5 Coaching Tips for Executive Leadership Development

At the executive level, you are more than a decision maker – you serve as the face of the team, answer the tough questions and offer inspiration to the many team players within your organization. Effectively leading a team, or several teams, requires a refined set of leadership skills. Consider five simple, yet crucial, tips to help in the journey of leadership growth and improvement.

1. Communication

Communication is the most important aspect of leading a team in any venture, whether in the board room or on the co-ed softball team. Coincidentally, open communication about leadership and the subject of communication will serve as the maintenance necessary to offer continuous growth to a skill set.

2. Approach New Behaviors Carefully

Have you ever gone to a leadership seminar, or heard a great speaker suggest new tactics or leadership behaviors, only to find that they sounded better than worked? It happens to everyone. Don’t consider leadership innovation to be an extreme. There is a fine balance found in team chemistry, and while certain small changes may present extremely positive results, sometimes seemingly harmless changes result in chemistry lost. Consider all the variables before implementing changes to your present paradigm.

3. Coach your Employees to Their Strengths

Most executives have struggled at one point or another with a talented team member who is simply not producing to their capability. All great leaders experience the same scenario. The response of great leaders, from athletic coaches to dance choreographers, is to mold the scheme/work of art toward their players’ strengths. Putting people in the right places and creating an ideal environment for their growth and function will increase productivity and allow for some of the best examples of initiative and ingenuity from team members.

4. Don’t Fear Candor

Tell it like it is, while painting it in a positive light, and you’ll create an atmosphere where anything is possible. This is the easiest way to become an admired leader and the easiest way to be impeccable with your word. Even unfortunate truths can be positive tools for growth and development, and as long as they are spoken of as such, all employees or team members will ultimately appreciate being in the know.

5. Always Walk Tall

Confidence at the executive level is a must. That being said, many marginal leaders try to pass off arrogance as confidence. While the two traits may be related, they are distant cousins who don’t work well together under pressure. A quiet, gracious confidence is undeniable from the perspective of a “follower.” Everyone looking to your leadership will undoubtedly emulate your admirable qualities and leadership traits. There’s no stronger way to build a team than to empower the people who work with you.