What to look for in your leadership coach -5

There are many successful business leaders who think that one is born with leadership skills. They therefore think that one is either a leader or one is not a leader.

This is not true. Leadership skills can be learned like other skills. The impression that leadership skills are innate to one’s personality exists because people equate leadership with charisma, oratory skills, and an obvious sway over people. While these abilities can help in leading, they can at times mislead a leader into believing in his or her infallibility and can prevent correct assessment of reality. Leadership is more than these qualities.

Another reason for such a belief: leadership development can not take place in classrooms. Traditional teaching methods fall short here. Leadership skills can only be developed only on the job. For this, coaching helps. When there is no executive coaching support a person’s development depends on how much he or she can absorb and cross-apply.

Therefore the belief that leadership can be learned is central to executive coaching.

How does one look for this belief? Find out what the would be executive coach has done in his her career. What kind of diverse responsibilities have been handled? Did he or she develop teams?