Executive Coaching
No matter where people are in the executive journey, at some point, most leaders will partner with an executive coach; a sounding board, confidante, and someone with whom they can be challenged, supported and held to account. Each leader has their own journey, their own strengths and challenges, and the right match with the ideal executive coach, finds them in an extraordinary position of developing themselves to go beyond their previous leadership capabilities.
Here at The Leadership Coaches, our executive coaches have been hand-picked by an exceptionally fussy leader, and our coach matching is done with precision through no-obligation chemistry calls, to ensure the match is successful for the leader to have long-term coaching objective success.
We work with leaders in national and international organisations, and whether you are the person seeking coaching in the business for yourself or you are the solution finder for your wider business coaching needs, we are happy to chat more with you about how coaching can help you and your business thrive.
What is Executive Coaching?
Executive coaching is a bespoke and collaborative development process designed to enhance the leadership skills, performance, and potential of executives and high-potential individuals within organisations. Unlike traditional training or mentoring, executive coaching is tailored to the specific needs and goals of the individual being coached.
At its core, executive coaching helps leaders unlock their full potential by:
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Increasing Self-Awareness: Coaches facilitate deep introspection and feedback mechanisms, helping leaders gain clarity about their strengths, weaknesses, values, and leadership style.
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Setting Clear Goals: Through a process of goal-setting and action planning, coaches help executives define clear objectives and create actionable plans to achieve them.
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Building Effective Communication and Interpersonal Skills: Coaches provide guidance on enhancing communication skills, fostering constructive relationships, and navigating complex interpersonal dynamics within the organisation.
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Developing Strategic Thinking: Executive coaches assist leaders in refining their strategic vision, making informed decisions, and effectively aligning their actions with organisational goals.
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Providing Accountability and Support: Coaches serve as trusted confidants and accountability partners, offering encouragement, feedback, and guidance throughout the coaching journey.
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Driving Performance Improvement: By addressing specific challenges and areas for development, executive coaching helps leaders overcome obstacles, enhance performance, and achieve sustainable growth.
Overall, executive coaching is a powerful tool for personal and professional development, enabling leaders to maximise their impact, drive organisational success, and thrive in an ever-changing business environment.
Carol's coaching style allowed for a relaxed environment and created the opportunity for me to lead on finding the solutions to dealing with my obstacles. It brought me back to focusing on my core values and became the catalyst for reframing of my thoughts and feelings in such a way that I have become a lot more positive about my direction. I have a strong sense of discipline, and therefore trust my assurance to self that I will maintain the progress achieved over the course of the coaching sessions.
I have been running my own business for 35 years and thought I knew everything... until I met Wendy. She taught me some important skills about better communication and how to remove self-limiting beliefs that we are all plagued with but try to keep macho quiet. Once these were lifted I used the skills that Wendy covered and it is now a joy to go to work and talk to my staff in terms of what motivates them rather than what I want. I can't recommend what Wendy does enough, the value is almost life-changing.
Navjeet has a talent for honing into the heart of an issue. She supported me during a difficult transition period of my life and helped me view my situation and feelings more objectively.
Navjeet has a wonderful way of facilitating discussions with empathy while offering razor-sharp insight. During my work with her, I learned to look at things through a different lens and develop resilience to work through what felt like insurmountable issues. I would highly recommend her any personal or professional coaching.
I worked with Simon on career coaching. At the time I needed some clarity on various career options. Simon helped me to consider my options and fully explore the pros and cons for all those I had been thinking about. He helped to provide some real clarity and made me realise just how unhappy I was in my current job. As a result of our sessions I had the confidence to apply for a new job, I was successful (and left my old job). This was a big step as I had been there for a long time. Simon was an excellent coach, totally professional and I would recommend him to anyone without any reservation.
What Are the Benefits of Executive Coaching?
Executive coaching comes hand-in-hand with numerous benefits.
As one-on-one coaching provides leaders with the time and space they need to reflect on their performance within their role, it enables them to determine what works well and what may need improving. In doing so, leaders can begin to recognise what needs to change for them to perform at their best.
In addition, one-to-one leadership coaching can:
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help leaders explore their current leadership practices.
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support leaders in gaining insight into the impact their leadership currently has.
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assist leaders in experimenting with new behaviours and strategies.
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aid leaders in implementing changes and reviewing how well they work.
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help leaders manage and maintain change.
Executive coaching also contributes to higher satisfaction levels within the workplace and enhances productive working relationships.
Furthermore, coaching helps people clarify their thinking and set and achieve goals.
A study conducted by the International Coaching Federation shows that clients report a fivefold increase in their ability to achieve their goals following coaching, whilst others report a ninefold increase in their ability to take action on their goals.
On hand to help individuals, teams, and organisations reach their full potential
Frequently Asked Questions
Here, we share just a few of our frequently asked questions surrounding one-to-one executive coaching.
At The Leadership Coaches, we offer each coachee the opportunity to participate in a coaching chemistry session. These sessions enable the coachee to meet with one or two of our coaches to determine if the chemistry is right for a trust-based relationship.
The number of coaching sessions required entirely depends on the coachee. However, a typical coaching package often includes six-monthly one-to-one coaching sessions and three triad preparation/review meetings.
Throughout coaching sessions, the coach supports the coachee and employs tools to learn more about them and how they manage various situations. All of our coaches have a wealth of experience in leadership coaching; the years they’ve spent training, refining, and in supervision, means you can be confident they will be able to support development towards goal achievement.
Executive coaching and one-to-one leadership coaching are similar. Both coaching styles support coachees in enhancing their performance at work, and both help individuals develop new skills and relationships with colleagues and employees.
Executive coaching is important for various reasons. It provides leaders with a space to talk openly and is designed to provide a thinking space. In addition, executive coaching can support work-life balance and well-being, offer different perspectives, and reaffirms for leaders the value of nurturing themselves. There are many other benefits of executive coaching, which you can read about here.
Executive Coaching at The Leadership Coaches
Before commencing executive coaching, we first establish who the stakeholders are and their expectations. Following this, we arrange a coaching chemistry session to ensure that the chemistry between the coachee and coach is suitable for a trust-based relationship.
Once the coachee and coach have agreed to work together, a contracting session establishes objectives, roles, responsibilities, commitment, and frequency of coaching. At this stage, we additionally verify confidentiality.
As the first series of bespoke one-on-one coaching sessions occur, the coach and coachee work together, the coach learning about the strengths and challenges of the individual, together they explore the topics for progression and through a process of deep listening, incisive questioning, appropriate support and challenge they identify strategies for goal achievement.
In between sessions, the coachee implements their actions and deepens their learning around the pragmatic actions they’re taking, which informs the next step in moving towards the objective(s).
We conduct a mid-point review following the first half of the coaching sessions. This enables all parties to ascertain the effectiveness of the sessions and demonstrates whether the coaching intervention is on track. Upon completing the mid-point review, additional coaching sessions focus on developing the objective(s) and addressing any new areas identified in the mid-point review.
When the series of executive coaching sessions come to an end, a final review is held to consider the lessons learned and celebrate the coachee's success.