Coaching has been utilized for decades, both in personal and professional contexts, to support individuals in their developmental processes. An increasing number of organizations not only collaborate with coaches to support their people in their development, but also encourage a coaching leadership style among their managers.

Alongside the fast-paced changes in the working world, the archetype of the all-knowing leader is changing, too. Growing into a successful organization is not reached by following a recipe and having all the answers. The need for leaders to have what is commonly referred to as ‘soft skills’, such as emotional intelligence or resilience, is growing.

“Leaders learn how to fix, and there’s this big difference between listening to fix, and listening to learn”, observes coach and author Jennifer Garvey Berger. “And it is not a natural thing – coaches need to be taught how to do that.” And so leaders need to learn, too.

With “Leader as a Coach”, we and our qualified coaches created a program that supports leaders and aspiring leaders in acquiring profound coaching methods to develop their leadership approach sustainably. A combination of input and, of course, 1:1 coaching sessions, equip managers with coaching methods and mindset in four modules.

Coaching is based on the premise that the coachee already holds the solution to their problem within themselves. By utilizing specific questioning techniques, the coach assists the coachee in addressing their personal concerns while taking on a process-oriented role.

While it is important to recognize that a manager cannot replace an external coach, as there will inherently be situations in which a coaching role is conflicting (e.g. when the manager – or the manager-employee relationship – is part of the problem), the approach and mindset of leading like a coach are hugely beneficial for everyone involved. A coaching leadership style reflects modern ways of working, in which we care about our relationships at work and strive to find solutions to complex problems in collaboration with others.

We are convinced that leading always starts with yourself. Self-leadership is the foundation for leading others. Leadership means to be on a continuous learning path, learning about yourself, others, and everything else.

As made popular by psychologist Carol Dweck in 2006, someone with a fixed mindset views abilities and intelligence as set and unchangeable, whereas someone with a growth mindset believes that everything can be learned. This encouraging and motivational yet flexible mindset is what most people and organizations want to cultivate in order to be successful and fulfilled. In our program “Leader as a Coach”, we use the potential of this mindset to equip leaders, so they can in turn equip their people with it – triggering a ripple effect of leadership and ownership.

English: Leader as a Coach program

German: Leader as a Coach program

If you’re unsure whether this program meets your organization’s needs, we are happy to help. Schedule a consultation with us, and we will provide personalized advice on how to introduce your leaders to this topic.

Alina Dinga

Head of Business Development & Sales

E-Mail: [email protected]

Franziska Goth de León

Head of Partner Management

E-Mail: [email protected]

We are bettercoach. We are competent. We are transparent. We are authentic. We care about leadership and believe in co-creative, fair, and honest relationships. We dive deep because this delivers impactful solutions that last long-term. We embrace change as everything must change to grow. Our goal is to transform lives and businesses. We are 40 leaders and more than 1,200 coaches from over 60 countries around the world, and we work with the biggest enterprises in Europe. Together with our coaches from all over the world we work on our mission to support people on their path to fulfillment at work.

* Music: Corporate Mood by AudioCoffee Band, Free Music Archive, CC BY-NC-ND