Recognised Leader as Coach training

Successful leaders care about their colleagues and teams. They learn as much as they teach, and they grow along with other people. Developing and practicing coaching skills can provide leaders with approaches that enhance their day-to-day workplace interactions to good effect. Coaching skills and approaches are useful to all participants in workplace interactions and can increase everyone’s leadership, learning and contribution.

Coaching skills can foster authenticity and compassion within a team.  Effective leaders draw on their emotional intelligence to get the best out of their team. For example, through their awareness to recognise both the content of a conversation and the process of what is happening as the conversation develops. Successful leaders recognise patterns in their interactions and use them to maximise the effectiveness of their leadership. Listening is an active and purposeful action used by effective leaders to build rapport; understand team members at a deeper level; and guide conversations skilfully and precisely. The ability to create questions that unleash the potential of others is another key leadership skill through which leaders can assert their own needs without dismissing the needs of others. Coaching approaches can lead to recognition that other people have potentially unknown challenges. Effective leaders understand when difficult conversations are necessary and manage them skilfully to generate optimal outcomes for all involved.

Workplaces are ever–changing as new work patterns and conventions develop; as was seen in recent years, for example, in response to the impact of the 2020 pandemic. Effective leaders respond and adapt to the complex challenges that organisations, teams and individuals face as they strive to navigate the challenges of daily working life. Understanding and developing a repertoire of coaching skills to draw on can help them to do this. Communication skills such as active listening and questioning for exploration; personal qualities such as insightful refection, empathy and being able to give and receive constructive feedback; and goal orientated and inclusive leadership approaches characterise and underpin personal, workplace and leadership coaching behaviours.

Across the four sessions, content will include:

Day 1. Awareness of the Coach

Day 2. Listening skills

Day 3. Questioning skills

Day 4. Conversational mastery & difficult conversations.

Throughout the course you will be applying these coaching skills through practice with peers, and reflecting on the learning and course feedback.

• improve the power of your listening, questioning and conversational awareness
• enhance your communication skills in all workplace conversations
• build your confidence to feel able to apply coaching skills in workplace conversations
• learn the skills that can reveal and unlock the potential of others
• understand how to be in control of difficult conversations, asserting your own needs
• recognise the traps that can lead you to take on the problems of others, and instead learn how to let them find their own solutions
• feel confident to be someone who brings out the best in other people
• live group sessions with a UHCCM coaching professional
• self-study
• reflection activities.

Richard Smith is an Associate Professor at the University of Hertfordshire and a passionate advocate for coaching as a catalyst for human and organisational growth. Drawing on years of experience developing leaders and coaching programmes within higher education, he helps people unlock potential through purposeful conversation and reflective practice.

A representative for the Association for Coaching and a facilitator of its national workshops, Richard combines academic insight with real-world experience to inspire others to lead with curiosity, connection, and courage.

His forthcoming book, A Phenomenal Life (early 2026), captures his philosophy on how leaders and individuals alike can cultivate meaning and make an extraordinary difference through everyday actions.

‘I was very satisfied with the programme I think it is important to take time out of the business to complete programmes like this to develop our CPD skills’

‘The coaching skills I gained from this coaching training help me effectively conduct client engagement meetings. These skills are also helpful for me to deal with conversations in personal life‘

‘I just wanted to say a huge thank you to you for running the Coaching & Mentoring course, this has given some great insights, sharpening of skills, new models to consider and methods to apply! The collaborative discussions were helpful and provided a good space to peer-review opinion and individual approach’