At some point during my career, I was asked to place orders to buy and sell hedge funds. This wasbefore Zoom calls and COVID-19 lockdowns, so the process involved sending the instructions by fax.

I barely knew how to use the fax machine. I typed the orders in a Word document, printed it and took it to the fax machine. I dialed the number and slipped the pages into the document feeder. The pages started going through the machine, and I thought that was that.

A few weeks later, I noticed that one of the orders had not appeared in the system. “Why did they ignore my instructions?” I thought to myself. Upon further investigation, I was told that one page of the fax was never received. Oh no. I messed up!

I built up the courage to tell the portfolio manager, because if the price moved against us, the firm might have to bear the cost. Luckily, the price was moving in our favor.

I explained what had happened, and he asked, “Did you get confirmation that the fax was sent?”

Hmm. Good question. “No, but this machine doesn’t give out confirmations,” I said, while blaming the tech.

He stood up from his four-screen desk and asked me to follow him. I thought I was going to get fired! We went to the fax machine, and he asked me whether I knew how to use it. I told him that I didn’t know, but how hard can it be.

He clicked on some buttons and retrieved all the faxes sent.

“Do you see this?” He pointed to the faxes I sent.

“Oh, yes, now I see it.” I was so embarrassed!

“You click here, and it prints the confirmations. It seems one wasn’t delivered. What do you thinkwe should do?”

“Send it again?” My voice was still shaking.

“Great, and what will you make sure you get this time?”

“The confirmation?”

“That’s it! And one more thing, how will you know they got it?”

“I’ll call them right after I send the fax?”

“Exactly.”

The portfolio manager was also my mentor, who actually taught me much of what I know about the markets. If you have never experienced coaching, this is one practical example of what it can look like.

Not all great leaders are coaches, but leaders who bring coaching into their conversations can create more lasting change.

I did not yet understand the power of coaching or how people learn at work. I always thought that a coach tells you what to do. Someone who knows more than you and gives you the answers to all your questions.

I was completely wrong.

This article explores what coaching is and why it can be such a powerful approach for leaders who want to create lasting impact. Whatis coaching? One widely used definition, from the International Coaching Federation, describes coaching as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that supports their personal and professional potential. The coach and client work as partners, with the client retaining responsibility for their goals, decisions and actions. Although coaching is becoming increasingly visible in Cyprus, I still speak to leaders who assume that a coach will come and tell them what to do.

The difference between coaching,therapy, mentoring and consultants

Coaching is not therapy, although coaching conversations might touch on the root cause of a challenge. Therapy is a clinical profession that can address mental health, wellbeing, relationships and behaviour. It is generally regulated and licensed according to the laws of the relevant jurisdiction and may focus on the present, the past or both. Coaching isn’t a substitute for therapy, and a good coach knows when to point a client toward one instead.

There’s no single licensing system for coaching the way there is for therapy. Professional bodies like the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC), the International Coaching Federation (ICF), and the Association for Coaching (AC) offer credentialing and ethical standards, but membership alone isn’t a guarantee of quality. If you’re looking for a professional coach, checking whether the coach holds a recognised credential is one useful starting point, alongside considering their training, experience, ethical standards and fit with your needs.

Mentoring is different too. A mentor is usually someone with relevant experience who offers guidance, perspective and lessons from their own professional journey. Consultants bring specialist expertise to analyse a problem and recommend or help implement a solution. I know this well, because I was a consultant, advising ultra-high-net-worth clients on asset allocation and portfolio strategy. A consultant asks questions to understand the challenge, then uses specialist expertise to recommend or help implement a solution.

A coach doesn’t hand you the answer. My job is to help the client examine the situation and identify the best option for them.

Quick reference: Coaching vs. Therapy vs. Mentoring vs. Consulting

Coaching Therapy Mentoring Consulting

Relationship Equal partnership Clinician and
client

Experienced
guide and mentee

Expert and client

Time focus Present and
future

Present, past, or
both, depending
on the approach

Experience and
guidance applied
to the mentee’s
development

Current or future
problem,
opportunity or
objective

Typical source
of expertise

The client’s goals,
insights and
choices, explored
through dialogue
and reflection.

