Leadership coach is more valuable than ever, particularly in this age of the Great Resignation. Leaders are ultimately responsible for engaging and retaining employees. Employees who feel cared for by leaders are 3.2x more likely to report being happy as well as 3.7x more likely to recommend their company to a friend, according to a large employee well-being survey. Employees at companies that struggle to help their managers, on the other hand, are 50% more likely to seek new employment.
When those figures are considered, it's no surprise that the 2022 LinkedIn Learning Report discovered that "leadership development" was by far the top priority for L&D professionals worldwide. A strong leadership coach can fundamentally improve your organisation, just as a great coach is often given credit for turning around an entire sports team.
What is Leadership Coaching?
The definition of Leadership Coaching is a skill that develops where a leader gets customised help from a coach to help them achieve a goal and develop into a more effective leader. When a leader possesses all of the technical excellence, knowledge, and resources required to achieve a desired outcome but is unable to make the difference they require or desire in the space in which they work, more training is frequently not the solution. A Leadership coach is much more personal and involved for leaders. Leadership coaching is "tailored to the individual," or a bespoke development process for leaders accomplished in collaboration with a coach.
The ultimate goal is simple: to assist someone in becoming a better leader. Coaching leaders is similar to coaching athletes. It assists people in improving across a wide range of ability levels. Even the best athletes rely on coaches to help them improve their skills and stay on top of their game.
Benefits of a Leadership Coach
Leadership studies show that it is more learnable and trainable than "innate" or something you are born with. That is one of the primary reasons why leadership coaching is so effective. An academic review that compiled a large amount of research on leadership coaching discovered that coaching consistently produced positive outcomes for both the organisation (such as increased profitability) and the individual (like measurable skill development and happiness).
Here are some of the advantages of a leadership coach:
Performance: As with athletes, the ultimate goal of a coach's assistance is to improve a leader's performance. Coaches assist employees in recognising their own strengths, weaknesses, and passions, and then applying this knowledge to improve the organisation's bottom line.
Expert viewpoint: Leadership coaches help leaders see their blind spots. Coaches are trained to notice the small habits that leaders develop that prevent them from progressing. Because coaches constantly interact with leaders and can recognise critical patterns, their outside perspective is even more valuable than that of a friend or coworker. Coaches are experts at detecting behavioural trends that, once brought to a leader's attention, serve as a performance accelerator, allowing them to improve quickly and dramatically.
Communication: Communication influences a leader's ability to build relationships, foster an inclusive environment, inspire, provide feedback, have difficult conversations, develop brilliant individuals reporting to them, and much more. Whatever the situation, leaders can begin to improve their strategy by soliciting feedback on their communication style and utilising training insights to expand their approach. Where can they draw on their natural communication abilities? Where do they need to improve?
Listening: Coaches can assist leaders in honing their listening skills by teaching them to listen actively and mindfully. Improved listening skills can assist leaders in developing and maintaining relationships, better understanding what those around them are thinking and feeling, as well as better supporting and fostering the growth of those on their team.
Emotional intelligence: It determines so much of a leader's success. Self-awareness skills assist them in better understanding how they appear to others, how they behave in various situations, and what their core values and beliefs are. Self-management abilities can assist them in remaining calm under pressure, managing stress, and regulating their actions to achieve the desired results. Social awareness skills can help people develop empathy and get to clearly understand the people around them better. Relationship management can assist them in developing, maintaining, and deepening relationships with a wide range of important people. Coaches can assist leaders in assessing and developing their emotional intelligence, allowing them to reap the benefits.
Growth Mindset: Growth Mindset Coaches can assist leaders in understanding that their abilities are not fixed. A Leadership Coach can also teach leaders how to reframe failures and mistakes as opportunities for growth. This mindset shift has the potential to fundamentally alter how leaders approach their work and perceive the world.
Different thoughts: A good coach should help a leader broaden their perspective and see alternative ways of thinking and doing things. They should assist them in deeply considering their values and beliefs, personal brand, and the kind of imprint they want to leave on the world. As a result, the leader should be more adaptable, purpose-driven, and creative.
Creating a ripple in the organisation: When a coach connects with a leader, he or she changes not only the leader, but also the leader's team, peers, and boss. Coaching leaders have a significant impact on an organisation's bottom line, as demonstrated by the study at the top of this section. Studies also show that leaders' emotions are particularly contagious to those around them, and that leaders who support their employees help them become more resilient, happy, and likely to stay.
About Shiv Khera
Shiv Khera is a self-help author and activist from India. While working in the United States, he was motivated by a Norman Vincent Peale lecture and followed his motivational teachings. Khera is the author of several books, including You Can Win. In India, he started a movement against caste-based reservation and established the Country First Foundation, whose mission is to "ensure freedom through education and justice." He also became the National President of a political party in India.
