How can you use Leadership Development Coaching to benefit your organization?

The biggest element we focus on with LDC is how to be high performing AND sustainable. So many leaders miss this part of their development. Burnout is rife in all industries and we simply cannot ignore it anymore as the repercussions are large and intense. Knowing how to perform, deliver and support (lead) others in a way that is long-lasting is essential to our energy, our business performance, and our lives / wellbeing.

Leadership Development Coaching can be utilized to benefit an organization. This can be done by identifying and nurturing potential leaders, and by creating a strong leadership pipeline. Coaching helps in refining essential skills like communication, decision-making, and emotional intelligence, aligning leaders with organizational objectives. It fosters a culture of continuous improvement and learning, enhancing individual and team performance. Through personalized coaching, we can empower leaders to drive innovation, adapt to change, and navigate complex challenges effectively. Ultimately, Leadership Development Coaching cultivates a resilient, capable leadership cadre that propels the organization's growth and success.

Starting with the self is critical to having a successful LDC engagement. Most LDC coaching begins with supporting the leader with cultivating their awareness and opening their eyes to the many different perspectives that co-exist in the workplace. Without self-awareness, leaders cannot properly engage with their team, set motivating expectations, or avoid burnout.

Leadership potential is virtually untapped in many organizations. I have witnessed moments when leaders connect with their true purpose in guiding others. As senior leaders, practicing humility on a daily basis can sometimes feel less important when the pressure is intense and there are directives and bottom lines to manage. However, it is crucial to remember that it is all about human connection and how leaders make their teams feel each day. That is where high performance and impactful results stem from, radiating vision and kindness throughout the organization. LDC and the right coach can have huge impact. There is immense joy in meeting people halfway, understanding who they are, and finding common ground to achieve greatness together.

Leadership Development Coaching is critical for every team member as they move through their corporate career. LDC, at its core, aims to bring out leadership qualities the coachees may not even know they possess. The process of being coached provides direction, but more importantly, inspires self-direction and self-awareness. An employee who has practiced solid problem-solving and decision making, within a coaching setting,will have a higher level of self-confidence and is more likely engage in self-advocacy. The next step along the career path is finding a solid mentor within the company or field who can guide the coachee through the gauntlet of corporate ascension. Getting with an LDC practitioner early is good strategy.

While people often know what to do, they struggle with the confidence to actually DO the things for a variety of reasons. These barriers whether real or perceived keep the person stuck. Leadership development coaching is often the lever that can move that mental barrier out of the way to unleash the new behavior or take control of their choices related to a real barrier.

LDC impacts org culture, team culture, org resilience and leader resilience Coaching that build skills for anticipation, managing risk, managing tough and sticky conversations, presence, building psychological safety are all so powerful because of how it prepares a leader to be future ready and resilient. Above all of this, developmental coaching can support a leader to moved ahead from 'not knowing' and this is a big strength in todays biz environment.

I love the quote by Peter Drucker, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast" I think the benefit of LDC for every organization is the impact LDC has on culture. Leadership is all of about inspiring action toward a shared vision. It requires skilled navigation of messy conflicts along the way. LDC provides much needed support to overcome obstacles and achieve meaningful goals.

Coaching can also help strengthen the weakest chain in your organization. It could be one person or a few people, or a team. It helps them realize that their performance can help the organization achieve higher growth and make changes accordingly.

One of the most significant advantages of LDC is its capacity to nurture a genuine desire among leaders to do more than just lead for their individual achievements. It encourages them to make earnest efforts in assisting, helping, and mentoring their team members. LDC not only enhances leadership skills but also instills a fundamental shift in leaders' perspectives. It motivates them to lead not just for personal gain but to actively contribute to the growth and development of their team members, fostering a culture of empathy, trust, and collective success within the organization.

Seeking a coach that reinforces the values of the organization paves the way for transparency for open minded discussions. Selecting a coach that understands the industry and the culture of the organization helps with speed to trust and can pay tremendous dividends through unbiased assessments and perspective.

A trusted relationship between the leader and coach is at the heart of Leadership Development Coaching. A leadership development coach is sometimes the only person an executive can speak openly with regarding the complex challenges they face. A great coach is an unbiased listener who helps the leader increase self-awareness, uncover blind spots and unlock the next level of leadership. A good coach/coachee match is essential for coaching to be effective.

Chemistry is so important as well as the coach's style and competence. Make sure your coach is future-focused and sensitive to your needs. Unpacking the past can be helpful, however that is reserved for therapy. Having a chemistry call and asking all the questions you have around coaching can help make sure you select the right coach.

