What is a Leadership Coach?

The professional practice of non-directive coaching has been used in organizational settings since the mid-nineties and has increased significantly over the past two decades. Coaching has helped executives and other professionals address specific work-related challenges they may face or discover personal and professional growth potential. 

Research studying the effects of coaching shows that coaching in the workplace is broad and profound. Among several positive benefits, personal growth, increased self-awareness, goal attainment, and attitude changes are among just some of the outcomes cited across the body of literature to-date.

In addition, coaching has shown to increase performance and skills, and overall well-being of those that are coached, suggesting that workplace coaching extends beyond solely work-related outcomes.

Bottom line, coaching fuels growth. Think of it as the "cambium" of our personal and professional development.

While it has always been true that today's workplaces are in a constant state of change, the definition of change will mean something entirely different within the context of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Seismic shifts in businesses, industries, and life, in general, will require fundamental changes to how we communicate with and lead people.

Leadership coaching aims to help leaders achieve greater self-awareness and generate clarity on even the most "wicked problems," empowering you to deal with challenges, both small and significant.

What’s Your Personal Everest?

I often think of personal and professional goals as our “Personal Everest.” Sometimes the climb can be tricky and it helps to have a guide by your side.

If you feel that there are forces that stand in the way preventing you from reaching your personal and professional goals, leadership coaching can help you prevail.

How does Leadership Coaching work?

Let's start with what coaching is not. It is not advice, mentoring, counselling or therapy. Coaching is a thought-provoking, goal-focused, and creative process that inspires people to maximize their personal and professional potential. In our initial sessions, we will work together to clarify your goals, and you will identify what concrete outcome you want to achieve. This could include your work goals, an area that you want to improve, something that is bothering you, an idea you have, or a specific problem you are facing. Focusing on what you want to talk about vs. having someone else set the agenda can lead to enormous breakthroughs and shifts in thinking.

What takes place between us in the coaching sessions is entirely confidential, and as an Associate Certified Coach, I strictly adhere to the International Coach Federation’s (ICF) ethical guidelines.

What should you expect from a Leadership Coach?

Leadership coaching is results and action-oriented and begins with you setting the focus of the conversation.

You are in the driver's seat, determining what we will explore in each session. I will listen objectively, observe, ask open-ended questions, and provide feedback and insights.

This process has proven to be successful at challenging assumptions, evoking new thoughts, getting unstuck, and removing potential barriers that may be in the way preventing you from achieving the things that matter most to you.

Book a 15 minute initial consultation to see if it’s right for you.

Who is Leadership Coaching for?

Coaching is a powerful tool that anyone can benefit from.

It's important to dispel the myth that leadership coaching is only for someone with a specific rank, title or position.

The notion of what Leadership is has changed a great deal over the last century.

Here is the 21st-century definition of Leadership that applies to the leadership coaching I offer:

By this definition, leadership coaching is for anyone that works alongside others to achieve common goals.

Notice that there is no mention of rank, title or position. Leadership is available to anyone that influences or desires to influence others.

If you want to better understand where you are in your leadership journey, and where you aspire to be, leadership coaching is for you.

I bring extensive experience coaching female professionals who are navigating leadership labyrinths, the twists, turns, and dead-ends that women often encounter during their leadership journeys.

What makes a good Leadership Coach?

An effective leadership coach will hold you capable within the process of coaching. This means that a coach does not steer you into any particular direction.

You are in control of the outcomes. A great coach will help you stretch yourself further, taking more actions than you would on your own and devising or implementing effective strategies to get what you want.

They will also help you identify and reduce things that drain and strain you, such as stressful situations, complicated relationships, pressured environments and recurring problems.

Above all else, an effective leadership coach propels you forward by asking you powerful open-ended questions that invite you to explore things that you may have never thought of before.

What is an associate certified coach? 

Associate Certified Coach (ACC) Credential-holders are trained (60+ hours) and experienced (100+ hours) coaches. They have demonstrated knowledge and emerging proficiency in the application of the ICF Core Competencies, Code of Ethics, and definition of coaching. Earners show a commitment to high ethical standards and have demonstrated, through a rigorous assessment, professional competence in their work with clients. The ACC must be renewed every three years.

Leadership development

It is a widely accepted truth that leaders are not born; they are made.

Sometimes the term management is mistaken for Leadership. These are two different things.

Regardless of your title or role in an organization, if you are responsible for people at any level, you are a leader.

You "manage" process/products/deliverables. You Lead people. You are a leader with management accountabilities.

Understanding this difference, identifying any gaps or potential derailing factors that impact your ability to lead, and planning strategies to address these is what leadership development is all about.

Leadership coaching is the vehicle to help get there.

Book a 15 minute initial consultation to see if it’s right for you.

Other coaching services

Personal Coaching

Personal coaching is very similar to leadership coaching and often overlaps with leadership coaching.

Personal coaching may be the best choice for individuals that want to focus solely on personal goals or issues that affect them outside of the workplace.

Team Coaching

You have most likely come across this famous Aristotle quote: "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." In 2012 Google launched Project Aristotle to find out what makes a team effective.

What emerged were five distinct elements that together create a high-performing team. The most important of those elements is psychological safety.

What emerged were five distinct elements that together create a high-performing team. The most important of those elements is psychological safety.

Team coaching is different than individual coaching. Individual coaching focuses on the individual client's needs and goals, whereas team coaching focuses on the team as a whole.

Through this approach, factors that affect the team are discussed, and collective goals are determined. Teams are then coached to explore how much psychological safety exists and what potential issues prevent the team from fostering a high-performing team's five critical elements.

The COVID-19 pandemic will no doubt impact organizational teams in profound ways. Relying solely on virtual communications, teams must proactively examine how team dynamics have changed, and implement strategies to adapt to the challenges that long-term virtual interaction will bring. Team coaching can help co-create actionable steps to optimize team performance and team goal attainment.

Click here to learn more about Team Coaching.

Ready to get started? Contact me today to learn how coaching can help you.

Book a 15 minute initial consultation with me today.