How Can Executive Coaching Benefit You?

When the continual learning and development of one’s own skills is what sets the good leaders apart from the great ones, having a coaching program in place is a must. 

The initial benefit, of course, is your own growth; however, that isn’t the only area in which executive coaching can benefit you. That type of skill-building can trickle down the entire organizational chain. As leaders, some of your outstanding qualities are your willingness to learn and to improve, and this type of ambition can become contagious in a work environment.

It seems more than ever, “coaches” are a dime a dozen. It can be hard to tell the good ones apart from the bad sometimes, or even how it will ensure a positive result for the entire company.

What is Executive Coaching?

Coaching is successful because it is individually tailored to its clients. These talent development practices involve a close and confidential trust between the coach and the person being coached. Utilizing one-on-one meetings between leaders within the organization and their executive coach provides a safe, trustworthy environment that offers some structure for the individual. A coach will help a companies leaders understand themselves better and how they are perceived by others. A coach will also help them identify current goals and encourage and demonstrate how to reach those goals.

Are you ready to give your managers the tools they need to excel?  Reverb is here to help get your team on track.

What Can You Expect Your Executive Coach to Do?

Executive coaches are there to provide confidential and supportive feedback to their clients. Due to the individual needs that coaching provides for clients, exact responsibilities might be different depending on your companies needs. 

• Ask questions 
• Help achieve clarity
• Challenge assumptions
• Provide resources
• Provide advice 
• Help interpret behavioral assessments
• Conduct confidential interviews to aid a client in self-awareness
• Establish development goals.

After the goals are set, the process begins. There will normally be checkpoints throughout the process to reevaluate the progress. The typical duration of the coaching process is between seven and twelve months. The process comes to an end when the development goals are met or the coach or pupil feels there is no further need for it. 

7 Executive Coaching Benefits

There are many benefits to leadership coaching. The specifics of the outcomes can be as varied as the individual who requires the coaching. There do seem, however, to be some benefits that most people experience through executive coaching. 

#1: Increased levels of motivation

When you start to see the success of your efforts, your motivation will kick in. That begins with being more self-aware. Those who are more self-aware discover intrinsic motivation. Through self-regulation, they can channel that motivation to achieve their goals. 

People who have higher motivation seem to more successful at work and happier. In a work setting, motivation is the driving force behind long hours and seemingly impossible obstacles.

#2: Boost in cognition at work

When you broaden your mind in one area, the effects seem to affect other areas. A key element of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to view situations from another person’s point of view. As you are able to see other options, you train your brain to open up to a more flexible mindset. That flexible mindset will boost cognition and benefit your work in many ways while inspiring others around you to do the same.

#3: Improved leadership abilities

Having an executive coach can also benefit leadership abilities. Those who have higher emotional intelligence are overall better leaders. Opening your mind to empathy and self-growth gives those under you a safe place where they truly feel like you understand them and that their situation is cared about. 

Related: HR Quiz

#4: Improved self-regulation

The key to having control over your emotions is to be aware of those emotions and how you react to them. Being self-aware of those emotions and being able to handle the situation with more confidence. Those with higher emotional intelligence seem to possess better self-regulation skills. Improved self-regulation can also help you gain better control over other aspects of your life—things like organization, time management, and work-life balance.

#5: Heightened self-awareness

One of the main areas that coaches tend to focus on is self-awareness, and there are plenty of good reasons why. Self-awareness is the catalyst that forms growth within a person. Without the realization of that first step, most people will blindly repeat the same behaviors. Largely unaware of how to change them or the things around them that are affecting them. 

Related: Female Firebrands Podcast

The benefits of heightened self-awareness are that you are able to understand yourself on a deeper level. People that have a high emotional intelligence are aware of their emotions, and that awareness leads them to a better way of regulating their feelings. 

#6: Higher levels of empathy

Empathy is a type of emotion that allows a person to feel how another individual is feeling. For example, if you lost your mother, a co-worker who has experienced the same thing would have empathy towards you. 

Empathy leads to not only a deeper understanding of other people’s emotions but helps you to interact with them on a profound level due to the emotional connection that is shared. Furthermore, people will in turn come to you for leadership.

#7: Better social skills

Social skills are the thread that makes up the fabric of successful relationships both in the workplace and out. Teams that boast higher emotional intelligence seem to have an abundance of complex social skills. They have excellent communication skills and are great negotiators while working well in teams or helping their leaders.

Related: How to Stay Focused at Work

Where to Find an Executive Coach

Whether you are looking for an in-person or virtual, hands-on experience that gives your employees tools and skills that they can use that very same day, Reverb has the development plan that you need to invest in your company and your people.

This article was originally published on the Reverb blog.