This is Part 2 of thirty questions that leadership coaches should be prepared to discuss with their clients. The first ten can be found here https://theleaderandthecoach.com/home-%26-blog/f/leadership-coaches-should-prepare-for-these-10-questions
The rest are here https://theleaderandthecoach.com/home-%26-blog/f/even-more-questions-leadership-coaches-should-anticipate
Whether raised by the executive coach or by the leader, here are some questions that may arise. These are phrased as questions by the leader, but can be “turned around” by prefacing each with, “Do you ever have a concern about…?” or “Would it be helpful to discuss this as a challenge for you in your leadership?” If you are an executive coach, what process and sequence would you use to explore these issues with your client? What will you do when these come up?
1. I often allow conflicts between people in the organization to be resolved by me, because, after all, I am the leader.
2. I don’t know how to balance being decisive when required, and letting people be heard on the issues that involve them.
3. When I spend the time to talk about what is required by the team, they don’t seem to be engaged (and aren’t taking notes).
4. When I ask for plans to be presented, the work is almost always incomplete, and there has to be another meeting when the rest of the information is available. Nobody seems to want to get into the details like I can (and do). I know more about their jobs than they do—and it shows.
5. I have investors and others that I need to keep informed but am not sure how best to create boundaries so I can get my work done.
6. There are suppliers, and professional services providers (lawyers, accountants, consultants) that are legacy relationships of prior leadership (or the existing owners). They are overbilling and underserving, but I don’t think I can do anything about it.
7. I have to reduce the expenses we have which means letting some people go. I am very uncomfortable in these conversations. I am worried about the impact on the remaining team members. I don’t know if there will have to be more reductions.
8. When someone comes to me crying or angry over something that has happened, I know how to deal with “what happened” but have a hard time dealing with the emotions.
9. People seem to want to talk with me about non-work things, like their families, hobbies, the binge shows they watch, and things like that… it seems to me that is just none of my business (and I’m not that interested anyway).
10. The owners/investors seem to only want to talk about the financial stuff. It’s not my best skill, and it would be easier to discuss the financials if they knew what was really going on in the marketplace. But I really don’t want to involve them in those details.
An elite executive coach must necessarily support their leader in business and organizational challenges and the related communication. Why not be prepared?
~William Keiper, co-author with Steve Chandler of The Leader and The Coach: The Art of Humanity in Leadership https://tinyurl.com/bdfzffmr
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