"How Can Relational Coaching Develop & Sustain Leaders?" 

Leadership Development Areas 

As a leader, I will work with you to in clearly defined areas. These may include developing resilience and self-reliance, contacting your own sense of potency, regenerating your energy or managing feelings of isolation. You might benefit from a safe and trusted space to think, develop a reflective practice and try out ideas. You'll grow in self-awareness and trust your own instincts. Whether you want to change the entire corporate culture, introduce new ideas or plan for succession, coaching can provide the support and challenge you need to safely work things out.

How will we work together?

We will develop a tailored approach that suits you in style, level of challenge and pace. Depending on your particular needs and preferences, we will integrate a variety of models of change and will monitor which is most effective for you. This may change from session to session, or even within the session, as your mood and energy fluctuate. A major component is the use of feedback, in which I share with you precisely how your words, posture, tone, and attitude are affecting me, thus increasing your self awareness and ability to make choices about how others perceive you - this is the power of the relational approach. The aim is to keep it engaging and full of learning potential, to maximise the effectiveness of every session.

How do we do this challenging work together?

We will identify your strengths and preferences and use the coaching relationship, open and honest feedback and incisive questions to develop the following capacities. 
By experiencing these first hand and hearing the latest research evidence for the effectiveness of these practices, we will enable them to become integrated and a natural part of your way of operating in the world.
  • Deep knowing – mindfulness provides us with the sense of deeply knowing, and hence the confidence to speak and act from a place of certainty. For many leaders, it is experiencing their own internal knowing for the first time in the relational coaching setting with me, that supports them in future interactions. Once integrated, it becomes an internal guiding force that sustains us consistently in challenging situations.
  • Authenticity – firstly being true to yourself. Finding the place of self-belief and trust to take a stand for your beliefs and vision. We can all sense when an individual is being truly authentic, and when they are putting on an affectation to please others, or fit in. As a leader, I will help you develop the ability to consistently show up as your authentic self.
  • Aligning to your core values  – you will be invited to experiment with describing these, and subsequently to speak consistently from the place of your strongly held values. The practice of finding a comfortable language to declare them, will support you allow you to act from them and to courageously stand apart from others when necessary.
  • Developing compassion, including self-compassion  – we will explore the role of kindness in your work and personal life, and the hard science behind these soft skills. I can explain the extraordinary evidence- based benefits of using a compassionate approach to change, which are grounded in neuroscience, and we can devise ways to integrate the learning into everyday life. 
  • And empathy – the ability to put yourself in another’s position. This is an area where leaders are frequently criticised and often seek coaching to increase this capacity. Sometimes it seems contrary to the leadership role, and likely to derail or reduce effectiveness. Together we'll experience the difference between compassion, empathy and sympathy in a practical way that demonstrates the function and appropriate uses of each. Once these are clearly understood at a granular level, we'll devise boundary experiments to provide resources to eventually be able to move freely between your own experience and that of another person or group.
  • Increasingly leaders are interested in cross-cultural business awareness and in matters around the areas of succession and legacy. The coaching space is one where you can try out new ideas and work out what's right for you and your business, without fear of being judged or misunderstood.
  • The positive impact of these changes extend beyond our work life, benefiting family, friends and wider groups. 

What will you gain as a Leader?

You will experience growth towards your defined goal areas, and will be able to track your progress from your starting point using the coaching sessions to monitor your development. In our initial goal setting we will devise the markers and set realistic expectations for success so that we can ensure we are on target. 

In addition, relational coaching develops us as people. In my experience, the qualities that make good leaders are exactly the same as the qualities that make good human beings. No matter what your precise coaching goals and how we measure your progress, you will know you are changing. You'll sense it and others around you will be aware of your growth. Here are just some examples of what you can expect, regardless of your precise goal areas. 

You will develop your own sense of potency, identifying your unique gifts and deepening these in order to thrive and continually self generate and transform. Gaining in resilience, to better sustain and support yourself in the face of challenging events and resistance from others. This often means strengthening in areas such as your adaptability and self belief.

The work illuminates the roles your thoughts and feelings play in your inner world, and you'll learn more about how these can influence others. You'll access more of your own clarity, the sense of deep knowing when you are right and need to persuade others from a position of confidence. 

Relational coaching provides a supportive space to think things through with a trusted other. This is invaluable when your colleagues, investors, chairperson and board members all expect you to be decisive, calm, relentlessly positive, motivational and at the same time transparent to scrutiny.

Leadership coaching provides a time to plan, and a space to explore from many perspectives, without negative judgement or repercussions.  You'll feel comfortable sharing your ideas, concerns and doubts without becoming exposed and vulnerable. And it's a safe zone to receive honest feedback on how you look, sound and come across as you speak. The coaching room is often the only place leaders have the freedom to let their thoughts run free. The self-insight is often liberating and affirming.

Back to Leadership Development page
Working together to develop your leadership capabilities that will serve you in the workplace and be life enhancing capacities.  
Back to:
Copyright Belinda Rydings, October 2013