What Does an Executive Coach Do?
What Does an Executive Coach Do?
Executive coaches are guides that help draw out the changes, improvement, and growth needed for you to be successful (however you define success).
An executive coach works with C-level execs and other senior leaders to enhance leadership skills, personal development, and organizational effectiveness.
Good leaders are curious about themselves and their patterns, willing to ask for help, and interested in making work more connected, effective, and rewarding for everyone in their orbit. Yes, they care about KPIs, OKRs, and shareholder value, but they also care about being better human beings.
Good executive coaches are excellent listeners, thought partners, truth-tellers, and cheerleaders
They are completely willing to call you out on your B.S. but to do so in a kind and productive way, creating a safe and comfortable space for growth.
They help you see the big picture, for instance, by providing a strategic perspective on your business decisions and their long-term implications.
They help you think through decisions without imposing their own opinion on what you should do.
They are there to challenge you, support you, cheer you, and keep you accountable, providing a reassuring presence throughout your coaching journey.
Areas to Work on with an Exec Coach
Every leader out there, no matter how seasoned and experienced, could use help with at least a few things on this list:
Leadership and Management
Enhancing Leadership Skills: Coaches help leaders develop and refine key leadership skills such as decision-making, strategic thinking, emotional intelligence, communication, and influence.
Cultivating a Leadership Style: Coaches work with executives to identify and cultivate a leadership style that aligns with their personality, values, and the needs of their organization.
Strategic Planning and Decision-Making
Strategic Guidance: Coaches often serve as sounding boards for strategic decisions, offering an objective perspective and helping leaders weigh the pros and cons of various options.
Goal Setting: They help CEOs set clear, actionable goals and create plans to achieve them, both for personal development and organizational success.
Cultural and Organizational Development
Shaping Company Culture: Coaches can help leaders shape and reinforce organizational culture, ensuring it aligns with the company’s values and goals.
Change Management: They assist leaders in leading change within the organization, helping to manage resistance and ensuring successful implementation of new initiatives.
Personal Growth and Self-Awareness
Self-Reflection: Coaches facilitate self-reflection, helping leaders gain deeper insights into their strengths, weaknesses, and blind spots.
Work-Life Balance: They assist leaders in managing work-life balance, stress, and burnout, ensuring they maintain their well-being alongside their professional responsibilities.
Accountability
Holding Leaders Accountable: A key role of an executive coach is to hold leaders accountable to their commitments and goals. This helps ensure that execs stay on track and follow through on their plans.
Tracking Progress: Coaches regularly check in on the progress of their client’s development, providing feedback and adjusting the coaching plan as needed.
Navigating Challenges
Crisis Management: Coaches assist leaders in navigating crises, whether they are internal (e.g., team conflicts, organizational changes) or external (e.g., market downturns, public relations issues), by providing a structured approach to crisis management and helping leaders maintain their composure and focus.
Problem-Solving: They help executives develop problem-solving frameworks and approaches to deal with complex issues effectively.
Improving Communication and Relationships
Communication Skills: Executive coaches work with leaders to improve their communication skills, ensuring they can clearly articulate their vision, inspire their teams, and manage difficult conversations.
Building Relationships: They help leaders build stronger relationships with their board, executive team, employees, and other stakeholders.
Long-Term Vision and Legacy
Visioning: Coaches help leaders refine and articulate their long-term vision for the company, ensuring it is both ambitious and achievable.
Legacy Planning: For seasoned leaders, coaches may focus on legacy planning, helping them think about the long-term impact they want to leave on the organization and industry.
Confidential Support and Sounding Board
Safe Space: A CEO coach provides a confidential and non-judgmental space where leaders can discuss their challenges, fears, and uncertainties without concern for how they might be perceived by others.
Personal and Professional Growth: They support the CEO’s continuous personal and professional growth, acting as a trusted advisor throughout their leadership journey.
Career Development:
Career Pathing: Coaches assist leaders in planning their career trajectory, helping them identify and pursue opportunities that align with their long-term goals and aspirations.
Skill Enhancement: They work with executives to identify areas for skill enhancement and ensure they are continually developing to meet the demands of their evolving roles.
Innovation and Creativity
Fostering Innovation: Coaches encourage leaders to think creatively and embrace innovation within their organizations, helping them to develop new ideas, products, and strategies.
Creative Problem-Solving: They support leaders in applying creative thinking to solve complex challenges, promoting an environment where new and unconventional ideas are valued.
Writing Prompt
I frequently offer writing prompts as ways for you to reflect on your own leadership journey and the areas you might want to work on with an executive coach. If you keep all the prompts in one place (either a notebook or Google doc), you will have a pretty good start at a future book, memoir, or leadership manual!
Set a timer for 15 minutes.
Choose one of the focus areas listed that jumps out at you as particularly relevant. Maybe you’re thinking a lot about legacy lately or team culture or navigating a particularly tough work relationship.
Write for 5 minutes about how you thought about that topic early in your career. Was it an issue for you? Was it more or less challenging then? Did you notice how your bosses at that time dealt with similar issues? Did they handle it well or less than gracefully?
Write for 5 minutes about how it looks now. Why is this issue so noisy for you now?
Write for 5 minutes about how you want it to be in 5 more years. If you were able to make the progress you want in this area, what would that look like?
Your Turn
I’d love to hear in the comments what else I’m missing that you might be dealing with in terms of your work life.
In your experience working with a coach or mentor, are there things you have had particular luck working on or things where you didn’t make as much progress as you’d like?
Which of these topics are you thinking about most in your own work life these days?
Or if you want to share part or all of your writing prompt, I’d love to see that too!