Seven Essentials to Excellent Executive Coaching

Coaching is one way to ensure that your people have all of the best tools at their disposal for success. Executive coaching is the art of handing people they keys and insights into self-awareness. However, it goes beyond that and reduces destructive behaviours, enhances teamwork and facilitates individual and collective goals, personal succession and the bigger organisational picture in a powerful way. Here's some insights into finding the best executive coach for your organisational requirements.

1. Qualify, Qualify, Qualify
Straight off the bat there needs to be a three way qualification that ensures that the client, the coach and the coach are all aligned and suitable to work together in a constructive and positive way.

2. Muck In
Coaches, who actively facilitate communication, demonstrate best practices and work alongside their clients, rather than passively sit on the sidelines; will deliver a higher level of effectiveness in leadership development.

3. Use the Phone
This may seem to be at odds with the previous point. However, according to Goldsmith and Morgan, exceptional coaching doesn't need to include eye contact and shaking hands. Ideally coach and coaching counterpart will meet at the start and throughout the assignment, once chemistry is established, the phone can be just as effective for coaching conversations.

4. Leave the Ego at the Door
A great coach won't try and prove that they're worthy of accolades, praise and have encyclopaedic knowledge of particular industry sector. Instead, they'll do everything in their power to demonstrate their abilities in actions, which speak louder than words.

5. Understand when coaching is the wrong option
Sometimes an executive or management coach will be engaged for all of the wrong reasons. For example, where there is any type of serious performance management issue, the person needs to be formally dealt with internally, not coached. It’s not the coaches’ responsibility to conduct the any of the important performance management of staff or managers.

All it takes is one ethical violation to ruin a business. No amount of coaching can remedy certain things. An excellent coach knows this, and will advise when their services aren't going to fix a situation.

6. Sponsor and Foster Positivity
Great executive coaching starts from a position that sponsors and safeguards personal development, alongside the broader interests of the organisation. It begins by promoting qualities that already exist within the individual, team and organisation. A good coach knows how to manifest these positive qualities to their fullest capacity.

7. Awaken Self Awareness
Management and board level positions can entail a great degree of public scrutiny and flack. This can dismantle the confidence of leaders. An excellent coach should be able to awaken a deeper sense of awareness of a person's weak spots, blind spots and strengths. By helping to shine a light on these qualities, executive coaching can really help leaders to come into their own.