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 If your intellectual capital is weak, or if you're simply looking for someone to share their knowledge, then you need to find someone that is good at, or willing to practice the coaching leadership style. That's because coaching leaders are excellent at helping others to advance their skills, building bench strength and providing career guidance.
Attributes of Coaching Leaders
As described my Daniel Goleman, the coaching leadership style is best summed up by the phrase "try this." If you're already working for a coaching leader, you're in luck. One of the things these leaders do best is to help employees identify both their strengths and weaknesses - and it's always helpful to have another share their opinion.
Coaching leaders are also able to tie together your career aspirations and personal goals. They help you see how everything fits together. And because of this ability and interest in you, then can help you develop a long-term plan to reach your long-term goals.
Just don't think that coaching leaders will hold your hand through all of the tough times. They will give you plenty of feedback on your performance and help. But they are also experts at delegating and giving employees assignments that are challenging.
So to summarize the attributes of coaching leaders, we have individuals that are genuinely interested in helping others succeed. And they do this by focusing on the development of others while using their keen sense of empathy and their own self awareness.
Pros and Cons of the Coaching Leadership Style
One of the interesting findings of Goleman in his research was that the coaching leadership style was the least used style in the workplace. That's because many leaders do not believe they have the time to dedicate to helping others. This mindset is unfortunate because the investment made in employees often provides abundant returns to the leader.
If you understand this last point, then you shouldn't be surprised that the coaching style is very successful in improving results. Superior climate and performance are achieved for two reasons that go beyond the coach's investment in training others:
- Coaching leaders provide a very positive workplace environment.
- Employees know exactly what's expected of them and they understand the overall strategy of the company.
Perhaps the biggest drawback of the coaching style is that it takes time and patience. The coach needs to make an up-front investment in an employee in the hopes of reaping the rewards of above average performance later on.
Effectively Using the Coaching Style
The coaching leadership style is most effective when the employees working under the coach are receptive to this help. If you're managing employees that are extremely resistant to change or are not interested in learning new things, then you'll struggle if you choose this style. It's also inappropriate to use this leadership style if you lack the technical expertise to help those you're managing.
That being said it's very rare in the workplace to find employees that are not interested in improving their performance and bettering themselves. As a coach, you understand it's important to supply ongoing feedback on performance. It's equally important to do this in a manner that motivates the employee and does not create fear.
The intriguing aspect of the coaching leadership style is that it is used so infrequently, yet it is extremely effective in almost any situation. In conclusion, if you're practicing the coaching style, you'll know you're successful if these are the messages you're sending:
- I believe in your abilities.
- I'm willing to invest my time in you.
- In exchange for this trust and investment, I expect you to make you to try your hardest.
Examples of Coaching Leaders
It is extremely difficult to find clear examples of modern coaching leaders. The best examples of this particular style would be leaders that were labeled as "famous" mentors or those involved in well known mentoring pairings.
Mentoring Pairings
That being said, the following list of mentoring pairings provides examples of leaders exhibiting the coaching leadership style:
- Red Holtzman (NBA coach) mentored Phil Jackson (NBA coach)
- Andrew Carnegie (philanthropist) mentored Charles Schwab (first president of US Steel)
- Eddy Merckx (five-time Tour de France winner) mentored Lance Armstrong (seven-time Tour de France winner)
- Robert Patterson (CEO, National Cash Register) mentored Thomas Watson (founder of IBM)
About the Author - Coaching Leadership
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