What is Leadership Coaching and Why is it Beneficial for Women

There is no chance you have never heard about leadership coaching programs. However, you may still ask yourself: What is leadership coaching and how is it beneficial? It turns out the approach based on a partnership between a leader and a coach works out well. Since it is up to you who you choose to be your coach and which skills you aim to sharpen, you can get what you want from this experience.

Coaching programs are particularly beneficial for female leaders. Due to the existence of the glass ceiling, there had not been a lot of female executives until recently. Thus, young women in leadership positions often do not have senior female colleagues from whom they can learn. Collaborating with a successful female leader who has superb experience and expertise from outside of your organization can solve this problem.

In this article, we will break down this complex topic and expand on what leadership coaching is, what types of coaching there are, why it can be beneficial for women, and what coaching experience consists of. 

‍What is Leadership Coaching

As any coach, a leadership coach aims at helping one to achieve the best results possible. This implies that a coach works on both improving a leader’s performance at the workplace and advising on how to make the whole team’s work well-coordinated and efficient. What a manager or executive should not expect from their coach is direct instructions on how to act in a given situation. Having extensive experience in holding a leadership position or even working in the same industry, a coach can help a leader they are working with highlight their greatest strengths as well as weaknesses and encourage them to build strong ties with team members to take the work to the next level.

Leadership coaching is argued to be the most effective one as positive changes in a manager’s behavior undoubtedly result in the improvement of the whole team’s performance. Crucially, leadership coaching is not limited to manager’s training. It is also about developing an individual’s personality and building stronger professional and personal skills. In a rapidly changing world, it is not enough to simply do your job well. What is truly required is the ability to adjust to changes and fluctuations, pick up new skills quickly, and constantly learn something new. One of the most productive ways to progress and expand your horizons is by working with senior colleagues who have more experience and expertise.

In addition, an excellent coach can assist group leaders, executives, and managers with achieving their long-term goals. A person with similar experience who has proven themselves to be an outstanding leader knows how to develop a strategy taking into account all the strengths and weaknesses of the team members and their manager. If you want to reach your full potential as a leader then leadership coaching will definitely be worth considering.

Leadership vs. Executive Leadership Coaching — What is the Difference

Depending on your individual goals, you may want to focus either on the company’s strategy and decision-making skills or your personal development as an individual, not just as a manager.

Leadership coaching is a broader concept because it may include working on building relationships with people outside of one’s workplace, developing personal skills, sometimes working on your own productivity and expertise and even changing your mindset to become a better version of yourself and, thus, a better leader.

What is executive leadership coaching then? In a nutshell, this type of coaching can be described as the cooperation between a board and a guide targeted at achieving the organization’s operational peak. Being in a leadership position, you may want to reach your team's and organization's full potential. To do that, it is not enough to create a tight-knit community at the workplace. You also need to be a master strategist. If you want to learn how to foresee a market situation and make decisions that will guarantee your company a long-term success, you should try an executive coaching program. 

The take-home message is that any professional coach can be an advisor, strategist, and sounding board. We would recommend choosing the type of coaching depending on the leadership styles that you adopt.

‍How can Women Benefit from Leadership Coaching

It seems like everyone agrees on the general benefits of leadership coaching programs. With the help of a coach, a leader can improve their communication skills essential for building a stronger team and achieving organizational goals by learning decision-making strategies.

Why being a good leader is so important? Well, because if you have no idea how to manage a team, your employees may have no motivation to work for you and eventually leave. Nowadays, lifetime employment in one company is not common anymore. No support from a leader and a feeling of frustration because of vague instructions may result in a series of resignations. Therefore, being a good leader is hard work but should be a manager’s top priority.

On the other hand, it is challenging to build long and trustful relationships and gain loyalty if you are not seen as a strong leader or not considered a person who can lead a team at all. Female leaders have to deal with numerous gender stereotypes and the so-called glass ceiling in their careers. Sometimes, female managers are the last to be invited to the meetings, the ones who have to do tons of administrative work and do not receive credit for their achievements. Moreover, the so-called “glass escalator” should be mentioned. It is a term that refers to the phenomenon when men get promoted faster than women in female-dominated industries such as the non-profit sector. An excellent coach (preferably female, too) can advise female leaders and executives on how to prove themselves to be a strong and reliable leader and gain respect from both female and male coworkers.

