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You could argue that the most important attribute of a leader is their ability to inspire others.  Successful leaders are able to mobilise and motivate people inside and outside their organisation, to deliver the organisation’s key strategies and objectives.

The more you as a leader can develop your ability to inspire and influence, the more successful you are likely to be, the more successful your people are likely to be and the more successful your organisation is likely to be. 

When we talk about inspiration and influence we are referring to it in the most positive sense.  Inspiring in a way that takes into account the needs and objectives of all stakeholders, and influencing in an ethical way.  Influencing in an “I win, you lose” way is neither advisable nor sustainable.  This is about inspiring a direct report to step up in a way that benefits both the organisation and the direct reports fulfilment and career prospects, it is about inspiring a prospect to give you their custom delivering significant revenue to you, and providing them with increased value over their current supplier relationship.

So what are the two core foundation stones from which leaders inspire? 

They are:
• your thinking/attitude;
• your relationship with the other person or party.

This may seem obvious, yet in our experience when the ability to inspire is compromised, it is often these areas that are overlooked and these areas that make the biggest difference.

a)  Thinking and attitude:  Think back to when someone had a positive influence on you, when they motivated you to perform at a higher level, inspired you to develop or change.  My guess is they cared for you, they thought well of you and they wanted the best for you.

b)  Relationships:  Inspiration is much more likely to occur when you have taken some time to connect with the other person or party.  The more rapport you have, the more likely it is that your efforts to inspire and influence will gain some traction.

Take some time to reflect on those who you have successfully inspired and those you wish to inspire more.  In the latter case check your thinking and attitude towards the person, take time to get to know them over a coffee or a wine and then don’t be surprised when your efforts to influence and inspire them deliver greater results.

Why did you become a Leadership Coach?

In my previous roles I was exposed to successful business leaders (both as clients and colleagues) and I had been fascinated by the factors that separate successful business leaders and teams from those that are less than successful.  I was interested in the matters which either enabled or prevented an individual or team success. In my study I became aware of business coaching or mentoring as a highly effective tool for identifying those enablers and disablers and impacting on them in a way to deliver superior performance.

What is important to you about being a leadership coach?

I am passionate about personal growth and development within a business context. Business leadership is a very challenging role. Coaching allows our clients to deliver outstanding business results while also developing themselves individually and as business leaders.  The combination of learning and successful implementation leading to increased profit, growth and personal satisfaction is a powerful blend resulting in a focus on continual personal and business improvement

What common matters arise in a coaching session?

There are many and varied issues facing a business leader or a leadership team.  At Blue Chip Coaching we focus on the area of emotional intelligence (or EQ) which broadly speaking covers four main areas namely self awareness, self management, awareness of others and influencing others.  In other words we focus on the role of people in business in dealing with those matters– how to get the best out of yourself, your leadership team and those leaders, managers and staff around you. All business is ultimately undertaken by people.  Business success is therefore highly influenced by the effectiveness of people.

Appreciative Inquiry is now a commonly accepted practice in the evaluation of organizational development strategy and implementation of organizational effectiveness tactics. It is also used extensively as a basis for Leadership and Executive Coaching and for Leadership Team Development in major companies, SMEs and government.

What is Appreciative Inquiry?

Appreciative Inquiry as it relates to executive coaching is a particular way of asking questions and envisioning the future that builds on the basic strengths in an executive or leader. In so doing, it enhances a leader’s capacity for growth, development and success.  Appreciative Inquiry utilizes a 4-stage process focusing on:
1. DISCOVER: The identification of thinking, emotions, and behaviours that lead to outstanding results currently.
2. DREAM: Creating a vision using the leadership strengths identified that would work well in the future.
3. DESIGN: Planning and prioritizing actions that would deliver exceptional outcomes for the executive and the organisation.
4. DELIVERY The implementation (execution) of the actions proposed.

The basic idea is to develop executives and leaders around what works, rather than trying to fix what doesn’t. It is the opposite of problem solving. Instead of focusing on fixing what’s wrong. AIl leadership development focuses on how to create more of what’s already working. The approach acknowledges the unique contribution and skills of individuals, encourages the leader to fully exploit their distinctive abilities.

 
Appreciative Inquiry is one of several coaching tools and approaches that Blue Chip Coaching uses.

