5 Bottom Line Benefits of Leadership Coaching

Posted on October 06, 2021 by Laurie Greenberg, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

Alex was simply winging it as the operations manager of a franchise location. He had never managed a large group of people before. At the time, he thought he knew what he was doing, but he now recognizes that he was completely out of his element.

He made up for his lack of leadership training by bullying his direct reports and working long hours. For a short time, this tactic worked, until it did not. His employees were resentful and as a team, they were underproductive. They missed many of their business goals. Morale was in shambles.

His boss, the franchise owner, did not know what to do, but he recalled that his sister had recently started using a Leadership Coach with great success. It sounded like something that might help.
Two years later, Alex’s team consistently hits their goals. Their customer satisfaction scores are up. Alex’s direct reports feel comfortable coming to him with concerns that need to be proactively dealt with or with ideas that might help move the business forward.

Would Alex and his team have reached their current level of success without a coach to guide him? Probably not.

Want your team operating at a higher level?

Here are 5 bottom-line benefits of hiring a leadership coach for your management team:

1. Team support
Success is a team effort, and each member of the team is critical. Yet most businesses are missing a key player that has the potential to make a significant difference in their bottom line: a Leadership Coach. Leadership coaches train team managers to identify their personal strengths and weaknesses. Alex, for example, learned quickly that his management style (yelling at subordinates) and lack of work/life balance were weaknesses that were hurting the business.

Leadership Coaches can inspire and empower managers to create specific plans for their professional development, and then hold them accountable for their progress. They can also serve as an effective bridge between management and the business owner, supporting their evolution into leadership, establishing a judgment-free space to improve communication, and, ultimately, produce a more cohesive and prosperous business.

2. Boost Confidence
Business owners often ask how to find exceptional leaders with the confidence and credibility to lead a team of employees towards success?

The good news is it is less about finding them, and more about building up the managers you already have. Consistent success with their own personal goals creates confident managers who are better able to achieve work related goals to fulfill the business’ overall mission.

Managers are often promoted after demonstrating leadership potential and positive work efforts. But promotion does not always come with management or leadership training, leading to insecurities and a feeling of “imposter syndrome”.

Inefficient managers may mask their insecurity with dominance, creating an embattled relationship with their direct reports, further challenging the organization to meet company-wide goals.

This was the situation Alex found himself. It was his way or the highway.

Even if a direct report saw that something was wrong and needed to be fixed to make the customer happy, they were afraid to come to Alex. This often left the franchise owner having to clean up the mess. Today, Alex has made himself available to hear other people’s thoughts. Even when he does not agree, he respects people’s opinions and explains his decisions.

Leadership Coaching empowers managers to take a deep dive into their own confidence and leadership style. As they look for opportunities to improve themselves, they begin to create aligned teams that work better. By hitting their goals and creating an open and positive work environment for their direct reports, managers feel more confident to make the critical business decisions tasked with on a daily basis.

3. Create Focus

Managers, like anyone else, have personal stressors in their lives. Non-business problems compete for managers’ attention, making it harder for them to focus on the tasks at hand or make the best business decisions possible. Leadership coaching allows managers to see where their personal issues may be complicating their job.

By creating awareness, managers can be empowered to identify their own limiting beliefs and personal blocks, and see how these issues feed into how they show up at work. Only then, can they begin to take ownership for eliminating them. By taking care of themselves and their personal lives, their capacity to focus on the job increases.

4. Model Appreciation

Not all business owners can afford to show their hard-working managers their appreciation through large salary raises or cash bonuses. Yet, a key factor in engagement is the sense of feeling appreciated and cared for. Employees who feel appreciated will always do more than what is expected.
Leadership Coaching can provide the perfect solution. Supporting your managers with coaching demonstrates an appreciation and gratitude for their personal potential and continued hard work, and shows that you care about their well-being. A 2020 report by Smarp, an employee communications and advocacy platform, found that 69% of employees say that they would work harder if they were more appreciated.

Managers who feel appreciated by their bosses tend to pass the appreciation down to their teams, creating a workplace of employees committed to the business. Gratitude and appreciation do matter and have a trickle down effect.

5. Provide Accountability

Research shows that goal-setting is linked to higher levels of motivation, better business success, and stronger self-confidence. Leaders and managers held accountable to follow through with goals are more likely to hold others accountable for their goals.

Studies also reveal that goals set in isolation are less likely to be achieved. A 2010 study on accountability by the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) found that people have a 65% chance of completing a goal if they tell another person about it. The chances of completing that goal increase to 95% when someone has a consistent accountability meeting on a regular basis. Working with a leadership coach gives your managers that level of accountability. This accountability empowers managers and leaders to also hold others accountable.

Bottom line
There is a zero return on an investment never made. And a zero investment is exactly what business owners are doing when they hire or promote someone to manager without also giving that person the tools to be successful leaders.
How would it feel to have a management team that no longer needs to double check everything before making a decision? Instead, you can trust that the managers will begin gaining the confidence to make critical operational decisions independently with the support of a leadership coach, while you are better equipped to focus on the overall vision of your business.
Making an investment you know will reap dividends, will minimize the time and energy needed by you to provide mentoring and growth opportunities to the individual managing your business and ultimately put your business on the road to thriving.

For further information:
Laurie Greenberg, CPC, ELI-MP, PCC
Life and Leadership Coach
Infinite Potential Coaching, LLC
laurie@myinfinitepotential.com