Training Leaders

One of my clients that I’ve worked with for many years asked me to get certified as an executive coach.  Now I’ll leave the judgment of whether I’m a good or bad coach to others (more on that in a minute) but I’ve been functioning as an executive coach since before the concept became popular.

I had been working with one executive for a few years when we had just finished a session with his top 40 leaders from around the world.  As he and I were relaxing in his office after the session and sharing some of our experiences over the last couple of days he said to me “You’ve helped me build my leadership team to a level of performance that I didn’t know existed.  And, you’ve helped me become a better leader than I could have imagined.  And, you’ve helped us build a culture that I believe will survive this coming global shake-out that we’re beginning to see.”

Now, for a guy who preaches that the first element of great leadership is humility, I have to admit that I was overflowing with pride at that moment.  Remember, the name of my company is Team Leadership Culture and he had just put his experience at the top of each of those categories.  What else could he have said that would have been more flattering?  Then he said something that absolutely shook my confidence. “But, your real value is …..”  In that flash of a moment a shock went through my system because I had no idea what he was about to say next.  He had just put my entire consulting practice framework, Team Leadership Culture, at the top of the list.  What else could he say?

“But your real value is when we sit and talk like this.”  I never thought that this time spent with leaders when we just sat and talked, shared, mentored, coached, learned together was of great value.  This was before the time when “Executive Coach” was a common word in our language but I learned that evening how valuable this was.  A CEO Executive Assistant once asked me “Are you selling drugs?”  I laughed because I hoped it was meant in a humorous way and said “no, why do you ask?”  She said “Because our CEO never grants more than one hour to anyone but when you show up he shuts off his entire afternoon and I just hear you in there laughing and talking.  Are you selling drugs?”

So why did I need my Executive Coaching Certificate?  It had been a corporate decision.  All Executive Coaches must be certified!  I did comply and while I did experience some value, my greater learning is that certification programs train you toward the norm.  Certification means you have been trained to meet certain standards.  It assumes there is a right way to approach coaching with systems, techniques and practices.  I find that coaching is completely unique with each individual and doing things a standard way can only lead to standard results at best.  When I asked the client that was pressing me to get certified if they had seen any difference between certified and non-certified coaches the answer was “no.”  There are good and bad certified coaches, good and bad non-certified coaches.

My conclusion to all of this rambling is that leadership is developed not trained.  Training by definition says to “teach a particular skill or type of behavior through practice and instruction over a period of time.”  A second definition is to point or aim toward something.  Leadership is dealing with the unknown.  Management is dealing with the known.  You can train managers when you know what to aim for but you must develop leaders.

Development by definition says to “grow or cause to grow and become more mature, advanced, or elaborate.”  Leaders need to be developed.  Mentor them, coach them, disciple them but don’t train them.  Leaders developing leaders takes time, dedication and the building of trust.  Are you a trainer or developer?  Are you being trained or developed?  Be/seek out that coach.  Be/seek out that mentor.  Grow!