The latest research study from Sounding Board Inc. and Chief Learning Officer revealed that 67% of respondents believed that leadership coaching increased employee engagement and satisfaction, 60% said it improved employees' perceptions of the quality of leadership, 54% felt that it improved leadership bench strength and 50% said it improved productivity. But what exactly is a leadership coach?
A leadership coach is a professional, experienced instructor who teaches, guides and supports business leaders on a journey to achieving personal and professional growth. They develop leadership skills by identifying strengths and weaknesses and then coaching the individuals in the areas that are lacking.
Leadership coaching offers these important benefits:
Psychological safety is having the belief that you won’t be punished or humiliated in the workplace for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. This creates the right environment for people to lead themselves, their teams, and organisations fearlessly, with passion and purpose. If you want your team to engage in the purpose of your company, and the mission of the team, psychological safety in the workplace is key.
It is not always possible to find an experienced and skilled leader to steer the ship. You may find yourself as a business owner in a position where you may have to give a promising employee the opportunity to take on a leadership role for the first time. This employee may not feel confident enough to lead will vision and experience. A leadership coach can partner with them to make sure they learn essential leadership skills. This at a time when the other leaders in your business may not have the capacity to support the new leader. It also helps them to hit the ground running.
You may have a leader who has vision but lacks in formulating business strategy and goals. Or, you could have a leader who is excellent with administration but lacks vision and confidence. A leadership coach will help you assess the business acumen of your leaders. Once assessed, a programme can be developed to build up the areas that are lacking, nurturing a well-rounded team of leaders who have strength in all aspects of leadership.
If a leader in your business has a comprehensive understanding of what the role entails, he or she can go forth with confidence. A leader must have the confidence to lead effectively. They also need the confidence to bring subordinates in line when they are not fulfilling their roles and responsibilities. This can be difficult to do if the leader is not equipped to deal with conflict in the workplace. A leadership coach will build confidence in a leader because they know that they are dealing with subordinates in a professional manner.
When someone has been a leader for many years, they may need fresh insight into the role so that they don’t simply continue to do things the way they were always done in the past. A leadership coach can provide new leadership trends, insights and impactful research to take seasoned leaders to a new level. This could lead your business on to a new trajectory of success.
A leadership coach can motivate new and seasoned leaders to explore new business strategies, experiment with different leadership techniques, learn new ways to motivate and lead employees, innovate and encourage an overall positive change within your business.
This is key if you want your teams to work well together. If the boundaries are clearly defined and managed with precision, you will experience less conflict in your workplace. Conflict can divide a team and cause time delays in achieving the vision and formulating successful strategies.
If you feel your company or your team could work better together and is lacking in psychological safety you can contact
Zen PeopleInsights for professional support.
Book your appointment if you’d like to set up a consultation or try the Fearless Organisation Scan with your team or organisation, a helpful tool to
assess the level of psychological safety in your teams.