What makes a good leadership coach?

There are plenty of leadership coaches around who have mostly read about it. They know the models, the theories and the fine words. But you do not learn leadership from a book. You learn it by doing it, with all the doubt, pressure and trade-offs that come with it.

Has the leadership coach done it themselves?

That is why the first question you should ask is: has this coach done it themselves? I spent around fifteen years at the helm of research agency WUA, led teams in twenty-one countries and completed Tony Robbins' Senior Leadership programme. That combination of doing it myself and learning about it properly is what I use in my coaching. Theory does count. But theory only becomes valuable once someone has tested it in practice.

What should you look for when choosing a leadership coach?

What else should you look for? Three things. Has the coach done it themselves. Is that experience backed by proper training. And is there a click. That click sounds soft, but without trust nothing happens. Also ask how concrete it gets. Good coaching does not stay stuck in pleasant conversations, it ends with clear goals.

Leadership and sales strengthen each other

As far as I am concerned, good leadership is not separate from sales either. In fact, they strengthen each other. How do you show up for your team? Which beliefs do you project, what example do you set, and what dynamic does that create in your organisation? Exactly those beliefs and that core attitude, honest and relaxed, also determine whether your people step into their strength. They are the same building blocks as in the Customer Experience Model, only now aimed at your team instead of your customer.

Because a team that works from calm and confidence creates better customer contact. That is how the line runs from leadership, through your people, to your customers and your revenue. It is the common thread in my work and in my book, Sales, Honest & Relaxed.

Looking for a leadership coach who has done it themselves and looks at leadership, team and sales as a whole? Take a look at the Year Programme, for you as a leader or together with your team.