What is Executive Coaching?
Executive coaching is a professional relationship between a client and a coach to enhance the client's performance and growth. Concretely, Executive coaching is a series of confidential one-to-one conversations between a coach and a client, that empower the client to define and prioritise goals, list existing strengths while also assessing the skills or behavioural gaps that stand in the way of reaching such goals. New approaches and behaviours are discussed between the coach and the client and then tested in real life by the client. Their impact is monitored by the client and the coach and assessed versus the goals initially set.
The benefits of executive coaching:
The world of leaders is incredibly exciting, but it can also be isolating because, as one reaches "the top", peers get fewer and stakes are heightened.
Furthermore, leaders need to take the road less travelled and drive transformation in order to adapt to fast-changing internal and external contexts.
Founders must turn into CEOs, Directors become C-Level Executives, Specialists aspire to become General Managers... Whether the company's goal is geographical expansion, fund raising, attracting a talented workforce, making deep changes to an offering or a brand, shifting a strategy, finding the levers to become a leader, becoming more efficient, adapting to more aggressive competition or changes in the legislation... Executive coaching helps leaders grow into their ever-expanding shoes and find the confidence to define simply and clearly the outcomes that the company requires, and then make the tough changes and decisions for the benefit of their business, investors and employees, while having the resilience to keep focusing on the important things, based on a mix of tangible advise and behavioural awareness.
What executive coaching impacts:
Emotional Intelligence and growth:
Increase their self-awareness, responsibilities and impact
Become better leaders, but also better managers. Gain greater empathy and heightened emotional intelligence leading to a deeper connection with the team, better reputation for the leader and his company as well as better work and lower employee attrition
Increase self-regulation, control and balance, which includes finding one’s true style and voice as a professional, for years to come
Inspire, grow, energise and empower a workforce with the most relevant and authentic message at the right time. Know when to use strong leadership and soft encouragement, when to put processes in place and when to give freedom. Reach a positive outlook that is motivational and authentic that spreads throughout the entire team
Demonstrate flexible thinking and a high level of agility in order to adapt fast to an ever-changing environment inside and outside the company.
Efficiency and results:
Fill ever-expanding shoes, as workforces, stakes and audiences grow
Improve leadership, with the ability to define and focus on the big goals that will truly shape the company for the future.
Fluently navigate the complex world of C-Level decisions and behaviour
Refine messages and narratives, targeting various audiences: Workforce, peers, Boards of Directors, investors…
Improve efficiency: Make better and faster decisions, while setting ambitious goals and empowering their team to scale, know what metrics to keep monitoring
Gain and give clarity in an ambiguous environment that is changing at a fast pace
Question the status-quo, which is essential in order to be competitive in today's environment but challenging because at the top, leaders are rarely challenged by their own team.
who benefits from executive coaching?
A short answer would be: Everybody!
The reality is that companies tend to invest mostly in senior management, as this is the audience who can turn the benefits of executive coaching into the benefit of the entire company.
The main benefactors of executive coaching are Leaders who need to experience a behavioural change while facing a fast-changing environment, increased responsibilities and new challenges.
CEOs and Founders of fast growing digital start ups (100-200 employees), entrepreneurs who need to take their company from start-up to established international player and this includes challenges such as: Attracting funding, driving international expansion, widening the offering of the company, growing the talent pool…
C-level Executives who are a “green" in a C-Level role. Such executives have, through merit, recently moved from a hands-on specialised VP or Director role where they excelled, to the C-suite where they have to define, structure and mind not only their own department but also the entire strategy and growth of the company together with their other C-level peers. This may include new recruits of the C-suite, when the company cannot afford anything less than glowing success during their probation period.
Director level: Executives who are being “groomed” over a period of time to eventually join the C-suite. At this level, Executive coaching not only helps leaders improve their confidence, widen their understanding of the entire company or group, it also helps them gain awareness of their own personal style, skills, behaviour, fears and reactions, and the impact on their team.