How Executive Coaching Can Be Your Game Changer

When you get to a certain point in your career, the kinds of things you need to work on aren’t necessarily going to be part of what’s packaged in an online course. You’ve got situations that are broader and more specific than the theoretical outcomes those courses include. So, what are your options? You’re committed to life-long learning, and you need to take things in a different direction. Working an executive coach may be precisely the game-changer you need to help you clarify goals and intentions, plus hold you to account on following through. Coaching also enables you to develop the most valuable interpersonal skills, such as flexibility, and resiliency, that you’re going to need to thrive. Careers these days also include and a significant component of family balance. This is much more evident now during Covid-19, where working at home, managing kids and educational commitments, plus the demands of a family locked down in what could be constrained spaces are clearly intertwined. An executive coach may act as a sounding board who can help ensure you apply new approaches to help on all fronts.

What it is, and what it is not

Executive coaches help you find extraordinary breakthroughs that unlock your personal best and lead you to overcome what you thought was impossible. They use their own experiences to guide you through a specific methodology and process that helps you address the performance improvements you have on your agenda. Coaches listen carefully to uncover the challenges you’re facing. They’ll help you articulate your vision, mission, and values, plus establish measurements for evaluation. Achievements drive new goals so that you’re consistently challenged to grow. 

Coaching is not consulting, nor is it mentoring. While some may use these terms interchangeably, there are differences in each overall approach. 

• Consultants are typically brought in as observers and problem-solvers:  they listen and offer solutions. They can be involved in rolling those out, or their contact can end after their recommendations have been made. When everything is complete, they move on to the next assignment.
• Mentors are trusted and wise counsellors who listen, challenge, question and inspire you, but they support you to find your path through your problems or situations. You can take what they offer and select what elements might be useful.

Why coaching is now a gamechanger

Coaches energize individuals who are stuck in their thinking, have hit a barrier, or are constrained by bias. Often, you may not even realize how firmly entrenched you are in your thinking. Your coach will observe and name the resistance, holding you accountable for moving forward on a course of action. Your focus drives personal growth. When you reencounter a similar situation, you’ll be able to recognize and assess it based on your previous efforts, but also consider what your coach can share from their personal experiences. The outcomes of previously implemented solutions that have delivered stable returns on investment will influence the decision and course of action you take. And in a world still finding its way through the pandemic, past solutions can inspire, but may not be enough to deliver expectations of our “new normal.”

You’ll find that over time with an executive coach, your confidence will soar, and you’ll develop the most highly sought characteristics for great organizational leaders:  being flexible, adaptive and agile. Isn’t it time for you to consider adding a coach to your set of tools?