Becoming An Organization That Develops Great Leaders

Coaching for leadership sustainability

Good leaders are hard to find. Moreover, even if they are not, they are scarce enough that most organizations are struggling to find and keep great leaders. Finding good leaders is a critical issue for all organizations. As someone who has experienced the best and worst of leadership, I have become a personal advocate for intentionality in leadership development. 

What better way for an organization to have the best leadership possible than to invest the time in identifying and developing leaders from within the organization. The reality is that good leadership does not just happen. 

Leadership requires development, and while development happens in a myriad of ways, the leadership model and culture, as well as the organizational design of an organization helps to determine what leadership development strategy will work best. How leaders are identified and selected may vary from organization to organization, but the common thread is that an ineffective leader is detrimental to an organization. 

Peter Northouse, a well-known leadership researcher, identified several traits that are common to effective leaders, namely intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability. These traits, however, are rarely naturally present in one individual. When one or two of them are innately present, they still need to be cultivated. Northouse also identified a skills approach to leadership, which suggested that the knowledge and abilities that are required for a leader to be useful are learned and need to be developed. 

Many people have some level of leadership potential, which can be enhanced by experiences and training to make them more effective. This is the role of leadership development within an organization. A common element among some of the best organizations is the ability to develop great leaders from within.

Leadership development includes the integration of formal education or knowledge and real-life experiences and makes them learning experiences for improvement as a leader. Leadership development in organizations is necessary for an organization to be able to address the ongoing need for effective leadership, and it should not be left to occur randomly. 

As organizations help leaders, they are ultimately helping themselves. According to The Center for Leadership Development, organizations should think about leadership development from a systems perspective. Leadership development systems can serve not just the individual leaders but also the broader organizational needs for great leadership throughout the organization. Organizations that want to develop great leaders should craft systems that incorporate leadership development into processes, activities, and roles throughout the organization.

Leadership coaching is a powerful means of development within organizations, that has proven success in most organizational cultures. Coaching can also be incorporated into almost any organizational design. What distinguishes leadership coaching from other types of developmental experiences is the ability to use it to amplify other learning experiences powerfully. 

Coaches support developing leaders to engage intentionally in the developmental process and translate their experiences into valuable leadership lessons. In leadership coaching, contrary to leadership training, leaders find their solutions rather than being directed or told what to do, and in so doing, they develop and sharpen key leadership competencies. These situational leadership competencies are the hallmark of great leaders. 

Elizabeth Thach, of Sonoma State University, reported on the impact of executive coaching results and showed that direct reports, peers, and managers rated leadership effectiveness as having increased an average of 55 percent and 60 percent, respectively, as a result of the overall coaching and 360-degree feedback process. At each step of the way, coaching becomes a strategic and value-added activity for both individuals and organizations. 

Not only is coaching a valuable organizational tool at the executive level but because effective leadership is needed at every level of the organization, coaching can be used to facilitate leadership development at every level of the organization. Organizations that foster coaching reportedly attract and retain highly committed, collaborative individuals and become organizations with a strong sense of organizational community. They become known for their exceptional leadership and the ability to develop great leaders.

Developing a coaching culture within your organization means a culture where coaching up, across, and down is a widespread expectation in relationships across the organization. Organizations looking to develop a leadership coaching culture and cultivate great leaders have to be willing to change in the organization's shared beliefs and practices throughout, as well as changes in the organization's systems and processes. According to the Center for Creative Leadership, there are five key strategies for promoting a coaching culture:
 

Engaging these strategies can help any organization in starting a coaching initiative and developing a coaching culture. While more and more leaders are open to coaching, the best way to ensure sustainable leadership success within your organization is to become an organization that is focused on developing great leaders. 

An organization must be willing to invest the time and resources into adequately integrating a coaching system if they want to ensure its success. Whatever better way to ensure the enduring success of your organization builds into your culture the kind of leaders that can take the organization into the future successfully.