Overview: Sustainable, intelligent leadership is a delicate balancing act. It requires the fine-tuning of many inner and outer-core leadership competencies. Leadership coaching can help leaders find ways to deal with their challenges like being humble without appearing weak and building up their self-confidence without becoming arrogant.
Being an effective leader seems like walking a tightrope. It is a delicate balancing act that requires many subtle skills to achieve and maintain. According to Jim Rohn, a leader must be strong but not rude. Kind, but not weak. Leaders also have to show temerity without being bullies and humility without appearing timid.
As a leader, you can be proud, but you can’t be arrogant. You can use humor to lighten the mood, but don’t allow it to degenerate into folly.
Being a leader is challenging, but it is not without its rewards.
Leadership coaching can help you strike a balance and overcome the challenges you find the most daunting. Here is a short list of the most common and difficult leadership challenges, as well as ways to deal with them.
1. Overcoming Fear
The fear of failure is the only thing that can stifle dreams and stop progress in its tracks. In leaders, this fear can manifest in many ways, preventing even the most creative problem-solvers from leaving their comfort zones and embracing change.
Leadership coaching knows the problem of fear is a twofold one for leaders.
- Leaders must learn to deal with their own fears. No leader is immune to the persistent “what if” questions that accompany important decisions. The more one obsesses over the many variables that can lead to “what if” questions, the more paralyzing fears become.
- However, leaders must help reports overcome fears by creating an environment of psychological safety that provides all the materials and moral support they need to undertake challenges. The essence of intelligent leadership is to find effective ways to allay the fears of employees so they can perform well and fulfill their potential.
2. The Challenge of Humility
We don’t normally see being humble as challenging. Humility is a human virtue we tend to sell short, but it is essential for intelligent leadership.
Leaders are particularly vulnerable to the temptations of arrogance. Piling one success story onto another may cause leaders to believe unrealistic things about their abilities.
Leadership coaching sings the praises of humility because it is indispensable for creating meaningful human connections and building relationships. No one wants to follow arrogant leaders.
Intelligent leadership does not rely on authority. It requires influence, trust, and impact. These are the building blocks of meaningful relationships.
3. Building Self-Confidence
If being humble is a leadership challenge, lacking self-confidence shouldn’t be a problem, right? That’s not how leadership works. Humility and self-confidence have well-defined roles in the equation of intelligent leadership. Rather than being mere assets, they are necessary ingredients of sustainable leadership success.
Humble leaders know the organization does not revolve around them. Self-confident leaders understand the value they bring to their organizations. Self-confidence drowns out doubt and defeats imposter syndrome.
4. Fostering Motivation
Motivation is the force that drives us to leave our comfort zones in the hope of improving our lives and the lives of those around. As such, motivation is the primary driver of success. It is a fragile entity whose worst enemy is often, paradoxically, success itself.
Fostering motivation is a double challenge for leaders.
- They have to focus on maintaining motivation.
- Also, they must find ways to engage and motivate teams.
5. Showing Vulnerability
We are naturally disinclined to advertise our vulnerabilities. In nature, vulnerability offers no benefits and invites many potential dangers.
Executive coaching recognizes the need to advertise your vulnerability as a tool for building trust, rapport, and engagement. A vulnerable leader is not just a relatable one. Such leaders signal their openness to assistance, deriving value from the capabilities and strengths of team members.
With the right strategies, executive coaching can help you defeat leadership challenges and elevate your skills.