Leaders who adopt a coaching style and engender a coaching culture in their organisations reap wide-ranging benefits including enhanced performance of individual people and teams, heightened personal performance, and improved staff retention.
“These are just a few of the benefits which flow when leaders adopt a true coaching mindset,” says Pamela Fay, one of the two co-leaders of the UCD Smurfit Executive Development Diploma in Business & Executive Coaching. “It’s all about being able to help people to realise their full potential.”
But coaching is not what many people assume it to be. “Coaching is not the same as teaching,” explains Pamela’s co-leader, Eileen Duggan. “It’s about believing in the resources of the people you are leading. It’s about looking at potential rather than performance. Most of all, it’s about helping people realise their own potential by believing in themselves and their own ability to do it.”
The key is the coaching conversation, she continues. “Coaching is not something you just do to somebody. It’s a way of relating to them by listening to them and having coaching conversations. Those conversations are about listening to people, about letting them know that you believe in them and that they will be supported in what they can achieve and what they want to achieve. There is incredible power in being listened to and knowing that others have belief in you. You really can’t describe it until you experience it.”
It can also be difficult to define what makes a good leader, but coaching is definitely part of it. “If ask people to reflect on the leader who had the biggest impact on them, 99 per cent will say it was a leader with a coaching style,” says Pamela. “It was a leader who encouraged them to have belief in themselves and made a real difference in their lives. Having a coaching style is a key strength of good leaders.”
Most people tend not to be natural coaches or listeners, however. “In most cases it requires a change in mindset, a shift in who you are, how you show up, and how you relate to people,” says Pamela. “That shift allows you to see people differently, to see their full potential, and tap into that.”
Having a coaching style is a key strength of good leaders
That shift begins with listening skills. “We spend a lot of time on the diploma programme teaching people how to listen again,” she adds. “That means listening with intent to what people are really saying about their identity and how they see themselves in the world. And leaders shouldn’t feel the need to have all the answers. Being comfortable with not having all the answers can be a big shift for a lot of people. Coaching is about asking the questions, listening to the answers, and following the thread.”
It also means listening with empathy. “A good leader needs to have empathy and emotional intelligence. People are empathetic with their family and friends at home all the time and they are able to switch it on when needed,” says Eileen. “But that needs to be switched on all the time, particularly in the workplace.”
But it is not enough for individual leaders or managers to adopt a coaching style. They must create a coaching culture which ripples down through the entire organisation if the full benefits are to be realised.
Those benefits are far reaching. “There are vast resources of untapped potential in almost every organisation,” Pamela notes. “It’s a question of believing in that potential and unlocking it. If people are leading teams, coaching skills help them to be more effective in their conversations with the team members. It may be a cliché but change really is a constant. If you are leading people through change, coaching skills and a coaching mindset help you to embrace that change and bring people along with you. That also helps organisations to hold onto their best people. Leaders with a coaching style are able to understand employees’ perspectives and develop strong relationships with people throughout the organisation and ensure their needs are supported.”
The UCD Smurfit Executive Education Diploma in Business & Executive Coaching runs twice a year with the next programme beginning in May. "This will be the 25th iteration of the programme," Eileen notes. "People who do it are generally senior leaders in their organisations and are very good at what they do. They are coming to learn how to be a business executive coach to support them in becoming even better leaders. They want to bring a coaching dimension to their leadership style and are interested in bringing a coaching culture into their organisations."
A good leader needs to have empathy and emotional intelligence
The programme also attracts leaders who are exploring new horizons. “They want to add to their skillset as they consider transitioning into a new phase of their careers,” says Pamela. “We also get qualified coaches who want to enhance their capabilities.”
Those capabilities are honed by the highly practical nature of the programme, she adds. “It is not just founded in theory. It’s an experiential programme based on practical experience. Participants acquire and enhance coaching skills with real life practice. There is no role play involved. Students get experience of coaching and being coached and do 90 hours pro bono coaching as part of the course.”
There is also a very strong psychological dimension. “It’s very much about people’s inner selves and their assumptions, values and beliefs are challenged throughout. Participants are challenged and challenge themselves about how present they are in achieving goals and making changes. We are not afraid to ask them tough questions. It’s not all about the head. We work on the gut and the heart as well.”
A common trait among participants is a desire to help others. “They care about the world and how they relate to others. That’s what fires them up. And adding coaching skills to their repertoire helps them to help others to be their best selves. That in turn helps the team and the organisation to realise their full potential.”
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