These days it seems everybody has a Coach for something. Life, exercise, money, diet, clutter, whatever need you have a Coach will try to help. Sometimes, however, the term Coach loses its meaning with so many people employing this “user friendly” term. The field includes a full range of great to average to bad Coaches. Executive Coaching also includes range of talent and skill among its practitioners. Unlike some of the newer Coaching specialties, however, there does exist a long history of research, training, practice, and mentoring for most who enter the Executive Coaching field.
The Executive Coaching field has its roots in the research of Social Psychology (i.e. Lewin) from the 1930’s and 40’s, the theories and practices of Humanistic Psychology (i.e. Maslow) from the 1950’s and 60’s, and the Organizational Psychology and Management Development trends that began in the late 1940’s through pioneering organizations like the National Training Laboratories (NTL). Some of the first work with business executives occurred at places like GE and Westinghouse during the 1950’s.
The field grew in the 70’s and exploded in the 90’s as more companies recognized the benefits of coaching managers and leaders to become more fully developed as people and skilled in their jobs. Today there are thousands of practitioners around the world. Countless articles and books have been written on the subject, and an Internet search on “Executive Coaching” results in millions of items. Picking the best articles, books, web sites, firms, or Coaches can be confusing.
Here are some Tips about what the best Executive Coaches will do for organizations and individuals.
- Identify specific client goals, behaviors, skills, knowledge, and personal developmental issues that align with business needs and strategies for growth.
- Suggest specific ways to measure coaching results using both qualitative and quantitative methods.
- Help clients learn how to track the impact of their actions, patterns of behavior, communications with colleagues, and decisions they make for the organization, business unit, or team.
- Help clients focus on the consistency between their actions, personal character, core values about life and work, and their willingness to engage in a continuous learning process so that co-workers can see their integrity, authenticity, passion, courage, humility, and caring.
- Take a flexible, tailored approach with each client, business or individual, to better calibrate the depth, breadth, and focus of Coaching called for in a particular situation.
- Build open, authentic, personable relationships with clients and “use” these interactions to help clients achieve meaningful goals.
- Know themselves well enough to understand the type of impact they have with clients, the common elements in a coaching relationship, and which clients they can help or not.
- Be personable, genuine, direct, honest, and open about their own growth and development when appropriate, and be able to think about and suggest ideas “way out of the box.”
- Help clients sort through the abundance of information handed to them from 360 reviews or other feedback methods, plus the various testing profiles that companies use these days to “type” their employees.
- Nudge, support, cajole, provoke, applaud, challenge, and hang in there with clients through difficult and successful times, and be willing to play in the mud with clients. (Don’t’ worry that’s only a metaphor.)
- Work like the best Coaches or Teachers in other fields. The best sports Coaches don’t just show videos or hand out books they go on the field and show players how to play. The best music teachers, art teachers, or theater directors play a song, paint a picture, or act a scene side by side with their students.
- Make it clear to organizations that Coaching works best with motivated employees who want to stay with the company. Employees “forced” into Coaching will usually not benefit enough to make a measurable difference.
- Encourage organizations to implement a company wide “Coaching Program” instead of coaching for just a few individuals. Coaching to improve performance, increase development, and correct problems then becomes a “normal” way to increase success.
- Seasoned and skilled Executive Coaches can easily and openly discuss their training, experience, successes and failures. They can also answer this question: “Who has coached you, and what have you done in your life to reach your full potential?”
The answers will tell businesses much of what they need to know about the level of authenticity, skill, and professional development of a particular Coach.
Some businesses may also ask, “Who really needs a Coach anyway? Most people do just fine”. The answer to that question depends upon what level of performance, quality, skill, and excellence a business wants its employees to achieve. Consider how some of the most successful people in the world such as Phil Mickelson, Tom Brady, Stephie Graf, Sandra Day O’Connor, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey and many others achieved their level of performance. They all worked extremely hard and had help from coaches or teachers.
Most people don’t have world class talent and few will ever be famous, but all people do have a range of potential and ability waiting to be developed. The best Executive Coaches can make a big difference in just how close people will come in their careers to fulfilling their potential.
