If you are working with an executive coach, considering engaging one or wondering if executive coaching is the answer to your most pressing career/leadership issues, you will find this post useful.
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Image Credit : Leon and Donna by Deb Nostrum via flickr.com
In this article, I provide answers to some of questions that prospective executive coaching clients ask most often. These include questions such as
Why should I engage an executive coach?
What is executive coaching?
How can an executive coach help me?
Who is the right executive coach for me?
I hope you will find this post useful. If you have a question that is not answered here, do leave a comment and I will do my best to provide you the information you need.
Why should I engage an executive coach?
Working with the right executive coach to achieve your professional development and performance improvement goals can be very rewarding. The following is a partial list of benefits based on feedback from clients who have worked with me
Demonstrating your value to your employer and that you are capable of much bigger responsibility
Freeing up 3-4 hours (net) of time every week to spend with people you love most
Spending more time on the stuff that really matters and thereby significantly increasing your contribution
Managing your team better and being acknowledged as a leader who invests in his/her people and brings out the best in them
Overcoming your limiting beliefs and self-doubt and feeling more confident and empowered to pursue and achieve what really matters to you
Changes in your work/life that give you a greater sense of meaning, fulfilment, balance and alignment with your principles and values
What is executive coaching?
Now that we know how executive coaching can provide value to us, it is probably useful to understand what executive coaching is. While several definitions exist, over time I have come to like this one:
Executive coaching is a co-creative, inquiry based and holistic approach to developing potential and improving performance of individuals and teams.
The essential features that define and differentiate executive coaching from other development and performance improvement interventions include:
- Co-creation : Coaching involves partnering with the client to achieve their goals in a way that fully leverages their personality, behavioural preferences, learning and communication styles
- Inquiry based: Unlike trainers or consultants, coaches believe that clients have the answers or are resourceful enough to find them; the coach uses his or her empathy, intuition and curiosity to pose the right questions that evoke the learning and action that best meets the client’s needs
- Holistic: While the explicit goals of a coaching engagement may focus on be the client’s professional development or performance at work, executive coaches recognise the interconnectedness of the various facets of a client’s life and help clients move towards their goals in a holistic way.
How can an executive coach help me?
An executive coach works with you to help you unleash your true potential and achieve greater success and fulfilment - at work and in life.
In my experience, this requires working with you to help you get better at coping with overwhelm, managing your career, managing yourself and your team effectively, leading inspirationally and living intentionally.
While the focus on only five areas seems a bit limiting, together they apply in a variety of situations. A partial list of the scenarios that my clients have addressed using this approach include
Transitioning from individual contributor to first time manager
Transitioning from a functional leadership role (eg GM) to an enterprise leadership role (CXO)
Targeting and securing a much awaited promotion after years of being overlooked/feeling stagnant
Enhancing leadership presence and gravitas
Communicating confidently and acting decisively
Enhancing specific managerial skills such as - coaching, feedback, delegation, managing conflict, negotiation, holding others accountable, influencing and persuasion
Enhancing leadership skills such as strategic thinking, fostering innovation, working across cultures, developing leadership pipeline, driving significant change initiatives etc
Planning a mid-career sabbatical and career change to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities or calling
Creating better work-life balance and managing stress caused by heavy workload and long hours
Who is the right executive coach for me?
While I’m tempted to scream “Me! Me!”, it would be disingenuous and potentially not true. So let’s look at some of the things you should look out for when considering hiring a coach
- Qualifications : Has the coach undergone formal training and certification? Is he/she credentialed by a professional body such as ICF (International Coach Federation), EMCC (European Mentoring and Coaching Council) etc?
- Philosophy and Process: Is the coach able to articulate his/her philosophy of coaching and has a clear process with milestones that I understand and feel confident about?
- Understands me: Does the coach spend time trying to understand my needs? Does his/her approach include exploring my personality, behavioural traits, values, learning styles and communication preferences?
- Chemistry: Will I be comfortable working with my coach and discussing confidential and very personal aspects of my business/career/life with him or her?
Sounds right - but not sure how you can check?
- Most coaches maintain a website or blog (here’s mine), have a LinkedIn profile and/or Facebook page that helps you know more about them, their qualifications, their coaching philosophy and process.
- Speak to couple (or more) coaches and ask for a sample session (most coaches are happy to offer a free exploratory/strategy session to help them understand your needs and propose a coaching plan that suits you). Use this session to further explore your chemistry an comfort in working with the coach, and whether she/he "gets you"
I hope you found this post useful. If there is something you would like to know that I did not include above, please leave a comment below, and I will do my best to get you the information you need.
