Get Your Head in the Game – Executive & Leadership Coaching Tips

“Each person holds so much power within themselves that needs to be let out. Sometimes they just?need a little nudge, a little direction, a little support, a little coaching, and the greatest things can happen."

I couldn’t agree more with this statement from Pete Carroll, head coach and executive vice president for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League.?Executive and leadership coaching is an invaluable tool to invest in for both you and your organization. Think of it in terms of a professional athlete. To remain competitive and top of their game, athletes need a coach.

The same holds true in the business world. Organizations must develop and hire top talent to remain competitive. That is where executive and leadership coaching comes in. Why not harness the power of coaching to unlock your greatest career potential?

There are nearly limitless benefits that can result from partnering with a coach, including heightened self-awareness and greater clarity about what you want in life, higher levels of empathy and increased emotional connectedness with self and others, greater self-confidence and sense of self-worth, increased engagement and improved performance, and so much more.

The Statistics and ROI of Executive Coaching

Have you ever considered hiring an executive or leadership coach? Do you understand the value of investing in coaching? According to Forbes, ‘The ROI of Executive Coaching: A Comprehensive Guide,’ “A?report?from management consulting and investment banking firm FMI found that 87% of survey respondents agreed that executive coaching has a high return on investment (ROI).”

Agreeing that something is valuable is one thing, but having hard data is more compelling. According to Rhythm Systems, “Manchester, Inc. surveyed 100 executives, (most of which were from Fortune 1000 companies). Their research concluded that a company’s investment in Executive Coaching realized an average ROI of almost six times the cost of the coaching.” And while the growth of the coaching industry does not necessarily prove the ROI on coaching, “The numbers don't lie: The International Coaching Federation (ICF), in partnership with PwC, estimated global coaching revenue in 2019 to be?$2.849 billion—a 21% increase from 2015—and a practitioner growth of 33% from 2015.” You can read the full article here.

In this month’s newsletter I compare and contrast executive coaching with leadership coaching and explore the following:

1. What is the difference between executive and leadership coaching?
2. What are the benefits of both?
3. How can a coach improve your leadership skills to help you rise in your career?

What is Executive Coaching?

Coaching has been at the core of my full-time profession for nearly 20 years. In my work with clients, I draw on my business knowledge, formal professional coaching skills education, the study and lived experience of thousands-year-old spiritual philosophies and practices, and the latest research in neuroscience and somatic coaching.

My focus is on helping my clients perform at a higher level and rise in their career in a way that increases meaning in their life and creates a positive ripple effect. It is so incredibly rewarding to help my clients unlock their greatest potential and witness the impact this has on their lives and the lives of those around them. And when clients come back to work with me time and again at key inflection points in their lives, I celebrate the long-term positive benefits that come from having a coach you trust and can partner with over time.

Each coach brings their own unique life experience and skillset to the work, and each coach typically specializes in working with a particular type of client. I recognize that I could do this work with anyone, and yet I have primarily coached people who I used to consult to: leaders in the top 3 tiers of organizations who are globally minded, most of whom have earned their business degrees along the way, and all who want to successfully rise in their careers in a way that does not sacrifice their personal well-being.

How Executive Coaching Works

In recent years, executive coaching has been more positively embraced as an effective tool?in professional development for senior leaders. So, what is it exactly? At its core, executive coaching is designed specifically for an individual at the senior-level who interacts with c-suite level peers, manages a large team of direct reports, and some of whom must manage up to the board level.

The aim of most of the executive coaching I do is to help each individual leader achieve their career and personal goals. This often involves increasing their self-awareness and reducing their blind spots through a qualitative 360, enhancing their interpersonal communication and influence skills.

Through engaging with their key stakeholders and practicing new skills including role playing during coaching, my clients grow their confidence through trial and error (often learning more from the errors). They learn to create healthier boundaries and self-leadership skills, and take conscious actions to enhance the perception of their value in the marketplace (aka their employment brand or value proposition). When a change is needed, then coaching can also focus on designing the scope of a new role, negotiating the compensation and benefits package, and creating a first 90 days plan in the new role, all of which I observe to be truly rewarding and empowering for my clients.

Benefits of Executive Coaching

The benefits of executive coaching may surprise you, as they are so much more than just increased performance and management skills. Executive coaching can actually change your life, and that of your team members as well. It can help you master your mindset, improve productivity, increase resilience, and genuinely maximize your happiness. According to Executiv+CO, ‘7 Benefits of Executive Coaching that will Surprise You,’ “What was once looked upon with curious skepticism is now embraced as the way to a more enriched workplace.?Executive coaching?has boomed as an industry for one reason and one only – CEO’s, managers, small business owners, and leaders discovered that it works.” Listed below are seven ways that executive coaching benefits you as a leader.?You can read the article in its entirety by clicking here.?

