Coaching plays a fundamental role in facilitating personal and professional development, focusing on enhancing self-awareness and interpersonal skills. It provides frameworks that help individuals and teams unlock their potential, highlighting the importance of understanding one's capabilities and fostering open communication. As organizations recognize the value of coaching, there is a growing need for leaders to embrace practices that encourage trust and effective collaboration within their teams.
Nancy Hughes, a Managing Director with a wealth of experience, reflects on her journey in leadership coaching. She believes that everyone has an innate desire to be seen and heard, which is fundamental to her coaching approach. By focusing on her clients' potential, she helps them navigate their challenges and fosters a genuine sense of self-awareness. Her work underscores the importance of creating a safe space where clients can explore their beliefs, values, and behaviors.
Vincere Coaching Pte Ltd is dedicated to providing transformative coaching experiences that enhance both individual and organizational growth. With a commitment to innovative practices, including equine-assisted coaching, the organization aims to offer powerful insights into self-awareness and leadership. By taking into account each client's unique context and worldview, it seeks to create meaningful learning experiences that resonate across various cultural and professional landscapes.
The Essence of Leadership Coaching
Nancy reflects on her journey of personal discovery and development, noting that everyone desires to be heard and seen. This principle extends beyond leadership to encompass all of humanity. For her leadership coaching, this realization highlighted the importance of truly recognizing her clients. She focuses on seeing their potential and greatness, which can be a challenging concept for some. They may wonder how one can perceive another's potential without knowing them well. Nancy believes this is where the skill of a proficient coach becomes significant. When she works with a client, she tunes in to their deeper essence as a human being, fostering a genuine sense of being seen and heard.
The Role of Self-Awareness in Executive Coaching
Nancy finds it difficult to answer the question of how she approaches her work with clients, as her focus differs from traditional methods. She recognizes that many senior executives perceive significant challenges in their roles, and it is her responsibility to assist them in addressing these issues for every assignment. However, she believes her primary role as a coach is to enhance her clients' self-awareness regarding themselves, their situations, and their stakeholders, making the solutions to their challenges apparent to them.
In her view, this represents the true achievement of an executive coach. Most clients approach her to discuss topics such as stakeholder management, difficult relationships, team leadership, and achieving success in new roles or environments. Nancy prioritizes not assuming she knows how to solve their challenges, even if she may have ideas. Instead, she focuses on recognizing the client as an exceptional individual, fully capable of managing any obstacle. Her role is to help the client identify what might be hindering their awareness of this capability.
This process occurs within a trusted coaching relationship, where they explore beliefs, values, behaviors, assessments, choices, accountability, and potential next steps or solutions.
Building Trust: The Foundation of Effective Coaching
Nancy believes that trust is the most important element in the coaching relationship. Clients are unlikely to open up without trust, and without open and honest communication, it becomes challenging to progress in any discussion. Building trust begins with the first encounter or communication and continues throughout the relationship. During the initial session, often referred to as a 'chemistry meeting,' she clearly outlines the parameters of the coaching relationship, including what is included, what is not, and the confidentiality of the sessions.
From the outset, she prioritizes clear communication and sets expectations. She states that giving feedback with permission is a part of the program and asks clients if they are comfortable with this approach. If they are not, it may indicate that it is not the right time for coaching or that she may not be the right coach for them. Ultimately, her focus is on coaching her clients toward their greatest success, making it essential that the situation aligns well for the coachee.
Creating Exceptional Learning Experiences for Executives
Nancy reflects on her early career experience with The International Forum, an Executive Education program offered by Wharton. This program provided a remarkable opportunity for CEOs and senior executives to meet three times over the course of a year in locations including the USA (Wharton), Europe (Bruges), and Asia (Kyoto). It combined business, cultural, and political learning, facilitating sharing among senior executives while being guided by leading experts in each field.
As a Project Manager, her responsibility was to consider every detail necessary to create an exceptional experience for each participant. This included organizing the seminar, managing information and logistics, and ensuring an overall enriching experience.
A Dual Approach to Effective Team Coaching
In team coaching, the focus is on both the team as a unit and the individual members. This dual approach is essential. For instance, one team coaching intervention involved quarterly team sessions lasting 2-3 days, complemented by one-on-one executive coaching for each team member, conducted by either Nancy or one of her colleagues throughout the engagement.
