How Coaching Helps in Big Transitions

The Moment When Leaders ‘Grow Out of Their Job’

Executive Coaching for Career Transitions

If you’re in a fast moving corporate environment today, as a leader, you probably have found yourself stepping into new roles and challenges over the years: whether that’s been from Team Lead to Manager, Manager to Director, or up into the C-Suite.

There is a lot of opportunity in these transitions, but they can also present a great deal of challenges such as visibility, influence and strategic thinking. Strategic executive coaching for career transitions can be a valuable tool for leaders during such significant transitions. In fact, a great percentage of my clients seek my help just before or after such a transition; some even work purposefully towards the next career transition wanting to increase their ledership skills.

In this article I will discuss the obstacles that leadership transitions present and how executive coaching can help you on your path toward success. If you are ready to embrace a larger role with confidence, keep reading.

The Challenges of Leadership Transitions

When transitioning into a leadership role, it can feel as if you’re entering an actual battlefield – trying to lead with authority and influence while balancing demands from your team, peers and superiors. The following are some typical challenges faced during the important career turning points:

Visibility: Taking on a more senior role means that your actions, decisions and results will be subject to greater scrutiny. You may struggle with wanting your voice heard in meetings or want to ensure your contributions are recognized.
Influence: New jobs frequently require managing a bigger, more diverse team. It’s intimidating to try to exert influence over team members who could have been your peers in a previous role.
Strategic Thinking: Moving from the weeds of execution to what’s next, connecting to the bigger vision without knowing exactly how you’re going to make it a reality.
Managing Managers: If you are taking on a role where you will be supervising staffers who used to be your peers, there can be challenges in trying to find that sweet spot between nurturing relationships and asserting yourself as the boss.

These obstacles may not all apply to your particular situation, but I’m sure some imprtant things are shifting and it makes sense to talk things through in a highly confidential space.

Implications of Ignoring Leader Succession Difficulties

Mis-handling these passages can have serious negative consequences, for both the leader and his/her organization. Here are some potential impacts:

Reduced Engagement: If leaders find it difficult to engage with their team during the move, motivation and performance at large can slide.
Leadership Burnout: The fatigue associated with not knowing how to lead effectively, which effects ones health and performance.
Disjointed Teams: A lack of leadership can undermine team morale and productivity, causing disjointed workgroups and silos in the organization.
Reduced Innovation: Uninspired leadership can mean lost chances on new ideas and faster response to the market.

Confronting these difficulties isn’t just good for the individual but is also a path that leads to a better organisational culture.

5 Major Steps to Bolster Your Leadership Transition

Step 1: Work on Yourself!

When you engage in executive coaching, you get to work with an accredited coach who can offer custom support in response to your unique transition demands. Coaches provide you with a safe environment in which to consider and reflect on your thoughts and feelings about leadership, enabling you to grow confident in the art of leading.

Taking Action: Have regular reflection sessions where you discuss big decisions with your coach and concentrate on those areas of the growth curve. This will assist in distilling ideas into practice.

Step 2: Hone your strategic thinking prowess

Strategic thinking is stewing that all in a pot, and knowing the bigger forces at play while also noting your team/community’s dynamics. Together with your coach, pinpoint the parts of your organisation’s plan which demand your attention as a new leader.

Exercise: Develop a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) for your department to help you focus on where and how to apply the strategies.

Step 3: Improve Your Powers of Persuasion

Influencing is frequently about relationships. In your new position, develop active listening as a skill to be able to see things from your team’s point of view. When colleagues feel they are heard, they are more likely to support your mission.

Exercise: Schedule one-on-one meetings with team members to talk about their aspirations and fears. It will help you feel them out – get their drives and build an enabling culture.

Step 4: Develop Emotional Intelligence

Being able to process how you and the team feel will be key in navigating relationships during times of change. Trust building is necessary for effective leadership and emotional intelligence is said to be the foundation.

Practice: Dive into online resources around emotional Intelligence, such as Daniel Goleman or Brenè Brown, to improve your ability to read emotional cues and respond appropriately.

5 Open the Feedback Floodgates

You can change how feedback is perceived at your organization, encourage and reward the giving of feedback.

Fostering open communication within your team establishes a psychologically-safe atmosphere in which your members are free to voice their opinions ; something crucial for innovation.

Action: Set up regular feedback loops, eg running monthly check-ins or anonymous surveys so you can invite safe and honest input from team members.

Real Story

Take the case of a mid-level manager at Ferrer, who entered an executive coaching programme as they were being groomed for promotion to the role of Director. At first, they were hesitant about the new role. Through six months of personalized coaching, they learned how to express their vision with clarity and confidence engaging their team. In the end, they stressed that their leadership changed ~ improved with a 25% increase in team efficiency as evidence. Translation coaching works!

“Our managers are leading with so much more purpose, and confidence. This programme created a long-term change,” said their HR lead in sharing result of the positive shift.

Conclusion

And it can feel really scary to step into an even bigger leadership role. But with targeted executive coaching for career transition, leaders can achieve focus, confidence and skill to effectively maneuver these challenges.

By investing in leadership development, you ensure that you succeed in your new role and help enable and direct your team to do the same.