A great leader today is constantly improving themselves and their people. All organizations should have employee development programs whether they are large or just starting up. For a large company, training & development will be appropriate for managing the training needs of the organization. In a smaller company, the choices for employee development are many and just as important. Successful companies send their employees to seminars or webinars focused on specific work or management skills. Many companies or executives today will bring in consultants and coaches for focused group learning or one-on-one coaching. Regardless of where your skills are on the management and leadership spectrum, it is a “continuous improvement” skill. There is no finish line, we all need to grow, evolve and learn constantly throughout our career.

The reason Michael embraced coaching as his career is because of the impact his CEO coach had on his own leadership skills and those of his team. Michael hired a coach to first work with him and found it to be such a great experience that the same coach then worked with all of his VP’s and then their directors. Over the next 5 years, Michael’s coach helped him in many areas but these three are the ones Michael considers to be the most important:

• Expand skills as the company grew larger and more successful and therefore complex
• Understand the human side of the organization
• Act as a sounding board for ideas and issues

More and more CEO’s and their senior team are turning to individual coaching. The experience of someone who has built and accomplished what you are trying to replicate is invaluable. The insight that a leader finds when he or she looks outside of themselves only makes them stronger.