In developmental coaching one cannot always know all goals up ahead. A coach who can partner in ways that allows for contracting for goals as it emerges in the process would be critical. A focus on problem solving would be too limiting. A coach for LDC needs to have competence in working with psychological frameworks, unconscious processes and even the spiritual aspect where relevant for a coachee. A coach who can partner, provoke, challenge with care and ease would work great. In deeper developmental work sometimes a coach has to make a referral to a therapist too and so ot needs to be a coach grounded in ethics too. Such a a great topic this is!

Stay away from negative coaching approach. Negative coaching, also known as destructive coaching or toxic coaching, refers to a coaching approach that primarily focuses on criticism, fault-finding, and demoralizing feedback rather than constructive guidance and support. This type of coaching can have detrimental effects on an individual's self-esteem, confidence and overall development. It is very unlikely that it will be advertised or declared that your coach would be using this approach. However, if you find yourself dreading a coaching session or feeling dejected and demoralized after coaching sessions, you need to have a discussion with your coach about the same.

A crucial aspect of setting up your LCD is ensuring each stakeholder's roles and responsibilities related to reporting are clear and communicated. For example, when an organization sponsors my coaching, I make it clear that my conversations with the coachee are confidential and that it is the coachee's responsibility to communicate their progress to the organization. As a coach, I will only report high-level information that the coachee has explicitly agreed to share. Clear reporting expectations are vital to maintaining the intimate relationship between a coach and a coachee. Any breakdown of how confidentiality is defined can lead to the coachee losing respect for an organization and its values.

One detail of this process that's important is to clarify contracting with individuals and leaders. Coachees will have their own goals, and the discussions they have with their coach should always remain confidential. But leaders may also want some influence. In this scenario, 3-way contracting can be useful, where the leader adds a goal into the process. For example, they could ask for the coachee to achieve a milestone that benefits the organisation while being coached.

To set up a successful Leadership Development Coaching (LDC) program: Collaborative Need Assessment: Involve leaders and coaches to identify development areas using data-driven assessments. Agreement on Necessity: Ensure leaders agree on the program's need and set clear timelines and methodologies. Structured Approach: Create a well-defined, structured program focused on addressing identified gaps for organizational growth. By involving leaders in a collaborative need assessment, gaining their agreement based on data, and setting up a structured program, you create a strong foundation for a successful LDC program that aligns with organizational goals.

When I work with a leader, I provide them with tools and resources to uplevel their skills. I encourage them to practice and use the new skills in their work settings. Also, I ask them to get feedback from their managers, direct reports, and clients to assess their impact. One way we do this is through a 3-way alignment with the manager. Halfway through our work, we meet with the manager to ask them to provide feedback on how they feel the leader is doing and what areas may need additional work. This provides meaningful input to continue the work moving forward.

It can be really useful to audit or assess the team at the start and then to repeat the process at the end. However, quantifying the benefits of coaching isn't easy and any hard measures of change may not be seen until months after the process has ended. And so, gathering coachee insights in a semi-structured way is useful. This helps to develop the coach's practice as well as giving the funders of the program reassurance that it has deeper impacts.

I encourage my leaders to use their new 'coaching skills' as often as possible once they are comfortable with the basics. Through my sessions I coach them, however I also explain my methods. I regularly get told how it has changed their relationships in and out of work.

The need for sustained change is so important for the person and the organization to truly realize the value of a LDC engagement. Throughout the journey, I am often asking clients how they can hold themselves accountable to the actions and changes they are making. And when that doesn't seem strong enough, we talk about enlisting an accountability partner who is within the environment, cares for the person and can help them see when they are backsliding and cheerlead the new behaviors. This is often the real magic to help the coaching talk hold.

Leadership development coaching is critical for women of color in corporate America. Often, Black and Brown women don't get access to opportunities and networks because they haven't been coached on how to navigate those settings. Working with a leadership coach gives them the tools and resources to feel confident in getting to the next level.

Read reviews and testimonials: Reviews and testimonials offer firsthand accounts of clients' experiences. These insights can help you gauge the impact a particular coach has had on others.

It's important that coaches have a structured approach to reflection and improvement. If you are thinking of commissioning a coach, ask them how they work to improve their own practice.

I always include wellness of the leader in the coaching, if we do not coach 100% of the leader we miss an opportunity to fully optimise them.

LDC can be used in several ways to benefit organizations: ? Increasing employee retention: through empowered and confident employees. ? Improving productivity: by helping employees unleash their full potential. ?Creating future leaders: by developing high potentials ?Performance Enhancement - through a learning and development culture power employees, improve their skills, and foster a ?Creating future leaders: developing leadership skills ?Giving leaders a competitive edge: to manage change, develop further and lead well