Leadership Coaching
My Leadership Coaching will help to give you the tools to become a better leader and inspire your team to produce the best output possible
A leadership coach can provide many benefits to a business owner or manager. First, a coach can help to identify areas where the leader may need improvement. Often, leaders are so focused on their own performance that they are unaware of areas where they could use some work.
The Bespoke Coach can help to provide objective feedback and help the leader to set realistic goals for improvement.
In addition, our coach can help the leader to develop actionable plans for achieving those goals.
Finally, we can provide ongoing support and accountability, helping the leader to stay on track and achieve lasting results.
For any business owner or manager who is looking to take their leadership skills to the next level, leadership coaching is an invaluable resource.
Many people who are in leadership positions find themselves wondering how to be more effective.
They may have started off as talented individuals with fresh ideas, but somewhere along the way they’ve become bogged down by managing day-to-day operations and keeping everyone on track.
Leadership coaching can help these individuals get back on track and start achieving their goals again.
A leadership coach will work with you to assess your strengths and weaknesses, develop a plan of action, and hold you accountable for your progress. In addition, a coach can provide you with an outside perspective and offer impartial feedback.
If you’re feeling stuck in your current role, consider working with a leadership coach to help you take your career to the next level.
What makes a good leader? Some would say good leadership coaching is essential to creating a good leader. Why? Because it is as you understand yourself and learn how to effectively communicate that you can be the leader you want to be.
In these days of uncertainty, volatility, ambiguity and complexity (VUCA) it can become a minefield managing staff in all their shapes, sizes, strengths, weaknesses and complexities.
It can be a challenge to mentor and inspire, if you do not allow yourself space to get to grips with who you are. If you are to be all you can be, you need to discover your own strengths that are sometimes hidden in the mists of time.
My Leadership coaching sessions are here to help you develop and nurture the talent already within your team.
What is leadership coaching?
Leadership coaching is a vital, confidential space that provides an arena where many of the issues that are required of a leader are addressed.
It is a space where there is time for you to understand yourself at a deeper level. A space that is safe, and thus where you can focus on your strengths as well as what you regard as your weaknesses.
It is a vital, live relationship that supports you to understand yourself more. A time where your thoughts have permission to surface without fear of judgement.
What is leadership coaching?
Leadership coaching means you are no longer alone, isolated as you lead. The confidential relationship gives room for you to be yourself. To check out what you think and feel. To rediscover your focus and vision.
Being a leader has many challenges. So many people to lead. So much responsibility. Thus, the need for time to regroup is necessary for a leader who does what it says on the tin, leads.
The requirements of a leader are many; Be an expert on people. Understand your organisation. Be financially astute. Set an example that invites a following. Be future focused. Manage work and family. Be a person of vision. A person of integrity. Invite investment. Gain more work. Be a great figurehead. Know your business inside out. Be an expert. Present well. Manage the pressures well.
It may require being a mother, father, son, daughter, or carer too.
Leadership coaching will ensure that you live well, and it will support your self-care as well as underpin your future vision.
The core principles of leadership coaching are:
- Provide a confidential space to look at any issues arising.
- Support the leader to understand themselves more
- Create an environment where vulnerability is welcome.
- Facilitate visionary thinking.
- Fearless challenge of limiting assumptions
- Develop strategic ways forward
- Build understanding of others
- Relational depth that brings change.
- Total overhaul of all elements that impact.
What are the benefits of leadership coaching to individuals and organisations
The benefits of leadership coaching are many. The return-on-investment (ROI) is significant. It can protect against many catastrophic situations.
If a leader is not functioning well the knock-on effect can be massive:
Staff leave. Tribunals occur. Incidents of bullying increase. There are far more sick days and talent is squeezed and does not flourish. Incidents of poor mental health increase and teams fall apart. And ultimately marriages may end, and business go into financial measures.
Leadership coaching is a safety net as well as a support for those who are doing well.
All leaders benefit from a coach.
