No matter the industry or professional level, the most common characteristic of successful people is that they have had a career mentor somewhere along the way.

Executive coaching is different, though, in that it takes a much more formal and organized approach to helping you develop your abilities and become a better leader. An executive coach provides structured development, acting as your guide, your advisor, your most enthusiastic supporter and your toughest critic.

The focus of the executive coaching relationship is not on technical expertise, it is on helping you develop the leadership and interpersonal skills so vital to success in today’s world.

Why Work With An Executive Coach?

The higher you rise in an organization, the fewer career mentors there are available to you and the more you need a professional coach to help you continue to grow. You’ve heard the phrase “it’s lonely at the top” and there is a lot of truth to that statement.

When you are the leader responsible for guiding and motivating a group or organization, where do you turn for your own guidance and motivation? The answer is likely to be “an executive coach.”

Your coach should be an experienced professional who brings an objective perspective to the issues that concern you and acts as a confidential sounding board for your thoughts, feelings, emotions and concerns. Coaching sessions are great opportunities to open up and receive input from a non-judgmental person who is committed to your development.

What Will An Executive Coach Teach You?

An executive coach will not teach you technical skills. Rather, the coaching relationship normally focuses on helping you develop the emotional intelligence to become a better leader and/or to progress along your chosen path. This means mastering the people skills that make you more effective, more productive, and better able to set the example by which your organization will operate.

The concept of emotional intelligence is relatively new, but it is very probably central to your success. Study after study shows that the most successful executives actively develop and raise their emotional intelligence levels to serve themselves and their organizations better. When you can quickly and accurately perceive and assess your emotions and those of other people, you are in a much better position to positively influence actions and outcomes.

Is Executive Coaching Worth The Money?

Only you can be the true judge of that, but there is clearly great value in working with a skilled executive coach who will help you reach your full potential both personally and professionally. Among executives who have received coaching, improvements are typically seen in productivity, personal and professional relationships, and general job satisfaction. You should note, though, that using an executive coach is not a magic answer to all of your problems.

In the end, the most important factor in successful executive coaching is you. You must be actively engaged in the coaching process and expect to put a great deal of effort into making progress. Your enthusiasm and commitment will undoubtedly have a direct effect on the level of improvement you will gain from executive coaching.

A Changed Perspective

As your career has progressed and developed, you have inevitably spent time coaching and developing your team to reach their greatest potential. The problem is – who coaches the coach? You need someone with a different perspective, an objective viewpoint to help you continue your own development. An executive coach will challenge your views of yourself and your goals, pushing you past self-limiting beliefs, perceptions and supposed boundaries.

The best executive coaches will change your perspective on yourself and the world around you. They will help you let go of past assumptions, limitations, and move forward with new possibilities and renewed enthusiasm.

A Safe Environment

Like any kind of personal growth, though, executive coaching is only effective if it occurs in a way that feels safe to you. When you are challenged to grow and change it is very scary, and you will only achieve growth if you can take those first tentative steps with a “safety net” in place. Your coach is that safety net, helping you stretch outside of your comfort zone without the fear of falling into the abyss.

An executive coach works with you from the very start to establish rapport and build trust so that you feel confident in their commitment to you. It does not happen overnight, and it does not happen without effort on your part as well. But once established, a safe environment is the foundation for all of your subsequent growth.

Your Very Best

One of the most important roles of an executive coach is to help guide you and encourage you to be your very best, both professionally and personally. It’s really not any different than hiring a personal trainer to help you reach a fitness goal, or an architect to help you design your dream house. That outside expert is often just what you need to set an appropriate goal, create an action plan for reaching it, and keep you motivated through the challenging times.

The Ripple Effect

Executive coaching is important for its positive impact on you, but also for the ripple effect it has on the people around you. When you rise to a higher performance level, you inevitably bring others along with you. Your leadership improves and with it comes greater enthusiasm and effort from the rest of your team. Holding higher expectations for yourself sends a positive message to others and helps them establish and reach higher expectations for themselves, too.

Qualifications And Experience

The executive coaching industry is full of excellent coaches, average coaches, poor coaches, and wanna-be coaches that don’t have a clue how to help you. So how do you find someone with the qualifications and experience to be worth the cost of their services? Here is a quick guide to get you started.

Relevant Experience – Look for a coach with experience relevant to your needs. For example, an executive-level coach should have executive experience. The potential coach should be able to demonstrate successful management of people, understanding of organizational dynamics and politics, and business acumen. He or she should also have strong interpersonal skills and be adept at one-on-one interactions.

Measurable Goals - Look for a coach who sets measurable goals for the coaching process and establishes defined benchmarks to check progress. Your coach should be clear about roles and responsibilities and set clear expectations for accountability.

