successful leaders I know are solidly grounded in who they are and what they stand for. Not to sound dramatic and simply put, it is almost impossible to build the respect and trust necessary to lead other individuals if you do not know and understand what your personal purpose, cause or beliefs are. What you stand for at an emotional level drives your behaviours and it’s leveraging those behaviours that get the best results, personally and professionally. You need to be crystal clear in how you articulate what you stand for to others, so they know the boundaries of acceptable behaviour and expected results. Why is establishing their personal values so important in this process? One of themost important leadership qualities is often described as “Integrity”, which in its purest form is acting in a way that is consistent with the actions you expect out of others. In straightforward terms, do you “Practice what you preach” or “walk the talk”? There is a ton of research proving the effectiveness of values-based leadership. I have found that it is hard to demonstrate integrity and espouse company values if you yourself do not know, and demonstrate, your own personal values on a daily basis. It is shocking to me how few “C”-Suite members know their organisation’s stated Mission, Purpose and Core Values without looking it up. It has been my experience that high-performing executives can recite the Mission, Purpose and Core Values of their organisation off the top of their heads. Of that subset, the highest performing executives when queried also can clearly articulate a simple statement of their own personal values. And when their personal values line up with the organisation’s Mission, Purpose and Core Values really spectacular results start to happen. How can you help CEOs with this? To build a good house you need a stable and appropriate foundation for the structure to sit upon. As a Leadership Coach, I like to start with the foundation. Often the values and lessons a client learned along the way from parents, teachers, managers, peers, and others are the foundation that influences their behaviour. We assimilate all these experiences over our lives and what comes out are our personal values. We recognised good integrity when we saw it in others, and we also distinguished behaviour we did not want to emulate. What I have experienced is that most leaders operate in a default mode without thinking about what really drives their actions largely based on these early influences. Early in my interactions with a client, we explore what they previously experienced and how that drives them. Creating self-awareness allows a leader to leverage their strengths in an intentional and inspirational way and helps them identify, and avoid, any behavioural derailers that cause problems. Getting clear on their values is a compass that creates their solid foundation. Why is coaching so essential if you want to be a good CEO? The highest performing leaders also need to be great coaches themselves. They do not need to be professionally trained and credentialed coaches, but they have learned to be a coach to those they lead. It is an important tool for them to have in their leadership toolbox. The process of coaching is very different from that of consulting, advising, teaching, mentoring, visioning, etc. It is a skill set that allows you to help people set goals, create outcomes and manage personal change. Working with an experienced executive coach not only helps leaders set their own goals and achieve outcomes, but it also allows the coach to demonstrate to the leader what good coaching looks like, so they can use those skills in leading others and creating generations of young leaders coming up through the ranks. To build a good house you need a stable and appropriate foundation for the structure to sit upon. “ “ W: www.terrafirmaleadership.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgalowich E: Dave@TerraFirmaLeadership.Com 32 EXECUTIVE COACHING
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