A personal story about what I learned about leadership during my years in banking, and how it eventually led me to coaching.
Years before I became a coach, while working as a financial analyst in SME lending in a bank, I noticed something that has stayed with me over time.
I was supporting business owners to grow their businesses with borrowed capital and monitoring how their projects and businesses developed. What I started to see was that, very often, business success was closely related to the leadership growth of the person developing it.
Before that, I had worked in the reorganization and expansion of the branch network of another bank, and there I could see something similar – different branch managers, different leadership approaches, different results – especially visible after the branch manager of an office had been changed.
I also experienced this personally as an employee. I worked with different leaders during my 15-year banking career and saw how their attitude and way of leading could create chaos and inefficiency, or could create collaboration, positive energy and an environment where it was a pleasure to work and give your best.
At that time, I didn’t know that one day leadership would become such an important part of my own work. But I was asking myself questions like:
- Why are some people more successful than others?
- Why do some people become leaders whom others want to follow, while others create exactly the opposite effect?
When my son was born, I started reading positive psychology and books about communication with children because I wanted to be a great mom. And I started finding answers to those and many other questions I had. This also provoked my own transformation process, and very soon, when I discovered coaching and NLP, I found methodologies that help people open their full potential and blossom. And I found my path – to help people in business be more successful, happier and live healthier lives.
So, in 2014, I traveled to San Francisco, where I certified as a coach. What I found really amazing about this methodology is that it doesn’t teach you how to grow your business, and it doesn’t advise you on how to be a better leader. Rather, through questions and exercises, as a coach, I help people find their own best answers. Of course, my background helps me a lot. But I don’t use it to give advice; rather, it helps me sense where the gaps could be and find the right questions very fast.
More than 12 years later, I am still enjoying the process of questioning because of the transformation it provides and the aha moments business leaders have in each of our sessions. Leaders of all ages, busy people building small and medium-sized companies, facing difficult decisions, different challenges, and even painful separation from a business partner, find this approach astonishingly useful.
And there is one thing I find really important that my work with leaders has confirmed over time:
As the business grows, the leader needs to grow with it.
Have you experienced this in your own business or work?
