Executive Coaching: The Secret Sauce

What Is It and Why Consider Getting One?

Christina C
12 min readJan 16, 2022
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Each person holds so much power within themselves that needs to be let out. Sometimes they just need a little nudge, a little direction, a little support, a little coaching, and the greatest things can happen.

Pete Carroll

Since the time of sports…

Coaching involves a need for additional support to do something. Executive or personal coaching started its roots in the 80s and 90s when managers were expected to lead a team, increase job satisfaction and have HR as a support scheme (Changeboard Team, 2012). Although the inspiration was from sports coaching, the goal was to improve performance and ideally perpetuate a team or individual winning streak.

There was no professional coaching field back then. It initially took shape as process consulting and expanded to other methodologies like:

GROW (Goal, Reality, Options/Obstacles, Way Forward)

ATD COACH (Current Situation, Objectives, Alternative, and Choices),

SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Timebound)

FUEL (Frame, Understand, Explore, LayOut)

Despite its evolution, its nature remains primarily one-on-one and client-centered (Changeboard Team, 2012). There are many more coaching models out there and a coach chooses one that best fits their client’s focused efforts.

What Isn’t Coaching

Coaching is not a mentorship or a therapeutic relationship. Coaches are someone who addresses the goals of an individual or team and facilitate their efforts to achieve desired goals through feedback, questions, and direction. In simpler terms, coaches are experts in processes, not outcomes (ICF: International Coaching Federation, n.d.).

In contrast, mentors provide subject matter expertise in their own field and offer wisdom and guidance based on their own experiences. A therapist works with a person’s pain, trauma and dysfunction with the goal to heal, and resolve the difficulties that impair a person’s emotional and psychological well-being (ICF: International Coaching Federation, n.d.).

ATD — Association for Talent Development, “What is Executive Coaching?”

Coaching branches into different internal and external support (atd: Association of Talent Development, n.d.). Although the focus is on improving performance and achieving results, the approach can depend on what aspect of your professional life you’d like to address.

Career Coaching

In a general sense, career coaching can provide guidance for professional development. This type of coaching can exist in an organization’s transition program where employees can get resources and support for career transitions, retirement, and job searches (atd: Association of Talent Development, n.d.). These programs can benefit both the employee and the employer in a more significant aspect.

For example, in the United States Army, a program called the Army Transition Assistance Program or ATAP offers career coaching to soldiers retiring or leaving their military service (United States Army Transition Program, n.d.). Other benefits include resume writing, financial planning, professional branding online, and job interviewing.

The support provided can paradoxically be a retention mechanism. It provides means for the employee to have resources available to make the best-informed decision on their behalf. On the other hand, successful transitions from the military service, for example, can be encouraging results for those considering enlisting too as part of their long-term career development.

It’s a given that any career, especially a life-long one, can dramatically affect a person’s lifestyle, home life, social networks, and professional identity culture. Career coaching is an economical solution to support the working professional demographic because it emphasizes talent capital.

Performance Coaching

Performance coaching is an internal organizational mechanism that is narrowing its efforts to improve a person’s performance, usually due to performance appraisal results, despite their level within the organization or job title (atd: Association of Talent Development, n.d.). If a teacher or professor recommended you get tutoring based on your course grade, you were just advised about getting a performance coach.

Performance coaching can be a tricky concept to grapple with compared to other coaching types such as business coaching, career coaching, and leadership coaching. The key thing to understand is how each type compares relationally between the client and their desired indirect effects. Recognizing this distinction can drive the most effective approaches and goal setting.

Performance coaching is internally measured and quantified (feedback from university, job, committee, etc.), with specified aims in mind. The overall goal is mitigating what contributes to poor performance and redeeming the client with better strategies as a remedy.

Coaching Culture — Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), 2018.

More on Coaching Types

There can seem to be an overlap with leadership coaching, business coaching, and even executive coaching, respectively, because of the topics they all cover in some form or another. Yet, the scope and scale concerning the client’s circumstances determine this type of coaching.

Suppose you were an executive professional who manages a large organization. An executive coach would be beneficial for you to refine your leadership skills organizationally speaking. This type of coaching would differ between leadership coaching and even team-management coaching because of the amount of feedback interaction between the coach and the client.

A team coach would be ideal for coaching the client, the team lead, and the team itself. They may coach the team members to work more effectively by simultaneously facilitating a group project or offering live coaching, also known as coaching at the moment (Leading Effectively Staff, 2020).

Likewise, with a business coach, they would work with a client one-on-one similar to an executive coach (and arguably a leadership coach), except the feedback and interaction would be siloed to developing either a person’s business concept, strategy, marketing scheme, or any other aspect of enriching their business in broader terms.

The List Goes On…

You can literally get a coach for just about anything today. A coach facilitates an individual to learn within defined time frames, continued evaluation, and feedback towards their goal.

