Lead Like a Coach: The Keys to Modern Leadership Success

Coaching isn't a rigid, one size-fits-all approach. Neither is leadership. Both are about growth—yours and your team’s. Today’s leaders are navigating rapidly changing workplaces, where team needs are more complex than ever. Great leadership today is about creating environments that deliver not just results but also engagement, and growth. If that sounds like you, or the kind of leader you want to be, here are 6 key skills I use as a coach and a leader - and practical ways to put them into practice to unlock the best in your team:

1.      Active Listening

 A good leader listens to their team members to understand their challenges, ideas, and feedback. This fosters trust, improves communication, and ensures that decisions are informed and inclusive.

In Action:  If the team has a project or challenge, approach it as a team activity not a top-down solution.   Ask your team for their input and their ideas. Really pay attention, ask in depth questions and make sure you fully understand their suggestions before deciding what course of actin to take.   They might surprise you with a solution you have never thought of!

2. Empathy and Understanding

Stress impairs cognitive function.  Impaired cognitive function leads to less productivity, less creativity and more burn out.   Good leaders create supportive environments that boost morale, engagement and productivity by understanding their team members' motivations, concerns, and needs, creating a supportive environment that boosts morale and engagement.  

In Action:  When your teams feel safe to voice their concerns and share their ideas, they will perform at a higher level.   Authentic connection is key to building that environment. You can create authentic connections by sharing your own challenges.  Asking your team for their suggestions to solve a problem and implementing their ideas is also a really great way to show that great leaders learn from others and that asking for input will be positively received.

3. Adaptability

Great leaders adjust their management style to suit individual team members and changing situations. They know when to provide hands-on guidance and when to give autonomy and know their role as a leader is to create a supportive, high performing team that delivers.

In Action: Focus on each individual and identify how they best receive information, and adjust your style for each one.    Do they prefer written instructions or verbal conversations? When they are working on a big project are they more productive with regular, casual touch points or more structured 1:1 meetings?  You can spot patterns by how they communicate with you. 

4. Big-Picture Thinking, But One Step at a Time

Leaders need to maintain a strategic perspective, aligning team efforts with organizational objectives while addressing both immediate and long-term priorities. They also need to be able to help their teams see the broader context of their projects and help create alignment between individual, team and organization.

In Action:  When you delegate, explicitly state what small, medium and/or long term goal the work will contribute to.  This helps your team feel valued and connected to the broader organization.  Do this for skills they are working on building as well. Leaders who focus on small, consistent improvements help their teams build momentum, avoid burnout, and achieve sustainable success.

5. Encouraging Self-Reflection

Leaders who encourage self-reflection guide their team in understanding their contributions, improving their skills, and aligning with broader goals.    

In Action: Role model a culture of continuous learning by sharing when you learn something new or explaining your process in solving  a recent problem.    If something goes wrong for a team member, ask them why they think that happened and what safeguards they need to ensure future projects run more smoothly.  

6. Accountability

Accountability is a cornerstone of effective management. Leaders must hold themselves and their team accountable for delivering results while providing support constructive feedback and ensuring their teams have the resources they need to succeed.

In Action:  SMART goals seem so straightforward but often prove to be insubstantial.   Set aside an hour with each person on your team at the beginning of the year to create strong, measurable, unambiguous goals.   Reconnect at least once a quarter to ensure they are on track and address issues that might be arising.   Do the same thing for smaller projects and goals.  And always follow through on what you say you will do.

The Overlap: Empowerment

As workplaces evolve, so do the expectations placed on leaders. The most productive teams give space for every voice to be heard to ensure the best solutions are found. Which is why the heart of both coaching and leadership is the ability to empower others. By leveraging these coaching skills into your leadership approach, you can develop high-performing, engaged, and innovative teams that bring their best selves to work and deliver results that make you all proud.