We remember the time when ideas were critical for a successful business, and people kept their ideas secret so that nobody could steal their thunder. Today, the world is full of ideas and knowledge, so the question becomes how to implement those ideas and achieve significant results that will distinguish us from others.
It is no secret that one of the primary factors of business success is people and teams, but people and teams need to be efficient in their work and develop continuously. That's where a coach is needed, as according to research conducted by Harvard Business Review, coaching boosts productivity by 44%.
In this article, we will explore the role of a coach, the importance of coaching, the benefits of executive coaching and what executive coaches can do to support executives - key employees upon whom the performance of the whole company depends.
1. A coach is the only independent peer to your executives
Regardless of the company, all team members and employees are more or less dependent on each other. No individual employee can share everything that worries them with those who depend on them, or on whom they depend. This especially applies to executives.
An executive coach can become perhaps the only independent person at the level of executives. With a coach, they can discuss all their issues, problems and obstacles, risks and threats, both work-related and personal, which directly or indirectly affect their effectiveness and as a result the effectiveness of the company as a whole.
An executive coach should preferably have an executive background, education and worldview, and be skilled in coaching tools and NLP methods, so that they are able to understand the opportunities and challenges of being a leader and support clients on their leadership paths.
2. A coach is a catalyst for change
Each executive is a unique character; a strong and extraordinary personality with vast experience, background, knowledge, skills.
Everyone has their own opinion, circumstances and personal path and what is appropriate for one person may be inappropriate for another. One of the foundational principles of coaching is a non-judgmental perception and utmost respect for the opinion, path and decisions of each individual.
That is why a coach works in the worldview of the client and is able to hear, understand, accept, support, develop and strengthen a person in their fundamental essence, their ways and means of realization and to strengthen them.
Coaching is a set of systems and models of asking questions through which a person can find answers within themselves. A coach is not a consultant and does not give advice, because no one from the outside will be able to know and take into account all the circumstances and factors that are relevant to a person.
The task of a coach is to create conditions and an atmosphere for a client under which they will find solutions, answers, and meanings within themselves. These will be their own decisions and answers that are the most appropriate and efficient for them in their unique circumstances.
3. A coach helps transform weaknesses into areas of growth and development
Each of us has strengths and shortcomings. In coaching we help our clients fully understand and lean on their strengths, and by increasing the influence of those strengths, neutralize the significance of weaknesses.
Shortcomings, limiting beliefs, internal contradictions and weaknesses are all areas of growth and development. Coaching has a whole set of tools and techniques for growth and development. I call it a level-up, a qualitative breakthrough in personal development, through which talents and potential can be fully realized as efficiently as possible.
4. A coach helps to solve problems, overcome obstacles, and find the most effective solutions
Each leader, regardless of their level in the hierarchy, may periodically face very difficult problems, obstacles, or challenges.
Working with a coach, they can:
Go beyond the system in which the problem arose by looking at the situation from the outside and seeing it from different angles;
Explore all possible choices and actions, see new opportunities;
Consider consequences of choices, evaluate potential risks;
Find the most effective way to solve the problem, overcome challenges and transform obstacles into new breakthrough opportunities;
Move to a new level of development and results.
5. A coach develops executives’ management and leadership styles
Often in our work we apply methods and approaches that made us successful in the past, but are no longer effective in a changing reality.
Executive coaching benefits leaders by helping them evaluate their management and leadership toolkit - in order to discard the no longer working methods and add new critical approaches. This reassessment can help the executives to keep up with the times and develop continuously, evolving the most appropriate methods and styles of work for the reality of today, while remaining themselves in full realization of their inner potential.
6. A coach helps executives become innovative leaders
A coach can help executives develop their way of thinking, and expand their vision and field of possibilities. As a result, executives see new horizons to stay ahead of the time, the market, and the competition. That is why executives of the most successful companies work with an executive coach.
Comments