If you want to be more spiritually attuned, a spiritual coach can help with that. Want to be better at hosting events or working with another demographic like the elderly or teens? There’s a coach for that too.

You, the client, can gauge how narrow or broad yours needs while remaining plugged into your progression over time.

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Steps to Executive Engagement, Assessment, and Process

Everyone needs a coach, whether it’s a top-level executive, a graduate student, a homemaker, a homeless person or the President of the United States.

Anthony Jay Robbins

Commitment Needed from Client and Coach

Most folks get pretty jazzed up about the idea of a coach and then diving headfirst into a severe training regimen promising exponential if not immediate results. Though ideal, it is more romanticized than critically considered. For instance, can you, as the coach and the client, match the time needed to invest to achieve said goal? Can you both meet as frequently or infrequently as necessary? There are countless questions to consider.

In this section, I’ll go over what to expect when developing a coaching relationship, the process it entails and how to effectively ensure it succeeds.

Coaching Ethics and Confidentiality

Coaches who are credentialed adhere to an international code of ethics with their coaching relationships. Why is this necessary? Some companies and organizations will pay third-party organizations to coach their leaders and managers for development or training purposes.

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Because they are hired to help, it can be unnerving for clients to wonder if their information is confidential. Likewise, they may speculate if their coaching session will align with their organization’s expectations with their behavior.

Who can relate to attending inclusivity training sessions only to realize that your leadership didn’t expect you to actually do the training? The same would be worrisome if your job paid for your coaching.

Coaching ethics address these concerns as they are founded on fundamental principles: process equity for all parties (client, coach, organization, or team) involved, professionalism, and collaboration (ICF: International Coaching Federation, 2015). A coach would speak openly about the extent and limitations of confidentiality and what the relationship will do and not do. A prudent person wouldn’t hire a fitness trainer for a landscaping project.

Although a coach can help with some things but not everything. For health concerns, a coach will refer their client to speak to their healthcare provider or attorney for legal matters. Ensuring shared understanding with all involved is the best way to consider these interests while managing expectations (ICF: International Coaching Federation, 2021).

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Are You Compatible?

Other considerations to keep in mind is overall whether you and your client are a good match for each other. Perhaps your personalities don’t quite mess. Is it worth the cost of time you can’t get give or get back if there isn’t any chemistry in the first place?

Foundationally, I would argue that having a coaching relationship that is founded on challenging, transparent and candid conversations (even inconvenient ones like incompatibility concerns) are the most optimal and ethical means to any coaching relationship.

You wouldn’t hire someone to tell you what you WANT to hear — you’re paying for someone to tell you what you NEED to hear.

The Six “C’s” of the Coaching Process

The coach and the client need to have a shared understanding of their coaching relationship and the steps involved. For a successful coaching process, six tasks or “C’s” are necessary:

Task 1 — Clarify your agreement. It’s essential to identify whether the executive is ready for coaching whether you’re a good match for the executive (Kouzes, Posner, & Biech, 2010). In this task, practical and straightforward communication is key to building the coaching relationship further into establishing a coaching agreement. In this phase of the coaching process, it can be challenging and easily misunderstood if expectations and goals are not clearly defined and communicated. Using a coaching agreement with questions expanding on these expectations can be a valuable tool to mitigate confusion at the beginning of the coaching relationship (Kouzes et al. l, 2010).

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Task 2 — Create a Partnership. In this phase, the coach determines what role they model for their client, e.g., teacher-student role, supportive role, or a dominant role (Kouzes et al. l, 2010). Coaches may initially take the lead by managing time and priorities at the beginning of the coaching relationship. Still, they will let the client determine the pace and frequency over time. Addressing issues ahead of time like expectations when either party is late or best practices when the client feels resistant to coaching without derailing the process. Ultimately the coach is responsible for balancing the coaching — client partnership (Kouzes et al. l, 2010).

Task 3 — Collect and Analyze Data. Information like the Myers-Briggs test can help determine the root cause of behaviors or determine a leader’s preferred or desired future disposition (Kouzes et al. l, 2010). A review of the data can help narrow what behaviors can be improved upon and illustrate what themes the client may be reflecting in their performance. A coach must remain objective when reviewing the data and stick to only the facts of the data itself while being candid with their client.

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Task 4 — Construct a Development Plan. When developing a plan, the coach will guide the client to generate options for their plan of action. This plan will incorporate rules of measures for monitoring and tracking results using the SMART format (Kouzes et al. l, 2010). Ensuring the client sets reasonable goals regarding the expectations will be critical. The coach can also encourage areas worth exploring for the client to get out of their comfort zone.