Methods and Personality

An effective executive coach must use a variety of methods to help your development and their personality must be a good fit for your needs.

Methods – Most executive coaches will use some type of assessment tool to gauge your strengths and weaknesses. The tools available are many and varied, and some are inherently better than others. Look for a coach who has these types of tools available, but make sure that your coach does not rely too heavily on such a tool to get to know you.

Personality and Rapport – An executive coach must be able to establish trust and rapport with you quite quickly. You need to feel comfortable talking openly and honestly about even the most sensitive topics, and the coach must maintain confidentiality. It is important, though, not to choose a coach based solely on how “nice” he or she may seem. The goal of executive coaching is to be challenged and to grow, and often that means working with someone who will tell you things that may be difficult to hear. It will not help you in the end to have an executive coach who is not forthright in their observations and suggestions.

Other Considerations

Remember that engaging the services of an executive coach is like any other business arrangement. You must have a good upfront understanding of fees, length of contract, and any other charges that are likely to be incurred. Don’t skimp on the budget you allot for executive coaching, but also be careful to get good value for what you spend.

Evaluating ROI of Executive Coaching

Coaching is inherently difficult to quantify, because it involves personal development and that is hard to express in a spreadsheet. There are some business indicators, though, that can indirectly measure the return on coaching dollars invested.

Behavioral Changes – Individuals who have had executive coaching and taken the lessons to heart will show some behavioral changes. These may show up as better coaching/management of their own employees, greater engagement in business planning, or some other specific behavior that was identifies as needing improvement prior to the start of coaching.

Performance Changes – These benefits may show up as greater efficiency, higher productivity, or larger sales volume. Another indicator to watch is overall performance of the coached executive’s department or team. Successful coaching will lead to better leadership, and this often improves performance for the entire team.

Outside References – External stakeholders will often notice something is different following a successful coaching process. Sometimes they will notice specific improvements, other times they will notice that something is different but they will not be able to articulate exactly what it is. Some businesses will actively solicit comments from external people, while others will simply listen and take note of unsolicited comments and feedback.

Doing the Right Thing

Many businesses view executive coaching as simply the “right thing” to do. They know that the money they spend, when spent on a good coach for a promising employee, will pay off both directly and indirectly. They look at the coaching investment in much the same way you might look at your retirement savings – it may be tough to put that money away each month when you could be spending it elsewhere, but you know it will benefit you in the end so you do it anyway. You monitor the performance of your money over time, make small adjustments as necessary, and watch it grow into something bigger and better than it was at the start.

When you think of executive coaching in these terms, it is much easier to understand the connection between good coaching and positive business benefits.

Recognition of Potential

When you are offered a chance for executive coaching it is a very strong affirmation of your growth potential. Your employer would not spend money on your development if they did not think you were worth it. Sometimes coaching is used as a way to help you correct a deficiency or a problem, but even then it should be viewed as a positive thing. Your employer is confident enough about your value to the company that they are willing to invest valuable resources to help you improve.

Strategic Opportunity

Executive coaching is a terrific opportunity for you to step back from the “daily grind” and take a much broader look at your life, both personally and professionally. Your coach will help you evaluate how your life and job intersect, and encourage you to reflect on the relationship. Are you out of balance in some way? Are there issues in one area that are affecting the other and need to be addressed?

A good way to approach executive coaching is to view it as life planning and development, instead of just career planning and development. Your coach is an experienced professional who can offer you objective feedback in a completely confidential atmosphere.

Leadership Transformation

Leadership is more than just a corporate buzzword, it is critical to your professional and personal success. In the modern world of business it is not enough anymore to have just technical knowledge and skills. Successful professionals have a far larger role to play as leaders of their immediate teams and within their company.

Good executive coaching produces effective leaders. Why? Because the person being coached receives intensive one-on-one attention designed specifically to focus on issues of leadership. These issues include expectations of accountability, practicing flexibility in times of change or crisis, and treating people with respect and integrity.

Understanding Coaching Roles

It is important to fully understand the roles and accountabilities of the executive coach, the executive being coached, and the employer. These may vary depending on circumstances. For example, if the employer is paying for coaching to assess and address specific employee challenges, then the coach has a responsibility to focus on those issues and may need to report progress back to the employer (depending on the terms of the engagement). The employer is responsible for allowing the person being coached to spend adequate time focused on the process, even to the point of bringing in temporary resources if necessary to cover important workload.

Before you enter into any executive coaching arrangement, make sure all parties are very clear about roles and responsibilities. This will help you receive maximum benefit from the executive coaching process and avoid problems later on.

