PCC | Experienced Human Resource Practitioner & Coach | Leadership & Personal Coach for Mid-Career Professionals | Certified EI Practitioner
Author: Inoka Dias
A team leader once shared with me how her “lightbulb moment” as a leader came not when she gave her team a solution, but when she paused and asked, “What do all of you think would work here?”
She described how her team members’ eyes lit up, confidence soared, and the solution that emerged was not only effective but owned by the whole team. She said to me, “This was the moment I realised leadership is not about knowing more; it’s about asking better.”
Leadership is no longer about having all the answers or being perceived as knowing everything. It is about asking the right questions, listening deeply, and creating an environment where people can feel safe, grow, thrive, and live their best lives. This is where leadership and coaching intersect: at the meeting point of impact and empowerment.
John Quincy Adams once said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” Coaching amplifies this inspiration by shifting leadership from giving direction by default to one that is developmental by design, moving from authority to one of inspiring collaboration.
The International Coaching Federation (ICF) defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential.” Isn’t that also what great leadership does?
Leaders who adopt a coaching mindset move beyond managing performance and keeping teams together to ensure that deliverables yield the desired outcomes. They cultivate trust, foster self-awareness, and encourage reflection. In doing so, team members are able to not only deliver effectively on their role but are also nudged into individual growth trajectories that allow them to fulfil their own aspirations. Today, people look beyond direction to being really seen and heard. Coaching provides that space.
Marshall Goldsmith, one of the world’s top leadership thinkers, has said: “Successful leaders do not only practice coaching, they create a culture of coaching.” This cultural shift transforms conversations from one-way directives into meaningful dialogues that spark ownership and accountability.
When leaders step into the role of coach, three things happen:
- Clarity grows – People learn to see situations through multiple perspectives.
- Confidence builds – Teams feel empowered to take initiative and own solutions.
- Capacity expands – Leadership becomes distributed, not concentrated, and collective intelligence rises.
And when leaders become coaches, we are reminded of a statement by Sir John Whitmore, who pioneered performance coaching saying that “Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.”
At its heart, the intersection of coaching and leadership is about humanity. Leaders who coach don’t just drive results; they don’t just tell; they don’t solve. Instead, leaders who coach are truly invested in growth; they listen profoundly and they enable others to discover.
In a world that is changing rapidly and where technology is super-charged, leaders who will stand out are those who can hold space for meaningful conversations, who balance vision with empathy, and who choose curiosity over control.
To lead is to coach. And to coach is to lead with presence, respect, and purpose.
