You want to be a better strategic planner. How can executive coaching help you get there?

In 2021, author Jeroen Kraaijenbrink explored the common problems faced by leaders charged with bringing strategies to life. Kraaijenbrink’s accurate assessment of these problems can be boiled down to a straightforward equation: E=AMC. Put simply, strategic execution (E) requires holistic alignment (A), changes in mindset so people behave in new ways (M), and the right capabilities (C) to bring the strategy to fruition. A Coach can help with the A, the M and the C. A Coach will help change mindset, forging alignment and measuring success.

It is one part to be a planner which everyone tends to be at some point. However, strategic planners are not just planners, they have other skills to help them achieve this. Analytical skill, Scenario planning skill, Problem solving skill, time management skill and leadership skill are all essential to get started. Assess your body of skillsets, do you have all of these? if you do not, it is safe to cover the knowledge gap to be a better strategic planner.

As an executive coach i can : Remind who you are Make a personal S.W.O.T and how your can deal with you weaknesses and threats. You'll be free to find solutions ( ex: learn or use creativity) for your weaknesses. Threats can be turned into solutions with a action and different points of view (ex : share you work with associates, teams or clients). You can take a different look at your current situation. Give you the opportunity to overcome issues and find solutions. Coaching is a creative process. I'm your best partner and trust you 100%, in you strengths, your creativity, your goals and dreams. Turning your emotions into strengths and developing your emotional intelligence

An executive coach is the best person to show you the mirror. At the very top , the feedback that you receive may be guarded and masked , obviously due to the vested interests of the people who are giving you the feedback. That said , there’s a thin line between pursuing your passion vs aligning with the company’s vision & culture. Many strategic projects fail bcos it doesn’t enthuse the employees as much as the CEO / leader was. It is then important to find a safe space wherein you can throw all these balls up in the air and check what is landing. In an executive coach you will find an unbiased and non judgmental sounding board. You can simulate situations and see where each of it leads to. And then make an informed decision.

As a Leadership Coach, I work with leaders to become more strategic and visionary. Enhancing your leadership toolkit, increases your ability to scale your leadership, impact and results. Here's how: -Increased Self-Awareness Helps us uncover our strengths, weaknesses, and unique qualities. -360 Feedback Enables us to gather valuable perspectives, pinpoint areas for improvement, and leverage our strengths more effectively. -Identifying Blind Spots Identify and overcome barriers, ensuring we have a holistic and unbiased perspective. -Growthmindset Step out of our comfort zones and challenge our beliefs. -Clarity and Confidence Take bold steps, navigate complex strategic landscapes and become more visionary.

Crafting a compelling vision and setting clear, attainable goals are pivotal in strategic planning. An executive coach can guide you through a deep exploration of your core values and aspirations, ensuring they resonate with your personal and organizational objectives. I recall a leader who redefined their organizational vision through coaching, which not only aligned with their personal values but also galvanized their team towards a shared purpose, significantly enhancing their strategic alignment and execution.

A coach can help a leader clarify their goal related to becoming a better strategic planner and create a plan to move toward this. Identify current state, future desired state and what’s holding the leader back from being or feeling that they are strategic? What subtle shifts in thoughts, behaviors or actions can lead to becoming more strategic? Where is the leader doing well and where are the possibilities and opportunities? Is there a specific project or situation where the leader can lean into their strategic planning? A coach can be a trustworthy impartial sounding board to help a leader explore and remove inner mindset blocks, behavioral habits, or skill issues that may be holding the leader back from desired goals and impacts.

To be a Stratetic planner you must have future thinking. The moment you look beyond the current reality the most important enablers are having defined your vision and purpose which direct your action in long term. Executive coaching can help you to curate your purpose for which you see your existence and a vision which can direct your action. A coach can help you look in to your Core as who you as person are, what are your core values, beliefs and intrinsic motivations which helps you to know yourself better at your Core and align your purpose and Vision accordingly. Because when your actions aligned with your Core values and Purpose and your internal Core is in harmony with external self, you leave a most authentic life.

As a Coach,I often find that Executives often articulate goals, however on inquiry, these are what they feel they should have, rather than have goals that truly resonate with their authentic true selves, core values, etc. A deep discovery that unravels the executive's core life goals, values, and purpose and how these tie into their present phase can help. You won't be surprised to discover that organizational and personal vision and goals may be divergent.

