IF YOU WERE AN ANIMAL, WHAT WOULD YOU BE?
No, this question is not part of my coaching repertoire… but if you need inspiration: here
LEADERSHIP COACHING: from pseudo-psychology to individual DEVELOPMENT programs
Leadership coaching & development has evolved from pseudo-psychology to individual programs co-created with the client and the coachee, based on real-world industry experience of the coach, grounded in science with a focus on change, transformation, and behavioural impact, supported by data, leading to implementable actions and solutions.
I believe the job of leadership coaches is to make high-performers perform better and support them to feel comfortable in taking up new challenges. Not only through coaching, but also through training and consulting. At least that is what I aspire to.
A WORKSHOP ON LEADERSHIP DOES NOT DO THE TRICK
But for some companies, this is new territory.
If we want to enter new markets with our solutions successfully, a strategy consulting agency is hired and embedded in the system. Imagine hiring a strategy consultant to come in, do a few workshops and we expect to be the market leader in 3 months.
It would not work.
If you want your less experienced people in leadership roles to lead effectively, with empathy, for performance, without wasting energy on reinventing the wheel, the leadership coach must be equally embedded in the system just like other consultants.
One of my current clients is doing exactly this.
A 1-year individual leadership development program for one of their top experts who moved up the ranks and has taken up more leadership responsibility. Topics range from a reorganisation of the team structure, building empathic leadership for team engagement and commitment, moving from content to context, communicating with impact, having meaningful and useful annual appraisal meetings, and more.
We meet every two weeks for about two hours, which will be used for coaching, but also personal training and consulting when this is in the interest of the client and coachee.
my leadership coaching & development programS embedded in YOUR system
In the last 12 months, I have developed several concepts that allow my leadership coaching & development programs to be embedded in the organisational system. For example, my programs will be run like individual coaching & consulting projects, including a road map with objectives, actions, KPIs, and so on; transparent, shareable and trackable as much as the coachee wishes to show to his/her supervisor or HR.
Another concept is the Empathic Leadership Program through Psychological Safety Excellence. Data assessment, findings reporting, feedback, actions and again a road map are the building blocks for a successful internalisation of an empathic leadership value system.
LEADERSHIP COACHING MUST MEET YOUR PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS
I believe leadership coaches need to be open, transparent and to the point about the progress of the coachee (whilst respecting confidentiality) and professional infrastructure in serving the coachee and client.
You would not accept the strategy consultant showing up every two weeks for 6-12 months, meeting with the project team behind closed doors, writing the session’s content down in a notebook and sending you an invoice without any proper project documentation?
Leadership coaching must meet your professional standards.
