Leaders as Coaches

Leadership is a people oriented affair. No matter what your leadership vision is for your family, church, business or organisation; it is your responsibility to develop and release the potential of those around you – your team. A leader’s legacy is dependent on the quality of people he leaves behind when he is no longer in that leadership position. The best way to develop those around you is to coach them. Good leaders are good coaches. They have developed their abilities to spot and harness the strengths and talents of their team members.

Leadership is not about solely being the best but about bringing out the best in the people around you. A sports coach is always not the best player of the sport but he has the skill sets to bring out the best in his players. He has developed his skills to read the game and his players, as well as their opponents. He knows his team’s strengths and weaknesses and how to maximise their strengths and improve their weaknesses. If you believe you have good people around you, then it is your job to make sure they become better as a result of your leadership influence.

There is great amount of dormant potential in the people around you and you can’t have an enduring legacy if you are not willing to coach your people to become the best. Some leaders abstain from coaching their team because they lack the skills or falsely assume that their people should tackle this responsibility themselves. Leadership is not about barking orders at your people and leaving them to swim or sink, it’s about empowering them to become effective leaders and coaches in their own right. Coaching requires you to give your people the right responsibilities to challenge them and the right feedback to empower them to grow.

You can’t give what you don’t have therefore as a leader you also need to get a coach as well as develop the skills to be an effective coach but I assure you the rewards are great in the long term.