3 Kinds of CEO Coaching Clients: Which one are you?

A coach is someone who tells you what you don't want to hear, who has you see what you don't want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be

-??????Tom Landry

One of the best ways to tell if you would benefit from coaching as a CEO is to share Landry’s quote with trusted people in your organization or on your Board who want the best for it and you.

When you do, ask them to be candid. Have them tell you what people are not telling you because you don’t want to hear it and what people want you to see but you don’t want to see that would make both you and your organization more successful.

When you have such conversations never become defensive. Instead have them clarify what they mean and give you examples. Then thank them because it took courage.

If you're not willing to try the above, why not?

When it comes to CEO coaching, I find there are three categories:

Group 1 – Resistant - Need it, but resistant to it

These CEOs would benefit, and sometimes desperately need coaching, but don’t want it.

Often their resistance is because they feel much more comfortable staying in their competence and therefore comfort zone. That causes them to feel confident and in control. Anything that causes them to go out of their competence zone, causes them to go out of their comfort zone, lose confidence and feel out of control. That often triggers resistance.

They are often technically and analytically competent. However they have difficulty giving up control, engendering trust, confidence, respect, safety, admiration, inspiration and belief from their people… or showing confidence or belief in their people.

One of the things they learn from coaching is the difference between being controlling and taking charge of situations without needing to be controlling. When they do that, their people buy into them. When they don’t their people will push back and resist.

They learn humility, integrity, optimism and belief. They don’t allow negativity to sabotage their leadership or their company.

Group 2 – Engaged - Need it, and receptive to it

These CEOs often have significant difficulty in dealing with conflict and compensate for that by either becoming impatient or avoidant. That conflict is either with others or with themselves and they now find themselves in a crisis.?

Furthermore, they want to not merely effectively deal with the crisis, but are motivated to learn tools, skills and tactics to deal with any crisis or conflict they will encounter.

The more they deal with conflict they need to by either impatience or avoidance, the more they reduce psychological safety. That can cause people to feel fearful and underperform in the long term.

Once these CEOs have successfully dealt with a conflict they are handling poorly that has created a crisis, they frequently become motivated to do more.?In helping them develop conflict mastery, they begin dealing with conflicts they have been avoiding for some time.

When that occurs, their relief and self-respect often increase dramatically.

?Group 3 – Proactive – Don't need it, yet still want it

These are the CEOs who are committed to lifelong personal development as much as they are to meeting goals and KPIs.

Usually there has been a life changing transformational event in their life which caused them to see the world differently.?They want to continue the process of unlocking themselves from internal limitations and commit to continued self-improvement.

These CEOs are already admired by everyone but know and want to improve even more.

Many have said that not growing as a person is tantamount to stagnation.

What they sometimes don’t see, that is obvious to me and others, is a role for them in the field of leadership far beyond their current company.

Together we often help them expand their leadership out into the world so that they can improve it as well as their organization.

If any of the above speaks to you or a CEO you know and you would like to discuss, please Message me on LinkedIn.