“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” -John Quincy Adams
Gaps in the Leadership Pipeline Indicate the Need for Coaching. According to a 2014 University of North Carolina leadership survey,[1] only 30% of senior leaders surveyed thought their firms had a strong leadership pipeline, and just 21% said they were satisfied with their company’s bench strength. The survey also showed leaders lacked confidence in their firm’s high potential talent; just 24% said their high potential people were “leadership ready.”
Leaders Inspire Others – but Who Inspires Leaders?
How can companies bridge the leadership gap?
One of the most successful approaches is Executive Coaching. Steve Jobs had a coach (Bill Campbell), and so did Meg Whitman (HP) (John Thompson). Executive Coaches have been instrumental to the success of Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Dell’s Michael Dell, Google’s Eric Schmidt, Ford’s Alan Mulally, and many other leaders and entrepreneurs who may not be household names but are prominent, dynamic business-builders.
Increasingly, high performing leaders in any field have an Executive Coach to help guide major decisions. Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google, says that his best advice to new CEOs is to “have a coach” and notes “once I realized I could trust him [the coach] and that he could help me with perspective, I decided this was a great idea…”
Hear from this successful Chairman and CEO in this brief video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIiwAcnSN1g
Coaching: What It Is . . . and Isn’t, and Why Successful Leaders Have Coaches
Traditionally the business world associated coaching with crisis or transition management, but entrepreneurs have found Executive Coaches to be key success factors in becoming leaders who inspire the growth of their companies from one stage to the next.
Sometimes otherwise high performing leaders encounter difficulty in critical areas that may include:
Building alliances
Managing people
Team building
Adapting to change
Change management
Creativity
Navigating the political landscape
Bad judgment
Self-absorption
Doesn’t learn from mistakes
Doesn’t fit into culture
An Executive Coach plays particular roles with specific characteristics, making coaching a unique yet systematic process.
Coaching Is:
Structured within the needs of the individual
Mentoring
Future focused
Results oriented
Personalized:
Formal or informal
Based on trust
Founded on listening and questioning to facilitate action planning and personal growth
Coaching Isn’t:
Consulting
Therapy
Collaborative
A Harvard Business Review Research Study[2] of businesses that use coaches indicates that only a little over twelve percent (12.4%) used coaching to “address derailing behavior.” The majority (47.5%) engaged coaches to “develop high potential [managers] or facilitate transition.” About a quarter (25.8%) of the companies surveyed use coaches to “act as a sounding board”, and a little over fourteen percent (14.3%) used a coach for team enhancement.
Executive Coaching is particularly effective at helping leaders re-frame their thinking, but it’s essential to choose a qualified coach with “real world” experience.
Assessing “Coachability” and Identifying the Right Coach
An individual’s degree of “coachability” depends on his or her willingness to receive feedback and thereby learn how to do things better. While some people benefit from coaching more than others, there are those who are simply “uncoachable.” A qualified coach can tell the difference, and with the increasing popularity of coaching, it’s important to make sure a coach is qualified.
Executive Coaching is a distinct, definable profession. The International Coach Federation (ICF) has developed an Executive Coach Certification Program, based on the ICF’s definition of coaching “as partnering with clients in a thought provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”
An Executive Coach certified by ICF or a similar recognized professional organization will:
Explain his or her coaching methodology
Provide testimonials
Offer a reasonable fee structure
Inspire trust and ensure confidentiality
Develop a rapport with clients quickly
Deliver coaching in a manner compatible with each client’s personality
Coaching Outcomes
A recent Forbes study stated that return-on-investment (ROI) for executive coaching was “…7 times the initial investment, and over a quarter of the coaching clients reported a stunning ROI of 10 to 49 times the cost…”3
An Executive Coach will assess the current situation and outline expected outcomes clearly. While outcome objectives are customized to meet the needs of each leader or high potential person in the context of the specific organization, outcomes generally include but are not limited to:
Individual
Stronger working relationships
More effective teamwork
Increased ability to drive organizational change
Greater capacity for critical thinking
Increased confidence
Ability to present ideas more effectively
Improved communication skills
Reduced stress
Healthier work-life-balance
Organization
Higher productivity
Increased employee engagement
Lower absenteeism
Improved employee retention
Decreased customer service issues
Reduced costs
Increased profit
Better customer service and retention
The SourceOne Innovations, Inc. Process
As an Entrepreneur and Founder and President of SourceOne Innovations, Inc., I am an experienced, certified Executive Coach employing a process that has helped high level executives and high potential managers continue to evolve into leaders who inspire others. Ask your coach for their process. If they can’t articulate the “how” show them the door.
SourceOne Innovations works with each client to co-create an individualized plan.
This involves:
Meeting with each client and/or sponsor to determine engagement scope
Agreeing on outcome objectives and defining the coaching parameters
Measuring baseline performance
Identifying areas for change
Formulating an action plan
Developing benchmarks
Implementing the action plan
Following up with sponsor as appropriate (not all clients will have sponsors)
Measuring results
If you or your company is ready to get started, call us now. With our guidance you will do more than meet your leadership development goals—you will surpass expectations. Due to our 40+ years of solid Procurement experience, we know what it takes to get a “yes” from the decision makers and will help you market your business and increase sales in 90 days.
References
[1] UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, “UNC Leadership Survey 2014: How to Accelerate Leadership Development, 2014
[2] Diane Contu and Carol Kauffman, “What Coaches Can Do For You?”, 2009
[3] Forbes, “Forbes.Com Reports on Huge ROI’s to Accelerate Leadership Development”, 2014