What is Executive Coaching?

Executive coaching is a powerful tool used by a growing number of leaders. In today’s economy, CEO’s, Executives and Senior Managers are often under pressure to deliver better profits, faster turnarounds and more effective people management. As an Executive coach you will coach corporate clients as they challenge themselves, question their leadership styles, get a deeper sense of self-awareness and learn better self-management.

Thirty years ago, no one had heard of life, executive, business, or corporate coaching. Today it is featured in The New York Times, Fortune Magazine, Oprah and CNN. But still, most of the world has not heard of it. Demand for coaching is expected to grow and may accelerate. Corporations are jumping on the bandwagon with Fortune 100 companies creating both external and internal coaching positions.

The International Coaching Federation, defines coaching in the following way:

“Professional coaches’ partner with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.“

Coaches are trained to listen, to observe and to customize their approach to individual client needs. They seek to elicit solutions and strategies from the client; they believe the client is naturally creative and resourceful. The coach’s job is to provide support to enhance the skills, resources, and creativity that the client already has.

Coaching involves dialogue between a coach and a client with the aim of helping the client obtain a fulfilling life. This is achieved by helping the client establish what is important to them and by clarifying their values. With the client’s input the coach co-creates value-based goals and a plan to achieve them. Through collaboration, the coach supports the client to achieve these goals.

Coaching profession is strongest in the United States, followed by the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia and is reaching more and more countries all the time.

As a relatively new profession, coaching is a methodology that draws on a range of other more traditional professions including psychology, business consulting, mentoring management theory and adult learning. However, coaching is a unique field and there are significant differences between coaching and these fields.

People, and companies, will often choose a coach who has previous experience or expertise in the field that they work in. The coaching methodology does not require this.

Consultants however, build their businesses around the knowledge they have gathered over time in the specific field in which they then offer consulting expertise. They are expected to provide advice, information and anecdotes about the field.

The coach, on the other hand, does not have the answers and does not claim to have them. They have the questions that allow the client to find their own answers and clarify their own values.

The term “mentoring” originates from Homer’s Odyssey. In the Odyssey, the character Mentor advises, supports and counsels Telemachus, Odysseus’ son as Telemachus prepares to take on the responsibilities of the family in his father’s absence. Mentor also advises Odysseus on how to search for his father.

The mentor is usually older and more experienced than the person being mentored. The mentor bestows their knowledge and wisdom onto the student. The student looks up to the mentor and seeks guidance and advice from the mentor. There are both formal and informal mentoring relationships.

In a business setting, mentoring is a formal relationship that is established with someone who is an expert in his or her field. Like consulting, mentoring involves passing on the benefit of a set of specific experiences. A coaching relationship, on the other hand, is a partnership whereby the coach walks side by side with the client. The coach supports the client in drawing on their own wisdom and following their inner guidance.

The client is the distinguishing feature of the above coaches. Executive coaches work with executives, usually senior executives in medium to larger sized companies. They tend to be employed by either the executive themselves or the company. Either way they are most often brought in to coach on performance related or life/work/balance issues and they most often take the role of strategic partner to the client.

Corporate coaches also work with executives, usually in medium to larger sized companies. However, they tend to be employed more often by the company and coach on company defined goals and targets. They also take the role of strategic partner to the client. Business coaches can work with small business owners, entrepreneurs and managers of business units in companies. Depending on the client their role could be anything from life/work/balance to specific business building goals (for example, to increase sales by 50%).

Generally speaking, corporate, business and executive coaches will have expertise in their area of coaching. Business coaches will have run a small business, executive coaches have often been CEO’s or senior executives themselves.

Although the coaching methodology does not demand this, there are two key reasons why it occurs:

Firstly, it helps to have an empathy or understanding of where the client is coming from, particularly in relation to culture and language. A corporate coach who has never heard of key performance indicators, or doesn’t know the elements of a strategic plan will be more challenged.

Secondly, and the main reason is to do with marketing. There is a saying in the coaching profession that all coaching is life coaching after the first 3 sessions. You may have been brought in to double sales, but you will find that very quickly the sessions become about relationships, communication, family/work balance.

So, it is possible that a powerful life coach would do a great job at coaching a senior executive. In fact, it is probably what he or she needs. But from a marketing perspective CEOs of companies like to employ people who have come from that culture. Likewise small business owners like to know that their coach understands what it is to run a small business.

The motivation for companies to hire coaches was revealed in a study conducted by corporate coaching firm, Manchester Inc. The study quantifies the impact of business coaching.

Half of the executives in the study held positions of vice president or higher (including division president, general manager, chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief information officer, partner, principal, and practice leader).

Among the benefits to companies that provided coaching to executives were improvements in:

• Productivity (reported by 53% of executives)
• Quality (48%)
• Organizational strength (48%)
• Customer service (39%)
• Reducing customer complaints (34%)
• Retaining executives who received coaching (32%)
• Cost reductions (23%)
• Bottom-line profitability (22%)

Among the benefits to executives who received coaching were improved:

• Working relationships with direct reports (reported by 77% of executives)
• Working relationships with immediate supervisors (71%)
• Teamwork (67%)
• Working relationships with peers (63%)
• Job satisfaction (61%)
• Conflict reduction (52%)
• Organizational commitment (44%)
• Working relationships with clients (37%)

Coaching is a unique, new and exciting field to become a part of. Coaching is based on a core set of skills and practices, which apply to all coaching situations. ICF has created the coaching competencies for all coaches to learn and apply at three levels. Each level enhances your knowledge, skill and experience and they named Levels 1, 2, and 3. This education creates a solid grounding in the core skills of coaching.

There is an opportunity to specialize in a niche area including executive coaching. This can be achieved through study and networking with others.

This is how our programs are designed at ICE and you may look at the various program syllabus by reviewing all three levels via the link below:

https://icoachingeducation.com/become-a-coach/

Training to become an Executive Coach with ICE will give you the insights, theory and skills needed to work effectively with business leaders from a variety of backgrounds. And as a certified professional coach, you will have the important credentials you need to work at the corporate level.

Taymour Miri is an ICF master coach and a Gallup certified strengths coach and more recently one of the first 136 coaches world wide to be awarded an Advanced Certificate in Team Coaching. He has 30 years’ experience in leadership roles and 20 years of experince in coaching. Taymour has trained over 1,500 coaches across five continents and is the founder of International Coaching Education (ICE).