20th May 2024

Leadership Skills

What do I mean by a coaching style of leadership?

In order for me to answer this question I will set out the differences between being a mentor and being a coach in the workplace. Here are some key differences:

  • A mentor takes responsibility for a worker’s personal development, usually over a long-term period of time.
  • A coach takes responsibility for developing a worker’s self-awareness and skills to improve performance, often in a shorter period of time.
  • A mentor employs their experience and wisdom in a sector to advise a worker on the best approach to their personal and professional development. Advice is given freely.
  • A coach is trained not to give advice but to ask open-ended questions that get the worker reflecting on new options and new possibilities to solve issues.
  • The advantages of mentoring as a leader is that experience is passed on and the session times do not require as much time for reflection and problem-solving.
  • The advantages of a coaching-style of leadership is that collaboration is a key aim and providing feedback to the worker that is always constructive and aids self-growth.

What difference can I make to your leadership skills?

  • As an accredited coach I have the ability to show empathy towards the complexities of leading a team.
  • A leader is more effective when they understand their strengths in communication and the areas for development. As an accredited DISC practitioner I can gather information that reveals the 4 dominant communication styles. These are D-Dominant, I-Influencer, S-Steady and  C-Compliant. Are you a high ‘D’ type with some ‘I’? Or a ‘C’ type with ‘S’?
  • DISC unlocks the puzzle as to why we find some relationships at work ‘easy’ and others we need to make more of an effort.
  • As a coach with over 120 hours of practise I have been coached (during training) and I have paid to receive coaching. In all areas of life, both professional and personal, I believe a coach offers clarity, encouragement and a new found confidence to try new approaches and review the results. 
  • A coach can help a leader to build a growth mindset that makes trying new approaches a lot more attractive. A growth mindset is made up of several elements. Most people are aware of the need to build resilience and recover quickly from setbacks. There is a lot more to a growth mindset than this however. I will go into more detail if you make an enquiry via the contact form.

How does a coaching-style of leadership create confident and able employees?

  • A leader who has received coaching is in a position to apply the coaching style of leadership to the benefit of employees. The GROW model* is an effective framework that helps a leader to create the time and the structure in a coaching conversation to generate options. Because the leader-as-coach does not give advice, an employee needs to become creative in a search for new solutions. This sense of ownership, ie. not being told the way forward but the personal search to find the best plan of action, builds confidence.
  • The feedback loop, an essential element of a coaching conversation, and the constructive atmosphere of a session, help to  develop a worker’s skill set. The ability to try new strategies to address work place issues and the readiness to fail and try a different approach is what builds flexible working.
  • *The GROW model is used around the globe in businesses to make coaching conversations action-oriented and to give clear measurable goals.

Get in touch by completing the contact form on my website and together we can collaborate on improved communication and better performance results for your team!

I am an accredited Personal Development Coach who specialises in sharing practical communication tools with adults so they can have respectful and productive conversations with children and young people. My range of services include Coaching for Children, Parenting Programmes and DISC Assessment. For more information:

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