Coaching is good for you.
Think back to the people in your life who you've advised, whose potential you've recognized, and whose talents you've used to help you discover and shape your own.
Didn't that process feel good?
Businesses today are investing significantly in developing leadership and management talent, and leader coaching is increasingly becoming a core component of development programs. If you are making decisions about how to leverage coaching for leader development, there are lots of variables to consider. And there is a lot at stake – what leaders learn and achieve through a leader development program can impact hundreds, perhaps thousands of others in your organization.
Today, most leader coaching is targeted at developing the capabilities of high-potential performers. Having built leadership coaching programs in two organizations, and being a practicing executive coach, I want to share some observations and advice with those responsible for facilitating leader developing programs, specifically around selecting and using coaches.
Leaders serve in many roles. Yes, they must do the mundane but necessary chores of managing assets and balance sheets, but their most important work is to inspire others. And that involves the leader serving as a teacher, as a mentor, and as a coach.
Often we know how to teach others. And we routinely provide mentoring by setting an example and being available to nurture those around us. In my experience in industry, though, I have found the coaching piece to be the most difficult role for leaders to assume.