Role of Coaching in Developing Leadership Capabilities of Clients - Dissertation Example

Role of Coaching in Developing Leadership Capabilities Number and Number Submission Number of Words: 3,003 Introduction In the absence of competitive leadership, a lot of business organizations were not able to effectively compete in the global markets. To empower the executive leaders to delegate tasks to their subordinates and effectively managing organizational change, Kotter (1999, p. 1) explained that the ability of the business managers to develop an effective leadership approach is necessary. Aside from being able to effectively manage a group of employees, effective leadership is also important in making a group of employees dedicate and commit themselves in support of a shared organizational values, goals, and purposes (Anderson et al., 2003: p. 12). As compared to other leadership techniques, coaching is more focused on improving employees’ learning (Lee, 2003, p. 60). Over the past few decades, the role of coaching in the study of leadership has developed to the extent that coaching has been considered one of the most significant components in the development of executive leadership. Using relevant theories, this report will focus on evaluating the literature behind the role of coaching in the development of effective leadership capabilities. Aside from appraising the characteristics of effective leaders, this report will critically review the role of coaches in the development of leadership characteristics by comparing the leadership approaches of different authors in terms of achieving these outcomes. Working as a part-time sales supervisor in one of the well-known insurance companies in UK, coaching leadership is important in terms of making me able to effectively facilitate a positive business outcome with my clients. Because of the importance of developing coaching leadership when managing a group of people (i.e. employees or clients), I had to go through a personal reflection on this subject matter. In reference to the gathered literature; I realized that it is important to enhance coaching leadership because this particular leadership strategy will enable the leaders to effectively motive employees to engage themselves in continuous learning. By making each staff able to work independently, increasing the overall group productivity is possible. Since employees can be self-sufficient, improvements in the customer service quality is also possible. Leadership Leadership is often mistaken as a management skill. Despite the close similarities between leadership and management skills, there are still some clear differences between the two. In line with this, Winston and Patterson (2006, p. 7) explained that leadership is actually referring to the ability of the corporate leaders to “influence, select, equip, and train” employees in order to improve their existing skills and work performances aside from encouraging this group of people to be willing in participating in the guidance of the corporate leaders. By encouraging employees to work towards a single organizational goal, there is a higher chance for them to improve the overall work performance of the group. On the other hand, management skills are referring to the corporate managers’ ability to handle the actual business affairs (Merriam-Webster 2011). It is easy to appoint any person to be a corporate manager. However, not all corporate managers are good leaders. Corporate leadership is an important skill that managers should develop. According to van Maurik (1994, p. 121), a competitive corporate leader should have “wisdom, integrity, sensitivity, and tenacity (WITS)”. By having these special characteristics, a good leader will be able to develop and implement a clear organizational vision that can make managers easily make business decisions that are heavily based on facts. Given that leadership is a learnt and acquired skill, it is a wrong belief to think that “leaders are born leaders” (Cox 2010). As stated by Adair (2005, p. 7), “leadership can never be taught”. Although “leaders are born and not made” (Adair 2005, p. 9), it is crucial on the part of the corporate managers to personally deal and handle a diverse group of individuals as a way to improve and develop their leadership skills. As mentioned by Bambacas and Patrickson (2008), there are some researchers and managers who kept on asking the question “what makes a leader a good leader?”. As part of answering this question, Barling, Slater and Kelloway (2000) revealed that there are some empirical studies behind the study of corporate leadership and business management that focuses on determining the factors that strongly influences employees’ motivation to follow the leadership of the corporate leaders. Based on the leadership theories, leadership approach can be charismatic by nature such as those that are can be observed from transformational leaders. According to Palmer et al. (2001), leaders with charisma are very much similar to emotional intelligence in the sense that this group of leaders could closely monitor their emotions towards other people. In other words, charismatic leaders are those types of leaders with high levels of self-confidence, assertive, and are able to motivate other people in attaining the organizational goals (House 1997, p. 416). Aside from considering the differences of other people, several authors revealed that the traits of charismatic leaders are also present among transformational leaders who could strongly influence, inspire, motivate, and intellectually stimulate other people (Bass 1998; Bass and Avolio 1993). Unlike the charismatic leadership approach, authentic leadership approach is characterized by five unique characteristics known as the purpose, values, heart, relationships, and self-discipline (Shirley 2006). Basically, the qualities of authentic leaders includes optimism, giving hope, a sense of self-confidence and