You may think of coaching as something that is only important in sports, but the support and development that coaching offers can be useful in many different aspects of life. You wouldn’t expect to be able to learn to do something really well on your own—all of us need teachers to give us feedback, push us when we’re unmotivated, and help us to get to the next level of whatever we’re trying to master. It’s easy to see how this is so when it comes to playing a musical instrument or learning calculus, but for some reason many people assume that they are supposed to be able to pick up skills like effective leadership and managing their careers all on their own, or that these skills are somehow innate.
The truth is, as industrial and organisational psychologists will tell you, anything can be learned, and that maxim holds just as true when it comes to your career. If you are willing to receive feedback honestly, look critically at your own behaviour and the behaviour of others around you, and put in the work, it is possible to gain skills leading teams, learn how to guide others through change and uncertainty, and understand yourself and your goals at a deeper level.
At TalentEdge Consulting, we offer several types of coaching, from executive leadership to career coaching, that can help anyone with any issues that are affecting their general mindset and performance in the workplace. We often start with a personality test or psychometric assessment in order to identify areas of strength and development. We take an holistic approach to coaching, looking at the entire person and their lifestyle to identify areas of development and influence, and help you to identify and change those factors that are not working for you and your goals. Once you've figured out the best type of coaching for you, make sure you know how to get the most out of your coaching.
Self-awareness is one of the most powerful tools a leader can have. To succeed as a leader, it is important to understand how you’re perceived and when you’re most effective. We often combine our leadership coaching with a 360˚ assessment, which takes feedback from colleagues and managers and compares it to your own responses. The gaps and overlaps between how you perceive yourself and your own actions, and how others perceive them, can be illuminating, surprising, affirming, and challenging.
However, part of being an effective leader is confronting issues head-on and dealing with them appropriately. To drive transformational change, it is necessary to understand areas of both success and development. It is important to undertake this journey with a trained coach by your side who can help you to understand your results in context.
It’s not all about self-improvement, either. Executive coaching is about understanding your strengths, as well as your weaknesses. It’s about leveraging your current skills to develop the skills you need and want, all with your larger goals in mind.
Women in positions of power often find themselves walking a tightrope when it comes to how they act. As if it wasn’t hard enough being a female leader in a patriarchal society, women in leadership positions are routinely warned not to be too “kind”, for fear of appearing weak, soft, or overly feminine.
However, if a woman leads in a more “masculine” style—assertive and domineering—she is mocked for not being feminine enough. Add to that the misogynist stereotype that women are too emotional to lead in the first place, and you have a whole heap of pressure piled on the shoulders of women who are leading as best they can.
Faced with these conflicting stressors, figuring out a leadership style that is both effective and works for you personally can be difficult. Executive leadership coaching, tailored for each individual woman, can help.
The reality is that women are often asked to be more resilient in order to take on the extra stressors that come with being a woman in a leadership position. A good coach can help you figure out how to balance your career demands and ambitions, as well as nourishing your own needs, growing your confidence, and identifying any patterns of behaviour that may not be helping you. After all, it is vital that women have seats in boardrooms, in meetings, and at all levels in an organisation. Gender balance in a company provides a more accurate reflection of the world, and makes an organisation stronger.
A surprisingly large number of people do not take the time to examine their own unconscious biases and deeply held beliefs to see if they are accurate or serving their best interests. Some even believe that behaviour change is impossible, or too difficult. However, the truth is that with a little work, all change is possible.
We are all stuck in our habits and patterns of behaviour, some positive and helpful, and some negative and unhelpful. Still others may have arisen as coping mechanisms that were useful for a time to deal with some adversity, but have since become a blockage to development and positive change. If you feel out of control and like you may never reach your goals due to your perceived limitations, coaching can help.
Coaching can work with you to identify, challenge, and change your self-defeating thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. This process can be radical and illuminating. You may not even realise some of the limiting beliefs you hold, or know where they arose. However, once identified, it is possible to change them.
The strength that comes from knowing yourself and putting in the work to change your own personal script gives amazing confidence. Sometimes, a few tweaks in mindset can be all it takes to transform into the resilient leader you have always wanted to be.
People get into different careers for all sorts of reasons—family business, family expectation, because you wanted to make steady money or follow a safe career path. More recently, career choice has been presented as an integral part of identity: your career should be a source of passion and energy, and perhaps be more of a calling than a job.
Many people feel somewhat lost between the two extremes of dream job and drone job. It is unrealistic to think that any one role will be nonstop joy and excitement, but neither should you have to languish in a position that provides absolutely no interest or challenge.
Our career coaches can help you find a middle ground. If you are looking to change careers entirely, confused about how and why exactly your current does not suit you, or at a loss to know which career paths or roles might satisfy your interests and ambitions, coaching can help.
An outside perspective can be enormously beneficial in helping you to understand your career motivations, and explore your key drivers. Career coaching can help you find the clarity and ignite the focus to make the career changes you need, and the confidence to do so.
It is often said that the only true constant is change, and that is seen as often in our workplaces as in other spheres of life. Flexible and remote working, mergers, restructuring, and other such shifts are now a regular part of our work landscape, and will affect almost everyone at some point in their career. When such changes occur, it’s easy for people to get left behind or be unhappy with the new scope of their role.
Outplacement coaching can help. This type of coaching is designed to provide you with practical support as you navigate workplace changes, or look to move on in your career. Support can include CV review and advice, review of cover letters and job applications, LinkedIn profile review, support in preparing for job interviews, and help with job search and techniques.
As unsettling as change can be for those it is imposed upon, having the responsibility of implementing or leading some of that change can be equally destabilizing. As a leader, you are both coping with change yourself and supporting your team through it. You know you need to limit the stress levels for everyone involved, but it can be difficult to do so without support of your own.
That’s where coaching can help. Coaching can help you to lead your team through change and uncertainty, navigating challenges and stressors with poise using strategies and insights based on science. With the right tools, support, and resources, you can build the confidence to ground yourself and help your team to find their feet in a new landscape.
Our Services
Contact us now to discuss your needs and find out how we can help.
Address: Level 8, Simpl House,
40 Mercer St, Wellington 6011.
