How can you use coaching to help leaders think creatively?

Coaching enables the coachee to move out of their comfort zone, hence the risk sub-consciously forces the coachee to get creative, think deeply and innovate. This also enhances their confidence to collaborate and increases thinking capacity. This approach helps the coach to create a transformative approach and instills an energetic shift in the clients. 'It is dangerous to think you know the answer' is my personal ethos of coaching that opens the mind and empties the cup so that the client and I delve deep into innovating the most optimum solutions. By asking a blend of "What and "Why?" questions helps analytical and creative minds to innovate. The Six Thinking Hats method too stimulates objective perceptivity.

Defining a clear and specific goal is the foundation of coaching for creativity. It's like setting the destination on a map before starting a journey. Powerful questions are the compass that guides the leader in this creative exploration. They help uncover the leader's true desires, motivations, and the significance of the goal. This clarity not only fuels creativity but also ensures that the journey is meaningful and aligned with personal and organizational values. It's amazing how a well-articulated goal can ignite the spark of innovation and drive success.

I run a session for leaders called Thinking Creatively on Purpose. It helps them engage a different part of their brain in order to problem solve. This is based on the principle that you cannot solve a problem in the same state it was created.

Coaching, when applied effectively, can be a catalyst for unleashing a leader's creative potential. By offering a safe space for reflection and exploration, coaching encourages leaders to challenge their pre-existing beliefs and cognitive frameworks. Through powerful questioning, coaches can spark divergent thinking, enabling leaders to see opportunities from different perspectives. This process not only fosters innovative solutions but also builds resilience against stagnation. Ultimately, coaching cultivates a mindset where curiosity, experimentation, and adaptability become inherent qualities of effective and creative leadership.

Certainly, understanding where they want to be, what the destination might look and feel like, are important elements to begin with. If I'm doing creative work with clients, I like to get them quite relaxed and often I'll ask them to close their eyes, as I guide them to a place they can imagine possible future scenarios. Without the normal distractions creating 'noise' that prevents them fully immersing into the journey I take them on, they are able to begin to truly visualise a given point in time in the future when they will have accomplished whatever it is we're working on. And, in the current climate, I rarely work further than a 3 to 12-month time horizon, which makes it more realistic for them to imagine a transformed future.

I think the most important thing is to clear all "noise" from the topic they deal with. Like thoughts, feelings, fears from past decisions making. When we realize what really trouble their mind , its easier to solve the problems with logic mind

In my experience, every situation needs to be explored and not be biased. A leader can make a concise decision only after hearing out and asking the right set of questions A leader can also face language barriers when trying to get a proper understanding of a current situation

Its so important to get a baseline / current view with any engagement. I normally ask my clients a series of questions (circa 52) to understand how proficient they are from a Sales and Marketing perspective. This allows me to help them create solutions that address the gaps in their skills and strategy but also call out what is working well. This shows them that there are only some tweaks that need to be made not a complete overhaul.

Depending on the circumstances, the least time spent exploring the past the better. Acknowledge. Accept. Put attention on now what you want. Allow ideas to flow, using the past mistakes as guidance - we tend to know what we want from what we dont want, but keep your focus on what you do want. Fill the gaps in from there as you go forward.

This is an essential step, because "prescription without diagnosis is malpractice." I've learned the key here is to "make it visual," and get the ideas out of your head and into a form where you can see them. It's helpful to step back and survey the landscape, focusing on 3 key areas: 1. internal landscape 2. business landscape 3. industry landscape Asking "what's happening..." is a good way to get started.... then set a time limit (suggested: 15-20 per focus area) and jot down what times to mind.

When it comes to ACHIEVING the goal, never forget that you've got first and foremost to ENJOY the journey! Instead of making things complicated, the best thing to do is to make things look EASY. The questions to ask: - What feels to you as the best thing to do now? - What would be the easiest way to go about it? - What else could you do to make this more fun? - If you could choose the most exciting way to move ahead, what would that be? - Imagine that you have already reached this goal. How will you FEEL? When you feel good, you will not only reach your goal faster and easier- you will also be an energetic match to things and experiences that will make your journey an exciting adventure (versus hustle, struggle and overwhelm).