resiliency to other people by making employees increase their self-awareness and create positive working behaviour (Luthans and Avolio 2003, pp. 241 – 258). By recognizing the individual talents and value of each employee, authentic leaders are able to inspire, motivate, and improve the personality of each employee as a unique individual that contributes to the overall success of a business organization. Applicable to transformational and authentic leadership approach, George (2004) explained that building a closer relationship with other people is a significant factor behind a successful leadership. Aside from enabling the corporate leaders to easily deal with the rest of the employees, Maslach, Schaufeli and Leiter (2001) revealed that building a closer relationship with the rest of the team members is also effective in terms of reducing the risk of work-related stress and burnout. According to Dessler (2001, pp. 296 – 297), a good corporate leader should be able to inspire other people. Therefore, corporate leaders should have the drive to accomplish organizational goals, desire and willingness to lead a group of employees, have a strong self-confidence when managing the people, have successfully acquired competitive intellectual and cognitive abilities, are honest and with the highest integrity, and has sufficient knowledge in managing the business. All these leadership characteristics as identified by Dessler (2001, pp. 296 – 297) are actually very much similar with the explanations made by van Maurik (1999, p. 121) particularly with regards to having wisdom, integrity, sensitivity, and tenacity (WITS). Among the four leadership characteristics as identified by van Maurik (1999, p. 121), I consider sensitivity to other people as one of the key factors behind a successful leadership approach. By understanding the individual needs and concerns of each employee, the corporate leader will be able to corporate leaders are expected to have the wisdom to influence and inspire other people without using violence and coercive actions. Aside from the importance of influencing other people in a natural way, Huth (2001) explained that an effective corporate leader should have the power or ability to communicate well with other people regardless of the mode of communication (i.e. writing, speech, etc.). Leadership Development and Coaching By positioning the corporate leaders to work more effectively within a given work environment, Morgan, Harkins and Goldsmith (2005, p. 25) explained that coaching is all about finding ways on how to improve the leadership skills of corporate leaders. Coaching is totally different from leadership development in the sense that coaching is more focused on guiding the corporate leaders on how to become “task-oriented, skills-focused, directed and time-bound” (Deans et al., 2007, p. 1) whereas leadership development is pertaining to activities that could improve the quality of leadership skills of an individual. With regards to the differences between leadership coaching and leadership development, Riddle (2008, p. 7) revealed that “leadership coaching uses the relationship between the coach and the person being coached as a platform for questioning assumptions, stimulating reflection, creating alternatives, and growing perspectives”. By improving the leadership skills of the corporate leaders, leadership development is possible. There are many benefits associated with incorporating coaching in leadership development. Aside from enhancing the existing knowledge, behaviour, and skills of employees, the use of coaching as a leadership strategy is also effective the development of positive working behaviour among a group of employees. As a way to enhance employees’ overall learning progress, Olivero, Bane and Kopelman (1997) explained that coaching in leadership is more focused on searching and developing new ways on how the corporate leaders could effectively combine the use of training with coaching. With regards to coaching in leadership development, Graham and Ian (2010, pp. 17 – 34) tackled how coaching can be applied in authentic leadership. Similar to charismatic leadership, Graham and Ian (2010, p. 20) revealed that authentic leadership position includes the ability of the corporate leaders to consciously balance the differences between the personal needs of the leader and other employees. Through the process of going through self-reflection, the corporate leaders will be able to regulate their emotions which is important in terms of allowing them to sympathize with other people’s feelings. According to Graham and Ian (2010, p. 21), authentic leadership model that is applicable to coaching can either be based on attachment theory or developmental theory. Under the attachment theory, Graham and Ian (2010, p. 22) explained that the past relationship experiences of the corporate leaders with their parents or carers such as having a secured or unsecured attachment during their childhood days could significantly affect their choices when choosing their prefered leadership positions (i.e. defiance, authenticity, or compliance leadership position). Considered as two of the most extreme leadership positions, defiant leadership position is pertaining to the the use of leadership style that is strongly influenced by the corporate leaders’ unconscious needs whereas the compliant leadership focuses on improving employees’ knowledge, skills, and competencies that are important to the organization but the corporate leaders tend to unconsciously suppress their natural leadership styles (Lee, 2003, pp. 12 – 13). Under the developmental theory, it is possible to improve coaching leadership by going through reflective awareness on self and on other people (Graham and Ian, 2010, p. 22). Since the corporate leaders as the coach should be a role model to other people, coaching leadership works best by first improving the corporate leaders’ reflective awareness as an individual