Now that you have got an insight from our previous sessions into the key skills for a leader, let’s consider how and where they should be applied.

A leader as a coach inside an organization is very different from the role of an external executive coach.

There are multiple types of coaching conversations. Some of them we have already discussed, so lets summarize the main ones you can utilize for better effect going forward.

As a functional leader, you will primarily coach your direct reports to meet their KPIs.

The frameworks for the conversations will be different for an operational leader to , say a sales leader, because you are looking at a different set of behaviors. To get different results, you have to coach on behavioral change. That is the measure you will see immediately that tells you the coaching is having the desired effect, long before you see business outcome results.

If you are a leader of leaders, someone who has direct reports who in turn have direct reports, you will primarily be coaching your subordinates on their leadership skills. Strategy and performance coaching. You can usefully from time to time engage in shadow coaching, where you blend into the background and make close observations, then give feed back one to one and coach them from what you observed.

In both of these roles you will also engage from time to time in coaching against performance issues, what we referred to earlier as Performance Management.

When you have delegated tasks, you will be conducting follow up reviews, again a coaching approach is the most effective one to use.

On a half year or annual basis you will be coaching through performance appraisals, and personal and professional development plans for your team.

Each of these individual types of role specific coaching conversations needs practice.

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