How to coach a party leader?

Silverstone Communications and Integrity Executive Coaching wanted to share our take on each of the three main political party leaders from a coaching perspective.? For each party leader we share our high-level thoughts, considering their leadership blind spots their leadership abilities and the areas we think they need to watch out for during the campaign process that could trip them up.

Why have we decided to look at each leader through a coaching lens? ?

For those who have yet to experience it, coaching is an approach aimed at generating awareness, insight and options for alternative ways of thinking, feeling, and acting, to achieve better outcomes. ?

Many great global leaders have coaches.? Being a leader is a tough job and it is a lonely job. The people one can turn to for honest support and good counsel become fewer and fewer the higher and further a leader progresses in their leadership career. There is no blueprint for doing the job well, and there is no one else in that exact same role that can tell a leader exactly what to do and how to do it.?

The philosophy of coaching

Coaching is based on trust and mutual respect between the coach and their client.? Whilst there are many different types of coaches adopting many different styles of coaching, the philosophy of coaching is that the client is the expert in their unique set of circumstances, and the coach is the expert in the practice of being a coach.? Using tried and tested coaching tools and techniques, the role of the coach is to create a trusted space to enable the client to generate solutions to the specific challenges they encounter.? This approach gets the best outcomes for the client and also for the context (company or organisation) in which the client is operating in.

If that “client” is the leader of a political party and also the Prime Minister, those outcomes affect us all.

Our role as voters

So how can we bring this coaching philosophy of mutual respect, trust and expertise to bear when we consider each party leader, and critically, consider the policies and ideals of each party, with the votes we make on election day?

As a voter, I want to trust my political leaders for doing the best with what they have got and in return, I want my political leaders to trust me to turn up on the day and make the right voting choice based on having being provided with the right information.?

The meaning of democracy

We live in a democracy, it is a privilege, and it is also a challenge.? In a democracy with the population of the UK being almost 70 million, there is no solution that will ever satisfy the entire UK electorate.

So which things do we need our leaders to be aware of as we approach election day, and which things do we as voters also need to know, so that we achieve an optimum outcome that upholds the values and merits of democracy?

In case you missed the release of these bios last week, you can access them here:

Sir Ed Davey, Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak

Concluding remarks

To each party leader

A final note to each party leader; treat your voters with respect and give us the facts. Explain the context and the rationale for key decisions and give us the information we need so we can understand the implications and impacts.? Tell us why something must be done, and tell us what will happen if it doesn’t get done.? Set and manage our expectations and follow through on your promises so that we trust you and support you.

For the voters

And for us as readers and voters, one of the underpinning principles for certain types of coaching is to recognise the positive intention behind an action, even when it is an action we do not like, or that may even hurt us in some way.? Can we have more appreciation for the difficult decisions that must be taken, recognise the imperfection of a human-leader and accept that our democracy is built on individual choice and with that choice, come responsibilities as well as rights.

In a democracy responsible for almost 70 million people, sometimes the least worst is the best and only outcome.? How can we enter into more constructive negotiation, understand and celebrate diversity of thought, navigate conflict with mutual respect and embrace compromise to achieve optimal outcomes?

And with that, during the campaign season, can we ask some better questions of the party leaders that generate better answers and better solutions for us all?

You are welcome to share fare and wide and do comment with your thoughts, we love to hear them!

#generalelection #primeminister #leadership #politics