relationships and impact

At the heart of great leadership is great relationship-building. But motivating, inspiring and engaging can be a tricky business, and something even the most experienced leaders may say they would like to improve. Although we can prepare for difficult conversations or rehearse important presentations, most communication (both verbal and non-verbal) is spontaneous and revealing. In my coaching at LWL I work with leaders to ensure they relate with authenticity and engage with their people’s perspectives too.

I have found that coaching can have an extraordinary impact on communication, with clients reporting greater clarity of expression, gravitas, experiencing ease in difficult or confronting situations, and being able to get right to the heart of the matter to help their teams progress towards goals and objectives.

My coaching clients report:

• Stronger working relationships that motivate and inspire
• Creating and building commitment and engagement
• Effective communication and influence that achieve their objectives
• Authenticity and impact by being themselves
• Adopting a coaching style of leadership so that others create solutions for themselves

One CEO said coaching had allowed her to communicate expectations more clearly, with more compassion, and that this new-found clarity had supported her and her team in making and maintaining progress. She said:

I’m clear about my expectations of others, and my team now expect to be accountable for their actions and performance. I’m having the right conversations at the right time, and I’m able to take the action needed, leading to significant changes to the Senior Management Team. My conversations have also become kinder at the same time as being clearer.

The experience of coaching can enable leaders to adopt a coaching approach with others to build stronger relationships and genuinely develop those who work with them. Clients find coaching delivers results long after their programmes are over, both from self-coaching and by adopting a coaching approach with colleagues. The same CEO said:

I’m far better at delegating and at using questions to help others discover the solutions rather than diagnosing and directing myself. This has happened in the context of an extremely challenging year.

And she commented that her coaching had given her freedom, power and purpose in expression:

There are very few conversations I feel unable to have, and they’re driven clearly by strategy and by the needs of the organisation….I have taken some very difficult actions and I’ve learnt that it’s better to take action swiftly than to delay.

Enjoying greater confidence in her communications, greater influence and more self-assurance were a few of the significant results that Julia, Global Head of Risk at a FTSE 100 company described as an outcome from her coaching with LWL. You can read more about Julia’s experience of coaching in this case study.

If these outcomes speak to any of the issues you face, and you think coaching could support you in addressing your leadership challenges, please get in touch