Blog Post: Liberating the Gifted Leader within You

You're a leader.  And the single most important factor in whether or not you're an effective leader is your day-to-day ability to communicate with people.  Nothing else has more impact on productivity, quality, morale and retention.

To be successful, you must develop specific partnering skills - the ability to facilitate conversations for mutual understanding and an aptitude for building relationships and community.  Gone are the days of the command-and-control manager.  No one wants to work for someone who simply gives orders daily and conducts evaluations annually.

Today's workers want leaders who will coach them by listening actively, asking important questions, and providing the direction and support they need to reach their personal development goals, not just the company's goals.  The most effective leaders empower their colleagues to achieve greater levels of performance.

So you've got to develop the mindset and skills needed to lead in today’s challenging business climate.  How in the world do you do that in addition to everything else you're responsible for? 

Get a coach!  After all, one of the most effective ways for you to learn how to be coach-like with your people is to be actively coached yourself.

Coaching is no longer seen as a "fix it tool" for leaders with problems.  It's a way for successful leaders to be even better.  It's a way for you to reach your full potential - to liberate the Gifted Leader within you! 

The University of British Columbia's Organizational Development and Learning Department noted that, "Coaching is currently the most effective tool for professional development and is now used by people of all levels of an organization to attain their goals."  But what exactly is coaching? 

What is Coaching?

Professional coaching is an ongoing partnership that helps you produce fulfilling results in your personal and professional life.  At its core, it's about positive behavior change - moving you from your current state to a more desirable future state.

It consists of a series of confidential meetings over the course of several weeks or months, focusing on your agenda, which could include:

• Identifying and gaining clarity on goals
• Building workplace relationships and improving communication
• Coping with conflict in healthy and constructive ways
• Problem solving/working through something you are "stuck" on
• Developing peak performance
• Maximizing strengths and abilities
• Visioning and strategic planning
• Creating change or adapting to change
• Enhancing your ability to live and work with purpose, passion, and integrity

Coaching is an art of discovery more than a science of delivery.  The coach begins from a position of humility and curiosity, not authority and knowledge.  He or she uses questions and conversation to help you reach your own discoveries.  This questioning approach conveys respect for your expertise and a belief that real growth must come from within, not be grafted on from an external force.

Coaching helps you play to your strengths, develop flexibility and adaptability to change, create awareness of your shortcomings and build commitment to self-development and achievement.  As a result of coaching, you'll set better goals, take more action, make better decisions, and more fully use your natural gifts and talents.

One-on-one coaching is a strategic partnership.  It is based on the desire of the coach to help you perform at your personal best and your willingness to stretch and grow.  A coach plays the role of confidante, sounding board, champion and mirror.

Coaching is quite possibly "the missing link" in our traditional approach to learning.  Combined with training and the day-to-day lessons of life, it can be the catalyst that leads to transformation!

Download the free e-Book, Liberating the Gifted Leader within You

Find a coach through the ICF Greater Phoenix Coaches Alliance Coach Referral Service

Jeff Thoren, DVM, ACC is an ICF-certified coach, a member of the ICF-Phoenix Chapter, and the founder of Gifted Leaders, LLC.  Please visit www.giftedleaders.com