Executive coaching for leaders

Given the enormous changes occurring in the UK & USA and the challenges that lie ahead, there is a great sense of urgency to identify and develop executive leaders who can effectively position their organisations for success. 

One of the most impactful leadership development strategies for building a leader’s competitive edge is coaching. Executive coaching can significantly impact individual growth and organisational success by focusing on the development of specific leadership competencies required for success. 

In addition to strengthening executive skills, coaching is particularly impactful for  leaders who, in addition to their duties, are now being tapped to lead others, lead change, and lead for results. These new competency requirements are best fostered through targeted individual leadership development via coaching conducted in tandem with other developmental strategies.

When Is Coaching Best Applied?

• To retain valuable leaders. Dissatisfaction with potential for career development is a leading reason executives leave their organisations. Executives who receive coaching often feel more valued, a stronger connection to their organisations, a greater sense of commitment to their career, and increased alignment with the overall strategy.
• When a company is undergoing growth or change. The skills necessary to successfully lead an organisation can shift dramatically when the organisation enters a new stage of growth, shifts strategy, enters a new market, faces an evolving competitive landscape, is acquired, or merges with another organisation. Coaching can assist executive leaders in adapting to change more quickly and competently.
• As a succession planning tool. Talented individuals being groomed for leadership roles may excel in some areas, but may need improvement in other skills before promotion to a senior role. Examples of further developmental areas include cultivating a more strategic or organisation-wide perspective, bolstering interpersonal skills, or increasing competence around conflict management or negotiation.
• Onboarding when an executive is being promoted or moved to a new role. Coaching can provide a newly-hired or promoted executive with critical strategies for learning about the organisation, including its culture and politics, understanding expectations of the new role, getting familiar with processes and practices, and developing new relationships.
• When training courses or internal “mentors” are not options. Senior executives may be hesitant or unable to attend training courses or other “en masse” learning events or may simply prefer individualised, one-on-one development. In some instances, these executives may also feel that they should already have the skills or expertise in question. In these situations, coaching can be preferable since it is a confidential, personal, and “safe” development option where the individual is using an objective, external person to help them with their development.
• To assist with cultural alignment. Coaching can support executives arriving from other organisations and/or other countries as they adjust to a new culture. Many organisations offer this type of on-boarding or assimilation coaching for an executive’s first few months. It can also help align seasoned executives to the new culture that the organisation is striving to create.

The Coaching Process

A well-established coaching engagement should include the following components:

• Assessment. Well-planned coaching begins with targeted assessment interviews with the executive, their manager, and identified stakeholders to determine strengths, developmental opportunities, and goals and objectives for the assignment. In addition, psychometric assessment(s) are administered to assess intrinsic motivators, values, traits, and personality factors that contribute to self-awareness.
• Feedback. The results of the interviews and psychometric assessments form the basis of the formal assessment feedback delivered to the executive in preparation for finalising the coaching program goals.
• Action Planning. The coach and executive co-create their development action plan specifying the coaching objectives and indicators of success which are vetted with key stakeholders.
• Coaching. The executive and their coach meet regularly over the course of the assignment where learnings are translated into action in practical applications. A midpoint and endpoint triad meeting is facilitated by the coach with the executive, their manager, and HR to discuss progress against goals.
• Measure of Success. Obtaining feedback to assess progress against the original coaching goals is garnered throughout the course of the engagement and beyond. Course corrections are applied, as needed.
• Sustaining Progress and Continued Growth. While the formal coaching program has a defined endpoint, executives and their stakeholders co-create a sustainability strategy for continued learning and future success.

In order for a coaching engagement to be successful, there must be strong alignment between the coach and client. The coachee must be motivated to improve and be committed to the coaching program, and the selected coach should have strong and clear evidence-based methodology for developing performance and measuring successful outcomes. Most importantly, the fit between coach and coachee is pertinent to the success of the program so as to establish trust and provide opportunity for growth, development, and overall success.

In addition to the benefits realised by the coachee, organisations who invest in coaching for their leaders often experience a significant return-on-investment. The ICF Global Coaching Client Study Executive Summary (2017) reported that an organisation can typically expect a return of seven times the initial investment of a coaching engagement. Coaching, as a development tool, helps to build and strengthen leadership competencies such as teamwork, communication, collaboration, and productivity, inevitably improving the efficiency and overall quality of the organisation’s bench strength.

Approximately 40 percent of FTSE companies use executive coaches, according to the Hay Group, an international human-resources consultancy. Coaching helps build behavioral competencies that drive bottom-line business results, including cost reduction and overall profitability. Coaching can also improve the job satisfaction, engagement, and working relationships of those who receive coaching. Executive coaching for leaders is undeniably a worthy development strategy that enables organisations not just to manage change but to embrace and thrive in it.

Alan Ball is CEO and Executive Coach at Rosia Bay and has led some of the UK, USA and Australia's largest businesses.