5 Of The Best Leadership Coaching Tools For Business Leaders

Not that long ago, good leadership was measured by how effective a person’s management skills were.

If one could perform well and deliver the expected outcomes, objectives were satisfied and boxes were ticked. This continuous job cycle resulted in managers directing their teams on how and what they needed to do.

As times have changed, leadership styles have also evolved. Fortunately, previous “command-and-control” practice has been shifting to a more collaborative and supportive working relationship among leaders and team members.

Leadership coaching is continuously gaining momentum, with a preference for developing leaders as coaches more than mere managers.

In this digital age, there is a vast array of tools that aid in everyday business affairs.
Below are the best leadership coaching tools you can utilize as a business leader.

1. The Wheel of Life

What are the life aspects that are relevant to you?

In these busy and uncertain times, this simple but effective tool allows you to self-reflect on the most significant and impactful dimensions of your life. You would have to identify six to eight areas in your life that you regard as vital to you.

Creating the dimensions can be done in several ways – through the roles you play in life, the areas in your life that matter to you, or a combination of these two. The roles you play may include you as a child, parent, daughter/son, husband/wife, friend, colleague, sports enthusiast, etc.

While an example of the areas that matter to you may be education, career, family, public service, financial freedom, artistic expression, pleasure, etc.

After identifying these dimensions, write them on a wheel and assess each area by rating them (from 0-10, 10 receiving the most attention) based on your current state.

Now, connect these areas by a line and consider whether your life wheel looks balanced.

However, having a balanced wheel, or a balanced life does not mean getting 5s in all aspects since these may change based on the circumstances at a given time.

Think of your ideal level of attention to be given to the dimensions you identified and plot them too on your life wheel.

How can you attain the ideal scenario?

What are the steps you need to take to reach it and have a meaningful, balanced life?

References:

https://positivepsychology.com/coaching-tools-examples-assessments/

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_93.htm

2. Visualization

What do you want to achieve?

This technique is primarily practiced by athletes due to the immense power it attracts. By visualizing or forming a picture of something or someone in your mind, you can focus on the more essential aspects of a competition, a project, or an event that is winning.

Eliminating distractions such as anxiety, fear, confusion, or disappointment is a must to increase confidence and achieve your goals.

The initial step is to decide on your goal or what you want.

Then, picture yourself at that scene as clearly and more detailed as you can.

The key is to be more specific to feel it and to savor the moment.

Finally, imagine the succeeding steps you must take for you to arrive at that moment.

References:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/visualization

https://positivepsychology.com/coaching-tools-examples-assessments/

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_81.htm

3. Mood Meter

How are you feeling today?

It is perceived that to be effective in leading, you must be aware of your emotions.

Recognizing feelings such as being surprised, motivated, restful, and fulfilled vs. stressed, worried, discouraged, and bored allows us to understand and regulate the pleasant and the unpleasant emotions.

The circumplex model of effect, which illustrates a four-quadrant dimension of emotions categorized as pleasant or unpleasant and activation or deactivation, helps us assess our feelings and hopefully control the unpleasant ones.

By acknowledging where you are on the mood meter, you can think deeper about what made you feel that way.

This can help you label your feeling and allow you to express them while being mindful of how that expression turns out (positive or negative).

You can either find a strategy to maintain or elevate that pleasant feeling or tone down or diminish an unpleasant feeling.

References:

https://hbr.org/podcast/2020/10/why-learning-to-label-your-feelings-makes-you-a-better-leader

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2367156/

https://www.marcbrackett.com/the-colors-of-our-emotions/

4. GROW Model

What are you willing to do to GROW?

As we know, a leader’s primary function is to create a goal and take steps to achieve them. This leadership coaching tool puts it at a higher level when it comes to goal setting.

It establishes the:

Goals or aspirations

Reality or current obstacles/challenges

Options based on strengths and resources

Way forward considering accountability and what when, by whom, plus the will to execute.

As with any other goal or task, clarity propels the direction to its the desired outcome.

If this change aims to bring a culture change, the reality is not everyone will be pleased.

This is where strengths must be explored while deeply involving its people.

With this tool, leaders, and their members, are empowered to strategize and find opportunities to bring about solutions.

In addition, the willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve the stated goal is also crucial.

The way forward is not a walk in the park, however, with commitment and accountability in place, the probability of reaching success is boosted.

References:

https://positivepsychology.com/grow-coaching-model/

https://www.ijrbsm.org/papers/v4-i9/5.pdf

5. Pareto Principle

What can you achieve more by doing less?

You might have heard of the 80/20 Rule countless times in management, and you may have wondered what its relevance is in your everyday affairs?

The Pareto Principle states that 80% of consequences (outputs) come from 20% of the causes (inputs).

As business leaders, if you can produce 80% benefits from 20% of the work, you should focus on the tasks that will require a high impact from a low input.

Initially, you need to list all problems (based on importance) which you need to resolve.

Then, by the identification of the root cause or why these problems arose.

Next, score each problem based on the importance level you set.

For example, if you seek to improve profits, these problems may be rated by the cost of a product, etc.

Once you have scored the problems, they need to be grouped based on the similarity of their root cause, such as lack of manpower.

Finally, the scores for each group must be added.

The group that garners the highest score must receive the highest priority, while the lowest rating must have a lower priority.

By focusing on the highest-scoring problem with the highest payoff, you are saving your energy and resources.

This can, in turn, facilitate increasing the company’s productivity and profitability.

References:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/paretoprinciple.asp

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_01.htm