Top to Bottom: Why Your Organization Needs a Leadership Coach

A Leadership Coach Brings Awareness

A couple of years ago I was coaching an up-and-coming leader in his company’s marketing department. He was hungry to grow but also carried a bit of a chip on his shoulder. Like any other session, we sat down and engaged in some small talk before I asked him what was on his mind. He proceeded to express some frustration with his senior leaders. He wanted a chance to prove himself but felt like his leaders were only assigning him very trivial tasks. Furthermore, because it was senior leadership, he thought he had to drop everything he was working on and prioritize these tasks. This meant that he had little time for larger projects or creative ideas he had to improve his department.

I asked him why he felt that he needed to move these small tasks to the top of his list. As we began to dive into this more, we discovered that in his eyes, completing something quickly meant he was competent and driven. So in finishing these tasks as fast as possible, he assumed it would reflect well to his leaders. Yet nothing changed of course, which is why he was particularly upset during this session.

As I probed a little further, I finally asked him:

“Have you ever considered that dropping everything to complete these tasks may give the impression that you have nothing better to do?”

The room went silent. I could tell looking at his face that he was deep in thought, so I gave him some space to sit in the silence. He then looked up with a flabbergasted look on his face and said, “No… I can’t believe I have never thought of that.” I love this story because it so deftly illustrates the value of coaching. With just a few good questions, he was able to uncover a limiting belief that was holding him back. He realized that his beliefs about success were actually contrary to his goals. In coaching circles, we would call this evoking awareness.

Every day leaders are going into work unaware of the inner beliefs, biases, and blind spots they carry, and how these are affecting the way they lead. Research from Tasha Eurich shows that 95% of people think they are self-aware, yet only 10-15% actually are. Then leaders get surprised when they encounter the same kinds of problems and reactions from people they work with. You can try to address this with training, but if you don’t understand your underlying beliefs, you will perpetuate unhealthy cycles of behavior. That is where coaching can be a game-changer for leaders and organizations.

What You Get From a Leadership Coach

Coaching can produce powerful stories like these because it brings a few unique things to the table:

1. An Agenda-free Space

Unlike mentoring or consulting, coaching begins from a belief that the client is whole, capable, and possesses the inner wisdom and resources they need to tackle their problems. Thus, a coach does not need to lead the conversation and can be completely neutral. We are not operating under the assumption that we know more than the client. This creates an atmosphere of empowerment where the coachee can take full ownership of their goals and challenges. From there the coach simply uses tools and techniques to help the coachee draw on their knowledge and expertise and also not get in their own way. It is so rare that we as human beings get this kind of agenda-free space in our lives which is why coaching can often be much more conducive to motivation than other forms of development. While a coach certainly can give advice and best practices, it is not the starting point. Rather than simply giving the client resources, we are training them to be resourceful.

2. Accountability

As you can imagine, more empowerment is also going to lead to greater accountability. Sometimes people assume that coaching is more “fluffy” and doesn’t promote tangible results. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Coaching often leads to greater progress on one’s goals than one could achieve on their own. This includes some of the following benefits:

• 80% of people who receive coaching report increased confidence

• 70% see improved work performance

• 86% of companies report recouping their investment in coaching and more

Accountability is a huge part of this. To start, simply having a regular meeting time every week or two creates space in one’s busy life to focus on their goals. We may have the best of intentions, but if we don’t reflect that in our calendars, it will be difficult to see results. Secondly, your coach can not only act as an accountability partner to remind you of your goals, but a coach will also possess the skills to help an individual create clarity around their desires and fears so they can achieve greater alignment and follow-through on their goals. This of course will lead to greater performance.

3. 3rd Party Perspective

I mentioned earlier that every day people come into the workplace unaware of their inner beliefs, biases, and blind spots. Furthermore, some of the issues can remain hidden or even get compounded by their work environment. We spend more time at work than anywhere else in our lives so it can be difficult to step outside the culture of our workplace and see things differently. That is where having a 3rd party perspective from someone outside your organization is invaluable. If you are being exposed constantly to the same kinds of problems and voices, you can miss easy solutions. One of the biggest points of feedback I hear from my clients is how much they appreciate being able to talk through their challenges with someone outside the company.

Leadership for Every Level of Your Organization

Frontline and Entry-Level Staff

Whether it be group coaching or workshops, a coach is great for helping build a common language and skillset in your organization around team behaviors. How do we want our people to treat each other, and what skills do they need to do this? Take this workshop I deliver for example on healthy conflict. Conflict is often a very uncomfortable topic for people to talk about and creates many issues in organizations because we don’t have the skills or system to properly deal with it. When I come in and do training or group coaching with a team, it gives a safe space to engage conflict, equips the team with skills to resolve it, and also clarifies expectations around conflict etiquette. This greatly increases the team’s confidence in dealing with conflicts. This is one of the best ways I can help frontline and entry-level staff in organizations.

Supervisors and Middle-Mangers

We have often heard, “People don’t leave organizations, they leave bad managers.” I believe there is a lot of truth in that. Despite that, my heart really goes out to managers. They are the only group in a company that has to deal with problems coming from above and below. Furthermore, they do not receive much support. That is why organizations must invest in their supervisors and middle managers. Similarly to frontline staff, workshops, and training can greatly benefit managers. However, 1:1 coaching is also a very powerful tool for their development.

Many people are promoted to management positions simply based on tenure or individual performance, yet they have no experience with leading people. Then they are thrust into this position and get completely overwhelmed. Leadership coaching can not only help managers learn the art of leading people, but it can also expose their limiting beliefs or insecurities that might be holding them back. Furthermore, because this group has touch points with almost everyone in an organization, you can see huge benefits from their growth including engagement, retention and bottom-line performance.

Executives and Senior Leaders

This group will benefit especially from coaching because they are often so busy, they do not have time to reflect on their leadership. Yet they are crucial for guiding the strategic direction of the company and possess the most power to affect large-scale change. So if a senior leader has deficiencies, it will have an exponential impact on the organization. Even if the team is growing or desiring to improve, they will constantly run into roadblocks if senior leadership is not going on that journey with them. I believe coaching is especially important for this group due to the increased need for casting vision, creative problem-solving, and the many stressors they are exposed to.

Need a Coach?

If you are interested in learning about how coaching can benefit your organization, I would love to have a conversation about how I can help. You can learn more about my coaching framework here. Furthermore, if you are ready to take the next step, go ahead a book a free Discovery Call with me. During our call, we will unpack your greatest challenges and goals and identify a program that helps you make more progress on these than you could on your own. Furthermore, as we have explored today, I offer a variety of solutions for every level of your organization, top to bottom!