75. 10 Reasons to Hire a Leadership Coach (And What It Actually Is)

What even is leadership coaching?

I get this question all the time because when I tell people I’m a leadership coach, the response is usually something like… “Oh, so kind of like a life coach?” which my answer is usually somewhere between: yes and no.

So, in this episode, I’m breaking down what leadership coaching actually is, what happens in a coaching relationship, and why so many people, from first-time leaders to executives, choose to work with a coach.

We talk about the misconceptions around coaching, what makes coaching different from mentoring, consulting, or therapy, and some of the reasons people decide they want support in this season of leadership.

In this episode, I talk about:

•  What leadership coaching actually is (and isn’t) 
•  Why coaching is a partnership, not someone giving you answers 
•  Who leadership coaching is for (hint: it's not just executives)
•  How coaching helps you notice patterns and see situations differently 
•  Why confidentiality and trust matter so much in coaching 
•  Building confidence and accountability as a leader 
•  Signs it might be time to get support 
•  How coaching can help with feedback, difficult conversations, and growth 
•  What coaching relationships actually look like and how long they usually last

Let’s keep the conversation going—connect with me on Instagram and LinkedIn, subscribe to my weekly newsletter, or reach out at hello@leadintoit.co. 

Excited to be with you!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You're listening to episode 75 of the Lead Into It Podcast. Welcome back to another episode of Lead Into It. I'm your host, Sarah Greco. We have another good episode for you to listen to. It's a little bit different, and I want to talk about leadership coaching. A lot of people ask me when I say what I do. I say, I'm a leadership coach. And they're like, cool, what does that mean? Are you like a life coach? Are you an executive coach? And all of these are fair questions. And then they're like, well, what do you do? Like, how do you work with people? And so today I kind of want to talk about what I do, what it actually means, and why you should or could hire a leadership coach. So the first thing I want to talk about is really what is coaching and what does that mean? And first, I want to share that coaching is most and foremost a partnership. What a coaching relationship can look like between a coach and a client is a client bringing up a challenge, obstacle, or a goal that they're trying to achieve. And the coach is partnering with them to help them see where those obstacles are, where those challenges are and how to approach that works best for them. We don't provide advice. We're not therapists. Like, well, we might talk about your feelings a little bit, but that is only to move forward. Therapy is a way to look back, to reflect on the past. Coaching is more of a way to look forward and to achieve the things that you want to in life and become the person that you want to be. And so with the leadership coaching, it is how to become the leader that you hope to be, become the best leader that you can be. And I think this looks different for a lot of different people. And it could be an individual contributor, employee working their way up, maybe they're supervising somebody for the first time, or what's more commonly known is executive coaching. And those coaches work with C-suite level type individuals who are very much at the strategic level, helping them maneuver through challenges that executives might have to maneuver through. And so a coaching session could look like something where it's, I have to give feedback to this employee and I'm not quite sure how to approach it. And then the coach would be like, well, what steps have you taken in the past? What has worked? What hasn't? Why is this coming up for you right now in this moment as being important? And so we'll work through all of those things. And then by the end of the session, a step should be developed where the client can take that step and feel good about progress that they're taking. It might be a small step, it might be a big step. Depends on the situation. And so that's really what coaching is. It's all about being in a partnership and working together to come up with a solution to a problem issue or a goal that's trying to be achieved. So there's coaching. Now, here are some reasons that it might be worthwhile to hire a leadership coach. One is you are too close to the problem. Whenever you're taking a photo on your phone and you're too close to the object that it can't focus, imagine that that's a problem they're having as a manager or a leader. You're too close to it and have a hard time focusing on it. As a coach, we can help kind of bring that perspective out and share a whole scenario. When you're too close to a problem or an issue, a lot of times there's a lot of emotion involved on both sides. And so as a coach, we're there to help you to kind of bring a different perspective in, see the full picture that might not be able to be seen at that moment. And so that's really important. Seeing something too close and then pulling out and seeing it from a 5,000 foot view can be a totally different story. You need a safe place to say things out though. Oh my gosh, this person is annoying the absolute crap out of me today. I don't know how to control my emotions around this person. Why is that? And how can I maneuver through this so that I can be a successful leader? These are common scenarios. There's people