What is Executive Coaching Anyway?
Author: Em-powering Executives
“Executive coaching, which surfaced as a leadership development practice over a decade ago, is now among the most widely used executive development techniques.” McGovern, Lindemann, Vergara, Murphy, Barker and Warrenfeltz. 2001.
Although coaching is growing at a phenomenal rate in the UK, there is still some confusion around exactly what it entails, what it is and, crucially, what it isn’t.
What’s the difference between a coach and a mentor?
How does coaching work and can it really help me and my team?
Does coaching really make a difference?
Let’s see what we can do to clear up some of the confusion.
First of all coaching is goal oriented. It deals with the present and the future. It’s all about ‘em-powering’ the client to work out where they want to go, when they want to get there and how they can do it. It concentrates on enabling the client to take action in order to achieve their objectives.
If you imagine a line with ‘non-directive’ at one end and ‘directive’ at the other, coaches operate towards the non-directive end. Indeed pure coaching is completely non-directive (although as an Executive Coach I do not spend all my time being non-directive. There are times when some construcive feedback or a suggestion is necessary or helpful). So rather than give advice as a mentor would do (as someone who has ‘been there done that’), coaches ask powerful questions using clean language to ensure they do not lead the client.
In this way a coach can raise awareness, ownership and responsibility; and enable the client to think differently and deeply to come up with new ideas for themselves. A coach will also hold the client responsible for taking the actions to which they have committed and is prepared to challenge the client.
Coaching usually takes the form of a series of 1:1 sessions which can be either face to face or over the telephone. I find that Executive Coaching sessions typically take between 1½ to 2 hours each and are held on a regular basis. Fortnightly often works well but the interval will vary according to the client’s needs.
‘Maximising the Impact of Executive Coaching’, a report written in 2001 (McGovern, Lindemann, Vergara, Murphy, Barker and Warrenfeltz) studied 100 executives in America over a period of 4 years. Its findings include:
* Average returns of 5.7 times the investment in Coaching.
* An array of Tangible Benefits (including 53% reporting increases in productivity).
* An array of Intangible Benefits (including 73% reporting improved relationships with staff reporting to them).
Not surprising then that Executive Coaching is growing so fast even, or perhaps especially, in the current climate!
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© Emma Wortt of Em-powering Executives, 2009. All Rights Reserved. Em-powering Executives enable leaders and their teams to achieve excellence using executive coaching and training. To receive similar articles directly, subscribe to the FREE monthly Em-powering Executives newsletter at http://www.em-poweringexecutives.co.uk
Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_793727_15.html
About the Author: Emma Wortt is an Executive Coach. In forming Em-powering Executives, she brought together all her experience gathered throughout her 12 years in the London corporate world, her high level qualifications as a Professional Coach and NLP Practitioner, plus her long experience and expertise in the training arena.
Through Em-powering Executives, Em enables individuals to create solutions to their challenges; achieve personal success and job satisfaction; use the results of that work to benefit their organisation; and to create an optimum organisational culture in which staff are performing effectively, are motivated, loyal and happy.
Em is passionate about her work and cares deeply about empowering executives to achieve excellence.
Her work with clients can include helping the individual to:
• Achieve excellence.
• Cut through the myriad of everyday challenges to step back, view the bigger picture and find the solutions.
• Motivate teams, get them pulling together and get them performing.
• Set powerful and effective goals and achieve them.
• Learn to delegate and ‘let go’.
• Understand and implement effective methods of communication including building rapport and presentation skills.
• Accomplish excellent professional relationships.
• Understand, learn and implement coaching.
• Understand how to become exceptionally organised.
• Get things done as opposed to moving items from one ‘To Do’ list to the next.
• Breakthrough limiting beliefs.
• Achieve personal and professional growth.
• Become more effective and attain work/life balance by addressing time challenges.
• Increase confidence.
• Reduce stress and ‘enjoy the journey’.
http://www.em-poweringexecutives.co.uk
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