Clinician’s clinical
expertise and
therapeutic
process

Mentor’s own
experience

Consultant’s
analysis

Core method Powerful
questions

Clinical
assessment and
treatment

Sharing lived
experience and
advice

Analysis and
recommendations

Regulation No single
dedicated
licensing system
in most
jurisdictions

Typically licensed
or otherwise
legally regulated,
depending on
jurisdiction

Unregulated Unregulated

A simplified comparison for general guidance.

How can a leader invite coaching to leave a lasting impact?I’ll share three coaching practices that any leader can bring into any organisation to help develop future leaders.

Listening

Listening is probably the most important skill a coach or leader can develop. For practical purposes, I think of listening as taking place at three levels. The first level involves listening to the

words being spoken. Many conversations begin at this level: we hear the words but may miss the tone, emotion or context surrounding them.

The second level involves listening to tone, body language and other non-verbal cues. This may include noticing changes in posture, breathing patterns, facial expression and eye contact. My mentor and portfolio manager was operating at this level. Paying attention to these signals can help us understand the context surrounding what someone is saying, although they should never be treated as definitive evidence of what that person is thinking or feeling.

The third level involves listening for what may be present beneath the words: assumptions, emotions, concerns and tensions. This is a skill that can be developed. The first place to begin is with what coaches sometimes call a ‘know-nothing’ state: the discipline of setting aside assumptions and remaining genuinely curious.

Being present

Listening at the second and third levels is not possible without being present. Being present means engaging fully in the conversation rather than dividing your attention between the person speaking and your next task.

For the duration of the conversation, the leader’s attention is directed toward the person in front of them, not toward the next meeting, the morning’s problems or a phone notification. This does not mean that distractions disappear; it means that the leader notices them and deliberately returns their attention to the conversation.

Non-verbal behaviour can add useful context here, but it’s not a mind-reading tool. A person looking away might be thinking, recalling something, feeling uncomfortable, or simply reacting to the room. Rather than assuming what it means, a leader can stay curious and ask a respectful follow-up question instead.

Asking questions

Naturally, after listening to the other person speak and being completely present in the moment, curiosity shines through. Operating from a know-nothing state and being completely present will create an invitation to ask questions.

A good leader asks questions, and a great leader knows what kind of questions to ask. For instance, asking, “Did you get the job done?”, will give us different information than asking, “How much of the job is done?” Both questions concern the status of the task, but the first invites a yes-or-no answer, while the second creates space for the person to explain their progress.

Knowing what kind of questions to ask and how is a skill, which can invite the other person to share openly and honestly, or scare them away.

Why is this so important?

I know what you’re thinking. It’s so much easier to just tell the person to do the work, because actively listening, being present and asking questions can take so much more time. You’re right. It does take longer, but this is the investment that you are making in the future.

There’s a reason for that beyond intuition. Cognitive psychology has a name for it.

The Generation Effect

Psychologists Norman Slamecka and Peter Graf found in 1978 that people remember information better when they generate it themselves than when they simply read or receive it.
A later meta-analysis of 86 studies found the effect across a wide range of materials and experimental tasks. The research suggests that actively generating information can improve later memory compared with passively receiving it. A coaching conversation is not the same as a laboratory memory task, but the principle offers a useful explanation for why people tend to remember and own insights they’ve worked out for themselves.

Slamecka, N. J., & Graf, P. (1978). “The Generation Effect: Delineation of a Phenomenon.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 4(6), 592–604.

Bertsch, S., Pesta, B. J., Wiscott, R., & McDaniel, M. A. (2007). “The Generation Effect: A Meta-Analytic Review.” Memory & Cognition, 35(2), 201–210.

That is what my portfolio manager did at the fax machine: he turned a mistake into a learning experience. He didn’t tell me to get confirmation next time. He asked me what I thought we should do, and I had to produce the answer myself. I’ve never forgotten it. Putting it alltogether

After that day when my leader coached me through the process, I placed many more orders and I never made the same mistake again.

As a leader, I invite you to listen more actively and ask better questions. Not simply to gather more information, but to help people think clearly, take ownership and make better decisions.

Hassan M. Al-Shohaty is an accredited executive performance coach based in Cyprus, and the founder of HMS Coaching. He works with executivesin financialservicesto work less, earn more and advance
further without burnout. hellohms.com