With great leadership comes great responsibility. The further up the ladder leaders climb, the more impact their decisions have.
Leaders must continually hone their personal and professional skills to remain fully prepared to make decisions swiftly and effectively. But how can leaders identify which skills they need to strengthen or where they might be falling short?
With few colleagues who understand the unique challenges of their role—and even fewer equipped to provide advice to overcome those challenges or with the courage to tell them the truth—who can leaders turn to for support in their journey to become a better leader?
The answer is an executive coach.
What Is Executive Coaching?
Executive coaching is a specialized form of coaching that offers current and aspiring leaders a strategic, development partnership with a trained coach.
This partnership is meant to guide leaders on their path to self-discovery and growth. Coaches don’t tell them what to do or provide all “the answers”. Rather, they affirm what the coachee already knows while equipping them with the resources and tools to learn what they don’t all on their own.
Cathy Hayes, an executive coach and master trainer here at The Center for Leadership Studies (CLS), points out that executive coaches often serve as a sounding board for leaders. They can provide a safe and confidential space where leaders can voice their concerns. They can freely and actively address their leadership challenges and receive tailored feedback on how they can make more informed decisions.
As an objective third party with years of experience in leadership development, executive coaches bring a fresh perspective to a leader’s unique circumstances. They can offer educated insights free of any blind spots that may impact the leader and those closest to them.
Coaches work closely with leaders to ensure they can get what they need out of the coaching experience. They’ll help leaders identify goals and create a personalized action plan to achieve them. These can be as general as enhancing overall leadership effectiveness and improving performance or as specific as a 25% improvement in project turnaround within eight to twelve months.
From there, each coaching session is catered towards this plan. Coaches help determine what steps leaders can take to achieve their goals. They’ll also help them address the barriers preventing them from doing so, such as time constraints and competing priorities.
Speaking of, Joe Diab, another executive coach at CLS, points out many leaders struggle on their own to set aside time purely to reflect on their effectiveness as leaders and areas they can grow. Executive coaching, however, forces them to do so.
Each coaching session gives leaders protected time in their schedule dedicated to exploring opportunities for improvement. During which, they can also develop more advanced leadership skills and gain unbiased guidance on how to not only navigate the constantly changing demands of leadership but how to continuously unlock their full potential as a leader as well.
What Are The Key Benefits Of Executive Coaching?
Over 96% of those who invested in executive coaching would repeat the process again, given the same circumstances, according to an International Coaching Federation study. It’s not hard to see why.
From short-term benefits, such as enhanced performance, improved project management and stronger interpersonal connections, to long-term benefits, such as an elevated leadership presence, increased managerial effectiveness and greater organizational culture impact, executive coaching delivers immense value.
One of the many ways it accomplishes this is through providing leaders with the resources and support they need to develop a variety of critical skills. Some of the skills our executive coaches have helped our clients develop include:
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These refined leadership skills and lasting behavioral changes are part of how executive coaching creates more proactive, confident and strategic leaders. It builds leaders’ ability to utilize effective leadership practices to drive excellence in every facet of their company.
Ultimately, the true, transformative power of executive coaching lies in the fact that it takes leaders from casual contributors to vital change-makers. This alone makes executive coaching an indispensable support tool and an increasingly worthwhile investment.
Who Would Benefit Most From Executive Coaching?
There’s not a single individual or business that wouldn’t benefit from executive coaching. As Jessica Volin, another CLS executive coach and master trainer, says, “Coaching is a practice that can be used in all types of industries, at all levels, from individual contributors all the way to top executives.”
However, there are certain situations in which executive coaching can be particularly helpful. Those situations often come in the form of change.
Consider the following scenario. A team leader has suddenly been dismissed and a team member has been chosen to fill that role. Executive coaching might mean the difference between a massive setback that breeds chaos and confusion and a healthy transition that creates stability and security.
Give Executive Coaching A Try With CLS
There’s no better place to see if executive coaching is right for you than the Center for Leadership Studies.
Our rigorous vetting process ensures we only partner with the most highly trained, experienced coaches. But finding the best coach for you isn’t just about credentials—it’s about chemistry and alignment. That’s why we handpick a select group of coaches whose expertise matches your goals. You’ll have the opportunity to interview each one. You can rest assured you’ll find a coach who’s uniquely suited to help you get the results you’re looking for.
But what makes CLS truly different than other executive coaching providers is the research-based context behind every coaching session.
“All CLS executive coaches, besides being trained as coaches, have considerable expertise when it comes to CLS’s own models and frameworks, specifically in the Situational Leadership® Model,“ Jessica Volin states.
You can reap all the benefits of working with an executive coach who integrates proven leadership strategies in their approach. They’re trained to empower you with the knowledge you need to actualize your potential and accelerate your leadership growth.
Reach out to an advisor today and discover how CLS’s executive coaching can revolutionize your leadership approach.