2023-09-28

How Can Coaching Complement Leadership Programs?

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How Can Coaching Complement Leadership Programs?

Latest updated: 28 September 2023

Leadership programs are fundamentally the right thing to invest in when you want to strengthen leadership within an organisation. However, it takes a lot for the program to truly yield the results one hopes for. It's not uncommon for participants to find these programs too generic and challenging to apply the new knowledge at an individual level in their day-to-day work. Therefore, coaching can serve as a valuable complement; a skilled coach can assist leaders in applying the knowledge and transforming it into behaviours and habits.

 

Strengthening leadership in an organisation is both costly and demanding, which is why it's important to achieve good results when choosing to invest. Leadership programs are a fantastic way to enhance the knowledge and competence of managers and inspire them to become better and more conscious leaders.

At the same time, leadership programs have their limitations, and there's hardly any program that is perfect in its design. A common criticism of leadership programs is that their content is too general, making it feel irrelevant to individual leaders who are dealing with more specific challenges.

The knowledge from the program can be very difficult to apply in daily work without guidance and a plan for how to do so. The leadership program and "real" work become two entirely separate worlds that never intersect. Participants often find it difficult to retain the new knowledge in their minds and consciousness – they simply forget what they've learned.

Coaching can, therefore, function as an excellent complement to the leadership program. A skilled coach can help the leader see how and why the knowledge from the program is relevant to their own work situation and how to best apply that knowledge.

From Theory to Application

A coach can help program participants interpret the new knowledge from both an individual and practical perspective, as well as break it down into concrete goals, behaviors, or habits. This ensures that investment in leadership development yields results not just in theory but also in practice. Listening to knowledge might make one wiser to some extent, but applying knowledge can take one's leadership to entirely new levels.

With the coach's assistance, leaders can create a concrete action plan to begin applying the new knowledge in their work. Successful application also requires leaders to develop a high degree of self-awareness and have someone to turn to when the application is challenging or not yielding the desired results. Becoming a better leader doesn't happen overnight – one needs the opportunity to try new behaviors and activities, discuss the results, and make adjustments.

The coach can, therefore, help the leader both plan and evaluate their behaviors directly linked to the leadership program. This can include basic things like scheduling daily positive and constructive feedback sessions with team members or practicing active listening in every meeting. These are very fundamental aspects, but conscious strategies are still required to make new behaviors truly stick and become part of the leader's daily work.

The goal should be to identify and develop behaviors that strengthen leadership and then transform these behaviors into habits. By establishing the right habits and routines, one can overcome personal shortcomings and significantly elevate their leadership: For example, an extroverted manager may risk overlooking the contributions of more introverted team members, but by making it a habit to always check if everyone has had a chance to speak, this personal leadership flaw can be mitigated. Or a manager who needs to improve active listening can develop the habit of summarizing what the other person has said in 1-2 sentences, which, of course, requires genuine listening. And so on. Good habits and the application of best practices create better leaders.

The Coach Motivates the Leader to Continue

As evident, a coach can assist program participants in very concrete ways, ensuring that insights from the leadership program are transformed into concrete behaviors, habits, and goals in their daily work. However, this isn't the only benefit of complementing the leadership program with coaching.

One should not underestimate the need for someone who pushes and motivates the leader throughout the program. A leadership program should be challenging and difficult; otherwise, it won't lead to any development.

When it feels tough or stressful, there's a risk that the leader may be tempted to go through the rest of the program with minimal engagement and dedication. In such situations, a coach is needed to remind them why they started the program in the first place and what they can achieve through it. They may also need someone to provide support and feedback when attempts to apply the knowledge result in setbacks. Sometimes, you have to fail in order to succeed, and it's the coach's job to remind the leader of this and boost their morale and motivation.

Last but not least, the coach plays a crucial role in creating a sense of continuity. The coach can help the leader revisit the knowledge during the program and tie everything together as the program nears its end. At that point, the leader should not only feel that they've learned a lot but also that there is a path forward and a plan for applying the new knowledge even after the leadership program concludes. In other words, coaching is an excellent complement to the leadership program because it leads to the customization, concretization, and integration of program knowledge into the leader's ongoing development.

Summary – How Coaching Can Complement Leadership Programs:

  1. Leadership programs are an effective way to strengthen leadership within an organization. However, the knowledge gained in the program can feel generic and challenging to apply in individual work.
  2. Therefore, coaching can serve as an excellent complement to leadership programs. A skilled coach can help leaders translate theoretical knowledge into individual practice and train new behaviors and habits to apply knowledge in daily work.
  3. The coach is also needed to motivate participants to truly apply program knowledge through a development plan and to create a sense of continuity and context."

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