In my work as an executive coach I find leaders can often get sucked into the short term issues and challenges they are facing. Firefighting becomes the modus operandii, and longer term strategic planning (fire prevention) takes a back seat. In particularly challenging coaching situations leaders may actually be creating the fires that prevent them from planning ahead. To help break this cycle we’ll explore ways to schedule time where the leader can step back, and envision the future. To put aside the here and now, to focus on purpose, values, and goals. We’ll use high-gain questions to challenge assumptions and limiting beliefs that may be constraining the leader, and as a result their organization.

Executive coaching shines a spotlight on focus, a critical element often lost in the noise of daily operations. Imagine a ship's captain navigating through foggy waters; that's where coaching comes in, acting as the lighthouse. One tangible way coaching aids strategic planning is by implementing the 'Power Hour' method. Each week, you dedicate an undisturbed hour to strategic thinking, guided by your coach. This isn't just any hour, but a meticulously designed session where you dissect long-term goals, assess market trends, and brainstorm innovative solutions, all while keeping your mission at the core. This disciplined approach ensures your strategic plan is not just a document, but a guide for your business.

As an executive Coach, i'll help you to build a strong strategy and action plan, with precision. Your goals wil be realistic and i'll challenge you as a best partner. remember that you are the pilot of you company and i'm your copilot to take action.

As your Executive Coach, I'll guide you in developing a robust action plan to enhance your strategic planning skills. Together, we'll translate your vision into tangible steps, leveraging strengths, addressing weaknesses, and capitalizing on opportunities. I'll assist in prioritizing initiatives, resource allocation, and effective task delegation. Through this process, you'll gain clarity on strategic milestones, ensuring a focused and successful journey towards achieving your goals. Executive coaching serves as a tailored support system, refining your strategic approach and fostering continuous improvement in your planning capabilities.

The best action plan is the one that YOU (and your team) will execute on. Executive coaching is a useful tool to help usher in inspired action. Which is not just an action plan but actions that you feel called to act on. With the aid of powerful questioning, you can free yourself from assumptions and limitations, with the newfound clarity and mental space ……YOUR unique, answers (actions) come.

Planning might be overwhelming for some Executives and they might require a coach to hold them accountable of their plan and strategy. Not only that, there are techniques to be on the plan, stay on the plan and get back at it every time someone is derailed.

Executive Coaching focuses on forging a partnership with our clients, aiming to unleash their utmost potential and assist them in becoming their optimal selves. Establishing an effective monitoring framework necessitates collaboration to achieve more than just tangible outcomes; it should also comprehensively incorporate the client's emotional well-being for enduring success. In my practice, I help clients to build their own or I use existing frameworks like PERMA or Mood Meter to assess the client's emotional state and mindset is crucial for tracking progress towards success.

By tracking progress against predefined goals and objectives, both the coach and coachee can assess the impact of the coaching process. This monitoring allows for course corrections, identifying areas of improvement, and celebrating successes. Additionally, it provides valuable insights into the return on investment of coaching efforts and informs future coaching strategies. Overall, monitoring outcomes ensures that coaching remains a valuable and impactful tool for personal and professional development.

he dynamic nature of business requires strategies to be both implemented diligently and adapted flexibly. Executive coaching can support you in maintaining the discipline to execute your plan while staying agile enough to respond to unforeseen challenges. Coaching a leader through the implementation phase, I saw the value of regular strategic reviews, where we assessed progress and made iterative adjustments, ensuring the strategic plan remained relevant and impactful.

As a coach, I would help the client stay accountable to your strategic thinking goals, ensuring that they dedicate time and effort to developing this skill. Finally, a support is needed in navigating the challenges that come with adopting a more strategic mindset, to help the client to overcome obstacles and stay focused on their long-term vision. Remember, developing strategic thinking is a journey, and a coach can be a valuable partner in guiding you along this path!

As an Executive Coach, I would guide you in implementing and monitoring your strategic plan with precision. By offering support in execution, I can enhance your discipline and agility in navigating unforeseen challenges. Continuous feedback and result-driven adjustments will be emphasized, fostering a dynamic approach. Through diligent progress tracking, we'll celebrate successes, fostering motivation, and strategically analyze failures for valuable insights. This holistic coaching approach ensures that your strategic planning not only succeeds but also becomes a continuous cycle of improvement, aligning with your goals and delivering optimal value.