that are going to annoy us. As a coach, we don't care. If somebody annoys you, we're like, oh my gosh, you're human. God forbid, you're human. It's important to be able to verbalize some of those issues that you're having. Because once you verbalize them, then they're not as big of an issue. It takes a lot of the power out of it. So we are a completely safe space. In fact, we have confidentiality agreements. We can't say anything to anyone, even if your company has hired us as a leadership coach, we are not permitted to state something without your permission. Unless obviously there's maybe harm involved or something like that. Same as therapist. If there might be harm involved, then we will have to disclose. However, other than that, like a person's annoying you, go ahead, share away. And we're here to help you just vent. I'm a ventor. Like I've noticed that I process through verbalizing. And sometimes just having a place to verbalize information helps me process so much better than if I'm just holding everything in. And so as a coach, we can be that safe space for you. I would say some of the times my clients just need a place to vent for five minutes. And they're like, well, this isn't my leadership style anyway. So how do I best want to approach this? Because obviously what I've been doing isn't working and doesn't align with my values because I'm feeling conflicted and annoyed. And they go from there. In kind of the same manner, you also need a neutral third party. As a coach, we don't care if Sally and Ben don't get along and you have to have them work on a project together and you feel bad about that. Well, our question will be like, well, what does success look like? Is it Sally and Ben working together and the project going off and you figuring out a way to talk to each of them? So I mean, we're completely neutral on it. If Ben is frustrated by the situation and goes to talk to another manager and you're like, well, they should have come talk to me. I don't care about Ben. You're my client. I care about you. So I hope that we can work together. But like we have no stake in this claim. We're just here to help you achieve your goals and become the best leader you can be. As a leadership coach, we're actually a really good place to practice. So if you're nervous about giving feedback or giving a presentation, we can be used as that space to practice. In the beginning, you will have probably shared your goals with us of what you're trying to achieve. And so if you going over a presentation with us as a coach helps you achieve your goals, perfect. We will be there for you. We can be a space for a hard conversation, performance feedback, promotion negotiation. That one's a good one. Um, boundary setting. Like we can be that safe space for it. Another thing is you can learn your patterns, strengths, and your blind spots through the help of the coach. And this one's pretty important because as coaches, we are literally trained to notice patterns. We are trained to notice body language. We are trained to notice specific language that is repeated. And so when we're sitting listening, we're not just listening, we're looking at your body language. We're thinking of words that you might have used in a previous session that are coming up again. We're wondering, well, why is this coming up again? Like it seems to be a pattern. Why is this a pattern? And then we will help partner with you as a client to maneuver through whatever that is. And that's so important because we're that neutral third party. We have no stake in the claim. We just want you to become better or achieve your goals, whatever that looks like for you as a client, that you get to decide. But noticing your patterns and what your strengths are and your blind spots, whoa, that is like magic. That is a new level unlocked for you to take control of your future that is hard to find anywhere else. And I think might be one of the most valuable things about hiring a coach. Another thing is you stop solving every problem alone. Leadership can be very lonely. I don't think that's something that is warned to people who like move up in management very often. The higher you move up, the lonelier it can get, which is probably why C-suite hire executive coaches because they need that neutral party to kind of bounce ideas off of. And also as you move up, and I talk about this in a more recent episode of the podcast with Lacey Vestel, but it was crazy how as somebody you might be new in your career, and you look up and you see this director, senior director, vice president, and you're like, gosh, they must have it all figured out. And then you might get up to that position and you're like, holy shit, I don't know a thing. Or you're like, this is really hard. I don't know how to maneuver through this. And there's a lot of moments of loneliness because you're trying to do something for your team, you're trying to achieve a goal, whatever that might look like. And sometimes it feels like you're doing it completely solo. And so a coach can help with those times when you're like, I don't want to do this alone. And with a coach, you don't have to. Accountability also changes everything. So as a coach, we can hold you accountable in a lot of different ways. I have been known to provide homework based on the conversation. Now, if you do it or don't do it, that's up to you. Like, I'm giving you the tools and resources to help you build who you want to be. But accountability can be used as a tool in leadership for when it becomes harder or overwhelming. So when you are leading a