Leaders come in all shapes and sizes. Usually, a person’s leadership style depends on their own personality and experience, and to an extent, the organization’s culture, needs, and goals.

A strong leader provides the organization with clarity of purpose and mission. They inspire confidence, and influence, motivate and guide people to give their best performance to the company. There are two particular types of leaders who are especially effective at achieving these objectives. They are the strategic leader and the coach leader.

How do the two leadership styles differ from each other?

And which style is “better”?

Let’s take a look!

What Is Strategic Leadership?

Today’s organizations function in a challenging business landscape. In this scenario, they need strong leaders to help them scale operations, mitigate risks, challenge the status quo, and prepare for future challenges and opportunities. Here’s where a strategic leader comes in.

A strategic leader has the ability to make effective plans for the organization. They can get the best out of available resources to efficiently and successfully execute the company’s strategy and vision. Thus, this visionary can see the big picture and keep the end in mind while leading the company towards its goals and objectives.

Strategic leaders design and implement the company’s strategy. Equally important, they convert future goals into actions, and actions into results. To this end, they are great at allocating resources, delegating responsibility, and empowering teams to execute the strategy and make decisions that benefit the company.

This type of leader plays a critical role as the organization’s change driver. They design, develop, and improve change management strategies to prepare the company for upcoming change with minimal friction to its people, processes, or outcomes.

Some of the key qualities of a strategic leader are:

• Great planners
• Always work towards a vision
• Clearly communicate the vision to their people
• Encourage unity and collaboration
• Anticipate and prepare for change, whether it’s positive or negative

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is considered one of the world’s foremost strategic leaders, along with the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern.

What Is Coaching Leadership?

As the name suggests, coaching leaders focus on coaching their teams to bring out the best in them. They guide their people through goals and obstacles and encourage collaboration and two-way communication. 

A coaching leader is great at providing opportunities for learning, creative thinking, and personal/professional development. They believe in giving constructive feedback and in being supportive rather than judgmental, which is why they don’t reprimand people individuals for making mistakes in the short term. Instead, they focus on long-term goals and encourage their teams to do the same.

One of the key differentiating characteristics of coaching leaders is that they have a growth mindset. That’s why they don’t assume that skills and intelligence are inborn and set in stone. Rather, they empower people to cultivate these qualities and consistently be their best selves.

Some of the crucial qualities that make a great coaching leader are:

• Focus on long-term success
• Encourage people to ask questions and learn on their own, instead of giving readymade answers and pat solutions
• Provide clear and actionable feedback
• Encourage creative thinking and unambiguous communication

Apple’s Steve Jobs and Indian freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi are two great examples of coaching leaders who empowered others through their visionary beliefs, communication, and innate ability to instill self-belief in others.

Which Leadership Style Is Better: Strategic Or Coaching?

Strategic leadership and coaching leadership are by no means the only two leadership styles. Also, neither style is “better” than the other. As mentioned earlier, a leader’s leadership style depends on their own personality as well as the organization’s goals and needs.

So, when the organization needs to balance day-to-day business-as-usual with future plans and goals – it needs a strategic leader to show the way forward. But when the requirement is for a leader who can help individuals and teams improve their weaknesses and nurture their strengths, a coaching leader would be more useful.

Strategic leaders are great at challenging old practices and thinking of new ways to do things in order to benefit the organization. They also have the ability to inspire teams to think out of the box. While they value inputs from team members, they tend to think more about the organization’s strategic vision and long-term plan.

Coaching leadership is less about strategic thinking and more about motivating people to give their best effort. They are supportive and they ask guided questions to promote self-learning and self-development among their people. They offer guidance and encouragement instead of punishment and judgment. Leaders who coach help foster positive company culture, and are often considered valuable mentors.

Conclusion

We hope you found this comparison of strategic leaders versus coaching leaders useful. Regardless of which type of leader your organization needs, you will definitely benefit by nurturing your people to develop their leadership skills and find their own style.