Nancy Hughes: Empowering Growth Through Leadership Coaching

Coaching plays a fundamental role in facilitating personal and professional development, focusing on enhancing self-awareness and interpersonal skills. It provides frameworks that help individuals and teams unlock their potential, highlighting the importance of understanding one's capabilities and fostering open communication. As organizations recognize the value of coaching, there is a growing need for leaders to embrace practices that encourage trust and effective collaboration within their teams.

Nancy Hughes, a Managing Director with a wealth of experience, reflects on her journey in leadership coaching. She believes that everyone has an innate desire to be seen and heard, which is fundamental to her coaching approach. By focusing on her clients' potential, she helps them navigate their challenges and fosters a genuine sense of self-awareness. Her work underscores the importance of creating a safe space where clients can explore their beliefs, values, and behaviors.

Vincere Coaching Pte Ltd is dedicated to providing transformative coaching experiences that enhance both individual and organizational growth. With a commitment to innovative practices, including equine-assisted coaching, the organization aims to offer powerful insights into self-awareness and leadership. By taking into account each client's unique context and worldview, it seeks to create meaningful learning experiences that resonate across various cultural and professional landscapes.

The Essence of Leadership Coaching

Nancy reflects on her journey of personal discovery and development, noting that everyone desires to be heard and seen. This principle extends beyond leadership to encompass all of humanity. For her leadership coaching, this realization highlighted the importance of truly recognizing her clients. She focuses on seeing their potential and greatness, which can be a challenging concept for some. They may wonder how one can perceive another's potential without knowing them well. Nancy believes this is where the skill of a proficient coach becomes significant. When she works with a client, she tunes in to their deeper essence as a human being, fostering a genuine sense of being seen and heard.

The Role of Self-Awareness in Executive Coaching

Nancy finds it difficult to answer the question of how she approaches her work with clients, as her focus differs from traditional methods. She recognizes that many senior executives perceive significant challenges in their roles, and it is her responsibility to assist them in addressing these issues for every assignment. However, she believes her primary role as a coach is to enhance her clients' self-awareness regarding themselves, their situations, and their stakeholders, making the solutions to their challenges apparent to them.

In her view, this represents the true achievement of an executive coach. Most clients approach her to discuss topics such as stakeholder management, difficult relationships, team leadership, and achieving success in new roles or environments. Nancy prioritizes not assuming she knows how to solve their challenges, even if she may have ideas. Instead, she focuses on recognizing the client as an exceptional individual, fully capable of managing any obstacle. Her role is to help the client identify what might be hindering their awareness of this capability.

This process occurs within a trusted coaching relationship, where they explore beliefs, values, behaviors, assessments, choices, accountability, and potential next steps or solutions.

Building Trust: The Foundation of Effective Coaching

Nancy believes that trust is the most important element in the coaching relationship. Clients are unlikely to open up without trust, and without open and honest communication, it becomes challenging to progress in any discussion. Building trust begins with the first encounter or communication and continues throughout the relationship. During the initial session, often referred to as a 'chemistry meeting,' she clearly outlines the parameters of the coaching relationship, including what is included, what is not, and the confidentiality of the sessions.

From the outset, she prioritizes clear communication and sets expectations. She states that giving feedback with permission is a part of the program and asks clients if they are comfortable with this approach. If they are not, it may indicate that it is not the right time for coaching or that she may not be the right coach for them. Ultimately, her focus is on coaching her clients toward their greatest success, making it essential that the situation aligns well for the coachee.

Creating Exceptional Learning Experiences for Executives

Nancy reflects on her early career experience with The International Forum, an Executive Education program offered by Wharton. This program provided a remarkable opportunity for CEOs and senior executives to meet three times over the course of a year in locations including the USA (Wharton), Europe (Bruges), and Asia (Kyoto). It combined business, cultural, and political learning, facilitating sharing among senior executives while being guided by leading experts in each field.

As a Project Manager, her responsibility was to consider every detail necessary to create an exceptional experience for each participant. This included organizing the seminar, managing information and logistics, and ensuring an overall enriching experience.

A Dual Approach to Effective Team Coaching

In team coaching, the focus is on both the team as a unit and the individual members. This dual approach is essential. For instance, one team coaching intervention involved quarterly team sessions lasting 2-3 days, complemented by one-on-one executive coaching for each team member, conducted by either Nancy or one of her colleagues throughout the engagement.

This particular assignment followed a thematic structure consisting of: 1) Who are we? 2) Where do we want to go? 3) Where are we now, and what is getting in the way? 4) Where do we go from here? The four team workshops were customized as the process unfolded, incorporating any insights gained while adhering to the session theme. Additionally, each individual provided input to their one-on-one coach regarding their expectations for each team session and any potential obstacles they anticipated.

Read Full Article: https://educationexcellencemagazine.com/magazine-cover/nancy-hughes-empowering-growth-through-leadership-coaching