Startup CEO training
A good friend of mine, Cheryl Smith, sometimes referred to as the coaches’ coach, visited our HQ this week to give startup CEOs an insight into the tools of professional coaching.
Cheryl and I met back in 2009 when we were launching the Executive coaching program at Reykjavik University. That’s when I was first introduced to the coaching method. Since then I’ve seen dozens of executives develop and grow in their role as leaders, inspiring others to do the same.
At Icelandic Startups we’ve been experimenting with different kinds of support for startups in their early growth stage, so we were thrilled to be able to invite the community the chance to meet and learn from Cheryl.
Encouragement is an important part of the process of building your company. That’s where a good leadership practice and the startup community have a lot in common.
Cheryl started the workshop by introducing different types of leadership methods, with an emphasis on the big difference between mentoring (giving advice) and coaching (listening is the key factor).
In coaching there are some essential questions you have to ask;
- Where are we going, where do you want to be, and why? What do you want to achieve?
- Where are we right now, where are we starting from?
- How do we get there? Explore all the options, and then pick one.
Coaching works best when people find their own answers.
I think it’s save to say that people left inspired to learn more about coaching and how to adopt its techniques into their work as leaders of the future. Now they got the right tools to take the next steps!
