A couple of years back and ahead of starting Delphi, I was asked by three separate clients if I was able to offer coaching services. All three of them asked me for the same thing. Coaching that would help individuals in senior teams to become better at communications. These were FTSE 250 companies and US and UK tech businesses…
A few years into that journey I think there are a number of reasons why senior leadership may recommend coaching as part of a brand’s comms approach.
- Comms skills can certainly be learned but those skills need to be honed in line with a person’s personality, their aspirations and ambitions, as well as their expertise and abilities in a wider variety of situations.
- When most people talk about comms they very often mean media interviews and public speaking; this is very important, however we talk about “every conversation being a comms conversation”. The way in which a leader constructs their narrative for board meetings, townhalls, customer meetings and internal comms have a direct impact on personal progression and business success. Looking at these factors holistically is essential.
- Executive coaching invites leaders to look into themselves and be honest about what’s holding them back, why they may be thrown off their game in certain situations and what the underlying reasons are for why this might happen.
- The boardroom can often be an unforgiving environment where, like in the real world, reputations and mistakes can be hard to repair. Senior leaders that are able to prepare ahead are much more likely to be successful and achieve their goals.
- Finally on comms, we know that when done properly comms links directly to business success, and therefore improves competitive advantage. Leaders are the starting point to achieving this, because they set the tone, tell the story internally and externally, and come up against challenging communications environments every day. It only makes sense to ensure those leaders have the help and time to improve those business-critical skills.
If you want to understand better how executive coaching for comms leadership could help your organisation, drop me a line.
