5 Essential Coaching Tools for Leadership Coaches to Ensure a Successful Engagement 

Leadership coaching has become an indispensable component of personal and professional development in today’s fast-paced and dynamic business world. Leadership coaches play a vital role in helping individuals and organizations unlock their potential, enhance leadership skills, and achieve their goals. To excel in this role, leadership coaches rely on a variety of coaching tools that facilitate meaningful and impactful engagements. In this article, we will explore five essential leadership coaching tools that every leadership coach needs to ensure a successful coaching engagement. 

1. Assessment tools 

Leadership coaching assessment tools are the ideal way to begin an engagement. They provide valuable insights into an individual’s strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. Leadership coaches often employ a range of assessments, such as personality assessments (e.g., Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), 360-degree feedback surveys, and emotional intelligence assessments. These tools enable coaches to establish a baseline understanding of their clients, identify specific development areas, and track progress over time. By utilizing assessment tools for leadership development, coaches can tailor their coaching approach to meet the unique needs of each client, resulting in more effective coaching engagements. 

2. Goal setting and action planning templates 

Goal setting is a fundamental aspect of leadership coaching. Coaches work with their clients to define clear and achievable goals that align with their personal or organizational objectives. To facilitate this process, leadership coaching tools like goal-setting templates and action planning frameworks are invaluable. These tools help clients articulate their goals, break them down into actionable steps, and create a roadmap for success. Effective goal setting and action planning not only provide direction but also help clients stay motivated and accountable throughout the coaching journey. 

3. Feedback and journaling tools 

Regular feedback and self-reflection are essential for personal and professional growth. Leadership coaches often encourage their clients to maintain journals or use feedback tools to capture insights, observations, and progress. Reflection tools for leaders provide a structured way for leadership coaching clients to analyze their experiences, track their development, and gain a deeper understanding of themselves as leaders. Feedback tools can include templates for gathering feedback from peers, superiors, and subordinates, fostering a holistic view of a leader’s performance. 

4. Accountability tools 

It’s common knowledge that the toughest part of a coaching engagement is what happens between the sessions. While client motivation tends to be high during and right after sessions, it often falls in-between sessions, when the work towards behavioral change should actually take place. That is why you need accountability tools for leaders to keep up their accountability and motivation.  

For example, the Daily Questions tool by Marshall Goldsmith is one where the client creates a list of yes/no questions to check his own progress, tailored to his goals, and answers them every day. For someone that’s working on delegation, for example, the questions could be “Did I do my best to focus only on high-level priority work today?” and “Did I check in with the team’s work today?” By making the client ask these questions of themselves everyday, this tool then helps them stay accountable to the necessary behavioral change tied to their goal. 

5. Impact assessment tools 

As you reach the end of an engagement (or at a good mid-way point), it’s important to take a pause and assess the impact of your coaching. The idea behind the impact assessment is for you to analyze whether your coaching has truly catalyzed the necessary shift in the client’s professional life, and for the client to analyze the work they’ve done and results they’ve achieved. Leadership coaching assessment tools are also a great way to prove the impact of your coaching to your clients’ sponsor, or the HR. 

Conclusion 

In the realm of leadership coaching, having the right coaching tools is paramount to running a successful engagement. Assessment tools for leadership development, goal-setting templates, feedback mechanisms, accountability tools, and impact assessments collectively enable leadership coaches to provide valuable guidance and support to clients. By incorporating these essential leadership coaching tools into your practice, you can help individuals and organizations thrive in an ever-evolving business landscape. Coaching is not just about imparting knowledge; it’s about equipping leaders with the tools they need to unlock their full potential and achieve lasting success. 

About the author

Vaidehi Mirashi

Content Marketing Consultant @ Simply.coach

Vaidehi is a content marketing consultant with a decade’s experience handling over 80 brands and multiple award-winning campaigns under her belt. When not working, you’ll find Vaidehi spending time with family, binge watching Netflix shows, and baking.