Coaching as a Means to Achieving Leadership Innovation 

By Kris Schinke  

Introduction 

Leadership innovation is the ability to create new and better ways of leading people, teams, and organizations. It is essential for adapting to the changing and complex world of business, where challenges and opportunities are constantly emerging. However, many leaders struggle to innovate their leadership style, because they are stuck in old habits, beliefs, and assumptions that limit their potential. How can leaders overcome these barriers and unleash their creativity and effectiveness? One powerful way is through coaching. 

What is coaching and how does it work? 

Coaching is a process of helping someone improve their performance and achieve their goals, by providing feedback, guidance, and support. A coach is not a mentor, a consultant, or a trainer, who tell the coachee what to do or how to do it. Rather, a coach is a facilitator, who asks powerful questions, listens actively, and challenges the coachee to discover their own solutions and insights. Coaching is based on the premise that the coachee has the potential and the resources to grow and learn, and the coach’s role is to unlock that potential. 

How can coaching support leadership innovation? 

Coaching can support the development of leadership innovations in several ways.  Most foundationally, regular sessions with a professional coach can help leaders to adopt growth mindset, which is the belief that they can improve their abilities and skills through effort and feedback. A growth mindset fosters a positive attitude towards learning, experimentation, and failure, which are essential for innovation. In support of this growth and continuous improvement mindset, coaching can play an important role in support leaders in expanding their perspective and self-awareness and situational acumen, by exposing them to different ideas, experiences, and viewpoints. A broader perspective can help leaders generate more and better ideas, and avoid cognitive biases and blind spots.  Further, coaching has long been a proven tool to support the development of increased agility in emotional intelligence, which is the ability to understand, manage, and respond to their own and others’ behaviours.  By learning to be more emotionally agile, leaders are generally more successful in building trust, collaborative workplaces, and a culture of engagement, which are vital for innovation.  Finally, coaching can be an invaluable resource in enabling leaders to define their personal values and vision by helping them clarify their purpose, goals, and strategies. Once a leader is clear in their own compelling vision for their team or the larger organization, they can more easily communicate this to their colleagues to rally them towards common goals and motivate everyone to do their part in achieving these goals in an innovative manner. 

Leadership Innovation as a Coaching Outcome  

When leaders have the tools and skills needed to foster a culture of innovation, the benefits to the workplace are profound: 

Coaching can help leaders develop critical thinking and analytical skills, as well as creative and divergent thinking. These skills can help leaders make better and faster decisions, and solve complex and novel problems. 

A coach can help leaders to better identify SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goals for themselves and their teams, and determine how to prioritize the achievement of these goals.  The best part?  It’s not all on the leader’s shoulders – coaching is a great way for leaders to develop the delegation skills which help them to empower, and motivate their team members, and create a culture of accountability and feedback. These factors can help leaders and their teams achieve more with less resources and time – often in new and innovative ways that are surfaced when more team members feel a sense of ownership in achieving shared priorities. 

One of the most in-demand areas for coaches is in relation to the development of communication skills, such as active listening, questioning, paraphrasing, and giving and receiving feedback.  Leaders with exceptional communication skills tend to be more successful as they can better navigate situations requiring emotional intelligence with increased empathy.  Given the increasing diversity of modern workplaces, this is a skill which should not be underestimated.  Further, when communication within a team is healthy, this encourages team members to be more collaborative and innovative, as different ideas, ideas, opinions, and feedback, are not just “tolerated” but actively sought out in actions to achieve the common vision. 

 Coaching has often been called product development for leaders.  As a service that considers the needs of the leader as a holistic person, professional coaching provides leaders with a sounding board and accountability partner that can play a key role in the self-management of workplace stress and emotions, enabling leaders to better cope with challenges and setbacks. In this sense, a professional coach can support leaders in the balancing the demands of the workplace and other aspects of personal time, encouraging better self-awareness, self-care, and wellness.  Often times, this enables leaders to develop the skills of resilience and optimism, which can help them bounce back from difficulties and failures, while allowing them to glean key learnings that can be helpful in managing similar situations in the future. 

 Finally, through the process of appreciative inquiry, professional coaching can assist leaders in identifying meaning and purpose in their work, enabling them to see how the personal vision and values align with their organizational values and goals.  This process of self-discovery is essential to cultivating a workplace culture in which leaders recognize and celebrate the achievements and strengths of themselves and their team members and stakeholders.  Ultimately, this fosters a feeling of satisfaction and engagement in their work, which inspires others to do the same.   

Conclusion 

Leadership innovation is a key factor for success in the modern business world, where change and uncertainty are the norm. However, many leaders face obstacles and limitations that hinder their ability to innovate their leadership style. Coaching can be a powerful tool to help leaders overcome these challenges and unlock their leadership innovation. Coaching can help leaders develop a growth mindset, expand their perspective, enhance their emotional intelligence, and align their values, vision, and actions. By doing so, coaching can help leaders create new and better ways of leading people, teams, and organizations, and achieve their desired outcomes. Coaching can also bring many other benefits for leaders and organizations, such as improved decision making, increased productivity, enhanced communication, reduced stress, and increased satisfaction. Therefore, coaching is a valuable investment for leaders and organizations who want to thrive in the dynamic and competitive business environment. 

About the Author: Kris Schinke, Vice President – Integration  

Kris is a focused and goal-oriented business professional with extensive executive experience in retail, financial services and not-for-profit. She has a passion for inspiring and coaching others and believes a positive work culture is key for business growth and sustainability. She is adept in training, leadership and promoting teamwork.   

Kris is delighted to be working with X5 Management, not only to support valued clients but also in her executive role supporting the ongoing business growth, both internally and externally.  

She is an avid volunteer and loves to donate time and effort to a variety of organizations.   

A proponent of personal development, Kris holds an MBA from Athabasca University, her Distinguished Toastmaster designation from Toastmasters International and her Life Coaching Certification from New Skills Academy. She also attended Harvard Business School (A Culture of Health in Business) and Norquest College (Inclusion at Work, Business Economics).