1.  “I Don’t Need Coaching”

This is a variation on the common human tendency to resist change.  We all like to think that we’re pretty good at what we do so it can be tough on our egos to be approached about participating in a coaching program.  Executive coaching, by its very nature, involves individuals who hold positions of responsibility in an organization – people who have worked hard to excel and earn success.  If they don’t fully understand the potential benefits of coaching they may feel demeaned or disrespected at the mere suggestion of receiving coaching.

Businesses can overcome this misconception by educating executives about what coaching is and what it is not.  Another effective strategy is to handpick the most willing, enthusiastic participants for the first forays into executive coaching so that their positive experiences will influence others who may be resistant early on.

2.  Coaching Is For Poor Performers

Sometimes coaching is viewed as a type of corrective action for problem people or those with performance issues.  Coaching certainly does have at its heart a strong element of performance improvement, but its greater purpose is to promote the development and growth of executives who can help guide the organization into the future.

Businesses can overcome this misconception by emphasizing the growth potential that comes from executive coaching instead of the corrective potential.  Select a mix of people with varying strengths to receive coaching, and talk openly and often about the reasons why the organization believes so strongly in the coaching process.

3. Coaching Is A Waste Of Time

Coaching is time well spent when the participant is fully engaged in the process and the coach is a good one, so in that sense this is indeed a misconception.  Unfortunately, though, misconception lives on because in some situations is can be true.  A poor coach, an unwilling or disengaged participant, or a combination of these things can make coaching a waste of time and money.

Businesses can overcome this misconception and preventing it from becoming reality by investing in the services of competent executive coaches and selecting participants who are fully committed to the process.

4.  Coaching Is An Easy Process To Undertake

From the outside, coaching can look awfully simple.  Devote a few hours periodically to interacting with your coach and increase your visibility with upper management – what a deal!  The reality is far different, as anyone who has been coached well already knows.  Effective executive coaching involves a lot of soul searching, open communication, and honest evaluation of one’s personal and professional attributes.

Businesses can overcome this misconception by educating the entire workforce about how executive coaching benefits the whole organization and provide examples of where it has made a positive difference.  Some very forward-thinking businesses are also beginning to offer modified coaching/development opportunities to mid-level employees and broader employee groups so they can take advantage of the benefits of coaching as well.

It’s All About Me

Some executive coaching programs focus almost exclusively on internal issues.  That is, taking an in-depth look at the participant’s personal style and assessing common behavior patterns.  This approach typically uses psychological profiles and other personal analytical tools to pinpoint a participant’s strengths and weaknesses.

The pitfall of this approach is that it leans too heavily toward the personal growth side.  The participant learns a great deal about himself or herself, but the connection is seldom made to how that learning can be applied in the professional realm.  In other words, the high level of personal growth can have the effect of “disconnecting” the participant from the organization if the learning is not clearly translated into actions for being more effective at work.

It’s All About Them

Another common type of executive coaching program is primarily concerned with behavior.  The focus is external rather than internal, and it often involves gathering feedback from a number of external sources.  These assessment tools are variously known as 360° surveys, peer reviews, full circle evaluations, or some other name that describes the nature of the external feedback.

The pitfall of this approach is that it is so external in nature.  There is no doubt in the minds of those surveyed that something (perhaps coaching) is underway.  It can also create an unfortunate  perception that there is something wrong with the participant and the coaching is going to “fix” them.  Lastly, the heavy reliance on others’ perceptions can be misleading if the organization is dysfunctional or experiencing cultural change.  If the participant is someone who is implementing changes and working to get rid of dysfunction, that person is likely to receive a lot of negative feedback.  This is simply human nature at work – most of us don’t like change and we naturally target complaints at whomever or whatever we perceive to be the cause of the disruption.

It’s All About Status

Some participants view executive coaching as a status symbol, a sign that they are important enough to the organization to receive coaching.  Their ego is heavily invested in being perceived as a rising star and coaching helps promote that perception.

The pitfall of this situation is that the participant can become more focused on the symbolic status that comes with coaching rather than on the goals and desired outcomes of the process.  It’s important to periodically remind participants of the underlying business reasons for executive coaching so they don’t fall into the trap of thinking they are somehow better or more worthy than others in the organization.

Training

The simplest explanation of training is that it is usually skills-based and the curriculum is established in advance.  Participants attend training sessions for a specified period of time, cover a specified set of materials, and leave the training with handouts and workbooks containing the information covered.

Training is inherently “top down”, meaning the instructor delivers the information to the participants and then (hopefully) leads discussions and/or discrete skill exercises.  There is very little truly interactive content to most training courses, meaning it is not tailored to the specific needs of each individual.  The training goals are pre-established and content is designed to meet those goals.