What is more, women are more likely to be frustrated and disappointed because of their career path. The majority of people want to climb a career ladder but for some, it is easier than for others. Men are promoted to management and board positions way more frequently than women. For instance, in tech, women often leave the company due to the lack of opportunities. In the industry, women hold approximately 33% of entry-level positions and only 11% of senior leadership roles. Not only do women have to work harder to get recognition at the workplace, but they also undertake other social roles such as caretakers and homemakers that require constant involvement. All that imposes extra stress on female leaders. 

By identifying your goals with a senior female colleague who has already overcome many difficulties on their way to building a successful career, you can become a few steps closer to your dream position in your dream company, achieve work-life balance by focusing on the most crucial things, or alter your colleagues’ perception of you as an individual and leader and build a close relationship with your team.

‍What Makes a Good Coach

Finding a coach with expertise and experience that matches your vision of collaboration and needs for further personal development is a challenging task but all the work pays back. Only with the right person, you can discover your full potential. There is no universal guide to finding the best coach as we all vary in our preferences and experiences. However, there are a few things worth paying attention to.

‍Communication skills

One of the most important aspects of coachwork is the skill to ask the right questions at the perfect time to force one to reflect on their actions, as well as corporate and individual goals. Active listening and adequate reaction are also essential in every coaching experience.

‍Focus on results

A coach (especially in the case of executive coaching) can be an advisor and strategist who helps with developing and implementing a new strategy or program that may be used for team interaction and business conduct. Hence, a perfect coach tackles the following aspects: the specificity of teamwork, the organization’s peak performance, and the competitive landscape. Crucially, by the end of the coaching period, the results of the collaboration should be visible.

‍Individual approach

Coaching is a partnership between two individuals. As with any relationship, it is a unique experience. For instance, is not only about analyzing and defying a competitive landscape, it is also about the realization that your case needs a special approach. If you notice your coach applying an across-the-boarder approach to all kinds of situations and challenges that you consult them about, you should probably look for someone else.

‍Emotional intelligence

In this case, it is hard to estimate the results of coaching since there is no qualitative data to assess. However, if a coach can help a leader raise their self-confidence and improve communication skills, the positive change on the organizational level will not be left unnoticed.

What Does Leadership Coaching Include

You may wonder what the leadership coaching experience consists of. Do you just meet with your coach to discuss your case and concerns from time to time? This could be one of the possible scenarios. You can also be offered to attend a meeting structured in the form of a workshop. There may also be other activities and exercises aimed at training some skills that one lacks. Another possibility is brainstorming sessions when both a leader and their coach try to come up with new management strategies or business development ideas.

Concerning the content of the 1:1 meetings with a leadership coach, it must be you who defines the agenda. Here are just a few examples of possible topics: your leadership styles, challenges and misunderstandings emerging while communicating with your team members, lack of motivation or self-confidence, your mindset towards professional and personal goals, and many more.

Coaching Experience with Miranna

Studies show that employees who have worked on their career development with a coach get promoted five times more likely than people with no coaching experience. Also, 92% of small business owners report that mentorship programs had a positive impact on their company’s growth.

In Miranna, we are currently developing an app where you can match with a leadership coach based on your personal requirements, schedule call sessions, and chat with your coach in a built-in messenger. For now, we encourage you to subscribe to our newsletter so as not to miss the opportunity to become an early adopter.

One of the common obstacles on the way to founding your own business or being a great leader in an organization is the lack of insight and advice from successful colleagues, especially females. The Miranna platform offers an opportunity to connect with people having the expertise that you may not yet have but aim at gaining. The feeling that you belong to a community can serve as a great motivation for further personal and professional development.

To Sum Up

Leadership coaches are mentors who can bring the greatest amount of positive change to female leaders’ performances and their teams’ success. Leadership coaching aims to assist an individual with recognizing and highlighting their strengths, while also acknowledging weaknesses and improving them. In addition, it is a great opportunity to consult a successful professional about your career and leadership strategies.