The benefits of executive coaching for leadership development and improving people management

Are you the boss of your own company or department?

Are you managing a team of employees?

Are you expected to know all the answers?

What happens when you don’t?

Who do you turn to?

You cannot be expected to know all of the answers, all of the time and what’s more, you must not be too hard on yourself if you don’t. There are always answers, it is just a matter of finding the right ones and implementing them properly. Often gaining a different perspective on a situation will help to resolve it.

This is where executive coaching for leadership development and the improvement of people management skills comes in to play. Executive coaching from Inspiring Potential comes in the form of a series of one on one telephone conversations, geared towards raising an individual’s self awareness and their performance in the workplace. These conversations enable the individual to tap into their inner strengths and reveal their true potential.

Through the development of effective leadership and improved people management or interpersonal skills, Inspiring Potential can bring out the best in your executive management team. We have worked with everyone from CEO's to Business Owners and Directors to Senior Managers and our approach gets results. We help individuals to develop their leadership skills, raise performance levels in themselves and their teams, manage their stress levels, build self confidence, improve their managerial style and resolve intra-office conflicts. We also help senior management to deal with taking on new job roles and deal with redundancy issues on both sides of the boardroom table.

Executive Coaching – click here for more information on our executive coaching service

Leadership development

The most effective way of improving a company’s performance is to improve the interpersonal skills of the company’s executives. The business leadership training provided by Inspiring Potential, is specifically targeted at company executives to improve their leadership skills which will in turn, lead to improved productivity from the work force and increased profits for the business as a whole.

It is difficult however, to achieve this without the trust and support of your subordinates. You can feel ostracized, unable to gain valuable insight into what’s actually going on, on the ground or at the levels beneath you. Our training methods give you the tools you need to be able to acquire the trust and support of your work force and turn them into a dynamic, highly focussed and motivated team that are working together, with you, toward your common goals.

This new form of business leadership, leadership through emotion, is what is being demanded in today’s working society and companies that have embraced this philosophy are far outstripping their competitors, not only in terms of production and performance but also in terms of staff morale and retention.

Leadership Development Training - Contact us now for more information.

People Management

Great people management or interpersonal skills are vital to the success of any company. Effective people managers bring out the best in their co-workers – and create a vibrant and productive work space that is both inspirational and nurturing.

However many of today's managers have been promoted from within and just because someone is good at their job or they are a time-served member of staff, does not mean that they will necessarily make a good manager of people. In fact, in practice many of them don’t.

Great people managers are very different to great employees. In many cases they have an entirely different skill set. Sure, it helps it they’ve done the job themselves and know about the company structures but this inside knowledge can be picked up quite quickly. The extra knowledge and motivational people skills can’t be picked up in house, but they can be taught.

The effects of poor people management can be extremely damaging to the performance of your workforce and its morale and a workforce with low morale is one that is not operating to the best of its ability. If your members of staff are not listened to or allowed to communicate their ideas, they won’t feel valued and staff that don’t feel valued end up leaving the company. A high turnover of staff leads to the company spending large sums of money on recruitment drives and training.

Also, a manager who has “earned” their promotion could be compromising your business growth by refusing to recognise and tap into other talents that exist on your payroll for fear of losing the position they have worked for such a long time to achieve.

Our executive coaching packages are extremely effective in assisting managers to refine their people management skills. Through a series of confidential, one to one sessions, a manager can identify and 'own' their problems in this area, receive sufficient motivation to change their behaviour, experiment with trying out new ways of managing and improve their emotional intelligence.

Click on the link to learn more about our Executive Coaching packages.

What Can Executive Coaching Help With?

Leadership Development

Enhancing the leadership performance skills of key executives within an organisation is vital to the success of any business. This leads to the increased productivity and profitability of the company as a whole.

Managers and business executives alike have used coaching as a tool to help them further develop their leadership skills. An executive coach is non biased and objective and as such, is free to ask even the most awkward of questions. These are questions that may otherwise have remained untendered, due to a colleague’s unwillingness to voice any concerns or objections or even to make suggestions for fear of reprisal. Often it is the answers to these sometimes difficult questions that are the catalyst to change and corporate or commercial advancement.

Raising Performance

Finding good staff is hard enough these days, finding real performers, even more so. When one of your key players takes their eyes off the ball, as happens from time to time, it is important to address the issue as quickly as possible.

Our executive coaches specialise in getting people back on track, refocusing their attention and reframing situations to realign their priorities and raise their performance. Many high performers will actually request help of their own volition, knowing that something is off and that it needs to be rectified so that they can once again enjoy the fruits of success.

Stress Management

With the number of reported cases of illness brought on through work related stress, at an all time high, it is important that, as an employer, you watch for any of the tell-tale signs. As soon as you suspect that stress may be playing a part in the underperformance of your workforce, you should act to find a solution.

