Many managers I come across often ask me how effective coaching can be in today’s business environment. You can find the data further down in this article. Suffice to say leadership coaching is a highly effective tool if you or your organisation wants to see improved performance. To explore this more with some examples here are 5 ways that leadership coaching can help you further your career and improve your performance.
1. Personal Career Progression
A Leadership coach can work alongside you to help you define and develop your professional goals. They can work with you through: Career Transition – Performance Management – Career Progression – Personal Challenges. Spending time exploring these key areas in this way can give you insight and greatly enhance your strategic thinking, helping you come up with ideas that you may not have previously considered.
2. Enhance Your Emotional Intelligence
All successful leaders require good emotional intelligence. Experience, knowledge, and leadership skills are all important. However, leaders also need to be able to inspire, empathise and influence a team. Leadership coaches can support individuals with developing their emotional intelligence in order to be a highly effective manager.
3. Conflict Resolution
It’s lonely at the top and you need someone to talk to who understands. When dealing with conflicts, a coach can help you work out how best to deal with a difficult situation. They can act as a great impartial sounding board. With their support, they can give you ideas on how to handle the situation in the best way.
4. Identify Personal Areas for Improvement
Leadership coaching like this can help you identify any issues that may be holding you back. You may be feeling overwhelmed or unsure which direction to go in next. Exploring this can help you come up with that elusive answer. Many of us are guilty of self-sabotage, or engaging in derailing. You may not even be conscious you are doing it. A trained professional can highlight areas for self improvement by assessing your existing skill set.
5. Be a Better Overall Leader
Leadership coaching can help you realise your full leadership potential. Those people who get the most from training are those who are the most determined to learn and grow. During leadership and executive coaching you are encouraged to step back, reflect and continue in your career with greater self-awareness and overall impact.
Just How Important is Leadership Coaching?
In a survey carried out by Manchester Inc. they tested 100 of its executives. It was found that executive coaching gave an average return on investment of six times the cost of the coaching. In addition, Hay Group carried out a similar study of Fortune 500 companies. They discovered that executive coaching is used by approximately 21% to 40% and that coaching was used as a standard leadership development tool for elite executives and other high achievers.
The benefits of leadership and executive coaching can be found company-wide and can greatly improve how well an overall business performs. It’s a worthwhile investment and one that all businesses should take note of.
Best wishes,
Julia
