Become an Effective Executive Coach

Coaching has been defined in many ways. The essence of coaching is:

• To help a person change in the way they wish and helping them go in the direction they want to go.
• Coaching supports a person at every level in becoming who they want to be.
• Coaching builds awareness empowers choice and leads to change.

The coach helps the client to achieve their personal best and to produce the results they want in their personal and professional lives. Coaching ensures the client can give their best, learn and develop in the way they wish.

Put simply, coaching is a process that aims to improve performance and focuses on the ‘here and now’ rather than on the distant past or future.

The coach is not a subject expert, but rather is focused on helping the individual to unlock their own potential. The focus is very much on the individual and what is inside their head. A coach is not necessarily a designated individual: anyone can take a coaching approach with others, whether peers, subordinates or superiors.

‘Coaching’ is one of the essential leadership styles identified by Daniel Goleman. The key skill of coaching is asking the right questions to help the individual work through their own issues.

Coaching Types

There are two main types of coaching relationship. The first is with an external coach who is not part of the organisation or line management structure in any way. The second is an internal coaching relationship, where a manager or leader acts as a coach for their team. The two require different ways of working as coach, although they share some similarities.

• In an external relationship, the coach has no subject expertise and no vested interest in the outcome of any decisions, except insofar as the person being coached is pleased with the outcome of the coaching. They also have no preconceived ideas about the person being coached: they probably don’t know them in a work context and have no idea of the quality of their work performance.
• In an internal relationship, however, the coach may well have a strong vested interest in the quality of the decision-making, as well as knowing a lot about the subject. They may well know the person being coached very well: they may have been managing them for some time and have some preconceived ideas of the likely outcomes of coaching, which may not necessarily be positive.

More professionals are being asked to coach their work teams in order to get the most out of their people. Like any relationship, coaching is built on trust and mutual respect. The person you are coaching, the protégé, must trust you to guide him/her though a strategic thinking process. When information is shared openly, the process will be more beneficial.

One of the greatest benefits of coaching others is that it allows you to polish your management skills. Many of the skills of the coach coincide with good management skills. Here’s what it takes to be a successful coach:

• The coach remains focused on the protégé’s goals and, in turn, keeps the protégé focused on those goals. Within coaching sessions, the coach focuses on the work to be done and keeps the protégé on track through a solid process and effective clarifying questions.
• Mindfulness/presence. The coach is fully present and eliminates any distractions. The more attention you give to the protégé, the more effective your sessions will be.
• Rapport/trust. As the coaching relationship deepens, so does the level of trust between the coach and protégé. Create a safe environment for the exchange of open dialogue and trust will develop over time.
• The coach clearly states and upholds the commitment to retain all conversations and information in confidence.
• Active listening. The role of the coach is to talk less and listen more. Let the protégé do the talking.
• The compassionate coach uses all senses to assess the protégé’s mood or the environment. Sometimes the coach must rely on a “gut” feeling of intuition rather than a more logical, rational explanation.
• The curious crave a deeper way of knowing and drive a deeper level of inquiry. The result: thorough and sensitive questions to reveal breakthroughs in thinking or behavior.
• Sound judgment but not judging. The coach remains non-judgmental and open-minded and is prepared to use sound judgment when helping protégés work through challenges.
• Behavioral change takes time so it requires patience. Understand that each protégé works in her/his own timeframe. Some protégés require greater time to sort out issues and develop solutions and strategies.
• After listening to the protégé, the coach weaves together the strands of information, sometimes disparate, and creates a seamless, condensed summary. Some would call it the 30,000-foot perspective. Often the protégé cannot see what is most obvious. It takes a skilled coach to point it out. When a protégé says, “I never thought of it this way” or “I can’t believe I never saw that before,” the coach knows the protégé is viewing things differently and can now take action.

Coaching Skills and Attributes

• Coaches generally have high emotional intelligence: they’re good at understanding and relating to people, and they’re interested in people. You have to genuinely want to help others develop to become a really good coach. It’s no good just paying lip service to the idea.
• Coaches need to be able to show empathy and be good at building relationships, including building rapport.
• Good coaches also have strong communication skills.
• Coaches are good at gathering information and then clarifying it for the person being coached. They generally have strong listening skills, including active listening.
• They don’t jump in straight away with the answer but rather make sure that they’ve fully understood the issue by reflecting and clarifying.
• Similarly, coaches have usually taken time to develop strong questioning skills. It’s been said that coaches should never offer opinions, but instead only ask questions to guide the person being coached through the issue. This is similar to the role of a counselor.
• Coaches and coaching leaders give space and time for people to try things out. They don’t get over-excited or angry about mistakes, instead they concentrate on how to recover the situation calmly and with the involvement of the person who made the mistake. They are skilled at providing feedback and using tact and diplomacy.
• Coaches may also use various models of learning and thinking, such as Myers-Briggs Type Indicators, and have training and expertise in various tools and techniques, for example, psychometric testing or neuro-linguistic programming (NLP).

Managers and coaching mindset

So what do managers do differently when they are leading from a coach mindset?

Think about the difference between managers who tell employees what to do and managers who take the time to work with employees on professional development. It’s that commitment to coaching that is the key difference between the two.

Successful managers know how to offer regular support and encouragement to employees, helping them to maximise their potential so they can get where they want to go in their career.

Having a manager take on a coaching role will also help employees to stay motivated and focused on their goals. When there’s someone else you’re accountable to, who has placed a lot of time and energy into your career, you’ll want to consistently deliver your best work possible.

A good coach can also help to identify potential gaps in your skill set and push you to learn new skills, achieving new personal goals in the process.

Key characteristics of a good coach manager are

• Non-authoritative – coach and employee work cooperatively to reach the predefined goals. The coach is only in charge of the process and structure but is not responsible for setting the agenda or leading the discussions.
• Active listener – the coach is mentally present within the coaching conversation. They ask clarifying questions and listen carefully to understand the core concerns and objectives of the employee.
• Powerful questions – asking questions that are open-ended, rather than those that elicit a yes or no response. Use questions that start with words such as what, how, when and where.
• No hidden agendas – an effective coach does not have an emotional attachment to situations described by the employee. They are honest, direct, and respectful.
• Provide direction – the coach should provide the employee with tasks that will help them move toward their goal and produce the desired transformation.