In 19 years running my coaching business, Southern Cross Coaching & Development (it was our 19th birthday a couple of weeks ago, btw!), I’ve noticed there’s nearly always a ‘BUT…’
Obviously not the thing you sit on of course – I’m not saying the word in case I get spam filtered for improper language!
What I’m talking about is that when leaders come to us asking for coaching, or asking for an executive or leader ‘to be coached’, there’s definitely always a “BUT…’
What do I mean by that? I’ll share some scenarios so you can see what I mean…
A senior executive emails or calls asking for one of their team ‘to be coached’:
“One of my Directors has just been promoted. They have some great strengths around leading their team on the day-to-day BAU stuff, BUT… they need to work on managing up and dealing with the different organisational politics and managing up that come with being an executive” …¹
“The Executive Director is extremely passionate about what we do as an organisation and works hard to drive results, BUT… they get people offside with their manner and come across the wrong way” …²
“This leader has all the right ideas BUT… they come across as being very autocratic and directive and that really gets people offside” …³
“I’m really good at what I do in my role, BUT… my boss doesn’t recognise me for it” … ⁴
“My senior manager does a great job at the recruitment side of the business and is fantastic at building relationships across the organisation BUT… they speak down to their team, and we have had some bullying complaints” …⁵
“I’m getting great results and am recognised for what I achieve, BUT… I feel like a fraud and have really bad imposter syndrome” … ⁶
“I’m great at doing the actual job applications, BUT… I don’t seem to get anywhere with any interviews; I never get the job” … ⁷
Coaching to the BUT…
People often ask: “what does coaching do?” or “what can I use a coach for?”, or something similar.
That’s often a surprisingly difficult question to answer, because everyone is different, everyone is an individual, and everyone needs different things…
However, the one thing that Coaching consistently is addresses your, or your boss’ “BUT…”
To all of the above examples, you can add on:
¹…so we need some coaching around their political Intelligence and dealing with executives
²… so they need some coaching around how they talk to and deal with their team
³… so I need some coaching to shift their Emotional Intelligence to make them less directive and more inclusive
⁴… and I need some coaching around how to get my boss to recognise my work” …
⁵… so we need some support developing their day-to-day leadership and emotional intelligence”
⁶… I need coaching to help me get through that!”
⁷…I need some coaching to help me do better interviews
So, if you have a “BUT…” for you or someone on your team, there’s a good chance coaching can support you/ them through that challenge.
And if you’re lucky enough to be offered coaching and are wondering what you want to use your coach for, ask yourself “What’s my BUT…?”
And if you’re a coach, internal or external, and wondering where to focus your coaching, listen for ‘The BUT…’ or implied ‘BUT…’, and that’s probably a great place to start a coaching conversation.
Executive Coaching is a demonstrably an extremely powerful professional (and personal) development tool.
“The coaching I invested in for this executive has produced easily more than 3 times the investment value” Chief People Officer who engaged SCC&D for coaching an executive [around Emotional Intelligence and leadership development)
Some of the main reasons coaching is so effective is because it’s individualised and spread over an extended timeframe, which ensures continued learning and reinforcement of those connections and pathways.
If you’re interested in running an in-house Executive Coaching Program for any or all of your team – or for yourself – then click here to get in touch.
Coaching is so effective for many additional reasons:
- Coaching is usually spread over a period of months so allows constant reinforcement of learning over a longer period creating stronger neural pathways
- Coaching brings psychological safety and positive reinforcement which also strengthen neural pathways
- Coaching empowers the coachee to do a lot of their own thinking and come up with their own answers – which is much more powerful than telling someone what to do
- Coaches ask questions that help coachees have often deep insights – insights are those ‘ah-ha’ moments, which can create strong neuronal
- SCC&D’s deeply experienced coaches also act as:
- An external mentor
- An independent sounding board
- An expert advisor
- A confidence-booster and support person
- A ‘champion’
- An accountability person/ tool
- And much more
Interestingly, we cannot suddenly get rid of neural connections and pathways. For new learning to occur, we need to create new connections and pathways in our brains, and build on and make those stronger.
