Leadership Coaching
Leadership has been around as long as man himself. After all, what is the story of Adam and Eve except the first lesson in leadership? That lesson proved several things including the critical fact that not all leaders have their followers’ best interests at heart.

Leadership is a greatly debated, and possibly marginally understood concept. Are leaders made, or born? Why do people choose to follow certain leaders even when it may prove very harmful to them personally? Are management and leadership skills synonymous? Are all managers, leaders and vice versa? And why do such leaders have such dramatically different styles? Ghandi and Patton were both great leaders, but their styles could not have been more different. Ghandi was a strong believer in non-violence, while Patton led an army bent on the physical destruction of the enemy.

One thing that everyone agrees on is the concept of leaders needing followers. John Maxwell states, “If you think you are leading, but no one is following, you are really only taking a walk.”

What Leadership Coaching Is Like
When you set out to coach leaders you face a set of unique challenges that are different from many other types of coaching. Why? Because of the wide variety of leadership philosophies (as noted in the Ghandi versus Patton example above) plus the often mistaken beliefs about what leadership really represents. Everyone in a management position views himself or herself as a leader.

Positional leaders are assigned to a position by someone from above and are granted the title of “leader” or manager. True leaders are not assigned from above, but are elevated from below and become leaders because of their ability to inspire hope in those around them. A positional leader is a leader on the organizational chart only. A real leader can be hiding any place in an organization.

Part of the plan for any new organization involved discovering who the leaders in the organization were and how they could contribute to our success. Depending on the size of the organization, I would call a meeting with all of the key personnel. Once they were gathered together I would introduce myself and explain why I had been brought in. I would then pose several simple, but key questions to the group:

1. Who are our customers?
2. What is our role in serving our customers?
3. What do we do really well?
4. What would our customers say that we need to improve on?

It was then time to sit back and watch the organizational dynamics. The results were amazingly consistent. First, the Positional Leaders (Managers on the organizational chart) would speak up and tell me their view of the world. I would ask more questions and probe their responses. After a few minutes, the real leaders would speak up. How could you tell they were the real leaders?

When the positional leaders spoke, all eyes were on me, watching for my reactions. When the real leaders spoke, all eyes shifted to the person speaking. You see, everyone in the room knew that when the real leader spoke, they needed to pay attention to them.

Why is that important to Leadership Coaching? Because the client you want to work with is the real leader who wants to enhance and refine their skills. The positional leader is a leader in title only. Are the real leaders ever the Positional Leaders as well? Yes, and those are your ideal client.

How Leadership Coaching Is Different
Leadership and values go hand in hand. A person leads with their heart, which is the center of their values. When you talk with prospective clients, make sure that the values that are precious to them are in synch with the values that you treasure as well. Leadership Coaches are often choosy about who they want to work with, focusing on working with “Real Leaders” rather than just “Positional Leaders.” For that reason, Leadership Coaches may often turn away as many clients as they accept, ensuring that they can give fully to each client because their goals, values, and desires are totally in synch with the clients.

What You Need to Know To Be a Leadership Coach
Leadership Coaches have to have a passion for people as well as for leadership. You have to understand what motivates your clients AND what motivates the people they will be leading. A leadership coach who is not passionate will not thrive as a leadership coach because their lack of intensity will show up in their coaching. True leaders are drawn to leaders who are stronger than they are and that shows in the way they attract clients.

Leadership Coaches know:

• How to identify real leaders in an organization and how to identify the values those leaders possess.
• How to identify the skills that the leader
  already possesses and how to build on those
  existing skills.
• How to provide the client with an opportunity to grow as a leader without hijacking the client’s agenda and desire for growth.

Leadership Coaches have:

• Proven skills in the field of leadership.
• A wide range of knowledge on the different approaches to leadership.
• Confidence in their abilities as a leader and their ability to communicate that confidence.

Lastly, Leadership Coaches realize how much their field is constantly changing and being redefined and rediscovered. They spend time reading and studying leadership techniques as well as practicing them.