Coaching Approach to Leadership

Here at the-Coaching Blog-run by Gerard O’Donovan, our aim is to constantly bring value to those seeking to improve their lives. Therefore we have a policy of publishing articles and materials by guest authors whom we value and appreciate. Today’s guest author is Vikki Brock (USA).

For the past 20 years, there are numerous programs that sought to train leaders to be coaches. While commendable, coaching is only one of many roles such as training, facilitation, directing, mentoring etc., that are included in leadership. A “Coaching Approach to Leadership” is an innovative idea that leads to a more effective leadership style, encourages employee engagement, raises productivity, and brings humanness to the workplace.

Coaching Approach Definition

Some terms used to describe a coaching approach to leadership are: collaborative, open, appreciative, presence, values, inside out, trust, authenticity, alignment, culture…. As you can see, a ‘coaching approach’ is not a tool — it is a way of being and interacting. The purpose of this article is to raise your awareness so that you, too, can be a choice to use a coaching approach to your leadership and/or the leadership within your company.

We will begin by defining the terms “leadership” and “coaching.”

First, leadership is influence with or without formal authority. You might be asking, “What does this really mean?”

• Ability to adapt the setting so everyone feels empowered to contribute creatively to solving the problems.
• Activity of leading a group of people or an organization through establishing and sharing a vision, then providing information, knowledge, and methods to realize that vision.
• Stepping up in times of crisis
• Thinking and acting creatively in difficult situations.
• Organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal (with or without formal authority)
• Getting others to see the world from your perspective, and then take action.
• Influencing to improve the quality of life for other people.

Effective leaders who want to improve their outcomes are expressing interest in adding coaching as one of their key strengths. Coaching provides a just-in-time opportunity for leaders to improve employee engagement, performance, and overall team/organizational results.

Second, raising awareness is the core essence of coaching. It can be formal with a coaching contract and structure. It can be informal where coaching skills are used in a conversation. A specific type of coaching is leadership coaching — which shares the influence of leadership and the awareness of coaching. Coaching is applied across a range of attributes.

For a leader desiring to use a coaching approach, it is important to know what coaching is and is not. Below are the key characteristics of coaching from a leadership perspective.

Benefits and Impact of Coaching Approach

What are the benefits and impact of a leader using a coaching approach? It is a process and goal-oriented approach so people know where the organization is going and why. It facilitates collaboration so people can work together effectively. It encourages creative and innovative thinking for tough times and tough targets. It promotes trust-openness-honesty so everyone can contribute to a safe environment. It promotes ‘just-in-time’ learning that doesn’t rely on training. It challenges positively so a future is co-created. Finally, it delivers results through people and motivates individuals/teams/organizations to succeed.

A coaching approach to leadership is based on developing trust. You might ask yourself “how is trust displayed in the workplace?” Well, trust is displayed within the safety of vulnerability — the ability to be authentic and not be judged. What needs to happen first is to learn to trust yourself and take accountability for your own capability and capacity — in other words, your potential. I can imagine what you as the reader might be thinking, “What, take back my power for my own uniqueness and bring that into the world authentically? Feeling masterful for my own potential? Taking ownership for my own growth and learning?I thought this was about them, not about me!”

Well, now you know the secret: Successfully using a coaching approach to leadership is all about the leader, and his or her commitment to personal growth and development. It is on this foundation that a coaching approach can be successful.

To reiterate, key behaviors to develop include:

• Full accountability for uniqueness and potential
• Orient around strengths (underlying qualities that energize us) and competence (demonstration of required skill, knowledge, qualification, or capacity)
• Create an environment of trust and safety
• Active listening, questioning, and dialogue

Components of Coaching Approach Dialogue

What are the components of a coaching approach dialogue? In a nutshell, the structure of the dialogue is summarized below. This step-by-step process is both a linear and iterative approach. The flexibility inherent in this process depends on the leader, the other person (people), the situation, and the context.

Style Flexibility

It’s important for a leader to flex his or her style within a situation. The chart below describes the content of direct/telling versus inclusive/questions across a series of styles (adapted from the Daniel Goleman model presented in Harvard Business Review “Leadership That Gets Results”, March 1, 2000)

When first introduced to this model, I was of the opinion that ‘commanding’ was not a place where the coaching approach could be used.It took an executive client to open my mind to this possibility. This executive client was creating a coaching culture within his several thousand person organization. His desire was to implement a coaching approach within his rigid and rule-based environment where a commanding style was required for safety reasons. He presumed that the coaching approach could be implemented in any environment. So when I questioned as to how this was possible in a “commanding” situation, he said: “Given that I have created a path for people to emerge into their own uniqueness and potential, have their trust and respect, and have created an environment of safety — in an emergency I can give an order and it will be followed rather than complied with. The key is that the foundation has been built within me and within them over time — much like the military — and will be sustained far beyond a circumstance of commanding.”

What’s next?

As a leader desiring to use a coaching approach, it is important that you:

• Continue to increase your self-awareness and align your behavior with who you are,
• Understand and are eager to experiment with the coaching approach,
• Determine how to successfully utilize the coaching approach in your leadership role,
• Recognize how the coaching approach fits in your company culture, and
• Work with your own coach to successfully achieve all of the above with ease and grace.

Credit Source:

Vikki Brock (USA)

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