How to Hire an Executive Coach for Your Executive Team

Brining an Executive Coach into your organization for your management team can be one of the most innovative ways to upkeep performance in your business.  Access to a professional coach helps leaders see their true potential, unlock a high performance mindset, and get the best out of themselves and others.

But what exactly does this relationship look like….and how does it work?

An Executive Coach is an objective professional that is trained to help those leaders un-tap the internal resources required to close the gap between current and desired goals. A good executive coach can help leaders maintain composure in the face of stress, increase self-awareness and control in high-pressure situations, and maintain clarity of thought in a environment of distraction. As you can imagine, this can serve to be an incredible resource!

What does working with an Executive Coach actually look like?

Brining an Executive Coaching in as part of your toolkit for creating an high performing leadership team works in a similar manner to a CEO hiring a coach for him or herself. The coaching relationships can vary depending on the coach and the company, but there are some basics that are similar amongst the best coaches.

There are basically three different types of interactions your team can have with their coach, and they can typically be deployed individually or they call can be used together in a comprehensive program.

Group Coaching

Group coaching is when your team meets with the coach and discusses either a pre-determined topic or a topic chosen by a team member or members. Whatever the challenge, the coach facilitates discussion, asks the difficult questions and gathers insight from the others in the session.

The advantage to this type of session is leverage. One participant’s insight can benefit everyone in the session and often participants will get answers to questions they may not have even been aware they needed.

It’s important to note, and Executive Coach, unlike a typical consultant, does not offer advice. The coach challenges the group to think in different ways, uncovers different perspectives and uncovers self-limiting beliefs that may be preventing the team from getting the desired results.

In fact, offering advice, or instruction during a coaching session is a warning sign of a coach who lacks a true understanding of the coaching process. 

NOTE: It’s not uncommon for a company to hire an Executive Coach with a specific expertise or background to provide instruction or training. However, in a true coaching session, providing instruction and direction cheats the team member(s) of the process of digging deep and developing greater insight. When hiring a coach to deliver training, this should be discussed upfront and agreed upon so all parties are aware of the differences in expectations and delivery.

One-On-One

One-on-One coaching, as the name suggests is when a leader meets with the coach directly without anyone else present. These sessions can last anywhere from 30 – 90 minutes. The subject matter varies greatly depending on the challenges the leader wishes to cover or the goals set forth and agreed upon at the beginning of the coaching agreement.

The advantage of this type of session is the depth and candor of discussions that can be achieved in a small period of time. Although personal topics are not typically targeted in an Executive Coaching session, these sessions do allow for more flexibility, where the discussion can go slightly personal to the extent it impacts the professional results.

A well trained coach understands boundaries, but also has the skills to address personal challenges as a Life Coach may do – the difference being the Executive Coach will ensure the scope of the conversation remains focused on professional results.

On-Demand

The on-demand coaching arrangement is a “call me when you need me” retainer contract. As leaders struggle with any given challenge, a coaching session can be scheduled to help them see through a particular situation or challenge.

Typically, a good coach will not allow for a “cold” contract of this type. Instead the coach may meet with team leaders in a few pre-defined sessions to become familiar with the coach, the philosophy of coaching and the basic structure of a coaching session – after which the executives are free to schedule up to a predetermined amount of calls with the coach as needed.

The advantage of this type of arrangement is convenience. This is just-in-time coaching and provides the participants with an outlet and the ability to reset when they really need it.

Hiring an Executive Coach

Hiring an Executive Coach for your team is relatively straight forward, but there are a few things you want to consider and discuss with your potential coach.

1. What is the goal for your coaching program? 

2. Who will be participating in the program?

3. How long will the program continue?

4. How will you measure success?

5. What type of sessions, or combination of sessions will work best for your team.

A good coach will be able to schedule a call to help you work through these questions and make sure you can agree on (or find) a program that meets your needs.

Getting started with your Executive Coach!

As you can see, providing executive coaching for your leaders and executives can be one of the most powerful benefits available and can be structured in a number of different ways.  

If your business is ready to help leaders maintain composure in the face of stress, increase self-awareness and control in high-pressure situations, and maintain clarity of thought in a environment of distraction – then an Executive Coach may be just what you’re looking for!

If you’d like to learn more about bringing the power of executive coaching to your company, fee free to schedule a call today.