growth mindset, effective communication skills, and confidence are all important traits for any leader to have.
So, is leadership coaching important?
In a nutshell, it helps leadership at all levels across the organisation develop discernment, improve effectiveness, and aligns each individual leader's growth with organisational goals.
Leadership coaching gives you a unique opportunity to take a step back and gain a fresh perspective on your working life. Do you have a good work/life balance? Do you often feel overwhelmed or stressed in your role?
Your leadership coach will help you to improve the way you communicate and work with those around you. You'll learn the importance of empathy, gain a fresh perspective on how others might view you and enhance your understanding of others.
I have been a leadership coach now for over a decade. In the simplest terms, my leadership coaching is just skillful questioning to bring out the best in my coachees. It is about helping them achieve their own goals. And my responsibility is to make sure they realise their potential.
I concentrate on reconnecting my coachees to the skills they already have, the knowledge they have amassed, and give them the impetus to succeed. And, I usually start by getting them to define their purpose drive.
After we establish this, I ask a coachee to describe what motivates them at work, as well as discuss their pressure points at their current job. We then unravel any issues through discourse and eventually, I encourage them to chart a trajectory of personal growth over an agreed period of time.
In essence, as you progress in your career or business, you naturally have to confront numerous roadblocks. And in my experience, the higher you climb, the more complex these obstacles become.
In my coaching sessions, I help people surmount these roadblocks and act as a personal accountability partner. My role is to encourage them focus on real issues, like managing complicated co-workers or bosses more effectively; learn to present themselves more articulately and get noticed; or to get them think more strategically about the way they work.
I typically get involved with a coachee for a short period of time, perhaps for three to four sessions. And, my engagement lasts for as long as they require.
Sometimes, it also depends on whether they have been instructed to attend my sessions by their company for a fixed number of sessions, or if they have sought me out directly.
I only have one purpose during the tenure of the engagement, which is to work with the coachee to improve their performance. Once they have achieved this, or if their bosses are satisfied with the progress they are making, I am no longer needed.
The sessions are individually designed, unless I am asked by a company to coach a group of employees. For this, I design the sessions to focus on key areas of competency that the company needs, and perhaps fix some assessment tools.
During the sessions, I do not give instructions. I have conversations that are led by the coachee. I simply offer various perspectives, and help them find their own clarity, and purpose.
The feedback I give is always directed at making them reflect on their own needs, aspirations, and ultimately, to think about what they really want.
The reality is that even top executives, like managing directors or CEOs of companies, need an accountability partner and someone who can spur them to analyse their role, needs and desires.
As coach, I offer an outsider's perspective. I have no vested interest in your day-to-day operations, and I cannot influence your remuneration package or bonus payments.
Any and all feedback I give is purely based on my experiences. And, it is entirely up to you, to gather insights from the discussions you have with me.
For some, you might scoff at the idea of engaging a leadership or performance coach. Perhaps, you just refuse to acknowledge that you have leadership gaps. Some also shy away from coaches because of the myth that it is only for remedial or last-gasp efforts for the incompetent.
Nothing can be further from the truth. Leadership coaching is for people who want to step up to the next level of career growth. Getting a coach will redefine your future by helping you recalibrate your attitude, and find someone who independently supports your work ambitions.
If you want exponential leadership growth, get yourself a coach, or get in touch with me!