Why Leaders Need Training in Coaching Skills

People who lead inside an organization are often conceptualized into two roles-- manager and leader. Digirolamo and Tkach (2019) define these roles as “working with team members to accomplish daily tasks and meet organizational goals” (manager) and “guiding in a direction and motivating team members to work toward a vision.” Both of these functions, when approached with a participative leadership style, require coaching skills.

Leadership experts have touted the idea of coaching embedded in leading since it was first introduced by Mace and Mahler in 1958 (Digirolamo and Tkach, 2019). Indeed, by 2016 more than 80% of organizations used a coach approach to management or leadership, and most planned to expand the use of this method. (Human Capital Institute & International Coach Federation, 2016)

If managers and leaders did not already use coaching skills and strategies, the years since 2020 have called for it. Leading is closely related to change, and these years have been marked by the implementation of remote work environments, public health concerns, mental health issues, a smaller workforce, supply chain issues that impact productivity, and increasing global tensions. Leaders need to navigate this change with their employees, and in doing so elicit their best thinking about complex problems. According to Ibarra & Scoular (2019), “Successful executives must increasingly supplement their industry and functional expertise with a general capacity for learning and they must develop that capacity in the people they supervise….they need to reinvent themselves as coaches whose job it is to draw energy, creativity, and learning out of the people with whom they work.” (p. 11)

While managers and leaders are routinely asked to coach, research shows that more than 23% of managers had less than a day of training in coaching skills (Human Capital Institute & International Coach Federation, 2016). Professional coaches have lengthy and detailed training and supervision before they are certified to coach. The coach approach to leadership may be even more challenging than coaching because it requires deft handling of competing priorities and roles. Offering coaching training, similar to that which professional coaches receive, is one way to improve the effectiveness and efficacy of leader-embedded coaching.

Reach out to Nina Morel Coaching to learn more about offering coaching training to the leaders in your organization.