“Coaching with leaders and within organizations is often cited as a highly valuable tool for developing people and businesses,” writes Carly Sime in the Forbes article, How Does Coaching Actually Help Leaders?
The professional coaching industry has been on the rise for the last twenty years and there’s a good reason why: not everyone in an organization is prepared for everything that new roles demand, as their responsibilities increase.
“The Institute of Coaching cites that over 70% of individuals who receive coaching benefited from improved work performance, relationships and more effective communication skills. They also reported that a huge 86% of companies feel that they recouped the investment they made into coaching plus more on top.”
It makes sense that the higher an employee rises within an organization, the more diverse skill set they need to do their job effectively. And coaching helps to fill in the knowledge and skills gap based on an individual’s specific needs.
Why might a CMO or VP Marketing need a coach?
Many marketing specialists start their careers at the entry level, with a specific set of marketing expertise or skills necessary to do their job. But as they rise and get promotions, they’ll need other skills, such as people management, that they may not have ever developed.
This is where the breakdown and struggles that I’ve been seeing, managing Millennial (and Gen Z) teams, becomes apparent. To have an effective team (or agency), it’s critical that everyone works well together and gets along – at least enough to work in harmony with one another.
Signs that there are personnel issues – and sophisticated people management skills are needed – include difficulty attracting talent and difficulty retaining good talent. There might also be stress and bickering within the marketing team, which is a symptom of deeper issues.
What are the skills you learn, being coached as a marketer and leader?
These vary, depending on what you need. For example, I’m in a coaching program myself, and I’m learning everything from how to manage my time to how to hire the right people and to manage workflows in a growing organization.
What I coach my marketing clients can include:
- Understanding conflict and learning how to deal with it
- How to teach marketing strategy
- Leveraging new marketing technologies
- Growing the team and retaining great talent
- Mentoring younger talent
If you’ve never worked with a coach or have questions, please reach out to me! I’m happy to share what I’ve learned being coached, and to talk about how I coach marketing leaders.
