There are a number of ways leaders can develop others. Fundamentally, if someone is going to choose to be a leader, they should think about how they are going to create other leaders. Leaders should be committed to professional growth and should regularly engage in activities that promote this growth, such as workshops, seminars, conferences, and graduate courses. They should also be informed about current research on teaching and learning. In order to get ahead and stay ahead, companies need agile, flexible, innovative leaders who can anticipate change and respond to new realities. To do this well, you need a team of leaders throughout the organization.
The Coach relationship is a special relationship because the Coach is committed to another person’s growth. The Coach often sees the other person’s potential before the person does. The coaching relationship can be peer to peer, manager to staff, or upward feedback. Coaching is important because it gives the leader an outside perspective and provides another way for knowledge to be transferred within the organization.
True Leadership
A major part of a leader’s role consists of simultaneously being a Coach to the people he or she leads. Leaders should have a positive attitude toward learning and developing their organization and their colleagues. Leaders need to be willing to share their expertise with others. Studies show that companies whose leaders develop other leaders have a higher employee retention rate. The skills of your company’s executives and employees are your most valuable asset. A leader’s development of other leaders provides a means of cultivating such skills throughout your organization to achieve your goals.
True leadership is a result of influence, congruence, and integrity. It involves managing relationships and interacting and communicating within an organization in order to move toward a vision of a rewarding future. From this perspective, leadership can be defined as expressing a vision, influencing others to achieve results, encouraging team cooperation, and serving as an example. Defined in this way, leadership ability provides added value to any fundamental management ability. In other words, the strengthening of leadership ability can help any individual to improve his or her capacity to achieve results and reach desired personal or organizational outcomes.
People have a great capacity and a fundamental need to learn and grow. Higher expectations of associates lead to higher performance in the right environment, and lower expectations often lead to mediocrity. The chief executive officer who knows the strengths and weaknesses of his or her team is likely to be far more effective than one who remains blind to them. Some leaders fall into the trap of trying to lead an organization in our evolving world without actually evolving themselves. They make decisions based on old knowledge, assumptions, and habits. They fall into a rut and wind up repeating past mistakes and missing key opportunities to learn more.
Leadership coaching starts with the choice of wanting to learn. Positive learning and development start with new insights gained from feedback. To coach others to excel, you need to be open to being coached and learning yourself.
How to Spot a Coach
• They develop themselves
• They are relentless and versatile learners
• They are consistently developing other leaders
• They embrace feedback
• They provide feedback
• They believe in others capabilities and ability to grow
• They share and can teach others their point of view