Coaching

The simplest explanation of coaching is that the participant receives highly personalized, ongoing support while progressing through the learning process.  The participant has primary responsibility for discovering areas for development and setting personal developmental goals.  Learning comes from the inside with coaching; that is, the participant experiences a combination of personal growth and professional growth that interact with each other.

Finding The Right Balance

An organization that relies solely on training or solely on executive coaching for workforce development may be courting problems.  Each has its place in the business world.  The key is to balance the benefits of each and ensure the right method is used for the right reasons.

For example, training is great for educating employees about policies, work processes, procedures and other specific topics.    It is highly structured learning which provides information, but tends not to produce changes in behavior and attitudes.  Coaching, on the other hand, is better for helping individual, teams and departments excel in areas such as communication, creativity, and relationship building.  It is highly experiential and tends to create lasting changes to behavior and attitudes.

Before automatically turning to either training or coaching, it’s wise to do a careful evaluation of the desired end result and match it up with the method that is most likely to produce that result.

Mentoring

Mentoring has been used for centuries as a way to pass knowledge from one person to another.  It typically involves an older, more experienced individual spending time with and teaching a younger, less experienced individual.  It can be an effective way to instill institutional values and knowledge in a new generation of workers before the old generation of workers is gone.  The practice of apprenticeship has long been a form of structured mentorship.

Until recently, most mentoring in business organizations was done on an informal basis.  It happened almost by chance when an experienced executive would take an interest in the career of a younger employee who appeared to have great potential.  Interactions between the two were often irregular and there were seldom any specific development goals.  Fortunate indeed was the younger worker who found themselves with a mentor who could guide them through an organization’s “minefields” and help them gain valuable information.

Coaching

Coaching has also been around for centuries, but until recently the practice was most often used in the world of sports.  The coach sets goals for the team, helps them develop their skills, and gives feedback regularly to improve performance.  To better visualize the traditional model of coaching, think about whatever sport is most familiar to you and focus in on the coach’s role.

In the modern business world, executive coaching follows a similar model.  A good coach knows how to work with a participant to maximize their development.  They tailor goals and actions to focus in on what the participant wants to improve and offer valuable feedback along the way.  An important aspect of the coaching relationship when the coach is from outside the organization is that he or she is likely to be able to offer a valuable level of objectivity.  In this case, the coach is not enmeshed with the politics and other company issues that can sidetrack growth and keep the participant from his or her full potential.

Bringing It Together

Mentoring and coaching are not in competition with each other.  In fact, they can be used in combination with each other or alongside each other.  There is a lot of value to passing along institutional wisdom, and there is a lot of value to developing new ways of thinking, too.  The most progressive companies today use both formal mentoring and executive coaching at different levels of their organization to foster development and growth throughout.

Step 1 – The Introductory Discussion

This is perhaps the most important step in the whole coaching process.  It establishes the coaching relationship and forms the foundation for all of the work to come.  Just as essential, though, is the rapport that is established between the coach and the participant.  The coaching relationship is highly personal and highly confidential so it is critical that the two parties be comfortable with each other and have a high degree of trust in each other.

The participant and the coach will have an in-depth discussions about goals, needs, areas of concern, and other specifics.  Feedback tools such as 360° surveys, peer reviews and self-assessments are examined and evaluated for their fit with the participant’s needs.  These discussions usually take place in sessions that can be up to two hours long at intervals ranging from weekly to monthly.  The number of sessions will vary depending on the needs of the participant and the amount of money available to spend on coaching.

Not everybody makes it past the first step, because sometimes after the participant has a chance for an in-depth discussion with the coach, he or she determines that they are not ready to be fully engaged in the process for some reason.  It may be due to a life situation, a work situation, or any number of other conflicts that would make it difficult to put their full energy toward the coaching experience.  In cases such as this, it is usually best to postpone coaching until the participant is able to give it their full effort.

Step 2 – Where The Rubber Hits The Road

This is where the real work begins.  Coach and participant use all of the information gathered during Step 1 to decide on specific actions and behaviors that the participant will start to use.  At this stage, there may be significant discussions between the participant and coach, brainstorming, strategizing, role playing, feedback, discussion of actual experiences, challenges and approaches to enhancing personal and professional development.

Step 3 — Integration of Learning

This is the stage at which new behaviors, understanding, awareness and actions have become standard practice.  The coach works with the participant to make sure changes and improvements become a way of life.  They look for ways the changes impact the business or organization and reinforce what is working well.  As the participant becomes more proficient and confident in his or her new abilities, the coaching relationship can conclude and regularly scheduled sessions are discontinued.

In most cases, though, the coach is still available to the participant in the future should he or she have questions, concerns, or simply need a sounding board for dealing with a specific situation.