Management focuses on goal achievement (actual/target), employee evaluation and decisions to promote goal achievement. Coaching, on the other hand, focuses on resource-oriented support for the development of possible solutions. However, coaches are neutral. They make the decision for or against a solution. This is why leadership coaching is a consultative dialog in private to increase efficiency and effectiveness as a manager.

Leadership coaching is important. Leadership coaching has the following advantages for managers (and therefore also for companies):

• More security in the leadership role
• Growth in leadership skills
• Better acceptance among employees
• Clear vision of upcoming steps in your management career
• A good impact factor is achieved through support, confrontation and feedback

Thanks to leadership coaching, managers can better cope with typical situations or problems such as taking up a management position, young managers, female managers, changes from specialist to manager, current problems or conflicts in the team. Leadership coaching can be highly individualized and is very beneficial for many managers.

A leadership coach conducts coaching sessions with managers. This leadership coaching is about critically reflecting on one's own work and dealings with employees and thus developing them further. In this way, the leadership coach helps managers to help themselves, as they use targeted questions to find the right solution for them.

There are special leadership coaching sessions for women that deal with specific women's issues in addition to normal leadership coaching. Special attention is paid to topics such as women's careers, women's networks, gender equality, leadership by women, tips and tricks for power and status games. In addition to individual leadership coaching and professional support for women, leadership coaching for women can also include, for example, assertiveness coaching or coaching on how to delegate better.

In contrast to general business coaching, leadership coaching primarily discusses topics relating to leadership. The aim of leadership coaching is to strengthen the person in their leadership role and develop their leadership skills. Depending on the situation, the coaching focus can be on a specific topic. In addition to active listening, leadership coaching methods also include various tools to help the coachee gain new perspectives: Role playing. Visualization with pictures, figures and other props, questionnaires, certain questioning techniques, diagrams and analysis aids. Aspects such as role expectations, role conflicts, leadership skills and being a role model are often discussed. The leadership coach acts as a sparring partner and guides you through the following typical coaching phases:

• Relationship building
• Definition of goals and expectations
• Exploring perspectives and options for action
• Solution approaches and choice of solution
• Reflection and conclusion

In principle, leadership coaching is also possible online, as a large part of the work is guiding managers towards self-discovery. Conversations can also be held by telephone or video conference. The advantage of online leadership coaching is the independence of location, no travel time and it also enables discreet and safe spontaneous consultations.

You can become a leadership coach through targeted training or further education. There you learn how to initiate and support the development processes of managers. This requires empathy, a willingness to examine oneself and the ability to self-reflect. The leadership coaching contents of further training are usually

• Strengthening personal skills
• How coaching works
• Acquisition of communication strategies necessary for leadership coaching
• Promoting your own personality
• Coaching based on psychologically sound theories and methods
• Initiating and supporting management development processes

In leadership coaching training, leadership coaches learn to support managers through targeted coaching. Be it with leadership concepts, advice on change projects, determining where you stand or in crisis situations. The following topics, for example, are covered in leadership coaching training:

• Aspects of leadership
• Assessing people correctly - relevant advice
• Basic theories, concepts and tools for successful coaching
• Coaching in the field of tension between organization and person as well as between person and role
• Support during crises in individual consultations
• Career assessment / online advice