How coaching can support leadership development

Strong leaders are not built on technical skill alone. As people move through an organisation, they need space to develop judgement, empathy, confidence and a clearer understanding of the values that guide their decisions.

Employers are often seeking these values and skills in their staff:

• respect for others
• a “can-do” attitude
• honesty and integrity
• reflective skills
• good presentation skills

These are values and skills that are acquired over time as the employee matures and develops. This may happen as they adapt to promotions, moving from being a functional operator into a supervisory or management position, and then perhaps into a senior strategic role as a director.

Structured coaching programmes that are designed around both the goals of the organisation and the individual’s aspirations can provide an effective and efficient way for staff to join and assimilate into an organisation, and then build new skills ready for a senior role.

Coaching is important to help staff reflect and develop those reflective skills. It also helps staff evolve their empathy and respect for others, and make more sense of where they stand ethically, including honesty and integrity. These are essential ingredients in being a quality leader.

Coaching and moral development

Kohlberg’s model of “moral development” can help structure the coaching development process of the individual and may help them identify where they currently stand in their ethical approach. Kohlberg described three stages:

1. Pre-conventional

In this stage, the individual acts in their own best interests to either obtain a reward or avoid a punishment by “doing the right things”. It’s not hard to imagine that a new employee will want to know, understand and apply the rules.

2. Conventional

In this stage, the individual feels and responds to peer pressure. They will want to conform to social norms and fit in. Good managers can learn how to get things done through others on behalf of the senior leadership team by assimilating these forms of ideas.

3. Post-conventional

At this stage, possibly the more mature stage, the individual has a clear sense of principles and of what matters to them. They tend to be individualistic, but capable of understanding the “social contract”, meaning the responsibilities we have towards others, especially our colleagues. This might be considered advanced empathy.

Engaging with a coach can help the employer understand this process and tailor policies and current practices in order to move forward. Employers can also assess where their current staff, especially the future talent pool, are placed in the process, with a view to agreeing development plans.

If a coaching programme is then agreed and tailored for each level of development, staff will benefit from having good conversations that enable them to reflect. In turn, this can lead to confident staff who have a “can-do” attitude and present themselves well.