Understanding Leadership Coaching: A Comprehensive Overview
Leadership coaching is a term that is banded about a lot, but what is it? Essentially it boils down to us working together to explore your goals, aspirations, your challenges, what holds you back, your relationships, to name a few areas – in other words, supporting you becoming the leader, creating the life, business or career on your terms.
Personalised Growth: Tailoring Coaching to Individual Leadership Styles
Transformational leadership coaching isn’t a one size fits all, there is no programme of events or training, and this initially can be a bit disconcerting for someone who hasn’t been coached before. There is a fear of ‘what will we talk about’ or ‘what will I be expected to do’.
Our first conversation will explore two main areas, firstly are we a good fit, is my approach something that suits you, that you are comfortable with, are you able to open up and talk to me. The second part will be exploring what you want to get out of the coaching, what is it that you want to achieve? This may be ‘internal goals’, for example, being more confident, resilient, less stressed, a better communicator or decision maker. Or it may be more external, achieving a career goal or aspiration, managing your time better or finding clarity on your career plan. Usually it is a combination of both, because human beings are a bit messy and with all external goals there is usually some internal challenges too!
Enhancing Key Leadership Skills: Confidence, Resilience, and Communication
In my experience there are three main areas that are common coaching areas amongst my clients and so could be considered key leadership skills.
– Confidence – a lot of female leaders that come to me lack self confidence, their minds filled with self-doubt, imposter syndrome and concerned by what others might think. This is one of the main things that holds us back as women and with more understanding of our own psychology we can learn to become naturally more confident.
– Resilience – Life often doesn’t turn out as we would like, people react in unhelpful ways, they can be critical, judgemental and sometimes even unkind. Being able to ‘bounce-back’ from negative and challenging experiences is essential if we are to be effective leaders and be able to reach our own potential as well as our teams.
– Communication – Life and business is all about relationships and the main way we relate is through communication. Communication, however, multifaceted, it’s not just the words we speak. Understanding how someone communicates in a particular state of mind, what language do they use, how we listen, what we are listening for, when we communicate – are just some aspects that are important. Exploring this together we will deepen your understanding of communication so that you can create stronger, healthier relationships.
Navigating Challenges: Decision-Making, Strategic Thinking, and Stress Management
Life happens, there’s no getting away from that, and during our time working together you will undoubtedly face challenges, that we will explore, together. That is the beauty of being coached, is that you don’t have to face these challenges alone.
– Decision making can be very difficult when you are a leader, whether you are at the top of the business or organisation or sandwiched between your team and a senior leadership team. It can feel lonely and isolating when you are the one deciding, what if you make the wrong decision? What if you get it wrong? What do you take into account? All of these questions and more we can explore together, but more importantly the space our sessions will provide enable you to connect with your own common sense.
– Strategic thinking can feel like it is something you do ‘when you have time’ except you never seem to have time, maybe you feel like you lurch from one crisis to the next, reacting rather than being more proactive. Having regular coaching sessions enables you to take that time out to quieten your mind, with gentle but sometimes challenging and powerful questions that make you think, our relaxed conversation will enable you to find the clarity you need.
– Stress Management is often an important element to leadership coaching. Many of my clients are juggling many different competing interests and often have little work life balance when we first start working together. Exploring together both the internal psychological creation of stress and also the practical aspect can be transformational in you experiencing more calm and balance in your life.
The Long-Term Benefits of Leadership Coaching for Female Leaders
There are so many benefits of leadership coaching for female leaders, but in a nutshell it enables you to let go of what is holding you back so that you can create a business or career on your terms.
It can be tough being a female leader, as you are often a trailblazer for other women, that can be challenging in itself, feeling naturally confident in your own ability and having a robust resilience to life’s knocks is key, as is ensuring that all of those competing don’t overwhelm you.
Above all, leadership coaching provides a safe, confidential space for you to explore all aspects of leadership and whatever is holding you back. Often this is essential, as you are the one who has to hold it all together for everyone else, and being able to off load to a neutral party, but someone who is on your side and has your back is priceless!
Conclusion: Start your leadership coaching journey today
Whether you are a senior leader, manager, director, or business owner, leadership coaching offers a unique opportunity to develop your own leadership style, create a positive coaching culture, and become a role model for the next generation of female leaders.
If you are ready to start your leadership journey, book a call today to explore how together we can help you achieve your goals and reach your full potential.
