Key Messages
The Essential Steps To Becoming An Exceptional Executive Coach
Success as an executive coach isn’t something you can simply achieve overnight.
Becoming an exceptional one requires dedication, practice and experience.
In the book ‘Becoming an Exceptional Executive Coach’, readers will find the essential steps that makes this success possible.
From learning about a client to creating a tangible action plan and reaching goals that please everyone, readers have all they need to become excellent executive coaches.
They will also discover how to question in 360 degrees, learn from development goals and deal with hesitant leaders.
All together, these components make for a unrivaled coaching experience and will allow readers to join the ranks of those who excel as exceptional executive coaches.
Creating A Unique Coaching Style With Personal Modeling
Developing a personal model of coaching to truly stand out requires stepping back to look at yourself and your work more deeply.
The more experience you have as an executive coach, the better you’ll be able to fine-tune a personalized style tailored to each individual.
Start by taking note of what brings out the best in you et during the coaching process.
Jot down your personal and professional context, preferences and strengths so that these can become touchstones during interactions with clients.
As time goes on, reflect on which techniques are successful and which ones aren’t.
Documenting experiences in detail allows you to effectively monitor your progress and build something that’s uniquely your own—a model of coaching specifically tailored for engaging executives in self-discovery processes.
The personalization of your style is based on reflection, observation and documentation.
You don’t need to start off with all the answers about who you are as a coach, but slowly focus on discovering your boundaries, weaknesses and strengths.
That way, you will build something from within – making it easier for clients connect with you personally – establishing trust which is essential for any relationship.
Making The Most Of Executive Coaching: How To Achieve Optimal Engagement
Having good engagement management between clients, sponsors and coaches is key to ensuring a successful executive coaching process.
This involves having clear expectations in place before the coaching begins through a well-crafted contract.
Not only should this include the steps involved in the process, but also things like time frames, frequency of meetings and any confidentiality agreements that have been made.
Creating alignment between these parties is another essential part of managing engagement – this helps to keep everyone on the same page throughout the entire process.
As a coach it’s your job to ensure that all parties are aware their responsibilities and are working together towards mutual goals.
It’s important not to get frustrated when it may seem as though sponsors aren’t sufficiently engaged in the process – instead take this opportunity to reiterate how important their involvement is for a successful outcome.
Good engagement management keeps everyone informed and motivates them to continue working together for maximum results!
Establishing A Meaningful Relationship With Your Coaching Clients: How To Balance Openness And Focus
In order to create a successful coaching relationship with your client, it is important to take the time to prepare and set an agenda for each session.
Not only will this help ensure that both you and your client are focused on what needs to be achieved during the session, but it demonstrates a level of trust and credibility which can reassure and motivate the client.
The preparatory work should involve identifying goals for both yourself and your client – these could range from staying more focused on key issues, to generating at least one possible theme of development from the session.
Additionally, ask your client how they feel, inquire about any actions or thoughts they’ve had since their last meeting and determine what topics need discussing before you begin.
By doing all this, you are instilling in your client a feeling of progress that can be built upon – while also establishing a positive and productive relationship between coach and client.
Gaining Insight Into Clients For More Effective Executive Coaching
When becoming an exceptional executive coach, you must be sure to have a comprehensive understanding of your client.
To achieve this, data must be collected from both quantitative and qualitative sources.
Quantitative data can come in the form of self-assessments your client completes or you may opt to use 360-degree questionnaires that capture feedback from the client’s managers, peers, and direct reports.
The goal here is to gain insight into a wider range of skills and leadership dimensions.
To supplement the quantitative data gathered, coaches should collect qualitative information through interviewing a client’s colleagues.
During these conversations, it is beneficial to ask about how the interviewee interacts with your client, in addition to getting their observations on what they do well and areas where they could improve.
These interviews will provide additional perspectives on their abilities and behavior that contribute to attaining a full understanding of who your client is and what they aspire for.
Creating A Development Plan Incoaching Brings Negotiated And Designed Objectives To Life
The development planning phase is incredibly important when it comes to turning coaching goals into action.
This is the point at which felt needs become tangible, actionable goals that can lead to change.
For example, Ankit was hired before a company promoted Howard, known for his micromanaging behavior.
The felt need of the organization became the negotiated goal between Ankit and Howard: he should empower employees by taking more responsibility and building stronger relationships.
These became designed objectives that could be followed even after the coach was gone.
Finally, a written development plan is created to make sure these objectives are achieved in a clear way, without confusion from sponsors who may not have been part of the process originally.
With a good development plan in place, this crucial step can help translate coaching goals into meaningful actions that will last long after the coaching is over.
Coaching Senior Leaders Requires Patience And Motivational Interviewing Skills To Facilitate Acceptance Of Change
When it comes to coaching successful clients, especially senior leaders, patience and motivational interviewing can help make the process a lot smoother.
It takes longer for senior level executives to accept change, meaning you’ll have to show patience as your credibility may be tested.
Your patience in responding, however, will convey positivity and hope which will foster trust and credibility with your client.
Motivational interviewing is a great way to make change seem less threatening by exploring current and changed conditions through broad open-ended questions.
These types of questions explore what the potential change means to them; what pros or cons the change may have; and what they might need to give up for this change – all of which eventually leads them towards their development potential.
It’s important to remember though that senior level executives often consider all outside professional help as consulting rather than coaching so expect requests from such clients regarding counsel in every aspect of their job.
As a coach, focus on facilitating discovery rather than telling them what they should do.
Patience and motivational interviewing make coaching senior leaders a little easier!
Make An Effort To Ensure A Smooth And Positive End To Coaching Relationships
When it comes to the ending of a successful coaching relationship, planning is key.
For considerate closure and to ensure that neither the client or coach are surprised by the end of their collaboration, it’s important to discuss and plan for the end of the process.
Moreover, setting target dates for closure makes this concrete and will help start an open dialogue between both parties about each other’s expectations and feelings before their last session.
By asking meaningful questions during this final session such as what was learned through the whole process or how can development be continued in future, you can also create meaningful reflection moments for your client.
This can lead to some interesting insights from them on how you coached them in case evaluations have to be made later on.
Additionally, it’s important for you as a coach not just to ask your clients about their satisfaction but also reflect on yourself – identify any gaps in abilities needed for future engagements and get inspired further on your journey as a professional coach.
In summary, try always have a plan for when ending coaching sessions so no one involved gets hurt by surprise endings – strive to make sure all closures are positive ones!
Wrap Up
Becoming an Exceptional Executive Coach offers up a comprehensive summary of what it takes to be an effective and successful coach.
The key takeaway is that it’s not enough to just think about the basics; you must be able to develop your own individual coaching style, tailored specifically to the needs of your clients.
The actionable advice in this book can help you do just that — from being present during meetings and presentations, to understanding how to outline goals, manage engagement and encourage development.
With this knowledge, you’ll have all the tools necessary for building a successful program with lasting results.