This particular assignment followed a thematic structure consisting of: 1) Who are we? 2) Where do we want to go? 3) Where are we now, and what is getting in the way? 4) Where do we go from here? The four team workshops were customized as the process unfolded, incorporating any insights gained while adhering to the session theme. Additionally, each individual provided input to their one-on-one coach regarding their expectations for each team session and any potential obstacles they anticipated.
Navigating Confidence and Leadership in Career Advancement
One of the most common issues that arises is a lack of confidence and/or imposter syndrome. Executives often ascend the ranks quickly when they excel as individual contributors, leading to rapid promotions into management and senior roles. Depending on the organization, individuals may or may not receive the necessary support and training to navigate this transition. It is not unusual for clients in very senior management positions to have received minimal support or training throughout their careers.
Additionally, it is important to recognize that individuals who excel as individual contributors may not possess the social skills or interests required to manage and lead others. However, many organizations offer a singular path to advancement, which typically involves becoming a broader manager of people before moving into higher management roles.
Harnessing Insights Through Equine-Assisted Coaching
Widely practiced in the US and Europe, equine-assisted coaching offers powerful insights into self-awareness. This approach is ideal for executive coaching as well as personal development. The learning occurs through the horse's reactions, such as whether it "obeys" and how participants respond to various situations. Many find that the sessions reveal strong parallels to their leadership styles and challenges faced in both professional and personal contexts.
Humans have been working with horses for centuries. Horses have traditionally been used in rehabilitation for individuals struggling with addiction and to assist children with autism or Asperger's syndrome in developing social skills. Recently, their abilities have been applied to leadership training and personal development.
Horses are intuitive and rely on their finely tuned-instincts for survival. They constantly seek the alpha horse and their position within the herd. As herd animals, they will follow a leader only if they perceive that person as such. Horses gauge leadership behavior in all their interactions with humans.
Unlike people, horses have no investment in outcomes. They do not lie, possess egos, or have agendas. They simply exist as they are, providing clear and genuine feedback. If a person is calm, the horse will be relaxed; if hesitant, the horse may become nervous. If someone attempts to dominate, the horse might back away or push back in response.
Cultural Perspectives in Multinational Coaching
Nancy has had the opportunity and pleasure to work with multinational companies across various industries. She prioritizes considering all aspects of each individual she works with, including their context and worldview. For instance, someone from Asia may possess a significantly different perspective compared to someone who grew up in Europe or the US.
Understanding these differences is crucial within the coaching context as well as in their work environment. In Asia, it is common for individuals to refrain from giving feedback to their bosses or colleagues, often choosing to keep their thoughts to themselves or sharing them only with trusted colleagues. In contrast, someone from Europe or the US might struggle to comprehend why certain issues are not addressed or why feedback is not openly communicated.
Adapting Leadership to a New Era of Expectations
The world is changing, and leaders and organizations must adapt to these changes or take the lead in them. The level of consciousness and awareness among individuals is increasing, leading people to recognize more possibilities and hold higher expectations for their lives. Many in younger generations seek to live differently from their parents and predecessors, desiring more autonomy, freedom, flexibility, and a lifestyle that extends beyond the office.
There appears to be a decreasing willingness to invest long hours, as previous generations did, to achieve promotions. Therefore, leaders need to enhance their understanding of themselves and their teams. Coaching skills are likely to become some of the most important competencies they will require. Additionally, with AI playing an increasingly significant role in various fields, there is a necessity to learn about it and comprehend its implications despite any initial reluctance.
The Evolution of Coaching
Nancy reflects on her rewarding experiences over the past 25 years as part of the development of coaching as a profession. She considers herself fortunate to be among the early pioneers in Singapore, serving as one of the founding members of the International Coach Federation Singapore chapter. She has hosted and organized conferences and attended many ICF conferences globally. Nancy remains in contact with coaches worldwide and takes pride in how the coaching profession has grown to assist millions across the globe. She believes that at its core, coaching aims to elevate the level of consciousness on the planet, with every coach contributing to this mission.
For aspiring coaches, she advises following their passion, committing to continuous personal development, connecting with like-minded coaches, not giving up, and remembering that their role is not to solve others' problems but to help clients recognize their own magnificence.
