When you’re leading your organization every day, who helps you see what you might be missing?
Running an organization requires focus, energy, and constant decision-making. But when you’re in the thick of it, even the most capable leaders can develop blind spots. It’s not from a lack of insight or experience; it’s simply because leadership can narrow your perspective.
That’s why the TEC experience is built on four powerful pillars: peer advisory groups, individual coaching, expert speakers, and a global network of business leaders. Each pillar reinforces the others to help you grow, stay balanced, and lead more effectively.
This article focuses on the second pillar, individual coaching, where confidential one-to-one conversations create time and space for reflection, awareness, and personal growth.
The Coaching Advantage
Each TEC member meets regularly with their Chair for a confidential coaching session. For some leaders, that’s monthly. For others, particularly in smaller business groups, it happens less often, from six to ten times each year depending on the group.
Whatever the rhythm, this dedicated time provides an opportunity to step back, slow down, and reflect on what’s really happening inside the business and within yourself as a leader.
A good Chair doesn’t tell you what to do.
They ask the right questions that spark deeper thinking and uncover assumptions that may be holding you back.
Over time, this rhythm of reflection strengthens clarity, accountability, and confidence.
A Real-World Example
(The following is a fictional case created for demonstration purposes.)
Let’s call him Raj. He’s the founder of a growing professional services firm. Raj was proud of his team, but in one of his coaching sessions, he admitted feeling frustrated. “I’m in every client meeting,” he said. “If I’m not there, things slow down. I need to coach my people to take more initiative.”
His Chair listened, then asked a simple question: “What do you think your team sees when you step into every meeting?”
Raj paused. He hadn’t considered that his presence might be the reason his people weren’t stepping up. In trying to support them, he had unintentionally signalled that decisions always had to go through him.
That realization changed everything. Together, Raj and his Chair mapped out a plan: identify two upcoming projects where he would not attend client meetings, coach the project leads in advance, and debrief afterward.
At the next session, Raj arrived smiling. “They handled it perfectly,” he said. “I realized I was part of the bottleneck.”
It wasn’t a massive organizational overhaul. It was a small shift in perspective that unlocked leadership capacity for Raj and his team.
You Can’t See What You’re Standing In
No matter how experienced you are, it’s almost impossible to see your own patterns. Regular coaching creates the time and structure to reflect on what’s working, what’s not, and what needs to change.
For many leaders, it’s the most valuable conversation of the month, or the quarter, a focused dialogue that sharpens awareness, restores balance, and helps them lead with greater clarity and confidence.
Learn More
As a TEC Chair, I would be delighted to explore your fit with TEC and help you find the peer group that’s right for you, whether that’s my group or another across the TEC Canada network. Please feel free to reach out.
Learn more about TEC Canada and all the options for peer groups. If you are the head of the organization, a key executive, or an advancing leader, there is an option for you.
