Women – Close the Gap Between Men & Women in Top Leadership
As women seek to close the gap between men and women in the C- suite, they need extra skills. An extra edge. Many women are looking beyond support their company may offer.
They see the value in mentors, in the in-house courses, and other training offered to them. But they also recognize that it isn’t enough. It has not succeeded in closing the gap.
Women Taking Control of Their Own Leadership Development
More women are taking control of their own leadership development. They are becoming leaders in their current positions and setting up their strategies to move into greater executive roles.
One of the most versatile training methods they are discovering is leadership coaching.
Here are 5 places a leadership coach can truly benefit women
-
Early career growth.
When women start out in the workforce, it’s helpful to find direction. A leadership coach can assist with helping women define goals and qualify them. They can offer assessments on strengths to build upon and on pitfalls to side-step.
Women avoid falling prey to office politics or miss-direction when they have a coach to assist them in integrating into the company.
-
Stumbling Blocks.
Each person carries baggage that may limit their upward growth. There may be innate personality traits that make it hard to promote oneself, stand up for oneself, or seek success. Women may self-sabotage or allow others to take advantage. Sometimes they don’t even realize the problem.
A leadership coach offers a neutral vision. They can see more clearly and honestly. Coaches can help women stretch, change, and free themselves to grow into the leaders they want to be.
-
Mid-career Growth.
After working in business for a while, women leaders typically grow competent and confident. They gain the respect of those around them and learn to work effectively within their organizational structure. They feel comfortable in their roles.
A leadership coach can shake that comfort and encourage fresh growth. They can assist in new goal setting and charting the course to the next step. Executive coaches can groom women for top-tier leadership, showing how to shine as a leader with executive presence on zoom virtual meetings, mentor people to success, and guide your team through transition.
-
Leadership Edge.
As women get closer to the top, there is more competition and more resistance. Skill sets must be honed and influence must be grown. The traits that grew women to this point may not be the skills needed for top leadership.
An executive coach can guide women to change from hands-on to big picture. They can help people become key players in their company and the natural choice for the top slot by growing the executive presence qualities and leadership skills needed for the job.
-
Top Leadership Support.
Women in top leadership positions find few people they can trust to assess their leadership. Are they in balance? Are they keeping up, delegating, overseeing, and managing in the best possible way?
An executive coach can give unbiased feedback. Since they are outside the system, their full loyalty is to their client. They can mine cutting edge methods and information and feed it to their client so they keep in top form.
Whether you are a woman starting out in leadership or well advanced on the way, leadership or executive coaching can smooth the path, shorten the learning curve, and advance your career.
This article may be reprinted or forwarded to colleagues and friends as long as the above copyright notice and contact information is attached in its entirety.
If you reprint this article, please advise us that you have done so and forward a copy of the article, or a link to the web page where the article can be viewed, to Joel Garfinkle.