before these leaders can effectively coach the clients. By going through reflective awareness, Passmore (2010, p. 30) explained that the corporate leaders can avoid using defiance or compliance leadership positions which may cause coaching leadership to become less effective. Lee (2003, p. 17) revealed that the main purpose of leadership coaching is to develop and enhance authentic leadership which requires the corporate leaders to become more consciously aware of their chosen leadership style that is based on their personality and attuned with the organizational needs. When developing authentic leadership in coaching, Lee (2003, pp. 14 – 15) explained the importance of encompassing the four quadrant model which includes: people focus, task focus, individual development, and organizational development such that having a strong communication skill will enable the corporate leaders to have the power to effectively manage their individual emotions. Similar to the authentic leadership model as presented by Graham and Ian (2010, p. 21), Lee (2003, p. 17) revealed that authentic leadership can be developed by going through personal journey which is focused on developing self and emotional awarenesss or the practical journey which is more focused on improvements in behavioural competence. Between Graham and Ian’s attachment theory or developmental theory and Lee’s personal journey and practical journey, I find Lee’s personal and practical journey model to be more effective in terms of improving leadership development in coaching. Based on my previous work experiences with clients, I realized that a corporate leader is more than being able to handle, persuade, and/or motivate a group of people. Upon analyzing the gathered literature and reflecting on the feedback I got from the coaching session, I exerted an effort to develop a proposed leadership model that can be applied with incorporating coaching in leadership development. Coaching leaders should be able to communicate his thoughts and ideas to the clients. On top of having effective communication skills, coaching leaders should have a long-list of qualities which includes having the gift of wisdom, being sensitive to other people’s feelings, persistence in attaining the organizational goal, having a sense of purpose and having a strong conviction with regards to their personal beliefs. Using these qualities, the coaching leaders are expected to be able to draw a clear organizational vision and create new business objectives based on the market demand. It is equally important for coaching leaders to be able to have the desire to lead, motivate, inspire, and influence other people (i.e. the clients). By intellectually stimulating the minds of employees, the coaching leaders will be able to make the corporate leaders and the rest of the employees to become self-sufficient at work. By enhancing the cognitive development of the corporate leaders and the rest of the employees, the coaching leaders could indirectly increase the company’s overall productivity rate. To enable the coaching leaders be able to win the respect and trust of the corporate leaders and the rest of the employees, the coaching leaders should be honest, practice high levels of integrity, have strong self-confidence, practice self-discipline, and improve their charisma to other people. This can be done by being empathic to the individual needs and concerns of other people. By acknowledging the values and individuality of each client and carefully listening to the concerns of the clients, the coaching leaders could easily persuade this group of people to cooperate easily with them. Lastly, coaching leaders should have a strong sense of hope, optimistic behavior, and resiliency. By going through self-reflection process, the coaching leaders can improve their self-awareness which is necessary to empower them in coaching the clients. Based on the gathered literature and learning experiences from the coaching sessions, I conclude that becoming an effective coaching leaders in leadership development should start from within (self) before other people. (See Appendix I – Summary of the Proposed Coaching Leadership Development Model on page 14) Specific Areas for Development of My Coaching in Relation to Coaching Leaders In relation to becoming an effective coaching leader, the specific areas I need to develop includes being emphatic to other people’s needs and concerns. Prior to the coaching session, I view leadership to be more of transactional by nature more than transformation or authentic leadership approach (George, 2004; Palmer et al. 2001). The problem with the use of transactional leadership approach is that this particular leadership technique does not always work well in terms of making the clients become self-empowered at work. Although the use of transactional leadership approach can be effective in terms of disciplining the clients, this strategy is less effective in terms of motivating or inspiring the clients to develop a positive self-regulated behaviour. Going through the coaching session and gathering a literature on this topic made me realize the importance of building a strong relationship with the clients. Rather than using force to make them follow my leadership, it is more effective to motivate and inspire them to become self-sufficient at work. By acknowledging their self-worth and value to the organization, I realized that would be a lot easier to motive the clients to increase their overall productivity rate without making them burnout from work (Schaufeli and Leiter 2001). Integrating coaching in leadership development is a very complex subject matter. In line with this, staying focus on stimulating the intellectual or cognitive areas of the clients is simply not enough to make them motivated at work. It means that cognitive development should be balance with the clients’ emotional development as well. For this reason, taking time to listen to the