Coaching Leaders

Leaders have

co-pilots.  Historically the co-pilots have been a spouse or significant other, a mentor, a close friend, a parent or sibling, a consultant, or, of course, an executive coach.  Increasingly the executive coach is more common as the training and focus of the executive coaching process has been refined and enhanced.  Now it is often expected that a great leader have a great executive coach.

What are the reasons that there is so much value in an executive coach for leaders?  An executive coach works with the coachee for:

• Full consideration and exploration of the possibilities – the executive coach asks questions, going further than the coachee would on their own.
• Clarity and focus – the executive coach rephrases and probes for complete understanding and to determine priorities.
• Goal setting – the executive coach ensures the goals are specific and measurable.
• Strategy and action planning – the executive coach works with the coachee to fully develop their strategy and plan.
• Accountability – the executive coach holds the coachee accountable and supports them holding themselves accountable.
• Skill development – through the coaching process the coachee is learning skills because of the modeling of the coach, because skills are included in their strategy and planning, and because following through builds skills.

What makes an executive coach unique among possible co-pilots for a leader is that they are focused completely on the coachee and the involvement of the executive coach in what happens is based solely on supporting the coaching to achieve the outcomes they choose.