“Oh, I can tell you everything there is to know about coaching”, I was told early on in my independent practice. We were at a networking event for professionals. The person telling me he knew so much may have heard a lot about the topic … but to be honest, he didn’t appear to have been listening.
You see, he was behaving throughout the event as if the event was for his personal benefit. He was networking for what he could take from the event and attendees, not how he could work with anyone or even help anyone. If any professionally-trained and qualified leadership coach had ever encouraged him to be so self-absorbed, I would hope they would resign from the professional registers! Not only were his personal behaviours less than ideal, but he was damaging his brand and his business changes with every word. He was not reflecting on his impact, only on his goal.
Coaching will encourage self-reflection, first of all. It works in a landscape defined by honesty, truth and courage. Being coached isn’t easy at first, particularly for busy people who rarely allow themselves time to stop and think about how and for what and whom they work so hard. Many of my clients define their coaching as invaluable “me-time”. Yet this isn’t them being selfish. Far from it. It is, in my experience, evidence that these leaders have been so busy putting people’s interests before their own, that they prize the opportunity to have time to simply stop, think and consider.
Coaching works. It works on different levels, for different people. For leaders, coaching offers crucial time to “put their foot on the brake” and reflect on their actions and impact. Leaders are measured by the impact they make. This is often lost to the leaders themselves in the hurly-burly of everyday business. So an hour with a supportive coach, gently exploring impact and the difference the leader has made, can be important. For some, it can be revelatory!
How Coaching helps a leader
Coaching offers a range of really helpful and positive opportunities for leaders to:-
- understand themselves and their world better
- use a quiet, safe space in a busy schedule to think clearly
- remember their strengths and helps them use them more fully
- explore the opportunities that they have open to them
- focus purposefully on a key goal
- organise their thoughts and actions, to achieve the impact they seek
- re-enter the workplace with renewed purpose, vision and vigour.
Coaching will help the leader think deeply and honestly about what they want to achieve, and the way that they can achieve this to make the best impact possible. This isn’t personal impact necessarily, but the most “win-win” beneficial outcome possible. For some of my clients, they really have “reset their minds” as a result of the reflective practice they have undertaken.
Coaching also offers the time and intellectual and emotional space to consider and revisit value systems, beliefs and motivators. Keeping these refreshed and relevant are crucial to successful leadership.
Experts say …
I don’t expect you to simply take my word for it. After all, as a leader, your time is your money and that is best used for the business, or the family … but why not best used to hone your own leadership craft? Steve Jobs knew a thing or two about innovation, including in leading a successful corporation. His former coach, John Mattone, states:
“Successful executives don’t invest in coaching, they invest in results”
And that’s the key. Coaching frees leaders to think afresh about their work challenges (maybe even their life challenges) and to find new solutions which achieve the results they want. This meets Peter Drucker’s test of leadership – it isn’t about popularity, it’s about results. Although these days that tough-guy approach to leadership is thankfully on the wane, outcomes and delivery to or above target are still at the core of successful leadership.
Academic studies into the efficacy of leadership coaching are still too thin on the ground for my taste. However, a recent and widely cited article* in International Coaching Psychology Review makes a powerful argument in favour of coaching, to bolster leadership behaviours and survival. In the research, leaders reported that coaching helped in five ways:
- It helped them reclaim their self-belief,
- it contributed to their learning,
- it helped them see wider perspectives,
- it provided a supportive relationship, and
- it gave them that all-important thinking space.
So, the list I put together earlier in this article really does match that of independently-verified research.
Another aspect, where my experience matches that of the article’s research findings, is that leaders often came to coaching as the result of facing a challenge. Whether they like it or not, this means that my clients are seeking some form of support and learning in relation to their workplace challenge. Often this involves resilience in change (one of my specialist areas) or simply a need for refreshed self-awareness and leadership skills.
One of the key aspects of this, often implicit, need for support is that having a trusted partner to accompany/support them on their pursuit of their goal (or “journey” if that doesn’t upset you). That’s what the good coach does – walk alongside, neither behind nor in front. Having that trusted partner to share confidential concerns lightens the burden and frees the leader’s mind to focus on solutions.
You may have read this, and thought “I could use some of that support”. Great! That’s the first all-important step – acknowledge the need to act. Next step? ACT! To find out more about the benefit that coaching will bring to your leadership, simply get in touch. Let’s get you started ….
* Lawton Smith, C. (2015). ‘How coaching helps leadership resilience: The leadership perspective’, International Coaching Psychology Review, Vol.10 No. 1, pp. 6-19. ISSN: 1750-2764 .