At some point in your leadership career, you may start looking for more. Perhaps you’re seeking personal growth opportunities or want to learn new ways to handle organizational challenges. You’ve thought of hiring an executive coach but aren’t sure if it’s the right thing to do. You likely wonder, what exactly does an executive coach do, and why should I work with one? To help you decide if executive coaching is the answer, here are three important things you should know.
What Is an Executive Coach?
An executive coach is a qualified professional that offers individually tailored practices to executives or high-potential employees. Executive coaching is suitable for addressing a performance gap, unveiling blind spots, and discovering how to optimize leadership performance.
Executive coaches act as confidential and supportive mentors. Instead of always providing advice, executive coaches use a process that helps managers and aspiring executives clarify and solve their problems. They often administer and interpret behavioral assessments and conduct one-on-one interviews to help clients understand their strengths and weaknesses.
Although it’s more common for companies to hire an executive coach, individuals seeking career advancement also find them helpful. Working with an executive coach involves several phases: intake, assessment, goal setting, and developmental planning. Coaching typically ends when the client reaches their developmental goals.
What Should You Look for in an Executive Coach?
To get the results you want from an executive coach, you first need to hire the right one.
Experience definitely matters, but most importantly, you need someone relatable. Does your potential coach have corporate experience leading and managing teams? What about their entrepreneurial experience? Even if their experience is not in your industry, their first-hand knowledge can help with uncovering your own personal and business challenges.
Professional credentials and qualifications are also necessary. Coaching is an unregulated industry, so seek someone with an education in this area and a proven track record.
They also need to be a good fit. An executive coach is someone you’ll be spending countless meetings with over the next few weeks or months, so choose someone you can speak candidly with. Word-of-mouth referrals from other executives are often a great place to start when interviewing potential coaches. But remember, someone who’s a great coach for a colleague may not be a great coach for you.
Why Should You Work with an Executive Coach?
Each coaching relationship is unique depending on the goals of the client. At the start of the process, the coach will identify critical leadership areas to focus on with the client. Some of the most common ones include:
Seeing yourself and your team more clearly
Establishing a competitive advantage
Building effective teams and relationships
Increasing confidence in your abilities
Identifying and achieving goals
With an open mind and ambition to grow, executive coaching helps develop the leader as a whole person. Are you ready to overcome your challenges and achieve your goals? Book a free 30-minute consultation to discover how our unique coaching methods can unlock your true potential.
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