Leader-as-coach

Fortune 100 companies buy into coaching programmes. Why? Because they experience the impact especially in relational systems. Curious? Read on...

In today's ever-evolving organisational landscape, the role of a manager and leader who adopts a coaching approach has become increasingly crucial.

Resonant leadership incorporates a coaching and communication approach to support individuals and teams. Picture a workplace where leaders not only direct their teams but also inspire and enable them to unleash their full potential by tapping into their innate wisdom. This wisdom often lies dormant due to various factors like unconscious beliefs, lack of confidence, or being outside of one's comfort zone.

Supporting individuals to unlock their potential lies at the core of a leader who regularly adopts a coaching approach as a means of developing team members and fostering growth. By embracing a coaching mindset, leaders cultivate a culture of continuous learning, collaboration, and advancement.

Transitioning into a leader as coach, or as the Association for Coaching International says, a leader-coach, presents both advantages and challenges:

Impactful Teams: Coaching encourages teams to take ownership, responsibility, and accountability for their work and development. By enabling them to discover their own solutions and set their own results, leaders cultivate increased motivation, autonomy, innovation, more agility, shared accountability, and ownership within the team.

Enhanced Communication: Coaching emphasises active listening and open-ended questioning, leading to better communication between leaders and team members. This fosters clarity, understanding, diverse perspectives, and stronger relationships.

Improved Performance and more importantly Impact: Through coaching, leaders can identify strengths and areas for improvement in team members. By offering targeted feedback, support, and guidance, leaders help individuals unlock their full potential and achieve higher performance levels.

Elevated Leadership: Embracing a coaching approach encourages leaders to develop essential skills such as empathy, emotional intelligence, and adaptability. This not only enhances their effectiveness but also supports the growth and development of their team members.

Value Aligned Culture: A coaching culture promotes trust, respect, and collaboration within the organisation. When leaders demonstrate a commitment to coaching, it signals to employees that their growth and development are valued, leading to increased engagement and satisfaction.

Increased Retention and Engagement: Regular coaching makes employees feel supported, valued, and invested in their personal and professional development. This can result in higher job satisfaction, lower turnover rates, and increased engagement.

Challenges:

Perceived lack of Time: Coaching demands dedicated time and effort from both leaders and team members. Balancing coaching activities with other responsibilities may pose time constraints and competing priorities.

Change aversion: Some leaders may resist adopting a coaching approach due to ingrained leadership styles or organisational cultures favouring directive leadership. Overcoming this resistance may require strong leadership support and cultural transformation efforts.

Measuring Impact: Evaluating the impact of coaching on individual and organisational performance can be challenging. Establishing clear metrics for assessing coaching effectiveness, especially without immediate tangible results, can pose difficulties.

Navigating Power Dynamics: In hierarchical organisations, leaders adopting a coaching approach must navigate complex power dynamics and strike a balance between coaching and directive leadership. Sensitivity, self-awareness, and adaptability are crucial in such situations.

Psychological Safety: Coaching often involves sensitive discussions about personal and professional challenges. Leaders must establish trust and confidentiality with team members to foster a safe space for open dialogue. Building and maintaining trust can be challenging, particularly in environments where trust may be lacking.

Despite these challenges, the benefits of a coaching approach to leadership—such as enabling teams, enhancing communication, improving performance, and fostering a positive organisational culture—far outweigh the obstacles. With commitment, support, and ongoing development, leaders can successfully integrate coaching into their leadership style and drive meaningful, long-term sustainable change within their teams and organisations.

As organisations navigate complex challenges and embrace digital transformation, the need for leaders equipped with coaching skills has never been more pressing. Brave leaders willing to embrace a coaching approach are the ones who can positively impact their teams, their organisation, and the wider world.

Meet Susan:

Imagine Susan, a team leader, attending a coach training programme. Inspired by what she learned, she starts using coaching techniques with her team. Instead of simply delegating tasks, she asks open-ended questions that encourage her team members to reflect and come up with their own solutions. This approach improves communication within the team, fosters creativity, and enhances problem-solving skills. Susan's team becomes more motivated, collaborative, and productive, leading to tangible improvements in their project outcomes.

We are inundated with queries for internal ICF accredited coaching programmes in organisations, which clearly shows that a coaching culture is valued and recognised - there is a clear business case for coaching internally and with external experienced professional coaches.

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