If you look at any top sportsperson today, they all have a coach to help them achieve their goals. And yet the coach isn’t as successful or as good as the person that they’re coaching right now.
So how does that work?
Have a read-through until the end to find out why every leader needs a coach and how working with a coach can truly accelerate your development no matter where you are on your leadership journey.
First of all,
a coach is both a partner and a mirror for you
Which is why it’s really important that you choose the coach that you can work with not only on a professional level but also on a personal level. This means that someone that you’re comfortable with, someone that you’re happy to take a challenge from and someone that you can develop trust with really quickly.
Do your research – is your coach qualified? Do they continue to invest in themselves? Do they have a style that resonates with you?
You have to understand that however self-aware we are..
We all have blind spots.
It’s not unusual for us to overestimate our skills.
As a coach, we often see that come out in things like 360 assessments. Your coach will not only give you feedback to not only take it on, but also take action on it.
In addition, it is common to discover that a person has also underestimated their own strengths. As a coach, it is our role to help you see those strengths and help you use them effectively going forward.
As leaders, we can get busy with the busy-ness of things, just like everyone else and we start to lose that broader perspective, we start to lose that vision.
Working with a coach can help you ensure that you get things done with and through your team, as well as keeping an eye on that broader picture. On that vision, your coach is going to help you focus on what you’ve identified as being the most important things for you as a leader, as a person for your team and for your organization.
Whenever you are ready to join a private community of Female Leaders who share the same path, challenges and celebrate your wins, join us here: https://bit.ly/RisingLeadersPrivateGroup
Another point I want to make is that the higher up you go in an organization, the harder it is to get good, honest feedback because people start to become afraid in some way of giving you that feedback.
Who can relate to this?
Your coach should always be able to give you that, and not only give you the feedback, but also help you integrate it so that you can actually take action on it and extract the most value from it too.
And finally, having a coach is actually an amazing way to learn how to coach, which is also an essential skill for any leader today.
Here’s how..
Being able to listen to the questions that your coach poses, how they ask them, and how they challenge you, will give you a model to follow that you can then use with other members in your team.
To recap the points today:
1. Your coach is a partner and a mirror.
2. We all have blind spots and a coach is going to help you see those blind spots, become aware of them and do something about them.
3. Your coach will help you focus on the right things. The things that you’ve identified as critical for your development.
4. Your coach is going to be able to give you feedback, feedback that you can use and integrate to help you develop and move forward.
5. Your coach is going to be a role model if you like coaching – which means that you’re going to be able to coach your people too.
Now, if you want to work with a coach but you’re not quite ready for one-to-one support..
I’ve got a great membership called the Rising Leaders Circle, which will give you coaching in a group setting. This will enable you to also get support, not only from myself, but from others that are on a similar leadership journey to yourself.
Sign up and get yourself on the waitlist so that you will be one of the first people to find out. When I opened the doors again.
What has been the most valuable lesson that you learned from this article? I would love to hear your thoughts!
For more help and support on your journey, please download my free ebook, “The roadmap to leadership success” which will help you figure out where you are and what the next steps are to ensure your success.
Thanks and speak to you soon.
Sonia xx
