Why you should invest in leadership coaching for the employees at your company.
We love coaching leaders and here’s why we believe every business should invest in it!
Whilst many established corporates invest in coaching as standard for their leadership populations, for younger and smaller businesses with more volatile P&Ls it can seem like heavy investment on an individual. Wellbeing, people development and team building budgets are often lumped together and staff Christmas parties or team building activities somehow gain priority.
So, why shift your budget and take a ‘risk’ on coaching individuals?
Let us list the reasons… (disclaimer: we could go on!)
#1 People are individuals
Everyone has their own shit they want and need to work on to thrive within their careers. A unique human experience and set of circumstances leading them to where they are now means that in order to fully unlock someone’s potential, we need to look at their individual situation - limiting beliefs, insecurities, communication patterns, desires for success.
In our most recent programme, our 8 senior female leaders, seemingly with a fair amount in common, have each had incredibly different coaching focuses from optimising energy to managing Mum guilt to anchoring into an unique leadership identity. One to one coaching allows a deep dive into the individual barriers that may be holding your humans back!
#2 Do you tell your boss your inner thoughts? No, us either!
An impartial ear is priceless. We are all for honesty, transparency and vulnerability sitting at the forefront of leadership AND leaders still need a safe sounding board to test out communication and ways of operating without feeling like they are jeopardising their career.
This is more profound as leaders move up the organisation - senior leaders are often expected to be infallible. No matter who you are or how much you appear to have your shit together - it is always good to talk and feel supported by an experienced professional outside of your organisation. This is especially true in difficult environments and challenging times.
#3 Good leaders are good coaches
Coaching skills are a vital trait of great leaders - the idea of listening and not telling, to enable those you’re leading to develop their own skills, experiences and learnings, as nicely detailed in this HBR article: Successful Leaders Are Great Coaches (hbr.org)
Leaders learn coaching skills by being coached. Our coachees often use the tools & models from our sessions back within their teams. They learn first hand the value of silence, being listened to, and how powerful that can be in their roles as leaders. There’s a ripple effect far wider than the individual.
#4 The perspectivator!
Taking your head out of the day to day, jumping off the hamster wheel of managing your team and firefighting issues, gaining perspective and clarity, having a mirror to reflect your thoughts! Leaders are required to think strategically but are often dragged into the weeds, draining creativity and strategic thought. Coaching provides an opportunity and regularity in stepping back and gaining perspective.
A note from us!
Coaching is prevention, not cure - do not wait until your leaders are on their arse and showing signs of burnout / stress / disengagement before you intervene. By then, it is too late and they will inevitably, by then, have half a foot outside the door!
Do you care about your brightest leaders? Show them! They will gain so much from a coaching experience in terms of self awareness, self regulation and uplifting their performance. AND the lucky offshoot of this is that you will have more creative, focused, energised and communicative leaders that will joyfully drive your business forward.
If you want to find out more about The Vibrancy Hub and our coaches then visit this blog post in which we discuss what makes us all so unique.