Of the most common questions we get in our consulting practice is: When is the best time to get a coach? Click here to take our Coaching Readiness Inventory. We believe that a dedicated resource and thought partner can be beneficial at any time and at any level in an organization; but a coach is an especially powerful resource at 3 specific milestones in a leader’s tenure. They are as follows:
Newly Promoted
When an employee is promoted, they face new challenges that they may need extra assistance to navigate. Those challenges usually fall into two categories: A) Increased technical span of control and B) New employees to lead/manage. Leaders benefit immensely from thought partnership at this time and a coach can help fill that role. Working with a coach also augments coaching from their boss and other internal development resources.
Recently Faced a Major Organizational Change
When an organization goes through a Re-organization or any other major change, the impact to leadership can be significant. A coach can help a leader deal with the emotions associated with those changes and develop a strategy for how to lead their people through the potential dip in performance that often follows. An experienced coach will be able to identify some of the upcoming challenges for the leader, before they arise, which will allow them to proactively develop solutions to ensure success.
Need to Develop a Skill for the Future
As a coach, this is our favorite reason to be called in! When a high-potential leader is identified for future growth, they usually need to grow a skill or competency related to the elevated role they are pursuing. A coach can really help create a development plan, targeted at this skill development. They can also assist in identifying developmental activities and hold the leader accountable to executing their development plan. This pro-active approach to development makes the coach invaluable to the leader’s success in the future role.
Take Aways
A coach can be a great resource at any time, for any level employee. But there are critical moments in an organization or a leaders’ life cycle when a coach can be even more valuable to ensure effective performance. To assess whether you or another person are especially READY for a coach take our Coaching Readiness Inventory by clicking here.
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