clients’ specific needs and wants could enable the coach leaders to improve their competencies in terms of bringing out the best behaviour and performances among the clients. Another area that I need to develop is my communication skills. As an effective coaching leader, I realized that having a strong communication skill could make the coaches be able to avoid miscommunication with the clients. As a common knowledge, miscommunication between the coaches and the clients could result to mistrust and unwillingness on the part of the clients to participate and listen to the coaches’ advice. In the absence of effective communication skills, coaching leaders will have more difficulty trying to influence, motivate and persuade the clients to accept advices from the coaches particularly on how they can successfully develop their leadership skills. Therefore, it is crucial on my part to improve my communication skills by spending more time trying to communicate with a diverse group of individuals. Conclusion Aside from the importance of increasing the coaches’ self-awareness, establishing a two-way communication line between the coaching leaders and the clients is crucial behind a successful coaching leadership. To enable the coaches develop the leadership skills of the clients, the coaching leaders should emphasize the importance of being able to build a strong working relationship with the clients. By carefully listening to the main concerns and preferences of the clients, the coaching leaders will be able to win the trust and attention of the clients. As soon as the coaching leaders are able to win the clients’ trust, it would be easier on the part of the coaches to discuss the importance of having a clear organizational vision and business objectives which could serve as a guide on how the clients could attain the organizational goal. By having a sense of purpose and continuously inspiring and motivating the clients to work together towards a single organizational goal, the clients could easily work together as a team to improve the overall productivity rate of the business organization. *** End *** Appendix I – Summary of the Proposed Coaching Leadership Development Model References Adair, J. (2005). How to Grow Leaders: The Seven Key Principles of Effective Development. Kogan Page Ltd. Anderson, L., Bennett, N., Cartwright, M., Newton, W., Preedy, M., and Wise, C. (2003). Masters Programme in Education. E849 Leading and Managing for Effective Education. The Open University. Bambacas, M., and Patrickson, M. (2008). Interpersonal communication skills that enhance organisational commitment. Journal of Communication Management , 12(1), pp. 51 - 72. Barling, J., Slater, F., and Kelloway, E. (2000). Transformational leadership and emotional intelligence: an exploratory study. Leadership and Organizational Development Journal , 21(3), pp. 157 - 161.. Bass, B. (1998). Transformational Leadership: Industrial, Military, and Educational Impact. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates. Bass, B., and Avolio, B. (1993). Transformational Leadership: A Response to Critiques. In Chemers, M.M. and Ayman, R. (eds) Leadership Theory and Research: Perspectives and Directions. New York: Free Press. Cox, D. (2010). Leadership Article. Leaders Are Not Born. [online] Available at: [Accessed 1st May 2011]. Deans, F., Oakley, L., James, R., and Wrigley, R. (2007). Intrax. Coaching and Mentoring for Leadership Development in Civil Society. [online] Available at: [Accessed 1st May 2011]. Dessler, G. (2001). Management: Leading people into the 21st Century. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Publishers. George, B. (2004). The Journey to Authenticity. Leader to Leader , 31, pp. 1 - 5. Graham, L., and Ian, R. (2010). Coaching for authentic leadership. In Passmore, J. (ed) "Leadership Coaching: Working with Leaders to Develop Elite Performance" . Kogan Page Ltd. House, A. (1997). The social scientific study of leadership: Quo Vadis? Journal of Management , 23(3), pp. 409 - 473. Huth, A. J. (2001). Born to Lead or Made to Manage - We Need Both. The Strategic Edge. American Business Advisors, Inc. Kotter, J. P. (1999). John P. Kottler on What Leaders Really Do. President and Fellows of Harvard College. Lee, G. (2003). Leadership coaching: from personal insight to organisational performance. London: CIPD. Luthans, F., and Avolio, B. (2003). Authentic Leadership Development’ in Cameron K.S., Dutton J.E., and Quinn R.E. (Eds.) ‘Positive Organizational Scholarship’. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler. Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W., and Leiter, M. (2001). Job Burnout. Annual Reviews in Psychology , 52, pp. 397 - 422. Merriam-Webster. (2010). Manager. [online] Available at: [Accessed 1st May 2011]. Morgan, H., Harkins, P., and Goldsmith, M. (2005). The art and practice of leadership coaching: 50 top executive coaches reveal their secrets. John Wiley & Sons Inc. Olivero, G., Bane, K., and Kopelman, R. (1997). Executive coaching as a transfer of training tool: Effects on productivity in a public agency. Public Personnel Management , 26(4), pp. 461-469. Palmer, B., Walls, M., Burgess, Z., and Stough, C. (2001). Emotional Intelligence and Effective Leadership. Leadership & Organizational Development Journal , 22, pp. 5 - 10. Passmore, J. (2010). Leadership Coaching: Working with Leaders to Develop Elite Performance. US: Kogan Page. Riddle, D. (2008). Leadership Coaching: When Its Right and When Youre Ready. Center for Creative Leaders. Shirley, M. (2006). Authentic Leaders Creating Healthy Work Environments for Nursing Practice. American Journal of Critical Care , 15(3), pp. 256 - 267. van Maurik, J. (1999). The effective strategist: Key skills for all managers. England: Gower Publishing Ltd. Winston, B. E., and Patterson, K. (2006). An Integrated Definition of Leadership. International Journal of Leadership Studies , 1(2), pp. 6 - 66. Read More