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Back in May, I shared some thoughts on social media about transformational coaches titled:

“Six Indicators of a Transformational Coach.” 
The post was actually from notes I wrote down in 2016 when I was wrestling with the tension of determining who I was going to be and how I was going to lead after taking the reins of my own college baseball program. (When you’re the assistant you have all the ideas and plans for how things are going to go. But after the interviews are over and the ink is dry you have to step into how you’re actually going to do the thing. It’s where the rubber hits the road. Theory turns into an action plan.) 

In that searching process I began to create a list of how the best, most life changing leaders I’d been around seemed to approach the monotony of the day to day of coaching life and leadership life. Here’s the list I came up with. 

I’ve written about transformational coaches many times, but for some reason this post in particular hit home for a lot of people. In fact, the response was staggering; over 522,000 people viewed the post. Over 1,000 people bookmarked it to return to it later. I spent the next few days engaging with coaches and leaders via DMs, emails, and texts as we discussed these indicators and how coaches and leaders can live up to such an aspirational level of coaching and leading. 

In all that interaction here’s what I found: 

1.) For many, the concept of a transformational coach is attractive. 

2.) Embodying the approach of a transformational leader is the highest calling of leading and coaching.  

3.) While we all recognize how life changing this aspirational standard can be, learning how to coach and lead in this way takes a lot of work - work that few are willing to do.

The idea of transformational coaching is not a new thing. In fact, transformational leadership is a well developed discipline. Studies have been done, research has been funded, the results show what many thought it would. 

Transformational leadership is wildly effective. It works and for a variety of reasons.

Because of the style of the leader, people feel cared for. People feel safe. Teams feel connected. And when people feel cared for, and people feel safe, and teams feel connected - the best individual and collective work has a great opportunity to be produced. 

The formula seems so simple. It reads so linear and it all makes sense. But why isn’t this aspirational style of leadership produced in every corner of the world? If it is so effective, why isn’t every Power 4 coach putting it into practice? Why isn’t every Fortune 500 CEO going the way of the transformational leader? Why do we see so few coaches and leaders fulfilling the 6 indicators of a transformational leader?

Well for starters, I think it’s because leadership isn’t just a strategy to get things “on track.” 

Leadership is the overflow of your lifestyle. 

You can’t fulfill these six indicators of a transformational leader unless you are living like the type of person who can fulfill these six indicators of a transformational leader.

And that is where things get hard. That is where the theory of transformational leadership and the study of transformational leadership seem to stall out at only looking at the effects of transformational leadership instead of how to actually become a transformational leader.

Because the truth is, there’s a lot of obstacles in our lives that hinder our ability to live and lead in a way that hits this standard. There’s real stress. There are real challenges. There is real pressure. 

Leadership doesn’t happen in a vacuum or a classroom. It’s tough out there!

But at the same time haven’t we known this for years? And what are we doing to counter the reality that leadership is hard, and it’s lonely, and it comes with all sorts of pressure both internal and external? 

At some point the concept of “personal leadership development” needs to change. The strategy for leadership development has to move away from mere principles, laws and hacks and toward developing holistically as a person.

It has to move toward learning how to flourish. 

The way of the transformational leader is directly linked to the internal well-being of the leader. 

Your best shot at fulfilling the high calling of transformational leader is to become the type of person who is flourishing on a consistent basis. 

And out of that flourishing lifestyle will overflow the type of leadership you once deemed impossible. 

But it only comes through the consistent work in the intersection. It only comes through learning how to flourish.

Is there a more important work for a coach or leader? I don’t think so. 

Is it worth it for a coach or leader to learn how to flourish? I sure think so.