1. Heightened self-awareness - Self-awareness is the catalyst by which growth occurs. Without that first step of realization, people blindly continue doing things in the same way as usual.?
2. Improved self-regulation - Self-awareness is the first step in regulating your emotions and handling the situation with ease and comfort. Individuals with high emotional intelligence possess better self-regulation skills.
3. Higher levels of empathy - Empathy leads to understanding other people’s emotions and enhanced interactions with business colleagues and subordinates follows.
4. Boost in cognition at work – A flexible mindset replaces rigid thinking. By exercising your brain, you boost cognition which will benefit your work in many ways.
5. Increased levels of motivation - Higher levels of motivation kick in as you start to see success.?
6. Better social skills - Teams?with high emotional intelligence, have an abundance of advanced?social skills.
7. Improved leadership abilities - People with high emotional intelligence are better leaders, in part because of empathy. People under your leadership need to know you hear them, understand them,?and more importantly, that you care about the situation.?

What is Leadership Coaching?

Leadership coaching is an evolving type of coaching that takes a more holistic approach to development. It isn’t just for senior leaders with formal leadership job titles below the c-suite. It is in fact for anyone who is committed to personal development and growth, regardless of their age, years of experience, or role or job title.

I have provided leadership coaching to individuals in for-profit, not-for-profit, academic, and government roles, as well as students at the undergraduate and graduate levels of education. Most who seek out leadership coaching have a desire to make a positive impact through the ripple effect of their efforts and influence.

Leadership coaching most often involves a tailor-made journey and process, designed such that the individual being coached can achieve measurable and meaningful goals and results. BetterUp, a fast-growing coaching platform that seeks to democratize access to coaching, offers this narrower definition in ‘How Leadership Coaching Helps Leaders Get (and Keep) an Edge’: “Leadership coaching is the conscious process of developing talents and competencies within individuals so that they can work more effectively with others.”

Benefits of Leadership Coaching

So, what are some benefits of leadership coaching, and how can it help you transform both yourself and your organization??Listed below are five benefits of leadership coaching from the aforementioned BetterUp article. You can read the entire article by clicking here.

1. Enhanced performance - Leadership coaching can help leaders more accurately examine their weak points, gain better perspective about their abilities and how to better make use of them.
2. Empowerment - Working with an executive coach can help those in leadership positions learn how to empower themselves and those on their teams. This has the added benefit of increasing team member’s engagement in opportunities to collaborate.
3. A fresh perspective - We do not know what we cannot see. Having an outside perspective can be extremely powerful when looking to make meaningful and lasting changes.
4. Confidence - Having a coach’s support while making meaningful changes, as well as celebrating their wins, can positively impact a leader’s confidence levels.
5. Job and life satisfaction - By taking the time to step back and clearly assess their lives with the help of a coach, leaders can find more time for work/life balance.?This tends to lead to better performance, retention, and increased satisfaction with their job.

How can a Coach Improve Your Leadership Skills?

Do you want to rise to the top in your career and invest in your future? Do you have a fierce desire to learn and grow?

Through coaching – whether it be executive coaching or leadership coaching – you can identify your goals, areas to improve, strengths to leverage, and the action steps that will help you do just this. By improving your leadership skills, you will improve your communication, create a better work environment, motivate your peers and (if you are a people manager) your employees, and increase both efficiency and productivity. According to Entrepreneur, ‘How Executive Coaching Can Help You Level Up Your Organization,’ “In the business world, coaching is no longer the rare exception, and it is increasingly expected for critical leadership roles, such as top executives like VPs and CEOs.”

Click here to read the entire article. Listed below are three ways an executive coach can level up an organization:

1. Maintain Leadership Empowerment - It often happens that a leader loses sight of the big picture, which can lead to the team getting demotivated. However, when these leaders collaborate closely with a coach, it allows them to discover their challenges and work through them, and with these conversations, an executive coach can guide these leaders towards the direction needed to maintain a high level of motivation empowering their team to achieve their goals.?
2. Decrease Stir-ups - People will stay at a job when they are learning and feel valued. An executive coach accomplishes both by challenging them, enabling their self-improvement, and supporting career growth. Coaching also helps in instilling a better culture in the workplace, which, as we all know, is critical to success.
3. Build a Series of Enhancement - Allowing your leaders the opportunity to attend an executive coaching program sends a message that leadership within the organization is an investment. It gives back to the deserving leaders who give their time and energy to the business.

Still questioning the ROI on coaching? This same article in Entrepreneur shared the results of a survey by Price Waterhouse Cooper that “found that the average return on investment (ROI) for companies that invested in coaching was seven times their initial investment, more than one quarter of survey participants reported ROI of 10 to 49 times the initial investment.”?

Choosing to partner with either an Executive Coach or a Leadership Coach is an investment of time, energy, and money in your future and the future of your current and future organizations. Coaching can help you develop and grow as a leader and a human being. ‘Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better.” – (Pat Riley). To learn more about the type of coaching I offer, and to schedule an exploratory call with me click here.

Erin Owen, MBA, PCC, JCDC/JCTC, CPQC (she/her/hers)

Executive and Leadership Coach

Website:?https://erinowen.com

LinkedIn:?https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/erinowen/