Over the past year we have been supporting managers & leaders to manage their employees and teams through some very challenging and uncertain times. We have encountered numerous situations where a manager/team lead or supervisor has become overwhelmed with the additional demands brought on by the COVID-19 remote working. The ability to motivate and influence others to take action is a fundamental component of effective team leadership. To influence effectively, the leader must be skilful at getting their opinions and ideas heard, recognised and considered by others. If you are leading a remote or a hybrid team thorough communication may be more difficult to achieve due to distance, external and internal pressures. Influencing others is a continuous process that is dependent on keen emotional intelligence, excellent communication, and fine-tuned people skills.
Why Choose Leadership Coaching?
There are times when leaders themselves are faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges and the answer isn’t always within their team or even within the organisation. Leadership coaching is an invaluable means of recharging the battery and gaining new perspectives from an impartial professional. Here at New Links Training we use the analogy of the oxygen mask on a plane – if the plane is in difficulty and you need to help others you must first ensure that you have your own oxygen mask firmly in place. Once you are set up then you can begin helping others. Leadership Coaching follows the same principle – it provides the leader with a space to focus on their own development at times where new skills or a reset is needed.
The professional benefits of coaching are wide-ranging as coaching sessions tend to be dynamic and forward facing. Coaching has the potential to positively impact an individual’s management/leadership style, workplace relationships, problem solving and ability to manage conflict and indeed navigate uncertainty. The benefits of a coaching intervention can also enhance your life on a personal level. Leadership coaching has been known to increase confidence, decrease stress, improve work relationships, and enhance professional communication skills.
Here are 7 ways in which Leadership Coaching will work for you:
- Situational Audit/Assessment
The first step our expert coach will take you through is an audit of your current situation. This is a very important step as currently many leaders are feeling the effects of ‘Pandemic Fatigue’. When we are fatigued it is very difficult to ‘see the forest for the trees’ as the old saying goes. I have written an earlier blog on ‘pandemic fatigue’ you can view it here https://is.gd/4VMeA4 . A situational assessment helps to provide clarity context, and direction for the remainder of the coaching intervention. This opens the door for the next step in your Leadership Coaching journey
2. Focused Goalsetting
Leadership Coaching gives the individual an opportunity to define their short and long term goals in a realistic way. With the support of a coach, leaders can identify a range of focused goals that will enable them to approach their work in a confident and purposeful manner. By actively focusing on a small number of clearly defined goals there will be an increased likelihood of achieving a successful outcome. It is common for goals to focus on some or all of the following key areas:
Upskilling or refining a skillset
Professional Behaviour
Workplace Communications
Read my recent blog on SMART goalsetting here https://is.gd/FUioYy
3. Leadership Coaching Helps you to Gain Perspective in a Safe and Impartial Setting.
Our coaching clients tell us that they appreciate the value of having a safe space to discuss sensitive issues. Coaches are highly skilled in the art of active listening and are 100% impartial as a result of having zero involvement in the client’s work or personal life. There are many situations where a leader would feel intimidated by the thought of exposing their ‘pressure points’ within their own organisation or team. Trust, privacy and confidentiality are paramount in the coaching relationship.
4. Leadership Coaching Helps to Increase Your Personal & Professional Awareness
Vernon Law a famous baseball player in the 1950s & 60s once said “Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward”. Coaching provides the platform to examine your experiences and develop new insights and perspectives. Perhaps one of the most important functions of Leadership Coaching is when the coach helps the client to examine their ‘blind spots’; we all have them… I call them ‘Gremlins’. Regardless of what we call them they are the habits, rituals or shortcomings that are guaranteed to get in the way of our progress when we least expect. Once the client has identified their blind spots they can work with the coach on a self-improvement plan. We have found that EQI assessments are a great way to build personal awareness; these assessments are easily administered online and the coach takes the client through their results during the coaching session. For more information on our EQI assessments visit https://is.gd/XYIEd
5. Leadership Coaching Offers a Deeper Level of Learning
Leadership coaching takes the client to a deeper level of development by providing them with tools, resources and inventories that will support their development long after the coaching intervention has ceased. Our coaches’ choose bespoke resources and reading materials that will support your growth into the future. Through this process leaders will learn more about themselves, discover how they are perceived by others, and identify areas of their personalities that they see as developmental opportunities. Coaching is about empowering the client to test and apply new or refined skillsets in unfamiliar situations under the direction and watchful eye of their coach.
6. Support & Accountability
Having support for improving skills can be extremely beneficial to a leader. Very often the mere feeling of knowing that support is there for you can be a major success factor. Accountability is also a significant feature of leadership coaching. In the words of Bob Proctor “Accountability is the glue that ties commitment to the results.” Experienced coaches are very skilful in acting as the ‘guide on the side’ gently coaxing and encouraging the client towards achievement of their goals.
7. Time out for you!
Finally, leadership coaching affords you time and space to take care of yourself and to gain new and valuable perspectives about you, your work and how you interact with others. A one-hour coaching session once a fortnight or once a month is a small investment in yourself. Leaders can often find themselves enmeshed in an unproductive cycle of day to day hassles and/or complex people management. If this cycle is left unchecked it can result in fatigue, firefighting and lack of vision, energy or motivation.
Here’s what a recent client had to say about our leadership coaching:
“The leadership coaching sessions really helped me to gain perspective on my work. Things were difficult managing a remote team throughout COVID-19 and the situational analysis really helped me to drill down and identify goals for myself and my team. This is my first time doing anything like this and I highly recommend it to managers and leaders who need a little nudge in the right direction. One of the best things for me was having an hour out during my work day to focus on me!!!!! I never imagined how effective leadership coaching could be. It was brilliant the way the coach kept me on track when I was shaky in my commitment- this is really paying off now & thanks a million to my coach for ‘holding me accountable’ at a time when I really needed support“
Josh B. (Pharma Professional) 2021
What next?
Our individual one to one coaching sessions provides managers, supervisors and team leaders the opportunity to sharpen and refine their communication and leadership skills in a safe, constructive, challenging and confidential environment. If you would like to learn more about our leadership coaching sessions get in touch by:
Email: info@newlinkstraining.com or visit our Website: www.newlinkstraining.com
Download our Brochure: https://is.gd/Kkh6Qf
Social Media: Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, and Instagram.
Janet Tumulty 20.4.21