Sometimes the Leader Needs a Push

If you run a viable, privately-held business, you’ve probably navigated some difficult terrain successfully, all on your own. Even so, as you continue to grow your business that very growth will present with you a bunch of new and unique problems. How will you continue to thrive going forward? Who can tell you if you’re heading in the right direction? Where will you find guidance, validation, and honest feedback? Will you hold yourself accountable?

The growth of your business may give you some nagging concerns like these:

  • Not having a compelling vision or not being able to share your vision with employees in a way that excites them.
  • Not being aware of opportunities or threats on the horizon.
  • Being focused on the wrong problems or being unsure which problem to tackle first.

Sometimes it helps to discuss these concerns with a detached outsider or coach. How can a coach help you get on the right track? I put that question to my good friend and colleague, Todd Ordal, President of Applied Strategy. Todd is a leadership coach – he prefers the label “consultant to management” – who works with business executives across the country. He’s also the author of Never Kick a Cow Chip on a Hot Day: Real Lessons for Real CEOs and Those Who Want to Be.

Here’s how Todd describes his role when working with executives in four common situations:

  1. Thinking Partner. Sometimes, your key people agree with you because they think that’s what you want to hear. Todd calls this “breathing your own exhaust,” and he suggests that a coach can only help you if the coach is brutally honest with useful and actionable feedback.
  2. Dream Weaver. Some executives see incredible opportunity but have trouble getting buy-in from their staff. A coach should guide you through the process of:
    • Defining your vision.
    • Describing your vision in a compelling and motivating way. Language is important.
    • Identifying when and how to course-correct during implementation.
  3. Optimizer. Lots of businesses run efficiently, but the best businesses run optimally. Optimal performance requires commitment from the whole organization, and a coach should help you move your staff from mere compliance to commitment. This often starts with the coach helping you create the optimizing plan.
  4. Trainer. Your key executives have to lead their own teams, and they may need coaching to develop their own leadership skills. Todd is careful to point out that your key executives must want to be coached – if you try to force a person to accept unwanted coaching you’ll be wasting their time and your money.

 

Terms of Engagement

Your relationship with a leadership coach can be ongoing or it can be limited to a specific assignment or goal. A “Thinking Partner” relationship is typically ongoing, allowing you to check in on a regular basis and discuss ongoing challenges and developments. Each of the coaching roles, including the “Thinking Partner” role, can take the form of a specific assignment, and you should work with the coach at the outset to establish the scope of the assignment.

 

What to Watch for

  • How will you know if you’ve found the right coach? For starters, the coach should:
  • Ask lots of questions – some of which you may not want to hear or answer.
  • Lead you through a process of personal exploration and honest analysis that ends up with answers that are right for you.
  • Help you define and reach a successful outcome – an outcome that should also mean the end of the coaching assignment and not a perpetual engagement of coaching dependency.

Many leadership coaches have a psychology background. This can be helpful in leading you through your own personal exploration but may only give you a “feel good” exercise. Many coaches have succeeded in business and bring their experience to bear in helping solve your problems. Sometimes, however, these coaches skip the consultation part of the relationship and simply tell the client what to do.

The best coach will help you find the right path for you, hold you accountable, and be ready to end the engagement when you’ve reached your goal or when the coach stops providing value.

If you’d like to meet Todd, or if you’d like some ideas about candidates for your team who have these coaching skills, please feel free to call me at 303-831-1411.