Leadership: To be or not to be unreasonable

In 1985 Bob Geldof saw a television programme about starving children in Africa and decided to do something about it. Through sheer force of personality and bloody-mindedness, he achieved the very first Band-Aid concert in both Wembley Stadium and the U.S.

In my experience as an Elite Coach, I often ask my clients, “Are you being too reasonable?” It’s a good question. In today’s fast-paced, highly competitive business environment, there is a sense of extreme pressure at all levels of leadership and management in organisations. When asked “what could you delegate?” in relation to their massive workloads, most coachees respond the same way, “I can’t load my people anymore”. While the perception of this may be accurate, my experience is that it’s likely that your subordinates can take more if they work smarter rather than harder.

In these cases, I invite my client to explore the benefits of a coaching leadership style, one of both challenge and support. The idea being the leader agrees on the boundaries of a task in terms of budget, time frame, resources, quality standards etc. and then coaches the subordinate to discover their unique way of delivering the solution. This method provides the desired results and empowers and grows the subordinate, creating a stronger connection between leader and individual. It’s clear that it is not a panacea, that there is an initial investment of time upfront. However, the benefits are evident and recognised by organisations globally. The support of coaching enables the ‘unreasonable’ challenge.

I also encounter this theme of challenge and support when I attend chemistry sessions, meeting potential new coachees for the first time. It’s an interesting process; I have been rejected for being too challenging and also for being too supportive! The reality is that most prospective clients want to be challenged, particularly senior leaders who, through their position and power in the organisation, can be starved of direct feedback and hear the things they don’t want to hear.