Professional leadership coaching for results can help avoid mishaps and bring leaders to a new level of performance. There are many reasons a leader or executive may engage in leadership coaching. We’re here to help answer what is leadership coaching and how is it beneficial?
What Is Leadership Coaching?
Leadership coaching is a form of professional development training aimed at managers, senior leaders, and executives. The goal of a leadership coach is to help the leader better understand themselves, including their ways of thinking and acting. A leadership coach has a specific skill set to help guide leaders on this journey of discovery and growth.
Coaching is important in leadership because leaders are role models for others, they must regularly interact with reports and teams they manage, and they have pull within the organization to get things done and make decisions. This responsibility means leaders must be both empathetic and effective. Leadership coaching can help get you there.
But why hire a leadership coach?
What Are the Benefits of Leadership Coaching?
If you need justification for leadership training, look no further. There are many benefits of leadership coaching, such as
- Improved Work Performance
- Enhanced Empathy
- Greater Self-Confidence
- Boosted Resilience
- Amplified Open-Mindedness
- Better Company Culture
- More Effective Team Performance
- Healthier Communication
- A New Perspective
- A Sense of Empowerment
- Higher Satisfaction with Job and Life
- Increased Self-Awareness
Invest in leadership coaching for these results. While there are many benefits of leadership coaching, make sure one of your primary leadership coaching goals is to raise self-awareness.
What Are the Benefits of Self-Awareness?
Self-awareness by itself has a massive list of benefits. It is the cornerstone of Emotional Intelligence. When you become more self-aware, you can:
- View situations more objectively and rationally to encourage better decision-making
- Come to rational conclusions, thinking through how decisions affect the company and employees
- Recognize your role in the company, company culture, your teams, and the broader organizational purpose
- Relate on a deeper level with reports and colleagues to form a psychologically safe environment
- Understand your reports’ decisions and help guide them effectively to better behaviors without micromanaging
Leadership coaching takes managers, senior leaders, and executives to the next level with higher self-awareness.
How Does Leadership Coaching Make Us More Self-Aware?
One of the top coaching goals for leaders is to become more self-aware. And rightfully so. But how does leadership coaching do this?
Many leadership coaches will use personality and soft skills assessments during training to help you better understand your personality and habits. Personality tests such as the Myers-Briggs, Enneagram, DISC, Big Five, and others can help define your “types.” A leadership coach helps you decode the results and better understand your personality.
Leadership coaches also provide chances for self-reflection. They may have you fill in worksheets or keep journals with records of your interactions. By evaluating your words and actions in different situations, the coach can help you start to see a pattern of thoughts or behaviors. Knowing ahead of time how we might react in a situation is the pinnacle of self-awareness.
Self-awareness helps us relate to the world better. Another training modality for increasing self-awareness is to hear directly from reports and peers. The coach may arrange in-person discussions between you and team members, or they may have an anonymous survey to collect overall feedback. Knowing how others view us can help enhance our self-awareness.
Final Thoughts
While the benefits of leadership coaching are innumerable, engaging in leadership coaching is difficult work. It requires an often uncomfortable and raw review of our thoughts and behaviors and a willingness to grow and create change within ourselves.
Speak to a Dale Carnegie Leadership coach today to discover what type of professional coaching is right for you.
Written By
Joe Hart
Joseph K. Hart is the President and CEO of Dale Carnegie, an organization whose founder pioneered the human performance movement and has continued to succeed and grow worldwide, through constant research and innovation building on its founding principles. Joe hosts Take Command: A Dale Carnegie Podcast, Top 20 Management Podcast on Apple Podcasts, that seeks to uncover what leadership means in today’s business world. Joe interviews leaders from various industries who share inspiring stories to unlock our potential for success.
Influence & Reduce Workplace Anxiety
Influence & Reduce Workplace Anxiety.
Influence & Reduce Workplace Anxiety.