Think of the greatest breakthroughs that you’ve seen in yourself and others, and ask these questions: “What is my next breakthrough, and with whom do I trust enough to open up, brainstorm and dialogue? Who can push my thinking, decision-making and results to the next level?” Is it those who report to you? Your board? Usually, it is a trusted adviser, coach or strategist who knows you and your business well enough to challenge, exhort and hold you to account.
The Psychology of Coaching’s Effectiveness
The first truism in performance improvement is that all growth happens through relationships. No one is on a continuous path of growth alone. The science behind individual and organizational peak performance proves again and again that the most successful people continuously raise the bar and do it with the help of others.
Marshall Goldsmith once told me, “Most coaches know nothing of strategy and organizational development, and they shouldn’t go anywhere near those areas.” That quote inspired me to write High-Growth Levers; Marshall wrote the book’s forward. The book deals with organizational strategy and continuous improvement, and it shares individual leadership and board governance best practices every leader and board of advisers should consider.
Three Types of Coaching
In business management, the most common types of coaches are these three:
- Leadership Soft Skill Coaches such as my colleague Marshall Goldsmith, who coaches CEOs on communication skills, management of emotions, personal habits and other soft skills.
- Life Coaches such as Tony Robbins, who helps with limiting beliefs and psychological constraints.
- Strategic Management Coaches such as Peter Drucker or my mentor Alan Weiss. This type of coach is more of a strategic coach and may touch upon the first two areas as needed, but these coaches also work with leaders toward organizational performance improvement.
Your Next Action Step
In 30 seconds, let’s you and I relate through these written words a few thoughts and two specific actions that can take you to the next echelon and help you reach breakthrough strategic coaching, even if you do this 100% virtually.
Step 1. Think of your vision of where you want you and your team to be—the picture of ideal accomplishment, growth, culture and effectiveness. This should be you and your team’s potential actualized.
Step 2. Identify one personal and one organizational constraint. If you were to effectively act on these constraints, then those actions, which are measurable, would greatly accelerate you and your team toward that vision. Write down those actions you can take on paper right now.
Step 3. Next, decide with whom you could best dialogue on progress.
Craft Your Personal Leadership and Team’s Cultural-Growth Roadmap
If you are thinking about going through a coaching process or organizing your board to be more strategic and growth-focused, then drop me an email, and I will send you a digital copy of High-Growth Levers. In the book, you can read exactly how to refine your own leadership skills and improve the strategic alignment process to which you, your board and your management team hold each other
to account.
Whether it’s your personal strategic coach, your board or your inner circle of advisers, keeping your strategic thinking and personal leadership development on a path of healthy relationships and dialogue can result in you and your team’s continuous improvement. That’s just as important as implementing good management practices for your organization. Personally model the right behaviors and continuous improvement, and see how those acts benefit your organization and its culture.
Nothing grows a company like growing its top leader.
Mark Faust works with owners, CEOs and sales managers who want to grow their businesses. You can schedule a free growth ideas session with Mark. Simply book your time by visiting https://calendly.com/markfaust
