Leader coach wanted: The 10 key competencies of the profile most in demand by companies

I often have conversations with talent, training, and development managers from different parts of the world. When it comes to filling the vacancies at the management level that are generated in their companies, there is an increasingly relevant trend related to the fact that they are placing a greater focus on the competencies of the candidates over their functional experience at a professional level.

When I ask them what are those key competencies that they value in managers, many of them mention what in my opinion are the key competencies of the leader coach.

A leader coach is someone who combines leadership skills with coaching principles to effectively guide and develop their team members. This approach focuses on empowering individuals to reach their full potential while achieving organizational goals. In my opinion, the 10 key competencies of a leader coach are the following:

1. Self-awareness and vulnerability: A leader coach should be self-aware, understanding their own strengths, weaknesses, and biases. This self-awareness enables them to be more effective in supporting their team members. A leader coach embraces vulnerability by being open about their own challenges and limitations. This openness fosters authentic connections, encourages team members to share their own vulnerabilities, and strengthens trust within the team.
2. Active listening and adaptability: Leader coaches need to listen attentively to what team members are saying without judgment. Active listening helps them grasp the underlying issues, identify patterns, and respond thoughtfully. Leader coaches must be adaptable and flexible in their approach. Different team members have diverse needs and preferences, and the coach should tailor their style to suit each individual's requirements.
3. Effective communication: A leader coach must be an excellent communicator, capable of active listening, asking probing questions, and conveying information. Effective communication builds trust and understanding between the coach and the team members.
4. Empathy and trust building: Understanding and empathizing with team members' feelings, perspectives, and challenges are crucial for a leader coach. This empathy helps create a supportive and safe environment where individuals can openly discuss their concerns and aspirations. Building and maintaining trust within the team is fundamental. Leader coaches demonstrate consistency, reliability, and integrity, which fosters a safe environment for open communication and risk-taking.
5. Challenging through questioning and curiosity: Asking insightful and thought-provoking questions encourages team members to reflect on their goals, strategies, and thought processes. This questioning approach helps individuals gain clarity and develop their problem-solving skills.
6. Achievement and results-oriented: A leader coach is focused on achieving tangible results and outcomes. They align coaching efforts with the organization's goals, ensuring that coaching interventions contribute to improved performance and measurable success.
7. Supporting team growth and development: Leader coaches facilitate the learning and development of their team members by encouraging continuous improvement and skill enhancement. They create opportunities for learning and help individuals navigate their career paths.
8. Feedback, guidance, and positive reinforcement: Providing constructive feedback is a core competency of a leader coach. Offering feedback that is specific, actionable, and focused on growth helps team members enhance their performance and development. Recognizing and acknowledging achievements and progress is vital for motivation. Leader coaches provide positive reinforcement to reinforce desired behaviors and outcomes.
9. Time management: Balancing coaching responsibilities with other leadership duties requires effective time management. Leader coaches allocate time appropriately to ensure they can provide adequate support to their team members.
10. Diversity sensitivity: Being sensitive to diverse origins, genders, ages, cultural backgrounds, and perspectives helps leader coaches build inclusive and collaborative teams. This includes understanding and respecting individual differences.

Overall, the competencies of a leader coach involve combining leadership acumen with coaching techniques to foster individual and team growth, enhance performance, and drive organizational success.

The keys to successfully implementing a Leadership Development Program focused on Leader Coach in your company

If you are responsible for talent, training, and development within your company and you are considering tackling a transformation project to evolve the managers of your organization into leader coaches, I share with you my vision of the best way to undertake this leadership development program successfully.

In my opinion, the program should have 3 stages, where some of them may overlap:

1. Leading yourself: At this stage there are training sessions where the tools are provided to improve the individual performance of the participants, both professionally and concerning their well-being. There is an individual executive coaching process where the participants are'coachees' and it serves to support them to achieve the best version of themselves and help them achieve the goal that they set for themselves in the coaching process.
2. Leading teams: In the second phase, there are training sessions where participants are provided with the tools to manage high-performance teams and are trained to become a leader coach. There is an individual executive coaching process where the participants are'coach' and put into practice the techniques they learned through their experience as a coachee. There are additional group coachingsessions, where participants share the challenges they are encountering and receive the necessary support to complete their coaching processes as a coach.
3. Leading your area of duty: This last stage is approached through a team coaching process where participants work around a single objective or a function they have in common. The purpose will be to get the participants out of their comfort zone to help them find the best way to manage their area of responsibility and face the challenges and opportunities to strengthen the competitive position of their company; improving the results and the value they bring to the organization

The key success factors in the implementation of a leadership development program focused on the evolution of managers into leader coaches are the following:

• The support of senior management and their active involvement in the program is crucial since it must be deployed from top to bottom starting with the Management Committee, continuing with the Department Directors, and ending with the company's managers.
• The optimal level of participants per edition is 15 people, but it can start with a minimum of 10 and there should not be more than 20.
• When choosing the participants, there are two possible approaches: (1) By department; based on a common function; (2) By ‘tribe’/business unit; based on a common goal. In the case of the Management Committee, the third phase of the program will be 'Leading the company'
• It is important that they have the opportunity to experience the 4 perspectives of coaching that I have described so that they can understand the different objectives that they cover and the different techniques that are used in each of them: Individual coaching as a coach and as a coachee; group coaching and team coaching.
• The optimal duration of the program that I recommend is around 6 months with a very limited weekly dedication since the participants have to internalize all the concepts and techniques learned in their way of acting.
• The ideal format for its implementation is face-to-face, but there is the possibility of implementing it in a hybrid way with a face-to-face kick-off where the link with the participants is generated and also making the closing face-to-face so that it serves as a driver for the new way of managing
• Before the start of the program, it is necessary to start with a 360º evaluation of the participants, where they receive feedback from their manager, their peers, and their collaborators.
• Depending on the resources that you want to invest in the program additional elements can be included to enrich it, such as the following: (1) An initial wellness retreat that would form part of the first stage of 'Leading Yourself'; (2) Additional evaluations of the leadership of the participants that carry a cost greater than the aforementioned 360º evaluation; which can be done free of charge

To finish, I would like to share some good news and that is that the 10 key competencies of the leader coach can be trained and generate a very positive impact around 4 key dimensions: your well-being, your professional performance, the development of your team and the impact you generate in your company.

What is going to be the first step you are going to take to become a leader coach?

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About the author: Jorge Sánchez Paniagua

I am a professional with more than 20 years of experience in multinational companies in leadership roles, managing high-performance, multidisciplinary teams with international exposure in different functional areas.

My disruptive mindset leads me continuously to question the status quo and more traditional approaches, with a strong focus on results and innovation.

Currently, my full-time professional role is as the Director of Marketing and Admissions at IE University Lifelong Learning. And in a limited complementary way, I work as an Executive Coach, Speaker, Adjunct Professor at IE Business School, and as an independent Board Member of companies.

If you want to know more about me, click here.