These are just some of the issues that effective Business or Leadership Coaching can assist with:

Corporate financial health and fiscal responsibilities

a. Achieving consistent financial returns in a highly competitive global market
b. Forming strategic alliances to leverage resources
c. Ensuring your organisation is a compelling place to work to attract and retain high quality people

2. Organisational change and chaos

a. Handling the speed of change.
b. Potential mergers, acquisitions, and sizing issues
c. Accelerated change causing turbulence
d. Succession planning and implementation

3. Managing time effectively

a. Resourcing time to manage details
b. Leadership challenges (team, collaborative approaches, board responsibility)
c. Clarity of vision and focus and buy in from staff and colleagues 
d. Balancing daily and long term agendas

4. Performance issues (self and team)

a. Managing stress and burnout issues
b. Under challenged
c. Blind spots
d. Performance in the job
e. Building relationships
f. Missing skills and/or competencies (content skills: strategic thinking and implementation, effective management and process skills: communication, facilitation, relationship skills, presence)

5. Balance of personal and work life

a. Lonely at top, no one to talk to, no effective feedback
b. Career/leadership development (mature leaders, emerging leaders, star “fast trackers”)
c. Shift from technical to management to leadership to fostering leadership
d. Personal mid-career transition
e. Balance of life (never enough hours)
f. Balance of multiple intelligences (head, heart and feet)
g. Self-care

Historically some business people were assigned executive mentors who had “walked the path” to help guide and coach them.

The upside was that these executive mentors had been there and done that, the downside was that they often had no mentoring skills and the relationship they would form with the mentee was left to chance.

Over the past 5 years executive mentoring has become more sought after and there has been a shift from internal mentoring to more external results focused mentoring from professional mentors.

Mentees need to be given the opportunity to choose their executive mentors as the relationship and fit is crucial, and executive mentors need to have the mentoring skills to uncover and impact those enablers that will make the biggest difference for the mentee.

Blue Chip Coaching work with leaders and aspiring leaders as they take understand more about their leadership and take it to a new level.

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Read more about executive mentoring.

Blue Chip Coaching provides business coaches who specialise in the domain of executive and leadership coaching. We work with managers and senior managers who are ready to get the best from themselves and their people. This doesnt involve being a certain type of leader - it involves identifying and bringing out the best in your leadership. This real, honest and authentic leadership is the only leadership you can sustain to deliver success in business while at the same time feeling good at a personal level. We place a lot of emphasis on our strengths based approach that involves leveraging your personal, business and leadership strengths and covering any weaknesses. Business coaching from this platform delivers real and significant results for clients.

Blue Chip Coaching work with organisations and individuals to achieve critical goals through realising the potential of capable leaders and senior teams.

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Contact us for more information on Blue Chip Coaching’s business coaches.

One of our Blue Chip Coaching clients, a senior leader in a large insurance business, was interested in measuring the return on investment of the management coaching programme we ran with him and a number of his senior managers and management teams. 

For him, the benefits of the management coaching programme easily outweighed the costs.  One example he identified would be losing a manager he hadn’t invested in by way of management coaching - “My view is that the loss of a single manager would pay for a year of coaching for the entire team.  So it’s pretty simple maths to me, though I think these issues are often overlooked.”

In order to ensure that management coaching and leadership team development programmes produce the desired return it is essential that the management coach is familiar with the environment (culture and business) that the manager or leadership team is working in.  Our leadership team development and management coaching programmes always include an assessment and gap analysis phase to ensure that this knowledge is developed and the measures for success agreed for the coaching programme are defined, realistic and measurable.

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View more about Blue Chip’s management coaching.

When embarking on an executive coaching or leadership team development programme, it is critical to establish the measures of success and the return on investment required. 

At an executive level, the outcomes for the programme will normally include a number of areas that ultimately add value to the business. 

Examples include:

• improved employee productivity and motivation
• relationships with key stakeholders
• customer/client satisfaction
• improved team or business culture.

When a Fortune 500 company engaged a consulting firm in the United States to measure the return on investment from its leadership development programme, the results were impressive.  Leadership coaching produced a 529% return on investment and significant intangible benefits to the business.  Key areas improved through the leadership coaching programme included decision making, team performance, employee motivation and productivity.

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View more information about Blue Chip Coaching’s coaching programmes.

A Challenge for Business Leaders

Why is it important to hold on to employees?

While unemployment in New Zealand is likely to rise over the next year, much of that unemployment rise will be in the unskilled labour force. Recruiting highly skilled workers and managers in most industries is still relatively challenging. Perhaps more relevant are the time and costs involved in the recruitment and induction process and the impact on business which is not captured adequately by accounting entries as it encompasses the impact on staff and clients when good people leave.

What makes an employee happy?

People generally join organisations but often they leave managers. In an article published by Hay Group, 70% of service employees’ reasons for exit were experience of their manager. This is not too surprising as we already know that managers and leaders account for a significant component of employees job satisfaction.

So what are some of the key compenents that give them that level of satisfaction?

Staff are more likely to be retained if they feel…

• Cared for, understood and valued by their manager or leader
• They have clarity about their development plan
• They are provided with the support to achieve their development goals

As a managers or leader are you doing what you can to retain those people you most value?

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To read more about developing leaders with the coaching skills required to develop and retain staff go to Team Development.