It’s a strange thing that we easily accept elite athletes and teams, or award-winning performers, having coaches to help them improve and sustain their performance, yet ignore this for human systems work.
Why?
No matter how experienced, wise, educated or involved a leader is in the craft and practice of their work, there is room for coaching. This isn’t to say it’s always needed, but it can benefit everyone at different points in your career or the lifespan of a project or role. Here are five reasons why:
- Talking to someone outside the situation you’re working on can serve as a “release valve” for expressing stressors, challenges, or dilemmas that can’t safely be shared within the work itself. Leaders are often in a bind because they can’t always be candid or open with their staff, colleagues, or board on specific issues at certain times. Having a coach or consultant can be that person to open up to, which reduces loneliness and, as importantly, allows processing of complex, conflicting, difficult information. When we speak about what’s going on with us, we activate different parts of our brain and nervous system and can better integrate that experience with our thinking.
- A great coach can correct ingrained habits (to create new ones). Over time, we develop habits through repeated practice, which can make us more efficient… and can also ingrain bad habits. Think of poor posture when we sit, or verbal tics (e.g., “um” and “ah”) — these are unhelpful habits we get into and often don’t realize we have. A coach can spot these, point them out to you, and help you correct them.
- Your coach is focused on you and your context. You are focused on yourself. It’s like the quizzical idea: “Does a fish know it’s in water?” It’s difficult to fully appreciate the context when we’re deep into it. Yes, we can see what’s happening, but we’re busy doing what we need to do in our role. Our coach can put those actions, roles into a frame that allows us to focus on what we need to do, but also to see the context more clearly, which allows more options for what we can do.
- A coach is your champion. Their loyalty and focus are on you and your goals, needs, and aspirations. Sometimes, we leaders lose focus on our needs in service of the needs of our staff, our patients or clients, or our organization. While it’s natural to care for others, when our health, well-being, and performance are compromised, it can be harmful not only to us, but to the people we serve. A coach is there to serve as that spot check to ensure we don’t allow ourselves to be victims of our own success.
- Lastly, a coach brings experience as a coach. They’ve worked with other professionals, teams and organizations and bring that experience to bear on your situation. They can tell where your experience mirrors situations in other organizations and where there are areas that are unique to your context. From this, they can bring the wisdom of experience to bear on your situation. Just as you are an expert on your team, they are experts on the situations that you and your team are facing.
Coaching models can vary. Sometimes, a coach might work with a team or a leader intensely for a short burst, or on a specific problem, and sometimes a more measured, long-term support system can be put in place. But whatever the model, a good coach will work with you to find what works for you…because they are there for you.
Setting Yourself Up
If you’re starting out, as yourself the following questions to help you find the coach that fits. Most coaches (including us) will have an introductory meeting with you without expectation or cost to explore what your needs are, preferences, and expectations to make sure there is a good fit. Fit matters as much as anything.
Consider things like: 1) your working style (now, and what you want it to be if you wish to change it), 2) your preference for ways of interacting (e.g., short burst, long reflections, quick check-ins, or something mixed), and 3) your capacity to respond to suggestions, and what kind of assistance or accommodation you might need from a coach.
If you’re looking to level up your performance this year, consider how a coach can support you to becoming the creative, dynamic, healthy, and successful leader you know you can be.
We offer coaching and education support to individuals and teams. If you’re interested in learning more, visit our product page or book a free, no-obligation consultation by clicking below to explore how we can help coach you into the best year of your career.