It is estimated that the average case of stress induced leave equates to a 31 day absence from work. Stress has a negative effect on people’s mental, physical and emotional well being. Stress can damage working relationships, sometimes irreparably. And stress can lead to reduced productivity and ultimately to claims against the company for compensation.

At Inspiring Potential, we address the causes of stress; we don’t just deal with the symptoms. We get to the root of the issue helping employees to develop new ways to rid themselves of stress.

Self Confidence

Anyone who has ever had their confidence knocked, be it at work or in a social environment will instantly recognise the signs. These can include an unwillingness to take on new roles or responsibilities, indecision, defensive behaviors, a general withdrawal or introversion and a negative outlook.

An Inspiring Potential coach will work with the individual to uncover the root cause of this predicament and empower them to take responsibility for change. The Inspiring Potential coach will help them to recognise that they have power to control their level of self confidence and that they can adopt new strategies to act with greater self confidence.

Management Style

Good people managers are inspirational; they bring out the best in people, allowing them to perform to the height of their abilities. They make the workplace a fun place to be, a vibrant and productive arena in which teamwork and individual performance are recognised and rewarded.

Good people managers are crucial to the success of a company. They are in touch with the morale of their team and they facilitate the free flowing of ideas and communication throughout the working environment. They also reduce the level of staff turnover and help to realise an individual’s potential as well as boosting the self confidence of those in their charge.

Our one to one manager training programmes are designed to help new and established managers address existing issues and deal with any issues arising. They will increase the managers’ self awareness, encourage them to take responsibility and ownership and to try out new behaviors in order to resolve these issues. Our programmes will encourage improved emotional intelligence to enable them to communicate properly with their team.
Resolving Conflict

Inspiring Potential can help you and your people managers communicate more effectively, reducing and resolving workplace conflict. If appropriate, we can host facilitated sessions between the parties involved or work with each party on a one to one basis through our Executive Coaching programmes.

Perhaps these issues have come up as a result of an employee review or a 360° feedback report. One of our coaches would then work with the individual to get to the root of the issue. One of the tools we use is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. This helps us to understand the different personality types at work within your organisation. We are then able to suggest the implementation of strategies to resolve the conflict.

Handling New Roles

As an executive, you are supposed to know all the answers and most probably do; it is just that this is a new role to you and perhaps things weren’t properly explained by the previous incumbent. Perhaps the job role as it was previously understood, has changed slightly and there are other protocols to follow.

Without this inside knowledge, it is difficult to assume full responsibility; but assume full responsibility you must, in the full and certain knowledge that there are those amongst the existing staff that are just waiting for you to fall on your face. At Inspiring Potential we work with you to find ways in which you can quickly bring your new team members on side, helping them to help you, and feel good about doing so.

Coaching your team to success

Coaching your team to success

In times like these, people feel uncertain and they need to re-build trust and re-engage with the organization. The uncertainty in the economy, political situation and work is causing stress and people to shut down, put their head down, and do the work until the storm passes. The problem is that people are stressed, not working at the fullest potential, and trying to stay under the radar and playing safe.

For people to re-engage and trust they need to feel valued and appreciated, they need managers and leaders to coach them and lead the way.

A CIPD survey on coaching last year reported that 80% of the companies are using coaching, and 63% is done by line managers, supported by professional coaches.

So how could you inspire your team to perform better? In uncertain times, people increase controls, and effectiveness measure forgetting the relationship building. History shows that focussing solely on effectiveness works only for a little while, as stress increases and therefore problems like absenteeism, and turnover increase.

Coaching is a core management competency that can help you improve effectiveness and morale in your team. You can help your team feel valued, and re-engaged into what they do. Here are some tips:

· Start any conversation by agreeing the outcome, what does the other person want to get out of the conversation

· Help the people in your team develop their own insights and awareness by asking them questions. You know how it feels to be told what to do, without being asked for your opinion or input, it’s safe but disempowering. It stops the creative process of the person doing the job being innovative to to come up with new ways of solving problems.

· Listen with curiosity to what your team has to say. Ask questions instead of solely directing them. Next time one of the people in your team asks you a questions, ask them first what they think, and what would they do?

· They probably know what they need to achieve what they want, ask them?

· Help them create an SMART action plan to achieve it.

By introducing coaching as a management competency in your organization, you start creating a culture of empowerment and employee engagement.

If you need further help please visit us on:

http://www.inspiring-potential.com/coaching-skills-for-managers.php

4 step process to achieve what you want!

Mahatma Gandhi said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

In times like these when the media is talking about recession, doom and gloom, it’s more important than ever for us to keep focused on what we want to achieve and be the leaders we want to become.

