Are Leaders Born or Made?

In a recent webinar, author and leadership guru James M. Kouzes said that the question he is asked most often is, “Are leaders born or made?” He responded that all leaders are born (just like the rest of us), but people who want to be leaders can learn to be leaders. He went on to explain that a study showed that “99.999897% of people surveyed indicated some leadership ability.”

I am not sure how Kouzes came up with that figure, but I do know that most people have a chance to be a leader at some point in her or his life and has the ability to develop the skills to be more effective in such a role. As Kouzes also explained, coaching by a professional and self-coaching are ways to make this happen.

How can a life coach help a person in a leadership role be more productive? One survey showed the following results of having a coach:

Improved work performance 70%
Improved business management 61%
Improved time management 57%
Improved team management 51%

The survey also showed that 86% of companies who hired a life coach said they at least made a return on their investment.

A good life coach also helps leaders develop the skills so that they continue to be productive without a coach by realistically assessing their needs and those of the organization, evaluating their resources, developing clear goals, creating strategies to reach those goals, and identifying accountability structures to keep them on track. In short, a good coach helps a person develop self-management skills or the ability to self-coach and thus enhance the leader’s effectiveness.

This is International Coaching Week, an annual weeklong global celebration of the coaching profession, sponsored by the International Coach Federation. Have you thought about working with a coach? This would be a good week to take action.

If you want to know more about coaching, please contact me at ircelharrison@gmail.com and we can set up a time for a free coaching call so that you can learn more. Happy ICW!

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