Executive Coaching – Personal and professional insight

Executive Coaching – Personal and professional insight 

Executive Coaching has been growing in popularity recently, in part due to the ability it has to provide senior leaders and executives with a safe space to discuss new ideas or different ways of working. And so as an Executive Coach, you may be asked to help an individual, senior team or sometimes the board unlock their true potential through tools and techniques that help them develop personal and professional insight.

This insight can then be used to create an environment where talent at every level within the organization gets an opportunity to flourish. But no matter what your approach as an Executive Coach, be ready to ask lots of questions and focus on their strategic goals. These could be the development of a business strategy, the effectiveness of the senior team or simply setting priorities and making decisions.

Whatever the focus of the conversation, learn how to playback what you hear and clarify or challenge any assumptions the executive or senior leaders will have about their true management style. And if possible, suggest incorporating a 360 feedback process into your work so you can further enhance their personal and professional insight and help them grow in self-awareness. This can really help them focus on or address any underlying management or performance issues.

By doing this and clearly aligning the coaching objectives with the company strategy, plus any strategic or personal goals, you will help demonstrate you can provide a real return on investment and show how quickly you can add value.

But seeing somebody grow in confidence and develop the skills they need to be a great leader can be the real reward for a coach. However, remember to schedule regular opportunities to look back and not only reflect on the positive progress being made but also flag any old habits or behaviors that may be creeping back in.

Generating opportunities and new leads

If you would like to move into this area of coaching and work with executives or business leaders, you will need to first do some work on the practical side of things and generate new leads. Then convert them into a sale by talking about how your skills and experience can help achieve the outcomes needed to provide personal and professional insight.

The key to being successful in this area is to quickly build confidence and maybe stand out by highlighting a fresh approach you could bring to executive coaching. This can be built on your background or life experiences and the different types of developmental tools you plan to use.

Ultimately, anybody you approach needs to believe you are the coach that can help them unlock their potential as a leader. So here are some ideas to help you generate some new leads:

• Build your network of leaders and decision-makers so you can find opportunities
• Proactively engage in executive coaching discussions on social media to build reputation and influence
• Get meeting ready so you can talk confidently about your skills, experience and fresh approach
• Create a range of case studies to showcase your previous work and achievements