What is the relationship between leadership and coaching?
Jeanine Bailey ICF MCC Exec Coach, EMCC ESIA Coach Supervisor
Supporting coaches, leaders and leaders who coach to live inspired lives aligned with their heart, mind, passion & purpose
The world is calling out for leaders who inspire and empower others to discover and live their highest potential.
Whether you’re a coach, a CEO, a leader of a team, a parent… whatever roles you have in your life… becoming a better leader will transform your experiences, results and the influence you desire to bring to the world.
As leadership expert John Maxwell says: "True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned. It comes only from influence, and that cannot be mandated. It must be earned.”
You might ask: how can I enhance my leadership skills or be more effective as a leader... or how can I become the leader I aspire to be?
There are many responses to this question. At Empower World, we have coached and trained thousands of leaders across the globe, as well as been coached and trained ourselves in the powerful skills of communication and relationship building, we recognise the power of both ways of being supported as a leader.?
Being coached and being trained to coach others are powerful and transformational ways to bring out the best in people.?
In fact, many of our clients have chosen to do both (be coached and learn the skills of coaching) as they understand the?power of?experiencing the deep dive of coaching to?understand who they really are and what they truly want to experience. They also understand utilising these skills can?support their?desire to empower others by building trust and rapport, strong relationships and?effective communication.
Below we share some key aspects of leadership and how being coached or learning the skills of coaching can support you to enhance your leadership brand and skills even more.
1. Knowing who You are as a leader
True leadership begins inside self first and foremost: from the heart, mind, body and soul of a person. It's knowing what you stand for, what your purpose is, what your values are and how you live, breathe, embody and demonstrate those qualities and attributes second to second.?
It's difficult to lead others when you don't truly know who you are. Coaching or learning the skills of coaching supports you to go on that journey of self discovery. It supports the identification of what is truly important to you so you can live authentically and articulate your truth and find your way forward even in the most challenging of circumstances. You understand what really matters and where you will and won't go... and importantly?where you are now and where you want to go.
One of the most valuable skills and traits you develop when you study coaching or be coached is to be authentic, brave and vulnerable at the same time. This also means you can ask for feedback and then be open to listening to it, in all its shapes and forms to identify your personal areas of development.
What is your leadership brand??
2. Building trusted relationships
"Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships," says leadership expert Stephen Covey.
Part of a leader's success will be down to the relationships they build with. The people?who?are part of their circle of influence and who will be part of their journey of success and fulfilment.?
And it's more than just knowing which relationships you want to nurture; it's how you create and build trust.?
Coaching supports leaders to understand how to create safe places to connect and have courageous conversations for the benefit of all impacted by the?relationships and conversations.?
By being coached or learning these powerful?skills of?communicating and empowering others, you learn how to listen deeply, provide effective feedback and ask thought provoking questions in a trusting space, which?supports your own and other's?personal growth and achievement of goals.
What is the quality of your personal relationships??
3. Strengthening Intuition?
Leaders who tap into their intuition can sense beyond the facts and potentially foresee what is possible or what might be a challenge. It's a powerful skill and can support leaders with effective decision making.?
It can come through as a gut feeling or a sense of something or an image. And not everyone trusts or believes in their intuition. It can be developed to become a guiding force in decision making, especially navigating challenging situations or when considering new decisions.
Coaching is both art and science. It is based on science of human behaviour and how the mind works and it incorporates the art of presence and listening to intuition for all parties involved in the coaching to support behavioural change.?
How often do you tap into your intuition??
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4. Enhancing Emotional Intelligence?
Effective leadership also requires the leader to develop their emotional intelligence. This means having an ability to regulate and to tap into your emotions and understand how your emotions can guide your way forward. We say emotions are like our compass by letting us know if we are on track or off track with our aspirations, authenticity and values.?
And if you recognise you are off track, by taking a moment to breathe and get curious about your?emotions to find out what is creating them can serve you to find out what values are potentially being dishonoured or squashed? And ask yourself what needs to shift?
And if you are still puzzled, seek the support of a mentor, colleague, a line manager, trusted friend, or a coach to support you to create a shift in mindset or actions or being, to create the kind of emotions you want to experience much more consistently.
When do you reflect upon your emotions to support you with making decisions??
5. Empowering others?
The experts say empowering and effective leadership is about supporting the people you?lead to tap into their resourcefulness, creativity, skills and wisdom... and importantly?foster team members to take responsibility for their experiences and outcomes.
Coaching skills training supports leaders to empower their people by using their skills of deep listening, listening to intuition, providing feedback and asking empowering questions to open up possibilities, new trains of thoughts, ideas and experiences.
This is where coaching skills - which are seen today by many organisations and leaders - as a vital part of a leader's skill set?which can support you to take your leadership abilities to a new and influential level and can also bring out the leader in others.
How effective are you in empowering others to take responsibility for themselves and their outcomes?
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These are some ways as to how coaching and leadership are so deeply interlinked.?
Give yourself the opportunity to reflect about how effective you are as a leader in any area of your life by asking yourself:
Are my followers equipped to do their part and can they provide me with feedback if they are off track?
If you answered no to any of these questions, seeking support from a trusted source - including a coach - can assist you to find your way forward: determine who you want to be as a leader and how to be even more effective when leading others.
If you want to find out more about the link between leadership and coaching, listen to the following podcast?Empower World's Coaching and Leadership Podcast Episode 174 here.
We believe, to be truly effective as a leader is very interlinked with coaching. The ability to be coached, coach others and coach self can create deep and powerful connections to self and others which leads to empowering behavioural transformation.
Episode-174 can be found here:?????
Direct Link:??https://bit.ly/3F4Id2U
YouTube:?????https://youtu.be/r5V6yEWvomo
Stitcher:??????https://bit.ly/st-podcast-episode-174
Spotify:??????https://spoti.fi/322bHjN
iTunes:???????https://bit.ly/EW-Podcast-iTune