In my last post, I busted some common myths around leadership coaching. I also promised I would follow it up with some practical examples of how leadership coaching helps.
If you’re already in a leadership position:
It’s lonely at the top! The more you rise through the ranks, the worse this gets as you realise you can’t speak to your colleagues and peers about confidential work issues, and many of your friends/family simply won’t understand. First and foremost, a leadership coach is a trusted sounding board for you to verbalise whatever you are struggling with. They are unbiased, non-judgmental, and trained to ask you questions that will help you gain clarity and figure out how to move forward.
You’re doubting yourself. You feel like you’re mostly winging it and that at some stage you’ll be found out as being an incompetent leader. Newflash – almost everyone feels this way at some stage. An executive coach will help you get to the core of the limiting belief, and help you find the confidence within yourself to overcome it. A natural outcome of a package of coaching sessions will also be to develop a plan for your career development so you won’t feel like you are making it up on the daily. Get clear about where you are heading, what obstacles you might face, and how you will overcome them. There will be less unwelcome surprises.
Discover what your leadership blindspots are and work on growing beyond them. We are all limited by our own up-bringing and previous work experiences. The way we grow beyond those limitations is through self leadership and personal mastery. We do this during coaching by becoming more self aware, more our authentic selves, and working through tools and learning that will expand our awareness, perspectives and knowledge.
If you’re career driven with leadership aspirations:
You might be wondering how you’re ever going to move from where you currently are. Coaching will support you to develop a plan – what do you need to learn, who can you learn from, how can you develop your network, and what steps are you going to need to take to make your dream a reality?
You feel like your career has stalled. Maybe you took time out, or your confidence has been knocked. Regular coaching sessions will help you find your mojo again, identify what you want right now, and map out a detailed action plan for how to achieve it. Your coach will keep you accountable for taking those actions too!
You just aren’t enjoying work like you once did. Get clear on what the problem is and how you can move past it.
It’s also for anyone who feels burnt out, overwhelmed , stressed, or simply isn’t enjoying work like they once did and is constantly dreaming of being anywhere else. Or you might be experiencing workplace conflict that you don’t feel equipped to handle. I see you!
There’s many other reasons why leadership coaching might be your secret weapon for career success. For me, once I got myself a coach, I wondered why I hadn’t known to get one sooner, and also wondered why on earth everyone doesn’t have one! If you want to get ahead with the most linear path possible, reach out and find out how we can get started.