EVERYDAY COACHING – Expanding Your Coaching Skills as an Internal Senior People Leader

Are you ready to take your coaching impact to the next level? As senior people leaders, our influence goes far beyond HCM—we can and should position ourselves as true strategic partners at the executive table.

Here are a few ways to expand your coaching skills and drive business outcomes:

• Position Human Capital as a Business Partner: Don’t just focus on people for people’s Show the alignment of how talent decisions directly influence strategy, business goals and financial performance. Bring a people perspective to every conversation and highlight both opportunities and risks in real time. Use relevant data (ROI, increased revenue, cost savings) in addition to being the eyes/ears and heart/soul of the organization.
• Own Your Seat at the Table: Speak up with recommendations, not just observations. Provide insights into how to achieve business goals. Be a senior leader by volunteering to lead cross- functional projects. Sometimes, it’s about proactively proposing projects that demonstrate your value – for example recommending which new market to enter because you know who internally has that expertise from a prior role.
• Learn the Business of the Business: Develop your business acumen by understanding operations, customers, and strategy. Use data to align talent with business outcomes and stay curious – ask questions, attend key meetings, seek out allies, and keep learning. Show up early to meetings and listen closely to the sidebar conversation before the meeting.
• Master Everyday Coaching Conversations: Ask reflective questions that turn advice-seeking into self-discovery. Distinguish between performance issues and personality differences, and help leaders build independence rather than reliance. Encourage a coaching culture at every level.
• Handle Tricky Situations with Confidence: Balance empathy with accountability and leverage your knowledge of the organization’s culture and people. Your goal is to help the overall organization by supporting the individuals on the team. Remember, sometimes your best role is to help leaders prepare for direct conversations or for delivering tough decisions – always with respect and dignity. And finally, know when “just between us” crosses boundaries.

What’s one way you’ve helped your organization see the strategic value of people decisions? And how did you establish yourself as the coach to senior leaders? Let’s share ideas and keep growing together!