team, you can go on autopilot pretty quickly and end up in the same patterns. And so when those same patterns consistently happen because you're moving so fast, it's hard to take a step back and implement the changes that you were working on to help improve your leadership. And so as a coach, we can help you that reminder of what has worked in the past, what hasn't worked in the past, and the direction you want to go. You start leading more intentionally. As a coach, we're gonna ask the hard questions. What are your values? What is important to you? What type of leader do you want to be, both at the workplace and outside of the workplace? Those are gonna be some tough questions to answer. However, when you know those things and the coach knows those things, we can help you lead way more intentionally than you did in the past. Kind of plays in a little bit to that accountability. But when you're able to lead with intentionality, you have more tools in your toolkit than you realize. When you go through situations that are similar to what you have in the past, you already know what has worked for you in the past. And you can see the results of that. And if that worked for you, that becomes a tool that you can use in the future. And then that is how you can start leading with intentionality. I think as people get promoted, they tend to become leaders accidentally. So you're you start out as an employee at a company, and then they see that you're really good at your job, and they're like, we'll promote them, we'll promote them. You start supervising an uh individual and you're like, okay, this is cool. I can do this. And then you do really good and you move up and you have to supervise a team and you have to manage a team, and you just kind of go with it. Those moments happen, you just kind of go on autopilot. Sometimes it turns into a survival mode. With a coach, you can take a step back and talk about all of those things that have worked, haven't worked, and decide who you want to be. Through a coach, you can build confidence through that action. So we talked a little bit about accountability and holding the client accountable for goals that they want to achieve, skills that they want to grow upon. We can help you become accountable and build that confidence. And most times building that confidence is just doing the things because nine times out of 10 during the conversations, we've probably heard of you doing something more challenging than what you're struggling with right now. And we're like, we've seen how capable you are. You can do this for sure. What's holding you back? And then we can help build that confidence for you. Last but not least, growth is easier when there's somebody walking with you. As a coach, we're figuratively walking with you on your journey. When those moments of struggle, challenges, uncertainty pop up, we're like that cane to help you walk a little bit easier. When you might just feel overwhelmed, coach can help you grow in those moments. And the good news is if you hire a coach, you don't need a coach for forever. In fact, I would say that if you've been working with a coach and you still feel like you need a coach for years and years and years, that's probably not the right coach. A coach is for a season. There's a moment where you're gonna feel like, I feel like I have all the tools I need for this season. And we've talked about everything. I think I'm good for now. And that's great. Like it when you feel confident to essentially let a coach go, that's amazing. In fact, that brings me as a coach so much joy to know that you feel confident in how your approach is and that you feel like you have all the tools and resources to be successful. That is exactly the goal that I have as a leadership coach. So if you've ever wondered if leadership coaching is for you, here are a few things that I would ask myself if I were wondering if leadership coaching was for me. Is there something I keep thinking about but avoiding? Am I carrying decisions alone and it feels overwhelming? Do I feel stuck? Do I feel like I'm continuing to walk in circles and make no progress? Do I want to grow faster than I can by myself? Or have I tried to grow and haven't been able to? So if the answer is yes to any of these, maybe consider looking into a leadership coach, not because something's wrong, but it sounds like the yeses mean that you're self-aware enough to know that there's a growth that you're looking for. Leadership doesn't have to be solo. You can have a community support you, including a coach. If you finish this episode and you have any questions about leadership coaching, feel free to reach out to me. I'm happy to do a clarity call, discovery call, 30 minutes, and we could talk about what that might look for you. Or if you're just curious of coaching in general, feel free to send me a note at hello at leadintoit.co. That's dot C O. And we can talk about what that might look like. I can send you a scheduling link, which you can also find on my website, which is leadintoit.co. If you enjoyed today's episode, I would love it if you shared it with a peer, a colleague, or somebody who you think might be interested in this. I would also love it if you left a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify. Those reviews help the growth of the podcast itself. And if you found it useful, there's probably others who would find it useful. And those reviews help those people find it. So thanks for hanging out with me today. I hope that this provided a little clarity on what coaching is. And I hope to see you next time.