Task 5 — Collaborate and Challenge. This phase of the process is where the coach and the client have had several experiences jointly solving problems and creating solutions together (Kouzes et al. l, 2010). As the client succeeds and grows, more developmental opportunities are sought cyclically. This way, each experience can be reviewed together to help the client operate at a better level than before. The coach provides constructive feedback and questions the leader’s insight and expertise. The coach may also ask questions to challenge the client’s mindset or confront them on their lack of progress. Monitoring progress without overtaxing a client’s time will ensure their success in the coaching relationship.

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Task 6 — Complete and Celebrate. Once the client has mastered their objectives, it’s time to end the coaching relationship and formally close it. It is beneficial to inquire whether progress continues within the relationship. An excellent example of a sign that the dynamic between the client and the coach is fading is when personal matters are often discussed over their professional business (Kouzes et al. l, 2010). Reviewing the progress made from beginning to end is an excellent way to celebrate the client’s transformation to include a small gift or memorable outing to celebrate a client’s final meeting.

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Four Stages of Live Coaching

Depending on your organization, some supervisors can coach their subordinate leaders and provide what is called live coaching. This can be beneficial if the coach also evaluates the performance of the individual or is there to facilitate the coaching experience by providing feedback as it happens. Suppose someone is working a temporary position for hire. In that case, live coaching can significantly benefit the person while developing their performance in the role individually or with those they work with.

Stage 1: Behind-the-Scenes Coaching of the Client. This stage primarily focuses on the planning and contracting portions of executive coaching and what was explained earlier in depth. Whether it is another type of coaching or live coaching, planning and hiring are vital preparations.

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Stage 2 — Observation of the Client & Their Team. Stage 2 involves observing the coach with no on-the-spot coaching of any kind. The point of this stage is to simply follow the client individually but also indirect engagements with their colleagues (O’Neill, 2007). It’s good for the coach to assess how the team functions under their client’s leadership and how resilient they are as a team. It’s essential to identify what strengths the client has and what themes are presented in their challenges at work (O’Neil, 2007).

Stage 3 — Live-Action Coaching of the Client & Their Team. Stage 3 will have more coach involvement, but this time, the coach will give the client and their colleagues (O’Neil, 2007). This is helpful when clients are stuck in work patterns that do not contribute positively to their work and their team. This stage of coaching empowers clients with a kinesthetic experience with themselves and their coworkers. The feedback can be critical at times for in-the-moment suggestions and interventions when work patterns continue unproductive. This is easier to transition to after the coach invests a period observing the client and their team, rather than jumping right into it.

Stage 4 — Live-Action Coaching of Just the Client. Stage 4 is like Stage 3, except now, all the coach’s actions focus on the client (O’Neil, 2007). The coach prioritizes the client’s leadership skills as they happen. The work environment is supportive of the coach being familiar with the client’s teammates. They would not find it weird that someone is chiming in as they work and would understand the goals of stage 4 with the coach’s attention on just the client. This is also the stage where the coach will wean the client off of their interventions to encourage self-reliance in their transformed work patterns (O’Neil, 2007).

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Ebb and Flow

As a coach myself, I’ve learned that asking leading questions where I’m doing more listening than talking is incredibly helpful. Having my client explain how they plan to execute their daily tasks provides me insight into their management style and expresses how they work through a problem. I find that working with a client’s pacing and thought process provides support, trust and builds their confidence in succeeding beyond their comfort zones. The little intervention I do, the more can be observed, and their growth as a leader and experts in their craft is noted as small victories. I have found that the hands-off approach has helped me better develop my trust in the process and my leadership ability.

References

atd: Association of Talent Development. (n.d.). What is Executive Coaching? Retrieved from atd: https://www.td.org/talent-development-glossary-terms/what-is-executive-coaching

Changeboard Team. (2012, November 27). The evolution of coaching. Retrieved from Changeboard: https://www.changeboard.com/article-details/13946/the-evolution-of-coaching/

ICF: International Coaches Federation. (n.d.). Learn the Facts About Coaching. Retrieved from ICF: Experience Coaching: https://experiencecoaching.com/learn/

Kouzes, J. M., Posner, B. Z., & Biech, E. (2010). Ch. 9 Developing exemplary leaders: Making the most of the leadership challenge and the leadership practices Inventory (LPI). Hoboken, NJ: Pfeiffer.

Leading Effectively Staff. (2020, April 20). The Dynamics of Team Coaching. Retrieved from CCL: Center for Creative Leadership: https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/the-dynamics-of-team-coaching/

O’Neill, M. B. (2007). Ch.7 Executive coaching with backbone and heart: A systems approach to engaging leaders with their challenges (2nd Edition). Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass.

United States Army Transition Assistance Program. (n.d.). Transition. Retrieved from Army Transition Assistance Program: https://www.armytap.army.mil/content/Transition

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Christina C

This space is where I write about my thoughts and hobbies. I’m also the creator of an industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology blog — www.theofficesavant.com.