Put on the table your personal pick of the most skillful and celebrated sports teams of all time, no matter the sport, and you’ll find one thing they all have in common: a highly skilled coach. Great coaching is indispensable for peak performing teams.
Take for example the NBA powerhouse Golden State Warriors. They put together an epic season this past year, stepping into first place with the best winning percentage of any NBA team in history. Yep! they had the dream team of Curry, Thompson, Green, Barnes, Iguodala, and all the rest of their incredible team stocked with high achievers. But in celebrating the Warriors’ deft skill and athleticism, the one person who is not to be overlooked didn’t “suit up” one single night, but was a pivotal part of their success: a retired NBA point guard by the name of Steven Kerr.
With all the skill and basketball wizardry that team possessed, it was Coach Kerr who knew how to mix and match the individualized basketball skills of each player—meshing them into one amazing team! Great coaches have an uncanny way of helping a team play at peak levels.
Most anyone who has built a strong business or moved through the ranks of “corporate,” has probably had some great coaching along the way. Executive/Leadership Coaching is a growing service area and is needed more than ever as entrepreneurs, mid-career executives and young managers try to navigate the complexities of their businesses and organizations.
A Leadership Coach comes along aside leaders at strategic points in their careers, assisting them in problem solving and career challenges that can derail a leader as they seek to move up in their organization or grow a solid business.
Depending on the type of coaching, here are a few things a leadership coach can bring to
the table:
- 1) Pivotal Questions: A coach asks the right questions whereby you self-discover your way forward to achieve your desired goals.
- 2) Helps you navigate the “land mines” of your career: Coaches facilitate your working through the trouble spots in your career, helping you detect the best detours and “workarounds” to keep your career on track.
- 3) Helps you think through strategy: A coach can help you work through a strategy to build your business stronger, find wider markets for your goods and services, plot a course in handling a sensitive matter of conflict with a direct report, or improve your processes in onboarding new talent.
- 4) A coach can assist you in becoming a “peak performer”: With the help of leadership assessments and other instruments that can yield self discovery, leaders are able to discover and inculcate the qualities of peak performers into their own leadership.
A certified coach will cost, but it is an investment well worth it as evidenced by the increasing number of executives, mid-level leaders and business owners tapping into this resource.
Like the Golden State Warriors, you may have exceptional skills and expertise, but you still need a coach. That doesn’t suggest you don’t know how to play or have great skills; on the contrary, it makes a statement that you are focused on elevating your game to peak levels—that is, doing whatever you need to do to get there—and stay there! Coaching is a strategic way to do just that.
Fredrick Russell is a leadership trainer and a Strategy Facilitator who owns his own
company, The Truth North Leadership Group