Experiencing coaching first-hand can support a leader to create a coaching culture within their business. A coaching culture creates an environment where talent is happy to stay and share their skills and vision as they are respected and heard.
In this time of the ‘great resignation’, and in this time of a world changing pandemic where people are re-evaluating what they now want out of life it is even more necessary that leaders lead with grace and integrity.
Leadership coaching with c suite, as well leaders at different levels can transform an organisation. Suddenly people feel valued, listened to, respected.
Leaders no longer stay looking at the monitor when someone enters their space, they turn and make eye contact. The Scarf model developed by David Rock explains well the environment where individuals thrive and what their needs are.
What are the different types of leadership coaching?
Leadership coaching can be accessed in a variety of ways.
Most leaders are busy people and the ease of access to online coaching ensures that they use their time well. The pandemic has meant that working in this way has been normalised. I have found it to be very successful with my clients. Some work from home and can sit in comfort with a coffee and note pad. Ideas can easily be shared and developed with the use of the camera. There is something about working in this way that brings a freedom to the work, almost an intimacy. If the room where you are working is secure there are no limitations apart from making your own coffee.
Some leaders want their coaching to be in person and like to meet in my consulting room or at a mutually agreed space. The challenge of meeting in the workspace is booking the room to ensure we have a space to meet. In large organisations rooms are often booked out for client and team meetings. However, this can work very well. I have often been booked for a day where I meet with individuals to provide their leadership coaching. This is cost-effective with travel expenses limited to one day only.
What will leadership coaching do for you?
- Leadership coaching will, in the same way as executive coaching, provide you with a platform from which to view and understand yourself better.
- It will enable you to develop new skills as you set goals and achieve your aims.
- It will support you as you examine in detail how you lead and to make the changes necessary.
- It will enhance the work-place environment as you refine your skills.
- It will build resilience in you and thus improve how you manage and retain staff.
What does leadership coaching look like?
- It is confidential.
- It is focused work that supports change.
- It is creative, looking at different ways to manage staff.
- It supports learning.
- It is challenging and life changing
What's offered in a leadership coaching session?
In the initial meeting you will be invited to share what you hope to achieve with your coaching. This will help me to understand the best way forward. If we have not met before I will give us time to get to know each other more. The relationship between coach and client is vital and so the building of this ensures that the work will be successful.
I will tell you a little about myself to support this relationship.
Depending on the issue we will discuss the plan going forward. How many meetings will we have, what is the contract?
We will make future appointments to secure the work together.
Coaching is not a race; it is more of a focused stroll where we are able to understand together what is needed going forward. Of course, it is future focused by its very nature but as I say to my clients, you may need to look back to forward well.
Each time we meet I will invite you to prepare for our meeting by thinking about what you would like to discuss. Goals set and achieved are so rewarding.
“My executive coaching with Susie has been a positive experience. Breaking my actions, reactions & personality down through some challenging questions, at first left me a little confused and wondering if it was right for me! However, from this open conversation Susie was able to understand me. Offering direct and personal support to make improvements in how I dealt with certain challenges, breaking them down and talking though the choices I make. Doing this helped me identify opportunities where I can add value or de-escalate a situation to improve the outcome for the business. As a UK Sales Director I manage a team locally and together we work with business units across Europe, understanding our own communication style and responses to those around us is an important skill for a leader. I recommend Susie for executive coaching without hesitation.”
Mark Browning UK Sales Director.
I was curious and unsure of what to expect but Susie put me at my ease, and I found I could talk easily. She would sometimes make connections between my stories that I had not thought of before and gently encouraged me to reflect on them. There was an appropriate level of humour as well, that I enjoyed. I have since been working on some of the goals and put them to good use in my work and home life. I would recommend Susie to anyone wishing to explore key areas in their life in this form.”
Lindsay Royan
Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Get In Touch
Please get in touch via the form below, email susie@thebespokecoach.com or my mobile +447968669648 if you would like a chemistry call to discover if I am a good fit.