Although leadership is recognized as a universal phenomenon, it still lacks a common definition and theoretical foundation that can be empirically tested. The good news is that we have shifted from the “hero” or “great man myth” into a view of leadership that is inclusionary, participatory, collaborative and transformative. An organization’s ability to be effective and adapt its environment to the post-pandemic VUCA world requires sustainable, effective leadership that cascades through the organization. Among other things, organizations need leaders for inspiration, enthusiasm, focus, and to strategically guide their vision, mission and culture. Strong leadership is often viewed as one of the most important factors in organizational health and growth yet, many organizations struggle with the development and scaling of leadership behaviors. This blog focuses on the development of coaching skills to complement leadership behaviors.
In a recent article by the World Economic Forum, a survey suggested that 40% of employees are considering leaving their jobs. 40% of employees are thinking of quitting their jobs, says survey | World Economic Forum (weforum.org) This will create an incredible talent gap for some organizations. Using coaching skills to develop and better understand the needs, values and drivers of individual behavior of employees might influence the desire to remain with an organization. Kelly in “The Dream Manager” shares that the destinies of the organization and individual potential are interwoven. He threads the concept of “best version of self” throughout his message which is inclusive of both the organization best version and individual best version. This requires that both the individual and organization deeply explore what is valued, the meaning made from those values and alignment of action with the values.
Anderson and Adams also consider exploration of values to be important to leadership behaviors. In “Scaling Leadership” the authors share that development of others starts with the development of self as leader. In addressing the VUCA world that has been exacerbated globally by the pandemic, leaders are encouraged to close their own development gaps. A self-understanding about meaning making, decision making, emotional intelligence and beliefs and assumptions guide the leader in developing skills to address the complexities of leadership. When this happens for the individual leader, it begins to cascade down through direct reports which then creates the “scale” necessary for coaching and developing leaders at all levels. The competencies of the high creative leadership behaviors identified by the authors are very much aligned with great coaching.
Boyatzis and McKee in “Resonant Leadership” add another component to “Leader as Coach; Coach as Leader”. Focusing on the benefits of emotional connection, the authors position the relationship as key to successful coaching which has been proven time and time again in the research. The resonant coaching leader not only creates resonance with followers but also creates this resonance with self through the process of renewal. Leaders are so conditioned to “doing” that they often sacrifice “being” and reflection. Boyatzis and McKee share that developing a renewal process provides increased energy and engages the mind, body, and heart in shifting to positivity and healthier relationships. Kouzes and Posner while researching and writing about leadership in “Encouraging the Heart” share this thinking with Boyatzis and McKee. They contend that effective leader coaches are connected with followers as they demonstrate genuine caring for the follower. Without this caring, the follower may experience his or her leader as simply transactional rather than transformational.
Transformational leadership connects leading and coaching, as it empowers others, is congruent with a core set of values, focuses on continuous development, and inspires a shared vision through translating dreams into reality. Blanchard, in Morgan’s “Profiles in Coaching” believes that leadership and coaching go “hand-in-hand” and that coaching is a form of leadership requiring leaders to discover their own direction, purpose and mission. Upon reflection and clarity about direction, purpose and mission, coaching and leadership involve guiding the follower’s focus and action on what is important in life through identification of strategies for accomplishing values and goals. Blanchard ties this process back into a model for servant leadership by suggesting that through the coaching process, the leadership pyramid turns upside down and the leader becomes the supporter for the self-directed achievement of followers.
Support is also a component of the coaching thinking partnership which engages the leader and direct report in gaining clarity about goals, holding followers accountable for agreed upon actions and celebrating with followers when goals are met. These leaders provide opportunities for emergent and meaningful conversations. The leader coach sees himself or herself as a barometer of where the follower is with regards to their own thought processes. Questions are asked to draw out deeper, more thoughtful, meaningful conversations and take the follower into thinking about future possibilities. Questions such as “what will success look like for this project?” and “what might create challenges for the project?” cause a follower to think both in terms of best-case scenarios while also preparing to overcome challenges. Chip and Dan Heath in “Decisive” use this exercise as a “pre-parade and post-mortem” discussion. Interestingly, it is typically easier for followers to brainstorm the challenges than the successes which creates another opportunity for coaching.
The paradox of the leader as coach phenomenon exists in duality in that it is both about the development of self and the development of relationships with others. Leaders as coaches drive change yet stabilize the team. They also honor past successes while looking forward to the future. Finally, leaders as coaches integrate both science and art. Managing the paradox contributes to its complexity and to the complexity of designing effective leader as coach development programs.
Join us on June 23rd for our next webinar on “Leader as Coach; Coach as Leader” for more on this topic.