The Top 6 Reasons To Use Outside Leadership Coaching

More managers than ever before are actively engaged in leadership development. In past decades, leadership coaching was left more up to chance and assumed to be acquired over time and over the years of opportunity to observe leaders around them. Now companies see the benefits that proactive leadership training brings to their company. They’ve identified their gaps in training and given time and resources to close those gaps. 

Leadership coaching has become a popular and effective way to address the intricacies of the leadership skill set development. A Metrix Global study found that leadership coaching has a 788% return on investment (ROI) based on factors including increases in productivity and employee retention. Another study by Forbes found the results of leadership coaching yielded seven times the initial investment paid into coaching. Individual coaching speeds up the progress of leaders in training and makes good use of the manager’s time. It’s especially helpful at a time when companies and teams are reacting to rapid change and uncertainty in the market. Managers need the skills to direct change and guide the team’s focus through ups and downs. 

While leadership coaching of any kind helps, more firms are sourcing leadership coaches from outside their company walls to better support their leaders in the coaching process. Here are six pros that outside coaching can bring.

#1. Scope 

Managers can better access the scope of experience they need. Some managers are looking for growth in a wide array of knowledge and skills around leadership. Some managers want to improve on one specific skill like public speaking, budget planning, or leading through restructuring. Whether a manager needs broad exposure to many different leadership competencies, leadership in a certain industry, or wants to drill down to a specific skill, a manager can find a coach with the kind of customized experience that matches their immediate need.   

#2. Perspective 

Sometimes the best solutions come when looking at it from a distance. An outside coach can provide a point of view that isn’t influenced by the company’s circumstances, its leadership, or its cultural norms. They can access problems that an internal coach may not spot because they’re looking with fresh eyes. They may be able to apply experience from different industries to help managers create unique and effective solutions that work in theirs.

#3. Scalability  

Internal coaching might work for a handful of managers. But as the management team grows, there won’t be enough capable and available leadership coaches to meet the need. With outside leadership coaching, companies can make it available to all of their managers and avoid putting their people on wait lists and choosing who should get priority.

Front-line and entry-level workers may want to grow their leadership capacity, and these employees can also participate. Everyone on the team can take the leadership journey together which can also create a seamless succession path in some organizations.

#4. Proven Methodology  

Outside leadership coaches come with their own proven systems, tools, and approach. Companies that want to implement leadership coaching as part of their training and development mix, can start seeing the benefits sooner than if they head to develop these resources on their own with trial and error. Experienced leadership coaches can get going with what they know works in producing the best results for a coaching relationship.

#5. Better Personality Match 

Internal leadership coaching can sometimes produce less than stellar results simply because the two participants’ personalities or communication styles didn’t complement one another. Outside coaching lets managers cast a wider net and increases the likelihood they’ll find a coach with not only the experience they need, but also a compatible personality which increases knowledge uptake.

#6. Accessibility 

Leadership cowshed from outside the company can offer more and easier ways to connect than on-site coaches. Outside leadership coaches often run their own flexible communication and meeting systems. TaskHuman’s Leadership Coaching Platform lets managers access their leadership coaches from anywhere with mobile technology. They can schedule sessions for non-traditional work hours or whenever makes sense for their need. Meetings can take place in the privacy and comfort of home or on demand as issues or needs come up. That kind of accessibility can speed up a manager’s growth and help them avoid mistakes, which really helps in the current business climate where managers are facing tough challenges and their performance really matters. 

HR teams can rest easy knowing they don’t have to give loads of administrative time and effort to recruit internal leadership coaches, and more time and resources to develop a program. Outside leadership coaches offer more benefits with fewer headaches. Reach out to see a live demonstration and learn how TaskHuman can bring leadership coaching to your managers with simple and scalable mobile functionality.