The leader-coach posture: a concrete lever for developing daily performance and talent
Coaching delivered by professionals external to the organisation brings real value. It allows for a fresh perspective, opens up new horizons, and often accelerates profound transformations.
To better understand how we support leaders at The Laughing Willow, you can discover a Behind the scenes from coaching recently provided to an executive operating in a complex international environment, with high stakes in terms of influence, alignment, and performance.
Throughout my coaching sessions, I often observe the same thing: external coaching provokes powerful realisations, creates breakthroughs and accelerates certain evolutions.
But what really makes the difference in duration is what happens next.
In everyday interactions. In the relationship between the employee and their manager.
This is where the leader-coach stance becomes particularly powerful.
A professional coach provides a space for reflection, an external perspective, and a specific support framework.
The leader-coach intervenes in a different register. They are present in the reality of the activity: in moments of doubt, decision-making, tension, or progress.
Between coaching sessions – and often well after – the employee continues to experiment, learn, and embed new practices. The leader-coach then plays a key role in supporting this progression, encouraging autonomy, and accompanying awareness into concrete actions.
As a professional coach, I can only encourage leaders to develop this stance. The two approaches are not in opposition. They complement each other.
External coaching sparks and accelerates. Internal leadership coaches support, embed, and multiply transformations over time.
Today, I am delighted to see more and more organisations investing in coaching skills development. And it’s no coincidence.
When leaders adopt this mindset, they create the conditions for growth, engagement, and sustainable performance.
What is a coach-leader?
I like to talk about enabling leadership – or, in English, The Empowering Leader.
This is a leader who:
- puts himself at the service of his team
- Create a stimulating environment
- encourages accountability and collaboration
- develop the talents
- and unlock collective potential
A leader-coach creates the conditions for others to reflect, take initiative and fully express their value. They open doors. They build connections.
It develops autonomy and decision-making ability.
A very simple exercise to test your leader-coach posture
Next time a colleague comes to you with a problem, resist the urge to immediately offer a solution for a few minutes.
Try asking a few questions instead:
- “What have you already considered?”
- “What seems most relevant to you?”
- “What would you need to move forward?”
The discomfort that can be felt at the start (for the employee too!) reflects that habits are evolving. And I agree, it's not a practice that's easy to adopt, especially when everything is moving fast and we think we're saving time by responding immediately.
In reality, these few minutes help to develop autonomy, confidence, and decision-making ability.
And that is precisely where the leader-coach creates value in the long run.
Develop coach leaders
I can already hear you saying:
“How can we adopt this mindset when schedules are already overloaded?" the good news is that coaching doesn't necessarily take up more time.
It fits naturally into everyday conversations.
Three simple reflexes to activate today
1. Replace an answer with a question
Instead of saying:
“Do it like this.”
Try instead:
“What would you do?”
2. Encourage thoughtful consideration before guiding
For example:
- “What options do you see?”
- “Which one seems most relevant to you?”
- “What would be the impact of this solution?”
3. Allow proper time for reflection
Who is afraid of the void?
All of us! In ever-faster working rhythms, silence often disappears from exchanges. Yet, a few seconds are sometimes enough to allow the other person to structure their thoughts, clarify their ideas and truly engage.
A simple structure that works
In my coaching, I often suggest this guiding principle:
Question → Contribution → Engagement
- Question : to open up the discussion
- Bring : share the experience or seek impact if you see the collaborator might be going down the wrong path
- Engagement : empower
For example:
“When do you think you can put this in place?”
“What do you wish to achieve?”
“What would successful implementation look like…?”
“What would be the benefits of such an approach?”
“What's your next step?”
“What resources would you need?”
The 5 pillars of coach-leaders
According to Harvard Business Review (Successful leaders are great coaches), leader-coaches rely on five essential pillars:
To take care
To build a trusting relationship and truly understand the person.
Organiser
Utilise les atouts de chacun pour maximiser leur impact.
Align
Connect individual actions to a clear vision.
Stimulate
To encourage, challenge and bring out the best.
Support
Accompany at key moments and recognise achievements.
Two particularly useful models
1- The G.R.O.W. Model.
Developed by Sir John Whitmore, it's a model I regularly use in The foundations of management training of the Laughing Willow.
Simple, concrete and very effective for structuring a conversation:
- Objective : clarify the objective
- Reality : to understand the current situation
- Options : explore the possibilities
- Will : define a concrete action plan
2- The L.A.C.E. model.
More recently, I discovered the L.A.C.E. model proposed by the Center for Creative Leadership. I appreciate its simplicity and immediate applicability in everyday conversations.
Listen to understand
Listen to understand - not to reply.
Listen to the facts, emotions, values.
Also observe the tone, words and body language.
Ask powerful questions
Ask powerful questions… open-ended and simple.
For example:
- “What options do you see?”
- “Who can help you?”
- “What impact do you wish to create?”
Challenge and support
Stimulate reflection while maintaining a safe environment.
Establish next steps and accountability
Clarify the concrete actions
- “What's your next step?”
- “When?”
Fancy going further?
I support leaders and HR directors to:
- develop leader-coaches,
- to structure a feedback culture,
- to strengthen collective performance.
With short, immediately actionable formats, adapted to the realities on the ground.
I would be happy to discuss your challenges and explore together the appropriate support for your organisation. Contact me !