If you have worked with an external leadership coach, you will know of the incredible development potential you can achieve. The challenge and support of a coach who has dedicated themselves to becoming an expert in their field are invaluable.
Three main areas are vying for your time and energy in your work. These are:
Task completion
Development of your future capacity and capability
Relationship building
Task completion will always be the most demanding, so you must be ruthless in allocating time to development and relationships. Leadership coaching focuses on your development, growth and learning and is an investment that will bring you excellent returns.
Here are five reasons to work with an external leadership coach.
Reason 1: Working With a Leadership Coach Gives Space and Time
It is incredible what you can achieve when you are expertly guided and held in a coaching space that allows reflection and deep thinking. How many times in a week does this happen for you?
Imagine the benefit of pausing, standing back and having a mirror held up for you. An expert coach will allow you the space to have the conversations with yourself that you need and ask probing questions that result in those light bulb moments and forward-thinking clarity.
Reason 2: Provides Psychological Safety
What would you say and discuss if you felt 100% psychologically safe? What things are you holding back from saying that you feel you need to say and discuss?
The advantage of an external leadership coach is that they are not a work colleague who you might bump into or work on projects with, they are not part of your organisation, and everything you discuss is completely confidential.
This means that you are free to be 100% open, honest and transparent in a way that unlocks blockages and taps into your potential.
Reason 3: Avoids Groupthink
We all want to be emotionally attached to a group, to feel that we belong. We interpret groups as our safe place against outside threats, which means that we often consider the group's harmony is vital.
This harmony can be a false harmony, as people agree and align their opinions to maintain harmony as the best survival position.
Ironically this tendency increases as we perceive threats, which suppresses the very disruptive conversations we need at the most critical times. This is sometimes referred to as speaking into an ‘echo chamber’.
Of the five reasons to work with an external leadership coach, this reason means the expert coach will not collude with you but rather provide thinking and questions that disrupt groupthink.
Reason 4: Holds You To Account
An expert leadership coach will make sure that you squeeze the last drop of learning from your experiences, especially those that may be more painful for you to face.
You will agree with your coach how you would like to be held to account, without judgement and blame, allowing you to gain the maximum growth and learning from situations that could otherwise be lost.
Reason 5: Improves Your Performance
Leadership coaching is not soft. In fact, it can be the very opposite. For you to be able to challenge yourself, you also need support.
This combination provides the perfect environment for you to produce your highest performance levels.
Leadership coaching will significantly improve your performance as it seeks to challenge you, provide feedback, and ensure you set goals that are courageous, slightly scary and seemingly out of reach.
Summary
These five reasons to work with an external leadership coach demonstrate the benefits to your development that leadership coaching brings as you improve your future capacity and capability as a leader.
Can you afford not to invest in external leadership coaching? Can you achieve everything you want to achieve without the support and challenge of an expert leadership coach?
Contact Us Today
If you are interested in the benefits of having an expert external leadership coach, then why not be curious and contact us at The Leadership Coaches to explore your options.
Written by leadership coach Ian White.
Sources:
“Time to Think” by Nancy Kline
“Challenging Coaching” by Ian Day and John Blakey
“Coaching for performance” by Sir John Whitmore
“Why UK leaders need to build trust with employees” Gallup (2020)
“Why Managers Need Leadership Development Too” Gallup (2021)
