Principles of Leadership Coaching

Six Principles of Leadership Coaching from the Leading Effectively Series of the Center for Creative Leadership

You may be pretty familiar -- and probably fairly comfortable -- with the model of the visiting leadership coach. Sometimes it's easier to dispense leadership advice to an audience you don't know. So it's no wonder these leadership pros seem so confident. But what if you're asked to coach a subordinate or a peer within your organization? Is coaching someone you might work with daily a Quixotic task?

Actually, whether you're a visiting coach, or a coach working in the trenches of your organization, a lot of the same rules of thumb apply. Today we're going to discuss the Center for Creative Leadership's six core principles for coaching someone from an office or cubicle near you:

First, when coaching a peer or a subordinate, you must create a safe, yet challenging environment. Your coachee needs to feel he or she can take risks, and it's up to you to provide a space where risk-taking is rewarded and not risky business. Remember, if you are the coachee's boss or manager, he may wonder if he can reveal vulnerabilities that will be used against him in other aspects of his job. So keep your attitude as open and as nonjudgmental as possible, and let the coachee know you support him, even as you test his knowledge and skills.

A second core coaching principle: Try to work within the coachee's agenda. Remember, this coaching session is not about you, so let the coachee decide which goals to work on and even how to go about improving. Sure, it's great when the coachee's own agenda aligns perfectly with the organization's goals, but never impose your personal priorities on the relationship. When it's clear you need to push a point, put on your managerial hat -- thereby preserving the special collaborative coaching relationship you're trying so hard to build.

That leads into the third core principle for in-house coaching: "Facilitate and collaborate." Like Socrates, who always led his students with questions, the best coaches do not give direct answers or act the expert. Focus on the coachee's needs and avoid filling the lesson with your own life stories and pet theories. Although you may suggest several options for responding to a problem, the ultimate choice should rest with the coachee -- with you acting as the facilitator and collaborator.

Principle Number 4: "Advocate self-awareness". You want your coachee to learn how to recognize her own strengths and present weaknesses -- a prerequisite skill for any good leader. In the same way, you should understand how your own behaviors as a coach impact the people around you. Demonstrate a sense of awareness in yourself and you are more likely to foster in your coachee a similar self-awareness.

And as you coach someone in your organization, put into practice the fifth core principle of leadership teaching. That is: Promote learning from experience. Most people can learn, grow and change only if they have the right set of experiences and are open to learning from them. As a leader coach, always help your coachee reflect on past events and to analyze what went well and what didn't. Foster experiential learning and your student will continue to improve long after your lessons end.

Finally, model what you coach. This, the last of the six core principles, may be the most difficult to embody, as it means putting into practice outside of class the leadership lessons you've been trying to communicate. Feel frustrated that a coaching relationship isn't going well? In that case, "go back to the basics," says CCL's Douglas Riddle, who adds: "Whether the frustration lies on the part of the coach or the coachee, the beginning of a solution can often be found by looking to these six core principles."

And remember, if you don't feel you have the capacity to coach on a particular issue, refer your charge to someone more experienced -- a coach who, we hope, puts into practice the six core leadership coaching principles even better than you do.

To lead is to serve,
Coach Carolyn