6 strategies to get the most out of working with a leadership coach

While training is a critical part of leadership development, the most profound and sustainable growth I’ve witnessed in my clients has been through coaching. Nothing compares to the power of one-on-one coaching. Every single interaction is tailored to the coachee’s needs, goals, and unique situation.  

Today I want to teach you how to get the most out of working with a leadership coach. But before we jump into strategies, let’s answer a foundational question:

Who should work with a leadership coach?

I coach leaders at all levels—from rising leaders to first-time supervisors, from tenured managers to senior executives—all can benefit from working with a leadership coach.

Here are the most common reasons organizations bring me in for coaching:

1. To address specific challenges:

• Performance or capability gaps

• Difficult work relationships or challenging team dynamics

• Leading through change or a difficult business environment

• Lack of self-confidence

2. To proactively build leadership capability:

• Help a manager take their leadership to the next level

• Prepare a leader for their next promotion or support them during a role transition

• Build awareness of different communication styles and how to best lead and motivate others

• Give leaders ongoing support and an outside voice they can lean on

If you want the leaders in your organization to feel supported and to grow in profound ways, pair them with a leadership coach. And if you, as an individual, want a trusted partner to help you become a more capable, confident leader, invest in yourself through leadership coaching.

If this is resonating, let’s dive in to how you can maximize your coaching investment.

Six Strategies

1. Find the right fit

Finding the right fit in a coach is critical to your success. In fact, if I meet with a prospect who I believe would be better served by someone else, I tell them (and do my best to connect them with the right resources). But don’t rely on the coach to do this for you—you need to be diligent in the selection process.

First, determine what type of coaching you want: leadership coaching, life coaching, career coaching, business coaching, etc. Finding a coach with the right expertise and proven methods will give you the best experience and results. I purposefully do not provide life, career, or business coaching because my expertise and methods best support leaders who want to become better for themselves and their teams.

Second, do the research. Search online and ask colleagues and friends for recommendations (you may be surprised to discover how many people have worked with a coach). Once you find a few coaches of interest, peruse the content they’re sharing: blog posts, videos, articles, podcasts, etc. See if their content resonates with you and your values.

Finally, request discovery calls with the front runners. Don’t be shy about this—it’s a standard practice and normal part of the process. You are not committing to anything by meeting for a short, introductory call. Good coaches want to do this just as much as you do to determine if you’re the right fit for them.

2. Establish clear goals for the engagement

Most coaches will walk you through a process to identify specific goals at the beginning of the coaching engagement, but it certainly won’t hurt for you to do some initial brainstorming in advance. There are a number of ways to determine top priority development goals, including (but not limited to):

• Feedback from your manager, peers or team, provided informally or through a formal 360 review

• A standardized assessment, such as DISC, emotional intelligence, driving forces, or others

• Your own wants and needs

Without clear goals, it will be challenging to measure growth. I typically take this one step further and invite my coaching clients to score themselves on each goal at the beginning, middle, and end of the coaching journey so they can see a quantitative measure of improvement.

3. Involve your team 

Too often, we try to work on self-improvement in the dark (I talked about this in a recent Two-Minute Tip). The truth is, if we take the risk to vulnerably acknowledge our growth opportunities and communicate what we’re working on, our colleagues become champions of our success. They feel more comfortable calling out our improvement and gently raising awareness when we’re falling short.

When appropriate, I encourage my coaching clients to share their development goals with their teams and let them know they’re working with a coach to improve in these areas. You’d be amazed at the trust that’s built through this small step, and the caring accountability and encouragement that follows.

4. Be prepared for each session

My clients who take 5-10 minutes before each session to identify what’s most important to discuss that day get significantly more out of our coaching conversations. Yes, we’re focused on their goals in each session, but they also have an opportunity to bring other questions and challenges into our meetings. Just a little bit of pre-thought before each session will enable you to take full advantage of your coaching resource.  

5. Be open and honest

A good coach is a trusted partner who is 100% invested in your success. They provide an objective, third-party perspective, and everything you discuss with them should be confidential. So let your guard down. Be open and honest. The more you’re willing to share, the more they’re able to help you.

You may be wondering: but what if my company hired them? Won’t they share information with my leaders or HR? When I’m in this situation with a client (which is typical), I absolutely connect with their leader multiple times throughout the coaching engagement. I want their manager to know how to best support them during the process. That said, I always tell my coachee what I plan to discuss with their manager to get their buy-in first. I want my coachees to know they can trust me and our relationship.

6. Remember that most of the growth happens in between sessions 

Yes, you’ll gain new insights and skills during coaching sessions, but how you apply them in between sessions will have the most impact on your progress. Intentionally practice what’s discussed, then use the next coaching session to reflect on what you tried, how it went, and where to go from there.  

In closing…

It is such a privilege to serve leaders through one-on-one coaching—to tailor each session to their unique needs and situation. Sometimes I’m a sounding board, simply affirming ideas and perceptions. Sometimes I teach and introduce a new tool or concept. Often, I simply ask questions and reflect back what I’m hearing. And sometimes I challenge and help redirect. Regardless, I’m always in their corner, reminding them that they can do this and that I have their back every step of the way. It’s amazing to see the confidence and growth that comes when someone simply believes in you.

If you’re interested in working with a leadership coach, I’d love to connect. I currently have two coaching slots opening up at the end of February. Please click here to schedule a discovery call or send me a message. You can also learn more about my coaching process here.