Can Every Leader Benefit from an Executive Coach?

I attended the Gallup at Work Summit and I was energized by the many sessions focused on coaching. As a certified executive coach, I work with a coach – a few in fact, who help guide me on my career and life journey. My coaches have provided a space with psychological safety and confidentiality to allow me to explore, discover, self-reflect, and polish my strengths, and mitigate my blind spots, so I can show up as the best version of myself.

Leadership Coaching by the Numbers

The current trend is for leaders to negotiate an executive coach as part of their annual salary package. This external resource empowers a leader with ongoing professional development and a space to work out challenges and blind spots with someone objective outside of your organization.

In June Gallup reported, when leaders thrive, so do organizations.

• When employees strongly agree that they trust the leadership of their organization, they are 4x as likelyto be engaged.
• Employees who strongly agree that leaders help them see how changes made today will affect their organization in the future are 5x as likelyto feel connected to their company culture.
• When employees strongly agree that the leadership of their organization communicates effectively with the rest of the organization, they are 73% less likelyto feel burned out at work.

The value of coaching benefits the leader as well as their direct reports and the aim is to share a coaching growth mindset, so it permeates into the culture of the entire organization.

What is Coaching?

Coaching is a highly focused, individualized performance accelerator that empowers you to play to your strengths, honor your values, and become the best version of yourself.

• Complex, fast-paced, changing environments – leading in these environments seldom provides leaders the time and space to step out of the busyness and above the whirlwind. Coaching creates a safe space to pause, reflect, and more clearly see a path forward.
• Get unstuck with increased levels of motivation and productivity – people get stuck in messy situations, dysfunctional relationships, dead-end roles, and toxic workplaces. Coaching helps you discover and test drive different approaches. Focusing on the art-of-the possible helps you move forward.
• Renewed sense of self-worth – we all have self-limiting behaviors that hold us back. A coach helps you understand your blind spots and create a plan to own your self-confidence, so you can flourish and overcome obstacles with solutions.
• Safe space to discover deeper self-awareness – transparency, honesty, and a desire to make a change are possible with psychological safety. Change happens with a growth mindset and a bias to action that comes with confidentiality and trust.
• Recharge and reignite your career – whether you are pursuing a new role, an entrepreneurial venture, or need to jump-start an existing career, coaching helps you tackle the challenges that are clear and anticipate what lies ahead. Having a trusted coach by your side helps you find create your unique career advantage.

An Investment in You

Coaching is a professional development investment in your leadership, which impacts you and the colleagues with whom you work. Ask your employer to underwrite your executive coaching and share these return-on-investment deliverables.

• It’s a professional development investment in top talent.
• The coach-supported leader is more likely to stay in the company.
• The cost of turn-over (hiring and training) is far more than investing in coaching.
• It provides a safe, confidential space for individuals to address challenges and blind spots.
• It boosts morale and positively impacts company culture.
• Coaching leadership behaviors can be shared with direct reports and create a developmental ecosystem throughout an organization.
• Developing leaders with executive coaching builds a bench for succession planning.

Create a Business Case for Coaching

While coaching is becoming more mainstream, some organizations are still learning about the value-add and how it can be part of your ongoing professional development. Here are some data points to help make the case for an investment in your coaching.

• According to Forbes magazine, a conservative estimate of the monetary payoff from coaching, as described by managers, is an average return of more than six times the cost of coaching.
• The Job Opening and Labor Turnover Survey reports that 94% of employees say they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their professional development.
• The International Coaching Federation reports 86% of organizations yielded a return on their coaching investment and 96% of leaders who had a coach would repeat the process.

If asking your employer to pay for your coaching is daunting, here is an email, or conversation template you can customize to get the conversation going.

Dear XXX,

In reviewing the goals discussed in my performance review; I am interested in executive coaching to enhance my leadership skills. As we enter a significant time of change, (or – as I take on this new leadership position…) – I’d like to become aware of any blind spots which might impact my success. I know that engaging a coach will be of great benefit to me and my team.

I would like to focus on ramping up critical skills, such as leadership, conflict resolution, and building a high-performing team to address our current challenges head on. (insert your most relevant skills and company challenges accordingly)

I have seen the positive impact and benefit other leaders have received because of their work with an executive coach– it has lifted them to another level. I’m interested in engaging in a similar process. I am confident that working with a coach will improve my effectiveness as a leader and provide you with insights into my strengths and my areas for development. It will also demonstrate to my team the organization’s commitment to our professional development and investment in talent.

Coaching is an important investment. There may be other development opportunities that you can temporarily put aside to make the investment in my coaching. Instead of going to the XYZ conference this year in Chicago, I’d like to earmark those funds to engage a coach.

Let’s schedule a time to discuss the details. I appreciate your willingness to consider this professional investment in my leadership.

With Appreciation,

XXX

Choosing Your Coach

Be a discerning consumer and select a coach that is a best fit for your needs. Every coach worth their salt offers a free chemistry call to determine best fit. The relationship is a two-way street and savvy coaches are looking for clients with whom they can make an impact.

• Consider if you feel safe with your coach, so you can be vulnerable and authentic on your personal journey. While trust take takes time to earn, use your intuition to determine if the coach/client chemistry and rapport have potential.
• Look for a seasoned coach who has experience working with clients with goals like yours. Are you seeking advancement, a career change, heightened communication skills, conflict resolution, or any other specific leadership competencies you wish to hone? Get granular in the discovery call and ask questions.
• Ask for references – successful coaches have satisfied clients who can share the inside scoop about the coaching experience from the client perspective. Do your research and due diligence to see how your coach has distinguished themself in the field as a thought leader.
• Create clarity of expectations from the beginning – your coach should provide a clear agreement outlining the terms for your coaching and the ground rules.
• Find a coach who is knowledgeable about the latest trends in the world-of-work, so they can help you navigate current issues like the remote/hybrid/in-office challenge many organizations are grappling with at present.
• Learn about your coach’s credentials, industry certifications, work experience, and access to assessments and tools that can be used to help you learn more about yourself.

Smart leaders ask for help and your success, wellbeing, and happiness can be impacted positively by working with a coach. I am dedicated to transforming the workplace through coaching one leader at a time, so let me know how I can support you. I am always eager to talk about coaching.