Leader as Coach

Why I believe every Leader shall be a Coach?

"With great power, comes great responsibility" - Spiderman

How are you discharging your responsibility as a leader?

Who all are you responsible towards?

We had our virtual mentor coaching session last week. Where I and Pooja (my colleague) mentor the coaches.. Some of the leaders joined in from their workplace and shared that they were in office and might not be fully available. However, something kept all of them fully engrossed and engaged in the session. Most of them have gone through three or more modules from our transformational leadership coaching program. I chose to start the session with this question- What is your one sparkling moment as a coach?

We buddied them up to process their thoughts and feelings in a speed date format to share their sparkling moment. When they came back after 10 minutes of multiple rounds of sharing. I asked what happened as a result of this exercise?

They said it allowed them to reflect, pause, share and get more connected to their cause.

One of the experienced consultants Anuj (name changed) shared that he realized how the sparkling moments of his Coachee become his sparkling moments. When they fetch their Aha moments, they smile as if they have found a hidden treasure or they end up achieving their goals.

Another woman leader who I coach and mentor, Roza (name changed) was beaming with gratitude. She shared that since she had recently joined the current organization and her work profile is new too. She said her team members approached her after a team meeting and expressed how happy they are with her leadership approach. They said they finally have a leader who listens to them and seek to understand them. Roza was not being well physically that day, however this feedback charged her up and she found that sparkle in her eyes!

Another leader Sunil (name changed), who is Learning and Development head from a Multi National FMCG. He shared that he experimented by starting to coach a few low performers and results are astonishing. Also, that he is enjoying being a Leader as a Coach as he has transformed while he is transforming others through this newly acquired skill set.

What left me wondering was the power of questioning and listening. The simple question proved to be so impactful, that everyone came alive. And if we see the answers they gave, could very well fuel their purpose for being a 'Leader as a coach'. We all have worked with leaders who listen well, question selflessly and raise awareness for self and others. On the other hand, we would have had leaders who control, who always have an answer, and who don't clarify assumptions.

And thereafter we deep dived into the ICF competencies. Pooja asked the questions that demystified a lot of grey areas and helped them build a repository of best practices for being a leader as a coach or an external coach. That I shall share in our group mentoring blog series soon.

The point that I wish to make is that, leaders don't just build work cultures but also have the power to build their people's families culture and in turn overall society's culture. How a leader treat their people at work, also goes to their people's dinner tables, living rooms and bedrooms. Then that just doesn't transmit on the head and heart of their people but feeds everyone attached to their people at home too. Hence, a leader has the power to transform how people think, feel, act and perform not just at work but also lead their lives at home.

Before going to bed, with folded hands and a warm glow in my heart, I had to express my gratitude to God, for another sparkling session that reinforced my purpose. Should you wish to learn or share this programs' info that is transforming the way leaders lead, do business and are impacting the society, then you may visit this page www.deepahujasharma.com/program.

I can very well say that, one of my missions is to enable as many leaders as possible to integrate coaching style in their leadership. As better leaders make a better world!

We at TPC Leadership (www.tpcleadership.com), run this as an open program also develop internal coaches by running this in house within organizations.