Developing Leadership Skills through Executive Coaching
During their journey to become a great leader, many executives find themselves asking questions like:
- How should I develop my leadership skills?
- What are the most important elements of leadership training?
- Why are Emotional Intelligence (EQ) skills important in leadership training?
- Can an executive coach help me become a better leader?
An executive coach is typically a professional development expert that can provide individualized and independent advice on developing leadership skills. Leadership training programs can take many forms but most companies now consider executive coaching a key component. They realize this is one of the most effective ways to move beyond developing performance management skills and enabling their leaders to improve EQ skills.
In the video “What Makes a Leader”, Harvard Business Review states that business groups with leaders that have strong EQ have been shown to outperform other groups by more than 20%. Certainly, skills and IQ are very important but great leaders have great EQ. Fortunately, EQ skills can be learned and great leaders are committed to constantly growing through improving their EQ, as part of their leadership training.
So, you might ask “Is executive coaching an effective use of my time and will it help me understand how to be a good leader”? Well business leaders like Bill Gates and Eric Schmidt believe the answer is yes. These leaders care deeply about the performance of their businesses and as Schmidt states, “every great performer has been influenced by a coach”.
Bill Gates' Top 10 Rules for Success
In his “Top 10 Rules for Success”, Gates talks about the value of having a trusted mentor or confidant that knows you, knows your blind spots, and will give you honest feedback with regards to important business decisions.
While coaching includes mentoring, executive coaching is also about the important task of developing and executing your plan for growth as a leader. Based on my experience with executive coaching, here are some of the benefits you can expect:
- Gain perspective by delivering an objective, experienced, 3rd party opinion
- Understand how others might view your actions and decisions.
- Improve your relational leadership skills
- Improve your communications skills as well as your approach to communicating with your team.
- Navigate your organization’s growth challenges
An executive coach can be a valuable, trusted advisor that helps you shape your understanding of how to be good leader and how to more effectively lead your team. The best coaches are both great teachers and skilled at establishing relationships with their clients that will help them understand the client’s business as well as help the client with the interpersonal aspects of leading. They provide a confidential, experienced sounding board for your ideas and plans as well as giving you honest feedback on your progress.
In short, an executive coach can be a great partner that helps you connect with, communicate with, and lead your team! If you're ready to become a great leader, start our executive coaching course today!
