The world is evolving rapidly today and presenting greater challenges than ever to business leaders, underlining the necessity to provide strong but flexible leadership to help the business to navigate challenges. Leaders not only need to be outstanding individuals but also need to develop specific competencies that enable the business to succeed. This is where coaching for leadership development comes into play to facilitate individual growth and strengthen leadership skills, transform the performance of top management and drive organisational achievement.
Coaching is a Process
Coaching is not about giving instructions or attending a lesson in a classroom, instead, it is a customised process to help the coachee to achieve a specific purpose in a defined period. Coaching for executives often takes the form of a conversation and is conducted on a one-to-one basis.
Leadership development through coaching is a journey that helps the business leaders to improve self-awareness and personal impact, build one’s capability to transform leadership and team culture to achieve an organisation’s goals. Rather than proposing a solution or a way to tackle challenges, the coach works in partnership with the leaders to motivate, challenge and inspire them to explore and utilise their full potential and generate solutions from within.
A well-established coaching program should start with a scenario analysis with an appreciation of the targeted objectives. The coach needs to discuss the assessment results with the leader to confirm goals for the coaching program and work with the executive to define the action plan and the success factors. The coach should meet the executive at regular intervals to track progress against goals and course correct where necessary, and the engagement will carry on throughout and beyond the program to ensure learnings are fully translated into practice and sustained for future success.
Benefits and Applications of Coaching
As a development tool, coaching helps to shape and strengthen leadership competencies. It enables executives to improve their self-awareness, empathy, listening and interpersonal skills, which facilitates better communication and improves the team’s overall performance. It also helps to widen executives’ leadership styles, build resilient and productive relationships and instil a collaborative team culture at work. Furthermore, leadership coaching offers an insightful analysis of the company’s challenges and inspires problem-solving with new viewpoints and strategies. Also, reports show that organisations who invest in coaching for their leaders often experience a significant return on investment.
Coaching for leadership development is a critical development strategy, it empowers executives to adopt organisational transformation swiftly and competently and enables organisations to embrace and thrive in changes. Leadership coaching is best applied to engage and retain valued leaders, warrant alignment with the organisation’s overall strategy, prepare prospective candidates for the succession of leadership roles, and onboard an executive to a new role or adjust to a new culture. Coaching provides a ‘safe’ environment and a personal experience where the coach provides external help for the leaders to achieve their objectives.
The Right Coach
Coaching for leadership development is a relationship focussed process, for maximum impact and optimised results, there must be strong alignment between the coach and the coachee. It is important that the coachee is motivated and committed to the coaching program, and the right coach is selected.
A good leadership coach should demonstrate relevant experience and an evidence-based approach in developing performance and measuring successful outcomes, show a genuine interest in the coachee and take time to understand the coachee’s organisational dynamics and business challenges. The coach should be able to raise probing questions to validate and challenge the coachee’s performance. He/she should be collaborative, motivational, energetic and inspiring, and a good fit with the executive’s style.
When the ‘chemistry’ is right between the coach and coachee and both parties work together, coaching can deliver extraordinary outcomes, uplifting behavioural competencies that drive business results and improving job satisfaction, engagement and work relationships.
Conclusion
Leadership coaching is an important strategy to foster the capabilities and effectiveness of executives and secure the future of their organisation. It is not an instructional course but a collaborative process to equip leaders with the relevant skills, approach and influence needed for successful execution. The fit between the coach and coachee is pertinent to the success of the coaching engagement, the right coach helps to establish trust and collaboration and warrant the overall achievement of the coaching program.
In a constantly evolving business environment, coaching offers a unique opportunity for organisations to develop robust leadership and resiliency to adapt quickly. Our extensive range of coaching solutions offers leaders the opportunity to explore their leadership styles and gain new insight into successful leadership to ensure their interventions are high-impact. Get in touch today to discuss how we help senior leaders to achieve greater levels of efficiency and effectiveness.
