By Salina Williams, Senior Consultant
Why does leadership development matter more than ever before?
With the rapid growth of technology and the rise of remote work, managing teams has become significantly more complex. Leaders of today and tomorrow need to adapt, be flexible and innovative, and leverage new tools and strategies to keep their teams productive and motivated. Effective leadership is a key factor in driving productivity, ultimately impacting the bottom line of organizations.
Organizations that invest in leadership development increase their leaders’ abilities to maintain a cohesive culture at a time when a sense of community and belonging needs to be created, despite team members working physically apart.
How can leadership development coaching create better leaders and outcomes?
Coaching has become an increasingly popular tool to facilitate the improvement of not only senior leaders but middle managers and emerging leaders as well. Executive coaches work with individuals, one on one, providing a structured and uniquely supportive solutions-focused environment for learning and development. This serves to inspire new thinking and uncover hidden potential, moving leaders beyond their current state into new possibilities and better business outcomes.
Coaches use powerful strategic questioning to provide leaders with the opportunity to reflect on whether their assumptions no longer serve them. Assumptions over time become beliefs and changing assumptions allows an individual to move from a fixed perception into a space of new possibility where they can create new outcomes. Coaching serves as a vehicle to support leaders in going outside the bounds of what they believe to be true about themselves and their circumstances to identify new and innovative solutions. It permits a safe space for leaders to develop important insights into themselves and their leadership style which then allows them to identify blind spots and new more successful approaches to leadership.
In combination with powerful questioning, coaches often use behavioural and personality assessments such as DiSC, Hogan, Birkman, EQ, and 360-degree feedback to provide data points and an objective view of an individual’s strengths and weaknesses. Based on the results of these assessments the coach and coachee then develop a customized coaching plan to foster new behaviours and perspectives to create new outcomes including:
- The ability to facilitate difficult conversations and manage conflict
- Increase confidence
- Develop a high-performing team
- Improve overall communications upwards, across, and downwards within their organization
- New role integration
- Enhanced executive presence and leadership brand
The customized coaching plan is rooted in specific goals and outcomes which are tailored to each individual. Goals provide clear structure and measurable actions which move leaders towards behavioural change in a logical, pragmatic, consistent, and tailored manner. Identification of outcomes serve as key performance indicators of success.
As needed, coaches may integrate role-playing exercises to support practicing communication, presentation and leadership skills, in a safe supportive environment, providing honest and insightful feedback.
Companies that invest in the development of their leaders will see an enhanced ability of their people to pivot quickly, lead confidently and think differently when facing complex challenges and will be better positioned to succeed in the future.