It can help reminding them past successfull decisions they made, or projects they are proud of what they ecomplished. Another way is finding an example of a person that influence them and asking them what they think that person would have done in a situation like that.

If we're focusing on business coaching, as well as the tools mentioned (mind-mapping and what if being my favourite tools) I often like to do a strategic competitor review to get a feeling what their competitors are doing and to look at possible disruptions that may be heading their way, too.

By asking the right powerful questions new perspectives and different solutions can emerge. Those ideas were already there, but the coach can support the thinker to unblock the pathway to them. A good coach will encourage the thinker to find a way forward that completely aligns with their values, strengths and passions, even if that means going off the beaten track somewhat.

Another way of generating creative options is to help the leader see the solution to a problem through the eyes of a reportee or other executive. Creative thinking requires a mindset shift towards thinking differently about old things. For example: 1. Leaders should not be shy to tap into the creative minds of their non-management staff, find creative ways to get feedback from staff with lower authority. Some great idea can come from staff members with direct access to customers and competitors. 2. Anyone can have great leadership skills but may not have the authority to lead. Therefore, executives should make leadership training available to all employees, thus empowering them to hone their contribution to solving complex problems.

The last part should be practical. Its including time table, specific goal like making writen plan , including all resources, budget , people included in this mission

Depending on the size and complexity of the strategic options (and the potential outcome) we can take simple 'easy-hard' effort & resources and 'high-low' expense/investment ratings or get into more complex methods of evaluation. Sometimes it may require a high-level analysis to reduce options that then get more detailed analysis.

Make decisions and make them right. You can spend too much time in discussions. We learn in action. (obviously depending on the circumstances!!) I have another fabulous article on decision making. Message me and I will send it to you. Its a game changer! We think we know how to make decisions, but this article shows us how we fall down.

The evaluation process is a great way to help them reiterate what they mention as their goals, and now we are moving them into the implementation phase. Helping them to create the plan and how they will implement it is a simple but powerful step to accomplish fulfillment for a leader.

If you find yourself in your comfort zone, when tackling challenges, it might not be the most effective path. The key question becomes, "How can you embrace discomfort for better outcomes?" Consider what steps are required to achieve your desired results. Often, it involves taking measured, incremental actions. Remember, it's perfectly acceptable to take smaller, manageable steps rather than being overwhelmed by the larger result. And usually, taking smaller steps is the fastest way to big results. Progress is built on taking these steps, rather than dwelling on what hasn't been accomplished. It's about the journey, not just the destination.

Given the often very demanding schedules, most of leaders struggle to set aside dedicated 'thinking time' away from distractions, though this is really needed for deep and creative thought. Hence, it is really relevant to the coaching process to focus on strategies that integrate reflection within the leader's daily routines or emphasize techniques like "active reflection" in real-time situations.

Coaching leaders listen and ask questions that help their teams to develop creative solutions, using questions like the miracle question to open up thinking, e.g. What if you woke up tomorrow and the problem had been solved, what would that look like? what would that feel like? Coaching leaders give feedback and feedward in a way that people feel safe putting their ideas forward, even when ideas don't work out.

This is why the latest Future of Jobs report from the World Economic Forum has ‘creative thinking’ and ‘analytical thinking’ as it’s top 2 essential skills for now and the future, out to 2027, ahead of tech, AI and big data. So why is all the focus on the last three and not the essential critical thinking capability? Leaders need to recognise and prioritise critical thinking as a key enabler and force multiplier - which will increase employee engagement (which is currently at an all time low) and ensure their organisation remains adaptive, innovative and resilient. The collective capability to enable this is called red teaming. It’s what you need when it’s business unusual.

One thing i like to consider at the beginning of processes like this is whether there's an opportunity for other members of the leaders team to become involved in the creative process and then this becomes more of a facilitation process by me rather than coaching only the leader, though coaching before and after can prove really useful to encourage and empower the leader to get the best out of their team.

In my personal experience, successful coach and client results are inevitable when you are a walking, talking example of your coaching and transformation style work itself. If you do not know how to activate and pull forward your own creativity to solve problems or create new transformations for yourself, how will you ever be able to create it with your clients? This is a staple piece of evidence that gets to be communicated in the enrolment process. Otherwise, as a person looking for a coach, do you really have evidence of the true potential of achieving the results you are looking for by working with the coach in front of you?