When leaders and professionals seek one on one coaching for themselves or someone in their organization, it’s nearly always for one of two reasons:
1. They’re experiencing change
2. They want to create change
Whether you want help with change for yourself, your team, or your organization, the right coach at the right time makes all the difference. Without a doubt, the most important thing when choosing the right coach for you and your situation is “fit”. There are two factors to consider:
Does this coach have the right knowledge, experience, and expertise for my situation?
Is this coach the right person for me? Is their style and coaching philosophy something that I can connect with?
Executive coaching is an important part of leadership development. While leadership training is an excellent tool to teach skills to large groups, the one-on-one experience of working with a coach can make a profound difference in the development of an individual’s leadership skills and emotional intelligence. Self-awareness in particular is a high-impact result of coaching.
In addition to a good fit in regard to experience and philosophy, what else should you be looking for in an executive coach? There are a lot of factors to consider, but there are a few things that you shouldn’t compromise. These are a few of the most important things you need.
A coach who you can be real with and who will be real with you. Executive coaching will be ineffective if the coach and the client can’t be transparent and straightforward with one another. If you don’t feel like you can be yourself, then there’s no way coaching can help you be your best self.
A coach who will focus on results. If you’re hiring a coach for yourself or someone else, you probably have a good reason. Executive coaching should be focused on helping you accomplish what you set out to accomplish. If you're not sure what that is yet, that's ok! When you know you need something but aren't sure exactly what, coaching is an excellent methodology to help figure out what results you're looking for.
A coach who helps you lean into your strengths. Coaching goals are unsustainable when they focus on well-roundedness (which is a nice way of saying “mediocre at everything”). We are at our best as humans when we get to do what we’re good at, and you need an executive coach that helps you lean into your strengths.
Contact me to learn more about executive coaching: andy@leadforwardco.com
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