There’s a really common pattern we see with many leaders. They’re really good at what they do. They get promoted based on that strong technical expertise and subject matter knowledge. And so they step into a leadership role, but they don’t necessarily have the experience, training and toolkit to lead people effectively. Particularly when it comes to conversations that are a little more challenging, they often feel ill- equipped.

And the research from Gallup backs this up, showing that only 44 percent of managers globally say they’ve received management training*.

What often happens in the absence of these skills is the conversation gets avoided, or it gets escalated to HR. And that’s very human. We don’t love difficult conversations, and we avoid them where we can. But what we miss in that moment is the opportunity to build connection, and to have a better conversation that leads to a different outcome.

One leader we worked with was in an organisation going through a lot of change. Through the change process, a new person came into their team. It was a difficult situation for both the leader and the employee. The leader could sense the person was unhappy about the situation and didn’t want to be there. Ordinarily, they would have avoided what was going to be a difficult conversation, or escalated it to HR.

This time, the leader, equipped with some new skills, was able to stay with the discomfort and uncertainty and got really curious. They asked powerful questions that helped this person start to get some insight and clarity on their situation and what they wanted. It was really valuable for the individual and gave them more direction, which opened up a new pathway that they were able to pursue, which felt energising and motivating.

And it was a great result for the leader too, because they stepped into a conversation they would normally have avoided, which helped them build their confidence as a leader as well.

We see this play out in all sorts of scenarios. Every situation is different, but what we see is the same: a leader who stays curious and present in the conversation (even when it’s uncomfortable) gets a very different result. It isn’t about turning every leader into a professional coach. It’s about weaving a few core coaching skills into the conversations you’re already having. It doesn’t mean adding an extra hour to your day. It just means using the skills in the moments you’re already in as a leader.

And what’s encouraging is that when managers are given effective coaching techniques, Gallup’s research found it can boost performance by 20 to 28 percent*.

At its heart, this is what it comes down to: Enabling leaders to have better conversations, better relationships, and better outcomes.

That’s exactly what our Coaching as a Leadership Style programme is designed for. It helps leaders weave coaching skills into the conversations they’re already having, including the ones they would usually avoid.

Explore the programme, or get in touch to talk about what this could look like for your leaders.