One of my Clients said yesterday, “I don’t like my job, but at least I have a job.” People are feeling scared, insecure, and unmotivated. The future seems more uncertain than ever. This made me contemplate how to help people be motivated and inspired to do their best, when there is so much negativity around us. Energy flows where attention goes.

So it’s time to focus on what we want, and what actions we need to take to achieve it. Most people don’t know what they want. They just know what they don’t want. They can tell you quite clearly what they don’t want, but when asked what do you want? Their mind goes blank. Are you one of these people?
If you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you get there? Have you stopped to think recently about what you want? What is your vision for what you’d like to achieve in your life, and in your career? Are you willing to put the effort needed to get you there?

Many people complain about their job, and don’t do anything about it. They moan about not having responsibility and accountability, or that they were passed for a promotion, or that the politics in the organisation block them from moving forwards. They feel powerless and they don’t realise they could take control of the situation if they chose to.We always have a choice in how we view a situation. Even when we think we don’t, we do. The problem is that we don’t like the alternatives and pretend they are not there.

Here is my 4-step process for achieving what you want.
1. Define what you want
You must create a compelling picture of what you want in your life. What will you see hear and feel when you have achieved it? How will you know you have achieved it?

2. Take responsibility for your current situation
The next step is to take responsibility for the current situation. What is the current situation? And ask yourself how have you contributed to it and how have you created it? What is stopping you ( within you) to achieve it?This is quite difficult to do; it’s much easier to blame others for our current situation. However when you take responsibility and control of your life you can take action to correct it.
3. Create an action plan

After you take responsibility for your situation, it’s much easier to see the steps to take to get the results you want. Write the steps into a SMART action plan.

4. Take action
The last step is to take action. Start acting as if it was already true. Be that person you are becoming. And keep visualising yourself having already achieved your goal.

Case Study

I had a Client who was a Finance Controller, and he was upset that he had not been promoted to Finance Director. Many of his colleagues in similar roles were Finance Directors and he felt that he was being taken advantage of.I asked him what stopped him being a Finance Director, and he came up with a long list of reasons why the company wasn’t promoting him. We worked on him taking responsibility for his current situation and after talking for a while he realised he wasn’t stepping up to the challenge.Through our work together he realised that he had been acting as a Finance Controller – waiting to be promoted. He started focusing on what he wanted, and started behaving and acting like a Finance Director. He started being the change he wanted. The result was that he was promoted in less than 3 months.Inspiring Potential can assist you in clarifying your goals and taking the steps to achieve them. Talk to us today!

Do you want executive coaching?

• Do you feel like you can't be yourself at work, they'll notice that you are not up to the job?
• Do you feel you have to work too much and not feel valued or recognised?
• Did you just get promoted, and don't want to ask questions because you feel you should know them?
• Do you know your blind spots? What people think of you?

If you have answered yes to any of those, you may want to benefit from executive coaching.

Executive coaching helps us become more self aware. It helps us identify what are our strengths and weaknessess. What are those self imposed barriers to our success, and more importantly how to overcome them.

Here is an example of how Executive coaching can help us change our perspective on what we perceive an issue at work:

One of my clients was really unhappy at work. She felt unfulfilled, and her performance started to suffer. The company she worked for had just gone through a reorganisation, and she did not get the job she wanted. She felt she had been demoted. In reality, her team had doubled, she had received a 20% raise, and she had responsability for all of Europe. On a day to day basis she loved her job and her team, but she felt betrayed by the company, because she was no longer at the same level as her peers. As part of the culture change in the organisation, they provided her with executive coaching.

We started the coaching process by identifying what were her objectives for the coaching and determining if they were in line with the new organisation.

We went through a six month process of identifying Why was she un-happy? What were her career and work values? Were they congruent with the organisation? What did she really want? What made her happy? etc

She discovered that her values were success, challenge, results, people, reward, recognition.

As a result of taking the time to really think about who she is and who she wanted to be, she realised she had many unconcious beliefs that were holding her back. One of them being that "title" was a key element of her definition of success. We explored the imporance of "the title" for her, and consequently she altered her definition of success to include elements that were more relevant and important to her life now such as impact, results, reward, responsability.

As she became more self-aware, she became more more focused on what was really important to her at work and more in control of her destiny and career. Her team started performing better than they had ever before. They won a quality award for the year, and she was promoted the following year.

This example above shows us how our blind spots or unconcious beliefs can hold us back or make us feel unhappy, and how an executive coach can help you see things from a different perspective and get in touch with what really matters to you.

Einstein said " We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them"

So, do you want executive coaching? You have the answer, would you benefit from having someone whose whole agenda is for you to achieve what you want.