The 5 Misconceptions About Leadership Coaching You Need to Clarify

Are you looking to hire a leadership coach to take your business to the next level?

You know you need one, but you haven’t hired one yet. You may be holding back because you’ve bought into certain misconceptions surrounding coaches.

Leadership coaching is different from what you think a regular coach is.

A leadership coach can be an invaluable tool for ANY business. They can help develop your skills so you can show up in your professional and personal life.

As a leadership coach, I help you to build your self-trust and confidence so that you’re competent in areas that matter most to you.

A lack of self-trust and compassion can show up in your business in a variety of ways. Often, that looks like:

Refusing to take time off or rest because you’re afraid to miss out on opportunities
Overbooking yourself, trouble keeping self-commitments, and an inability to honor your schedule
A lack of trust in your team members to do what you’ve entrusted them to do

If left unchecked for too long, this lack of self-awareness that shows up in these areas can result in your team losing their respect for you and the business.

So in today’s blog post, I’ll be covering the misconceptions surrounding leadership coaching, why they’re wrong, and how a coach can change your business and life. The five misconceptions I’ll be covering are:

Coaching is all talk and no action
Leadership coaching is only for “new” or terrible Leaders
Coaching is therapy
Watching Youtube videos or reading books can be your coach
You won’t be able to improve

Let’s get right into it! 👇🏾

1/ Coaching Is All Talk and No Action

What is a leadership coach? And what do they do? Our role is often very different than you may initially think. It may differ from the standard definition of coaching you’ve heard in the past.

I think a lot of people believe that coaching is about the past, and trying to fix things.

But this is not the case.

With my leadership coaching, we discuss the present and the future. We focus on moving forward and getting you to where you want to be.

Leadership coaching is a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires you to maximize your professional and personal potential. It’s a multi-step process that’s ACTIONABLE.

This is not a session where we just talk, talk and talk.

Instead, we look at ways you can create and develop goals, carry out a strategic plan according to those goals, and figure out you’re *exact* next steps.

As your partner throughout this process, I help you:

Clarify what your goals are by building up your reflection muscle
Identify areas of strength
Set and plan those goals
Define what actions and steps to take
Hold you accountable for that plan

In short, leadership coaching is all about the RESULTS you want to create as a leader. Whether that’s developing a better company culture, learning how to step away and take time off, or better managing your busy schedule, we’ll tailor your coaching sessions to give you tangible steps to achieve your goals.

2/ Leadership Coaching Is Only for “New” or Terrible Leaders

More often than not, you’ve maybe assumed that coaches are only used for new or bad business owners and leaders.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve worked with clients who’ve been in leadership positions running successful businesses for years!

Hiring a leadership coach is committing to your continuous growth. As a coach, I work on several different things with my clients. These involve:

Helping you identify internal blocks that keep you from taking action
Improving your communication skills by role-playing with you to build effective relationships
Building your ongoing personal and professional development by working on your skills, and teaching you how you can leverage your network

At any point in your business, you may find you need to hire a coach. There always comes a time where what’s worked for you so far isn’t sufficient to get to the next level. And that’s where I come in!

3/ Coaching Is Therapy

You may think leadership coaches, therapists, and mentors are the same, or even interchangeable, but they’re in fact very different!

Here are a few things to note:

Unlike therapy, coaching is about your future and your goals. It’s not about the past or trying to “fix” anything.
Unlike mentors, coaching is about you and your agenda, and not about the mentor’s personal experiences. Mentors are great, but they’ll give advice based on their experiences, perspectives, and limitations.

A key thing here to note is that a coach doesn’t prop themselves up as the “expert”. Instead, they help you to discover that you’re the expert of your life.

So as a coach, we don’t just tell you what to do. We provide you with support, challenge you, and hold different perspectives from you that can build your self-awareness regarding situations you’re in with your business or personal life.

4/ Watching YouTube Videos or Reading Books Can Be Your Coach

Books and videos are great! But let's face it - they can’t teach you everything. They can help to improve your skills but they’re not a substitute for a leadership coach.

I get asked all the time by my clients or other business leaders about what book, course, or Youtube video they should watch to make them better leaders.

You can’t look at leadership as something that can be graded on by a course, or that a book can help drive success or unlock everything there is in leadership.

You need to recognize there’s a disconnect between what you’re reading and watching on leadership, and implementing what you’ve learned.

Knowing something is different from doing it. It’s putting into action the knowledge from that book or video, and seeing if it fails or succeeds within YOUR particular business.

Hiring a coach can be a helpful way to see your gaps and blind spots. They’re able to give you the deep, customized support you need to achieve the results you desire in business.

5/ You Won’t Be Able to Improve

The idea of you are who you are and you can’t change is disheartening.

I understand being in a place where you feel totally stuck in life.

It can be tough when you’re seeing the disconnect between the life you want to lead and the one you’re actually leading.

It’s easy to slip into the mindset that you’re static, or can’t develop into the leader you want to be, but this is simply untrue.

It’s important to implement a growth mindset. This is the basic belief that our abilities are not fixed - we can absolutely improve on them over time.

You can develop your leadership skills. And having a coach can help give you the opportunity to explore what is possible and in a safe and non-judgemental space. They’ll help give you the tools you need to give you the self-confidence to continue to build on those skills and coach yourself even after a session with them is done.

Working with a leadership coach is the BEST way to help you get your business to the next level.

They can provide the support you need in situations you’re not sure how to navigate, as well as help you take action and reach your goals.

Leave a comment and let me know what misconceptions about coaches you have!

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To listen to this podcast on the go, check out the full episode here.

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