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The leader’s ration – and its challenges

The leader’s daily ration is one of juggling complexity, ambiguity, uncertainty, and pressure to achieve. The challenges involve strategic relationships, handling competition, multiple and simultaneous demands on time and capacity, financial imperatives, shareholder pressures, efficiency and profitability, and managing the organisational reputation, to name but a few.

Resources and resourcefulness

Out of it all the leader needs to produce the clarity, focus and direction that will inspire, motivate and engage their workforce to deliver on the strategic agenda. They need to maintain and develop their own resources and their own resourcefulness so that they release their own talent and that of their people.

Their position is often solitary, and – lonely at the top – they often lack both the challenge and the feedback from those around them that could help them expand their thinking, consider different perspectives and achieve greater balance and wellbeing.

The motivation for coaching: development and transformation

This juxtaposition of complex demands, on the one hand, with a sense that they could be moving from good or great to outstanding, on the other, is often the motivation for leaders to seek leadership coaching with an external executive coach. Having no vested interest but able both to facilitate and deliver insight, the coach works collaboratively so as to enable development and transformation.

How to gain the most from leadership coaching

Leaders who embrace the process of learning and raising their levels of self-awareness, self-understanding, understanding of others and understanding of the systems and contexts they operate within stand to gain the most from leadership coaching. So too will those who are prepared to experiment and implement well-judged change, to reflect, to take steps into the apparently unsafe territory of their own vulnerabilities, and to recognise that who they really are is profoundly relevant to how they perform. Those who make the most of their coaching are those who engage in learning processes which may be unfamiliar, and who treat coaching as primary rather than secondary.

Challenges that leaders bring to coaching

In my experience the challenges that are the most preoccupying for leaders are those where they are puzzled, surprised or confronted by their own thinking patterns, reactions or behaviours – for example, unexpectedly finding that their self-confidence is undermined, tussling with an apparent incapacity to manage time effectively, reacting emotionally when challenged, lacking the gravitas they need in order to occupy their authority, buckling under stress, not knowing how to take their next career step, not knowing how to change a pattern…. The list is almost infinite.

Coaching outcomes

I aim to facilitate coaching clients to uncover – and, when appropriate, to shift – patterns in their emotions, behaviour, thinking, relationships, systems, and the stories they tell, especially when these have been keeping them stuck. On their coaching journeys they learn to listen to themselves and see themselves as others see them, and to discern meanings that were previously hidden to them.

They become more authentic (often experiencing a kind of liberation in the process), they see more clearly what kind of leaders they want to be, and they discover how to make that happen. They learn how to respond rather than react, in a fuller awareness of the choices they make.

They become able to manage the apparent paradox between personal and organisational imperatives. They learn how to identify and manage the unconscious loyalties that may keep them tethered to inappropriate beliefs, attitudes and behaviours (for more on unconscious loyalties see the work of Bert Hellinger in relation to constellations).

Risky thinking

The coaching relationship is both platform and anchor: I am as authentic as I can be, I accept the client rather than judge them, and I feel both compassion and empathy, I support and I challenge them. In my experience this creates a trust in which the leader feels safe enough to do the risky thinking that they can’t do outside the coaching context. This trusting – and unique – relationship is one that the leader can use for growth, so that change, development and transformation occur (again see Carl Rogers ‘On Becoming a Person’, Carl Rogers, 1967, Constable & Robinson Ltd).

Self-coaching

My coaching clients learn how to self-coach and to be leaders who enable autonomy in individuals and in teams, facilitate learning, stimulate independent thought and action, engage with the creativity that emerges in organisations which are open to learning and initiative, delegate, offer and receive feedback, and find reward in others’ development and achievement (see ‘Carl Rogers on Personal Power’, Carl Rogers, 1978, Constable & Robinson Ltd).

The role of the coach

I believe the role of the coach is to accept what is and inspire to what could be – just as this is the role of the leader.

Photo by Simon & His Camera via Compfight

Leadership coaching

Leaders who embrace the process of learning and raising their levels of self-awareness, self-understanding, understanding of others and understanding of the systems and contexts they operate within stand to gain the most from leadership coaching. On their coaching journeys they learn to listen to themselves and see themselves as others see them. They become more authentic, they see more clearly what kind of leaders they want to be, and they discover how to make that happen. They learn how to respond rather than react, in a fuller awareness of the choices they make.

You're unbelievable!

'You're uneblievable' - the latest article in my regular reflection column - has been published in 'Coaching at Work'. I'm inspired by Dr Kate Granger, a 32-year-old doctor who’s a terminally ill cancer patient and who's launched #hellomynameis. Change that lasts is internally motivated rather than externally motivated.

Managing yourself to lead others

The leader who builds on, and develops, their self-awareness in such a way that they can step back emotionally from situations to put their own thinking on hold, and empathise with the players in those situations, will find that they are more connected with their people, and that higher levels of trust, performance, engagement and discretionary effort – rather than obedience or compliance (and the corresponding ‘jobsworth’ mentality) – are the order of the day.

Diversity: making more of difference

In order to work effectively with difference, the first two steps for the leader are, first, to understand and be aware of their own thinking, emotional processes and place in their systems, and, second, to adopt a stance of acceptance, humility and celebration of diversity. If the prevailing culture in their team, division or organisation doesn’t acknowledge or value diversity, then the leader needs to change their relationship to that culture (and the relationships within it) rather than try to change it from the outside.

The real message

My latest article in my reflection column has been published in 'Coaching at Work'. It explores the opportunities and traps inherent in the first coaching session with a new client.

Leadership development

Leadership development means embracing the challenges and being courageous enough to be open to learning, whether that learning is unpalatable or affirming. It means being curious, vulnerable and invested in understanding the systemic factors that shape beliefs, behaviours and relationships. It means learning that can’t simply be learnt from a textbook. It means the leader raising their self-awareness to gain insight into their drivers, strengths, and purpose – and into what inhibits them from achieving the outcomes they really want.

The global village

In contexts ranging from multinational corporations to social networking, leaders and their teams interact, communicate and influence others in multiple different cultural settings simultaneously. Culture encompasses literally anything which characterises a particular group, and the leader’s task is to release his or her workforce’s capability in this complex and dynamic environment.

We're all part of the systems

Although we’re all independent human beings, we’re also interdependent, functioning within several systems simultaneously that provide the framework for our relationships to people and organisations, decisions and achievements, beliefs and attitudes. Awareness of those systems and their impact can release blockages in teams, strategy and the implementation of change.

Gold from Dust

Lindsay's article 'Gold from Dust' appears in Coaching at Work magazine May 2014. The client often gives pointers to their most significant issues in their first coaching session - and the coach may notice them but not attribute due importance to them. The first session is rich and complex. It’s an Aladdin’s cave of gems. To see a copy of the article click here if you're a subscriber to Coaching at Work or e-mail lw@lindsaywittenberg.co.uk to request a copy

Workshop on The Neuroscience of Wellbeing, Stress and Mindfulness

Tickets are sold out for the WittenbergEvans workshop on The Neuroscience of Wellbeing, Stress and Mindfulness in London on Thurs 19th June 2014

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