Stakeholder Leadership Coaching
Stakeholder leadership coaching helps successful leaders achieve positive and measurable change in leadership behaviour AND improve their brand and reputation. When combined with stakeholder team coaching, it can be a highly effective way to create a positive shift in company culture.
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In this article, we consider the stakeholder coaching process and key principles to consider when running the process.
(We now include stakeholder leadership coaching as an optional part of our NLP Coach Practitioner Programme. Please note this is our own cut-down version of the complete MGSCC coaching programme.)
Steps in the Stakeholder Leadership Coaching Process
- Introduction to process and coachability.
- Agreeing on stakeholders and holding initial stakeholder behavioural interviews. Additional assessments.
- Determining leadership growth areas.
- Stakeholder briefing.
- Monthly or bi-monthly stakeholder feedback and feedforward.
- Leadership growth process review.
- Leader as a coach.
Introduction to process and coachability
In addition to introducing the process, this stage checks that the leader will benefit significantly from the programme. The leader is likely to be coachable if:
- They are prepared to demonstrate ambition, courage, discipline and honesty throughout the programme.
- They are committed to change and will commit time and emotional energy to the programme.
- They have the right background, direction, and purpose, have not been ‘written off’ by their stakeholders, and don’t have any serious ethical issues.
Agreeing on stakeholders and holding initial stakeholder behavioural interviews. Additional assessments
The leader agrees on the stakeholders and gets buy-in for the initial behavioural interviews.
The best stakeholders are a mix of three criteria:
- They are critical to the leader’s success.
- They are friendly critics.
- They see the leader in action.
To involve the chosen stakeholders, the leader might ask a version of “You’re someone I respect. I’m undergoing a 6/12/18 month programme to develop my leadership skills and to help myself, the people I work with and the company. Initially, would you give me some feedback and feedforward? It will take no more than 15 minutes. If I ask you to take part in the next stage, your investment will be no more than 15 minutes a month (or every two months) for the duration of the programme. Does that work for you?“
When asking for behavioural feedback (from the coach or the leader) ask
- What are the leader’s strengths?
- What do they enjoy doing?
- What are the 1-2 areas that would have the most significant positive impact if they were improved?
- What could they stop doing?
All suggestions will be considered; however, the leader will prioritise the top 1 or 2.
We use Marshall Goldsmith’s Global Leadership Assessment and ICQ’s cultural psychometric as additional assessments.
Determining leadership growth areas
The coach will help the leader, considering all the available information, choose 1-2 development areas to work on during the remainder of the programme.
Stakeholder briefing
The stakeholders can be briefed individually or as a group. A short briefing might be: ” I very much appreciate your help. Please let go of the past, evaluate me from this stage forward on my leadership development; provide 2-3 positive suggestions monthly; and provide honest feedback on how I’m doing. You may also like to choose to improve something yourself.“
Before meeting the stakeholders each period, it’s usually best to email them at least two days in advance, giving them advance notice of what you’ll ask.
Monthly or bi-monthly stakeholder feedback and feedforward
At the point above, you may want to send an email: I will be meeting you in the next 2 days, and I will be asking “What 1-2 changes can I make in my relationship with you to improve my effectiveness in relation to my (agreed growth areas). How am I doing so far?”
Leadership growth process review
As part of the process, we recommend asking stakeholders for confidential feedback, by a simple confidential survey, as to whether the individual stakeholders have noticed an improvement or not. In the complete MGSCC process, the coach will only get paid if, as part of the survey, the stakeholders confirm that the leader has made a positive change in the agreed areas.
Leader as a coach
At the end of the programme, the best leaders will have established their own capability to continually seek feedback and feedforward from their stakeholders on an ongoing basis.
This is likely to have a dramatic and positive impact on their future career.
Key Principles in Stakeholder Leadership Coaching
Principles that Accelerate Change
- Emphasise feedforward. Focus on suggestions for the future.
- Strengthen do’s and reduce don’ts. Successful leaders do both.
- Encourage leaders to seek coaching from their stakeholders.
- Leaders need to change behaviours and perceptions. A behaviour change on its own has a limited impact.
7 Step Process
- Ask
- Listen
- Thank
- Think
- Respond
- Change
- Follow Up
Always split information gathering from decision making. Always remember to thank stakeholders for their suggestions. The coach is essential in helping facilitate the leader through the process.
About the Author:
Michael provides 1:1 NLP training and globally recognised MGSCC leadership and team coaching to unlock clarity, influence, and sustainable success. Read more about Michael and his expertise here: Michael Beale’s Bio. He also runs the NLP Techniques site.
Discover Your Strategic Leadership Potential:
A significant next step is our 1:1 NLP Practitioner training. For those genuinely interested in any of our programmes, we offer a free three-session discovery phase. For more advanced clients, we offer 1:1 NLP Business Practitioner, Master Practitioner and Coach Practitioner Certification.
