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High-quality leadership is the exception

Leadership: the subject of thousands and thousands of books, articles, training programmes and development initiatives. And yet high-quality leadership seems to be the exception rather than the rule: the kind of leadership which enables others to flourish, which creates engagement, which inspires and stimulates discretionary effort, which influences and motivates those within the leader’s organisation and beyond it, and which sustainably takes results to a higher level attracts attention because it is still relatively unusual.

Executive coaching for the leadership essentials: self-awareness and self-understanding

Part of the reason, I suggest, is that only the developmental and transformational approach of the best executive coaching can equip the leader (potential or actual) to search within themselves and to courageously examine their own practice in order to deliver their leadership in a style which creates a better organisation – and, some would say, a better world. High-quality leadership isn’t a check-list: it’s a question of how the leader brings the essence of themselves to their role. It demands self-awareness and self-understanding, awareness of how others tick and a capacity for the leader to put themselves in those others’ shoes, an awareness of how the systems of relationships and influences around them work (no matter how distant those relationships), a curiosity to keep learning (especially when things go wrong) and a discipline to keep applying the learning – and learning again and again from that application.

Executive coaching can equip the leader to lead – and self-lead – sustainably

Leaders can effectively lead others only with the self-awareness and self-understanding to lead themselves, and it’s executive coaching that can uniquely, amongst all learning interventions, equip leaders to lead and self-lead sustainably, with integrity, authenticity and humility. Executive coaching is an approach to learning, via a confidential relationship, in which the learner – a senior person within an organisation – is responsible for the learning agenda and for creating the outcomes of that learning.

The executive coach is responsible for creating conditions in which the leader can achieve a level of self-awareness and self-understanding that will better equip them to clarify and assess their situation, draw lessons from it, work out their options, create opportunities, make positive and sustainable changes, and make decisions that are congruent with the person they are, and what they want to achieve. The coaching journey enables the leader to create and discover insights which they can experiment with in the conduct of their own working lives (‘self-leading’) and then apply to leading others.

Benefits and outcomes: authentic leadership and self-coaching

Executive coaching can fundamentally challenge an individual’s style of leadership and typically improves their impact on both people and results. Leaders I coach achieve development and transformation: they make profound and sustained changes in themselves, in their teams, in the philosophy and practices in their organisations, and in the quality of outcomes they create. They learn to self-coach, applying the principles they have created for themselves during their coaching programmes, becoming better able to question assumptions and old beliefs they might subconsciously have been carrying with them for years, understanding how to integrate new knowledge into their own practice, and knowing at a profound level who they really are.

Their self-coaching engenders a capacity for self-leadership – for being consistently open to examining and questioning their own principles and practice, to adapting and adjusting their behaviour, to leading themselves effectively as a pre-condition for leading others.

Their coaching enables their authenticity to express itself in their concept and delivery of leadership. They tap in more fully to their capabilities – so they become more effective at achieving the outcomes they want. They think freshly, from new perspectives, and feel safe enough to think creatively – so they create new solutions. They discover what helps them and what hinders them in achieving the outcomes they want – so they’re better able to make decisions and judgments which are well-grounded, and which make their results sustainable. They create and sustain productive working relationships and get the best out of their people. They propel their careers and their organisations forward.

The coaching relationship creates the basis for results: purpose, confidence and engagement

My executive coaching is based on a relationship of trust, openness and impartiality that creates a safe space in which the leader can do the risky thinking that will take them to the next level. The coaching gets behind what presents on the surface so that the leader gains an understanding of what drives and motivates them, what guides and influences their behaviour, and what enables them to do their best work. They become equipped to keep creating positive results that stick, and to challenge and change the repeating patterns that can get in the way of the results they’re aiming for. Leaders I’ve worked with say they walk a more purposeful path, experience growing confidence, run efficient, motivated, engaged teams whose members step up to take responsibility, inspire confidence, and improve their organisations’ impact and results.

They create results that make a significant difference.

Photo by Hartwig HKD via Compfight

Executive coaching for leadership and self-leadership

Amongst all learning interventions, the developmental and transformational style of the best executive coaching can equip the leader to deliver leadership that creates a better organisation – and, some would say, a better world - sustainably, with integrity and with authenticity.

The Neuroscience of Wellbeing, Stress and Mindfulness

A workshop on ‘The Neuroscience of Wellbeing, Stress and Mindfulness’ will take place on Thursday, 19 June 2014 from 13:30 to 17:00 at the Gestalt Centre in London. It will interest coaches, trainers, consultants, HR professionals - indeed anyone who's managing, leading, facilitating or developing others, or providing a service. Neuroscience not only informs us how we - and others - tick, but it is also becoming increasingly recognised as a key tool in the development of high-impact leadership, employee engagement and the management of stress.

Lessons from neuroscience for learning and performance

Leaders who know how to optimise the conditions for their own and their people’s learning are going to maximise their chances of success for themselves and their organisations. Senior people – indeed anyone thinking about their career development – who build in the search for working environments and a career path that will maximise their learning opportunities is likely to also maximise their chances of fulfilment and therefore success. And those working across cultures or in multicultural environments who know how to maximise harmony, minimise conflict, bring a curiosity for learning and an attitude of acceptance are also going to be those most likely to develop aligned, creative, productive teams and minimise wasted effort.

Tripping on speed: leaders who want quick results

The pressure on senior people to work at speed risks disempowerment and threatens high-quality outcomes. Slowing down and reflecting, thus developing insight, can help enable them to create outcomes that are meaningful and sustained.

The neuroscience of wellbeing, stress and mindfulness

Our next neuroscience event, with academic researcher and qualified coach Dr Geoff Bird,will take place on Thursday 19th June 2014 13.30-17.00, and will explore the neuroscience of wellbeing, stress and mindfulness. Delegates to our workshops to date have included coaches, consultants, trainers, Learning and Development specialists, HR professionals and financial advisors. Further workshops (on the neuroscience of learning and performance and the neuroscience of leadership) - and a session on practical application, will take place during 2014 and early 2015.

Career strategy: purpose and meaning, values and strengths

New Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has pinpointed meaning at work as a fundamental goal because that’s ‘what makes the best work happen’. In my career development coaching with executives and senior managers, questions of meaning and purpose, values and beliefs, drivers and obstacles, emotional awareness and a capacity to situate yourself in your systems, are core to career focus or refocus.

The coaching contract: what does it mean for the client?

Lindsay’s article on what really goes on in contracting has been published in Coaching at Work magazine, January-February 2014 issue. The article explores the fact that, especially for coaching clients new to coaching, the meaning of the contract only becomes clear once they're experiencing the coaching and its impact. Perhaps the contracting process itself would benefit from being more reflective.

The multi-generational workforce - and diversity of pace

In most organisations baby-boomers (and older) work alongside Generations X and Y. Their attitudes to pace can divide them: Xers and Yers often resist the idea of slowing down long enough to reflect while the baby boomers are more inclined to reflect. The generations are most effective when they’re aware of and respect others’ assumptions and world views - and coaches are most effective when they can enter the client’s world.

Teams, listening and connection

Leaders are sometimes solitary and lonely figures, disconnected from their team . Leaders who who listen to their teams see in return greater engagement, better retention rates and bigger, more long-lasting results.

Extremes of uncertainty in coaching

Lindsay's article on extremes of uncertainty in coaching has been published in Coaching at Work magazine, November-December 2013 issue. The article explores what works when clients find themselves adrift, or when the foundations of their careers or their lives have seemed to disintegrate.

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