Coaching
- What is executive coaching?
- What are the benefits of executive coaching?
- When is executive coaching useful?
- Who do I coach?
- What is my coaching style?
- What happens in executive coaching?
- Where do I coach?
What is executive coaching?
Coaching is conversation with a purpose. The purpose is to help you achieve your goals and generate learning along the way. The coach will ask you questions and listen intently to your words and watch your body language. They will help you develop your thinking; challenge you; help identify areas where you are stuck or observe where your behaviour isn’t helping you.
Executive coaching may include the use of psychometric tests and 360 degree feedback. It depends upon what you want to achieve and what you and your Executive Coach agree is the best way of meeting your goals.
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Benefits of Executive Coaching
Executive Coaching creates space and a focus on you and your goals. It forces you to make time and invest energy to make progress on things that are important to you but which often get pushed to the bottom of the pile because they are difficult or because your time is in short supply.
- Coaching can help you make progress on issues that you have gone ‘round and round’. It can help you gain different insights or perspectives and break-out of the stagnation and make progress.
Coaching can help you deal with complex situations. Working with a coach can help you to make sense of complexity or ambiguity and develop actions for dealing with the impact on you; on your team or on the organisation
- Coaching can help you identify and overcome beliefs and behaviours that aren’t helping you.
- The coaching process encourages accountability. You are likely to make more progress with your coach than you might on your own.
- Coaching can help you identify and overcome beliefs and behaviours that aren’t helping you.
- Coaching is an opportunity to gain feedback. I believe that feedback is a gift. Operating without feedback is like trying to get somewhere without GPS. To truly know where you are at any one time you must receive enough signals.
If you would like to discuss how Executive Coaching might work for you, or to arrange a no obligation meeting to explore executive coaching then please get in touch.
When is Executive Coaching useful? – Typical scenarios
People work with an Executive Coach for many different reasons and to focus on many different goals. Some common situations that you might be facing are:
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- Preparing for your next job/promotion
- Developing your leadership skills
- Growing quickly into a new job
- Facing a big challenge or complex situation
- Dealing with a difficult situation, boss or team
- Developing skills and competence in your current role
- Returning to work after a break for some reason, perhaps maternity/paternity leave or a career break
- Wanting to consider career direction and weigh up different options
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This list is not exhaustive. If you feel that you might benefit from coaching and would like to explore that then please get in touch.
Who do I coach?
Typically, my clients are on the leadership team or reporting into the leadership team of a business unit or profit centre. They are most often middle/senior managers, professional staff or business owners.
I have direct experience of working in Manufacturing, Financial Services; Sales & Marketing environments and have supported clients across a range of companies and sectors, including education and charities.
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Coaching style
I value flexibility and adapt my style and offering to suit your needs. I am described as being practical, no nonsense, and providing great challenge. Good feedback is when a client says “good question!” because it has pushed their thinking. I like metaphors and diagrams to bring insight to things and I enjoy a laugh with my clients. I also provide strong support to balance the challenge – often we will work things through together.
Although I might refer to models and various theories (to support insight and understanding) if you require lots of cerebral thinking then I am not the coach for you!
“I concentrate on gaining insight, break through and practical actions to move a situation forward.”
If you feel that my style of Executive Coaching would suit you then please contact me.
Executive Coaching Process
A new coaching relationship starts with an initial chemistry meeting. We discuss your issues; your goals for coaching and design how we would work together to best suit your needs. This initial meeting is free and there is no obligation.
Typically, there will also be meetings with your boss or with you and your boss, to discuss your coaching and agree the objectives for the coaching contract.
Coaching sessions are provided in bundles of three. This enables the coaching relationship to develop and trust to build, whilst giving momentum to deliver results.
The length and frequency of the coaching sessions are tailored to meet your needs. Typically, they are held face to face on a monthly basis, and each session lasts approximately 1.5 to 2 hours, but this can be adapted to meet your individual requirements. Written notes of key points of the coaching session are provided shortly after each session. Telephone or Skype support can be provided in between face to face coaching sessions where appropriate.
A review is conducted after each series of three sessions to assess progress against the agreed goals and to review the coaching process.
If you would like to discuss how Executive Coaching might work for you, or set up a free exploration meeting, then please get in touch
Where do I coach?
I usually provide coaching in a work setting, but sometimes clients and I meet in a neutral venue, it depends upon what suits a client best.
I coach clients in London, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire including St Albans, Stevenage, Watford and Milton Keynes. However, I regularly coach further afield and am happy to travel to wherever clients are based.
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