What is leadership coaching?

Leadership coaching is an essential management tool that helps business leaders inspire high performance in their teams.

Being a manager is demanding. Not only do leaders need to ensure their teams get the job done, but they also have to expertly navigate complex issues including; flexible working, employee activism, diversity and inclusion, and employee well-being.

Leadership coaching equips managers with the skills needed to tackle these demands and is a key learning and development initiative that the best companies offer to their managers.

This article explains, what is leadership coaching, and how employers can use leadership coaching in their organisation.

What is leadership coaching?

Leadership coaching helps company leaders – junior or senior – achieve their leadership goals under the guidance of a coach.

Unlike e-learning or traditional learning and development methods, coaching offers tailored and personal support to managers.

Through regular sessions, managers learn new skills and behaviours that improve their performance.

Over time, coaches play a vital role in continually tracking their participant’s progress and ensuring they are taking the correct actions towards their goals.

Depending on an employer’s needs, coaching can be delivered one-to-one, one-to-many, internally or using external partners.

But sessions are rarely a one-off. They can last weeks or, even, years.

Why is leadership coaching an effective L&D strategy?

Coaching enriches management skills.

Currently, companies with between 100 and 500 employees provide just six minutes of management training every six months.^[1]

By contrast, coaching gives managers the time and attention they need to identify and master their weaknesses and strengths.

Managers can focus on almost any leadership skill, including handling difficult conversations, presenting reports to senior stakeholders or making better decisions.

Coaching engages managers.

Regular and consistent feedback from coaches keeps managers engaged and focused on their behaviour and goals.

Companies with strong coaching cultures reported that 61% of their employees are highly engaged, according to a study. This is 8% higher than organisations with weak coaching cultures.^[2]

Furthermore, a quarter (26%) of employees welcome constructive feedback on their performance because it helps them to work better.^[3]

Coaching lessons are based on real-world scenarios.

Unlike many e-learning courses or workshops, coaching participants are obliged to practice their new behaviour in the workplace.

Commonly, managers receive homework and key techniques to try out at work. Research shows that regular practice helps individuals learn new skills quicker.^[4]

How to use leadership coaching successfully?

Go beyond understanding 'what is leadership coaching' and learn how to implement leadership coaching into your organisation, successfully.

Companies using traditional coaching methods tend to pick coaches based on their personality, personal background or ‘relationship’ with managers.

Little scientific evidence shows that this improves the learner’s performance. Only 8% of an individual’s performance improvements can be attributed to the coach-coachee relationship.^[5]

The most effective corporate coaching method is Precision Coaching. This science-based methodology is proven to drive sustained behaviour change through coaching and is based on three core components:

• Solutions-based goals
• A focus on mastering the targeted skill
• A nurturing environment that facilitates behaviour change

We hope to have answered your burning leadership coaching questions, including, what is leadership coaching, why is leadership coaching an effective L&D strategy, and how to use leadership coaching successfully.

Want to take the next step? HR and L&D leaders can exclusively access Precision Coaching through MindGym’s new one-on-one digital coaching service, Performa.

Performa is built to help companies develop better leaders at scale and achieve stronger ROI from their learning and development programmes.

Explore Performa.

Want to speak with an expert? We’d love to discuss how we can help your managers accelerate their performance.

Reference:

1. Tschohl, John. “Are You Worth More Than 6 - 12 Minutes of Training?” HR Professionals Magazine, April 4, 2018.
2. Filipkowski, Jenna. “Building a Coaching Culture with Millennial Leaders.” Human Capital Institute. The International Coach Federation (ICF) and Human Capital Institute (HCI), May 18, 2017.
3. Robertson, Andrew, and Nate Dvorak. “5 Ways to Promote Accountability.” Gallup.com. Gallup, June 3, 2019.
4. Booker, Karene. “Scientists Discover How Brains Change with New Skills.” Cornell Chronicle. Cornell University, April 4, 2013.
5. Michie, S., Richardson, M., Johnston, M., Abraham, C., Francis, J., Hardeman, W., Eccles, M. P., Cane, J., & Wood, C. E. (2013). The Behavior Change Technique Taxonomy (v1) of 93 Hierarchically Clustered Techniques: Building an International Consensus for the Reporting of Behavior Change Interventions. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 46(1), 81–95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-013-9486-6