Tiger Woods.

Lance Armstrong.

Kobe Bryant.

These men are just three examples of people acknowledged to be among the very best in the world at their craft. They all have something in common though that might not immediately spring to mind.

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They all have coaches.

While I picked athletes in this example, I could have just as easily listed people at the top of other professions - musicians, politicians, authors are just three that come to mind. However, name the field or expertise, and you will consistently find that the very best have coaches.

You maybe aren`t a world-class athlete, author or musician, but as a leader, the skills required and the challenges you face daily are every bit as complex and difficult as those faced by these others. In fact you could make a compelling case that your role is much more complex than many of these.

So doesn`t it make sense that if the top professionals in so many fields have coaches, that we as leaders should have them too?

Only if you want to be the best you can be.

Some Specific Benefits

Now that I hopefully have your attention, let me share five huge benefits that having a leadership or executive coach can bring to you. Any one of these could be reason enough to seek out a coach, but when taken as a whole the argument is hard to overlook.

A challenger. It is often lonely at the top. Even if you aren`t at the pinnacle of your organization, sometimes as a leader you have no one who will really challenge your thoughts, ideas and actions. A coach will ask you the tough questions. A coach will challenge your assumptions. A coach will ask you why.

A sounding board. Along with needing someone to challenge, leaders also need someone to listen to us; someone who will really hear us, someone who understands the context of our situation, someone who can offer an un-biased external view and perspective. A coach can provide all of those things for you.

An ongoing process. Most leadership development looks like an event. Attend this workshop. Read this book. Participate in this webinar or retreat. With a coach you have access to improvement resources all the time. While the specifics may vary with your specific relationship and agreement, the reality is that with a coach you will have an ongoing, consistent method for improving your skills.

Speed. Because a coach provides you with an ongoing process for learning and development, you will develop your skills more rapidly and have a resource available to help you when you need it. Who wouldnt want to improve faster? Who wouldnt want access to assistance and perspectives when they need them?

Accountability. I saved this for last because it is perhaps the most important of all. As a leader you are busy. You have competing priorities and a huge to do list. Whenever that is the case, it is so easy put off the hard tasks and/or ignore the "important" to work on the "urgent". A coach can hold you accountable for your commitments and keep you on path to working on the things you have identified as the most important (and perhaps help you figure out how to lessen the length of the overall list). You still must make the effort and do the work, but a coach`s assistance with accountability can improve your chances of success quickly and significantly.

There are more benefits, and perhaps ones that would apply to your specific situation. Rather than list them here I will close with a challenge:

If you want to be a more successful leader, you can benefit from at least one, if not all of the items listed above. If you are serious about your results, and using your leadership skills to make a difference in your organization and world, find a coach to help you get there faster.