Coaching for Leadership
Coaching means different things to different people. Most agree that coaching is about enhancing performance and achieving goals. My approach is generally termed ‘psychological coaching’, because I’m qualified to look at the underlying psychological motivations as well as the surface behaviours. This usually ensures the changes are lasting as well as satisfying.
For many senior executives, working with a coach is about staying fresh and sharp, honing intellectual and emotional capabilities. It’s about drawing their own map of the strategic territory and charting their own course through it. It’s about reconnecting with their creativity, which may have become dulled by continuous organisationallyimposed pressures to conform or meet everincreasing targets. It’s usually about becoming more responsive and flexible in different hierarchical or political contexts.
For many, coaching offers a chance to sit back, think and bounce ideas around without having to produce an instant plan. Being with someone—whose role is supporting without judging—is refreshingly different. Reviewing life / work balance, personal relationships, and long term aspirations. Sometimes, it’s about deciding what to relinquish that is blocking or confining energy, and replacing with what encourages and supports—what are sometimes referred to as “radiators” and “drains”!
Coaching starts with a noobligation initial meeting. Roles, responsibilities, working arrangements and methods etc are discussed, to see if there is a positive fit between aspiration and provision.
If we mutually decide to go ahead, the first session is usually followed by a meeting with the Sponsor to clarify the organisation’s desired outcomes. These do not preclude the individual’s own objectives being included in the programme, but do help to prevent mismatched expectations.
More? The CIPD publishes an independent fact sheet on coaching.