Why Technical Leaders Benefit from Coaching: Bridging Logic and Leadership
Picture this: You’re sitting across from a brilliant VP who solves complex technical problems in minutes but freezes when trying to motivate and reassure their team during a company reorganization.
The issue with this VP? They lack communication skills, executive presence, and the ability to motivate their team. The ‘soft skills’ required of a leader. The question is: how can these extremely competent individuals become trusted and inspiring leaders?
Eddie Marmol understands this challenge intimately. With 25 years of executive coaching experience and a background in computer engineering, Eddie bridges two worlds: the rational, data-driven realm of technical expertise and the world of authentic leadership. He believes that technical leaders can develop these soft skills through expanding their self-awareness and building trust within their teams.
Building Trust and Culture in Technical Teams
In his coaching practice, Eddie Marmol tries to open up his coachee’s perceptions and self-awareness so they understand who they are at a deeper level. He believes in “ontological coaching.” Ontology is the study of who we are as people and why we do what we do. Eddie believes that with this enhanced self-perception, leaders can drive change in their teams, build trust, and improve communication.
He cites Charles Feldman’s trust framework, which provides technical leaders with a systematic approach to building human connections. Feldman believes there are four facets that build trust in teams:
- Sincerity. Communicating genuine intentions without hidden agendas.
- Competence. Demonstrating understanding of both practical challenges and human dynamics that drive successful outcomes.
- Reliability. Following through consistently on commitments and promises.
- Care. Moving beyond efficiency metrics to show genuine concern for team member growth and well-being.
Eddie believes that trusting yourself “is akin to self-confidence.” Technical leaders who develop internal trust create the foundation for building trust with others, creating a virtuous cycle that strengthens both individual leadership presence and teamwork.
One Technical Leader’s Communication Challenge
The foundation of workplace trust often comes down to authentic communication. Eddie shares an example of an executive who had been avoiding a difficult conversation with his CEO. He was constantly waiting for the “right moment” to have the conversation. That moment never seemed to arrive.
After successfully coaching the executive through an initial conversation with the CEO, Eddie noticed something. “His angle of interaction with his boss was from inferior to superior. He was being deferential and tentative, even walking on eggshells at times.” And, he was completely unaware that he was doing it.
The breakthrough came when Marmol suggested an experiment. He asked his client to try the opposite approach: to treat his boss as his inferior. When the leader did, his CEO responded immediately and positively. He said, “Speak to me that way from now on.”
The new awareness of his deferential communication style led the leader to change. His new “superior” communication style gave him the gravitas that had been missing. Now, he instills respect and commands attention. The result? His CEO trusted him to interact with stakeholders and clients in the same way, using his executive presence to transmit authority and competence.
Balancing Logic and Intuition in Technical Teams
We are, as Eddie Marmol says, “immersed in a world dominated by rationality and logic.” Technical leaders are often extremely rational and logical, so much so that they don’t allow other ways of being to enter into their awareness.
Eddie believes that building trust and communication skills can develop these executives from competent, technical minds to authentic leaders. They only need someone to help lead them along to new ways of learning and knowing.
He quotes Benjamin Zander: “In the linear world, you set a goal and you go after it. But in the world of possibility, you set a context and you let life unfold.” Executive coaching helps technical leaders open up to the world of possibility, instead of the “linear world” that most of them live in. Leaders get to practice greater trust, innovation, authentic communication, and expand their horizons to new ways of thinking.
About Eddie Marmol
Eddie Marmol brings a unique perspective to executive coaching, combining 15 years of engineering experience with 25+ years of coaching practice. His coaching journey began in 1995 when he read a newspaper article about coaching that created what he describes as “a bolt of lightning” moment. From that moment, he knew he wanted to be a coach.
His coaching is informed by an “ontological approach” focused on expanding leaders’ self-awareness and perception. His work centers on helping technical professionals develop trust-building capabilities and authentic leadership presence that transforms both individual performance and organizational cultures.