Lo lindo de trabajar con un coach es que es un par de ojos extras. Además el Coach no tiene compromisos emocionales o necesariamente los mismos sesgos en cuanto al desafío estratégico. Por lo tanto te puede ayudar a través de las preguntas a mirar desde diferentes perspectivas, desde distintos roles y ayudarte a abrir la mente a nuevas alternativas. Con tu coach también puedes compartir tus dudas, miedos e inseguridades, cosas que no le dices a cualquiera. Al poner fuera de ti estas inseguridades puedes trabajarlas y desafiarlas. Siendo más racional y tomando una mejor comprensión de los riesgos de cada alternativas estratégicas. ?Cómo tomar decisiones entre escenarios que no son lo que esperas? No las tomes solo. Buena semana.

Executive coaching typically is tied to improving personal and professional performance through an external facilitation process. The cognitive framework needed to plan strategically can be strengthened by the assistance of a coach by lifting one up from the day-to-day pressures that put our brain on an autopilot for reactive versus reflective thinking. Our brain is heavily distorted by our own emotions, experiences, assumptions and short cuts. Reframing our mind for clear analysis, wholistic thinking and long-term decision making is crucial to planning strategically. The right coach can certainly help with such cognitive reframing and enhancement. It's about increased emotional intelligence, heightened judgment and profound thinking.

Enhancing our strategic thinking is so essential. We can do this through engaging our personal board of advisors, executive coach, or mentor. It’s also helpful to look at insights within our field and match that to our work or efforts.

Being able to think strategically is one of the key differentiators between middle managers and those in senior leadership. Strategy is about the ability to think, plan, and execute in a way that continually moves the organization toward better outcomes. Coaches can support leaders in this work by helping them seek out emerging trends and challenges and develop plans to address them. They can also help clients think through the potential downstream impact of various options to ensure their thinking is both future- and present-focused. Lastly, coaches can be essential accountability partners in helping leaders carve out the time needed for strategic thinking when the day-to-day demands become all-consuming.

One of the most common barriers that I see with clients regarding improving strategic thinking is time. Prioritizing time to allow for "heads up" strategic thinking is often viewed as "non-productive" time when in reality it is quite the opposite. Running from meeting to meeting will not foster strategic thinking or planning. Stepping back to look at the current state of affairs, assess alignment with the true North Star for the organization and seeking counsel from a trusted group of advisors takes time. I frequently see clients scheduling over their blocked strategic planning time for competing priorities or the fire-of-the-moment. In the long run, prioritizing strategic thinking time is the first step toward progress.

Strategic planning requires an ability to look at the big picture. From the big canvas, you need to be able to break it down into pieces and actionable items. An executive coaching process will help you to effectively communicate that big picture with your team and communicate to build accountability to deliver the actionable items. The coach will help you to see the trees and the animals in the forest.

Executive and business coaching borrows extensively from the tried-and-true methodologies of the business world, tailoring these techniques specifically to bolster strategic thinking in clients. This approach integrates the best of traditional strategic planning with the transformative power of coaching. It's not just about applying a business formula; it's about adapting these strategies to individual leaders, helping them to not only see the bigger picture but also to think in more innovative, holistic, and long-term ways. This tailored approach ensures that each leader develops a unique strategic perspective, crucial for effective decision-making and leadership.

The only thing I see missing is this: you must understand your WHY. Why do you want to be a better strategic planner? What outcomes do you imagine of being a better strategic planner? How much are you willing to invest in becoming a better strategic planner? What's your vision of being better? It's important that you are *intrinsically* motivated to be better (at anything) as opposed to extrinsically motivated, which means you're doing it because you're motivated by external factors like popularity, compensation, or approval. When we are *intrinsically* motivated to be better, our efforts will be more sustaining and fruitful. As a coach, I would delve into the motivations behind the desire to be better before getting to an action plan.

First of all believe in the process with authenticity and consistency. Only one thing is true about your success: learning from others and making sure you have success.

Outside-the-box thinking in executive coaching often involves unconventional methods and innovative strategies to unlock a leader’s potential and enhance their performance. Here are a few examples: 1. Adventure-Based Learning: Utilizing outdoor adventures like rock climbing, sailing, or survival courses to teach leadership, teamwork, and resilience. 2. Cross-Industry Learning: Exposing executives to leaders and practices from completely different industries to gain fresh perspectives and innovative ideas. 3. Cultural Immersion Programs: Immersing executives in different cultures to broaden their perspectives, enhance cultural intelligence, and foster global thinking.