It is incredibly difficult to become an executive coach with The Leadership Coaches. We demand the highest standards from our coaches, and we turn more people away than we actually choose to work with.
But are these standards too high, and does this approach really make a difference? You decide for yourself when you find out why it’s so important to us.
One of the things that really aggravates us is that an individual or a business can approach some existing coaching providers and they’ll be able to pick from about 2,000 coaches on their books. But how on earth can any worthwhile provider realistically offer so many coaches? How are they quality monitoring them?
Even if there are quality measures in place, these are often superficial tick box exercises. They could ask “Have you got a coaching qualification?” Yes, tick the box. “Do you have supervision?” Yes, tick the box.
But that simply isn’t enough.
The Difference
We look far deeper than these basic elements. These questions demand more detail than just yes or no.
For example, was the supervision with an accredited coach supervisor?
It’s a sad reality that many people will just take supervision as being a simple yes. They've got supervision, and that’s enough. But actually, what was the quality of that supervision? It’s digging deeper into this that makes the real quality executive coaches stand miles apart from those who just tick boxes.
We also take getting references extremely seriously. Anyone can get a reference. They’re normally especially positive for pro bono coaching.
But, at The Leadership Coaches, we coach executives. These people are in the buying position, and they don't want to look foolish.
Our clients don't want to feel as if they've made a mistake. When they come to us, they need to trust that we’ve done that groundwork, and we’ve asked for real references from paying clients, who have been through a real executive coaching journey.
Our clients know that they're getting an executive coach that will be credible when sat in front of their C-suite.
Very few companies conduct the level of checks that we do.
We will speak to people that they've coached, and we will ask those searching questions that lets us know whether we can trust this coach in front of this client. And our clients can have peace of mind that we’ve done this work for them.
We want to make our clients look good. We can’t do that if we haven’t done our due diligence.
When Coaching Works
For any coaching journey, executives need to have the right coach working with them for it to be successful. In theory, when selecting a coach, their background and experience shouldn’t matter, as coaching is about helping that individual to find their own next steps. However, we have found the reality to be a bit different.
The executives that we have worked with have often had a mixture of needs, sometimes requiring mentoring as well as coaching. In David Clutterbuck’s Coach Maturity Model (with which we are closely aligned), seasoned executive coaches contract and know how to work on the fine line between coaching and mentoring. This ultimately means that sometimes what a COO might want is someone who has worked globally in an executive position because they want to soundboard ideas with someone who can bring that new perspective to their development.
No business or person should ever underestimate the credibility of their executive coaches. There are coaching providers, who do just tick boxes, and then there are The Leadership Coaches, and we dig deep to ensure that our coaches are absolutely best in class, offering all the different elements that executives may be looking for.
Our Top Tips
If you’re searching for an executive coach, then here are the top 3 things that you absolutely need to look for:
1. Credibility
Can the coach sit in front of your C-Suite and talk with confidence? How much do you trust that they’ll do a good enough job for you, and they’ll represent you well? Make sure you look for credibility above everything else.
2. Aligned and Accountable
A good executive coaching provider won’t just tell you what the programme is going to be, and then give you six coaching sessions, hoping it sticks. You need to ensure that not only do you have a programme that is fit for purpose, but that the right parameters are in place around it, such as sponsor support or stakeholder discovery calls, to make sure that the coach is addressing the relevant challenges for that leader. Without this extra work, it will be very hard to prove that the right changes have been made.
3. Check The Supervision
Most organisations will ask for supervision, but does it go to a deep enough level? We don't allow group coaching supervision on its own. Don’t get us wrong, we know this is an extremely valuable practice and we encourage it, but exceptional executive coaches are also honing their own craft by case reviews with their accredited coach supervisors. That’s what sharpens their own saw.
You should also make sure that the supervision was done with an accredited coach supervisor. Just having a walk around the park with a mate is not good enough, but these are the sorts of activities that people are classing as supervision.
Worth it?
Do we really need to have the high standards that we do?
Yes. Definitely.
You could say that we’re fussy. And we’re not ashamed to say that we work very hard. But that’s why we get good results. And would you want to work with anyone who settles for anything less?
If you want to work with the best coaches that deliver the best results, then we’d love to have a chat. Get in touch to find out more.
