Have you ever wondered why some companies seem to flourish more than others? Why does it seem like other organizations are only composed of high achievers and top-notch team members? Would you like to know their secret?
The success of big companies or even the local enterprise in your area may be attributed to their executive coaching and leadership training efforts.
More and more companies are investing in these areas to reap the benefits they can bring to each team member and the company as a whole.
Pathways to Success
According to the report released by the International Coaching Federation, 86 percent of companies that invest in executive coaching and leadership development successfully earn their return on investment (ROI). Team effectiveness was also observed to improve by 51 percent.
Positive branding and financial gains, as well as generous ROI, maybe some stellar fruits of coaching laborers. However, the true benefits lie in its ability to help businesses transform their environment and workforce.
Coaching helps cultivate a supportive ecosystem where symbiotic relationships thrive. It also aids in equipping the workforce with the necessary traits, skills, and values that are instrumental in achieving business goals.
Executive coaching and leadership development is a two-way street that leads to the peak of success. It is a dynamic partnership between the coach and the individual or organization where a commitment to action and development is made to attain lasting personal and professional growth.
It must be noted, however, that coaching is not some sort of magical pill. There is no sorcery involved in executive coaching and leadership development. On the contrary, it is an innovative, supportive, and transformational method of personal and professional enhancement based on a results-driven strategy.
Coaching is not consulting, counseling, or mentoring. Coaches will not give you the answers to your company’s challenges nor will they give you advice on what to do or not to do.
Instead, coaches are there to ask questions that will facilitate organic thinking. It will help you to “test the waters” and challenge you as you choose a path. Coaching will help enable you to formulate ideas and arrive at solutions that can address your concerns.
Global leaders, celebrities, and other top-performing individuals have all benefited from executive coaching. Of course, coaching and leadership development is not just reserved for these people. Anyone who wants to gain a coherent understanding of themselves and their work environment can surely sign up.
C-Level executives, managers, leadership, and executive teams, CEOs, organizations, or governments all have everything to gain when they go for executive coaching or attend leadership development workshops.
Whether you are a local café, an online delivery business, or a global food distributor, investing in coaching for yourself or for your employees will surely bring you a lot of advantages. Here are some of the key benefits that you can derive from availing yourself of executive coaching and leadership development:
1. Heightens emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and self-regulation
Self-awareness is a fundamental step to fostering a flourishing work culture.
When team members have a heightened awareness of their core motivators and normal behaviors, it becomes a catalyst for personal change. With executive coaching as a facilitator for development, this self-awareness can trickle down to the organization and help it reap rewards. Becoming self-aware can deter the habit of blindly doing things that can be detrimental to personal and professional growth.
Harnessing self-awareness can also improve one’s emotional intelligence. Knowing what you can and cannot do as well as your strengths and weaknesses can enable you to identify and manage emotions. Being able to decipher feelings and their appropriate reactions can lead you to helpful, instead of hurtful, actions. This can prove to be helpful in organizations, as team members typically mirror a leader’s actions and emotions.
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence can also give birth to self-regulation. Awareness of your abilities and skills (or the need to improve in some areas) will allow you to have better control over your actions, emotions, habits, or actions. Coaching has been reported to improve time management by 57%.
2. Aids in career identity and transition
Some individuals do not perform well at work simply because it is not the right fit for them. Others may have already lost the drive or interest in their current jobs.
One can look to coaching to address situations like these. Executive coaching can help you decipher if you are really in the right career. Through a comprehensive evaluation of your unique interests, skills, priorities, values, and experiences, a coach will be able to help you explore your career options. A career identity program makes use of a stringent evaluation process that will guide you towards a clearly defined career path.
Executive coaching can also help you think if you are ready to switch careers, get promoted, or maybe even venture on your own entrepreneurial journey. By using an assessment tool, you will be able to see your strengths and weaknesses and use this information to chart a more informed career transition plan.
3. Facilitates cultural intelligence development
These days, careers go beyond borders and have broken physical barriers. Thanks to technology, the world is becoming more and more interconnected. However, cultural differences and sensitivities may also be at risk and can pose a threat to an organization’s smooth operations. This can be addressed when the team’s cultural intelligence quotient (CQ) is developed.
Cultural intelligence is a globally accepted method of evaluating and enhancing the workforce’s capability to work effectively across cultures. It would be wise to pay attention to this as neglect can translate to communication and language barriers, conflicts, demotivation, ineffective management, or loss in branding or business share.
Ensuring that each team member is culturally aware and sensitive can make it easier for the whole team to adapt and conduct business more efficiently.
Coaching can help by providing a development action plan. It can help a team of culturally diverse people work well together or aid individuals to better cope with a new working environment as in the case of overseas assignments and the like.
One-on-one coaching sessions can lead the way for individuals to identify challenges and assess their personal CQ capabilities.
Achieve Growth Together
Executive coaching and leadership development can be crucial in the development and growth of a company. When an organization has members who are self-aware and has high emotional and cultural intelligence, it is most likely to clinch success.
When the coaching journey begins, the results can spill out and spread throughout the organization. Realizations on your capabilities as an individual and as a team can help define roles, maximize potential, and bridge gaps that can lead to a productive and successful enterprise.
AUTHOR BIO
Salma El-Shurafa is an experienced Executive Coach and founder of The Pathway Project. She is a Professional Certified Coach by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach from The Coaches Training Institute (CTI), and a graduate of CTI’s Co-Active Leadership program.
