Coaching - Why Bother?

Leadership Coaching is particularly useful to leaders of every level of experience. This is largely due to the ‘human’ element in leadership. As a leader you have a core role with set expectations and recurring tasks additional to managing people. It can be very easy to get so caught up in the recurring and often time-sensitive tasks that when the people in your team clash or have conflict, or perhaps are not performing well, it can feel incredibly overwhelming. This is when in the heat of the moment things can go awry and very quickly snowball.

Responding quickly to these ‘human’ issues is really key, followed very quickly by being conversational and not judgmental. Taking an approach like this; hey, I noticed ABC, that’s not your normal reaction, is there anything I can do for you? Most often, this kind of approach is enough to let the person know their behaviour was noticed, and that they have an ally in you coming alongside them to make sure they are ok. Your reaction to them can be so overwhelming that it’s all they need to either assure them of their value or encourage them to come back to you with some practical things for you to consider by way of supporting them. Either way, crisis averted before it affects too many people.

Leadership Coaching gives you the dedicated space to discuss these and similar events, to debrief, and consider alternative options which you can utilise next time you’re faced with a similar situation. It also allows the leader an opportunity to ‘let go’ or vent safely about matters being faced in the workplace.

I have seen and have been the leader who talks to a ‘friend’ within the workplace who you trust will maintain a confidence, only to have that person ‘leak’ information to others. This can devolve trust in a workplace quicker than Usain Bolt in the 100 metre. Always be very careful who you speak to about matters and people within the workplace – it can be very difficult to manage particularly emotional situations so having a contingency established for times such as these is critical to your success as a leader.