Today, let's delve into the world of executive coaching—a journey akin to having a trusty guide by your side as you navigate your professional growth and development. Let’s chat about the pros and cons of partnering with an executive coach and what you should consider whilst considering purchasing executive coaching services.
Pros of Working with an Executive Coach
Personalised Guidance
Working with an executive coach on a one-to-one basis means that you obtain personalised guidance to help with your goals or overcome your obstacles. It’s like having a guide for your career, as we work together to help identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for improvement specific to your role in your organisation and short-term and longer-term goals. It's a valuable way to gain support and advice from someone to work directly on your career goals, whatever they might be.
Fresh Perspectives
Working with an executive coach on specific topics you need support will enable you to obtain an external viewpoint from a subject matter expert, offering insights, strategies and a powerful discussion on things you may have overlooked or not thought about. Working with me, I will challenge your thinking, assumptions and thoughts to understand different scenarios you are working through at work, and together we come up with innovative ideas and creative ways to tackle your challenges.
Increase your self-confidence
Executive coaches don’t tell you what to do but support you in understanding your options and dive into a discussion about the pros and cons of a particular approach to help you understand the best way forward. Working with a coach is a way to empower you to be the best leader possible in your organisation or business. Clients often cite that this ability to talk things through with a coach and then implement a different perspective helps them with confidence and decision-making abilities.
Skill Enhancement
Working with an executive coach on a one-to-one basis through personalised coaching sessions, you’ll improve your leadership, communication and influencing skills. Depending on the length and goals of your coaching engagement, you can work through one specific skill that you would like to improve over the coaching engagement or a variety of skills. Coaching provides you with valuable tools, techniques and an opportunity to develop and enhance specific skills, for example dealing with ambiguity or stakeholder management.
Accountability Partner and a Sounding Board
Working with me, I become your accountability partner, holding you responsible for the commitments you make. Having someone there motivates you and ensures there is momentum towards your objectives and goals. You would also have a confidante and sounding board where you can talk through any ideas, obstacles or questions that come up throughout the coaching engagement, helping you reach decisions to come up with new strategies.
Find and Operate in your “zone of genius.”
There’s a misconception that you should be working on improving your weaknesses with a coach, (which some people do indeed work on) but ultimately, there’s a fine balance between working on weaknesses vs harnessing your superpowers or “zone of genius”. Working with an executive coach through sessions and finding your strengths and amplifying these enables you to be more productive and successful, whether it's being a better leader or feeling prepare to get to the next level in your career.
Cons of Working with an Executive Coach
Financial Investment
Engaging with an executive coach is an investment in your professional development, but it might not fit every budget. However, there are long term benefits of the upfront costs. I suggest talking to your employer if you are not self-funded and see if you can get a budget from their learning and development budget to cover the cost of engaging an executive coach. Another solution is to ask for the costs of the coaching to be spread over a payment plan to help budget for this personal development investment.
Time Commitment
Investing time and juggling your work and life responsibilities alongside a coaching engagement requires time management. Finding a balance between work, hobbies, responsibilities and dedicating time for coaching can be challenging. Also, being willing to work through personal vulnerabilities and thoughts takes a concerted effort.
Finding the Right Executive Coach
Finding the right executive coach matters. Sometimes, you may not have rapport or chemistry with the executive coach, which would make the coaching experience less effective. Also, you may find that the coach does not have the relevant experience or does not work on specific topics. Finding the right match may take some trial and error, and I encourage you to schedule initial calls with the executive coaches you are interested in.
Mismatch of Expectations vs Results
You may have a mismatch of the results you get from coaching compared to what you're expecting. One way is to ensure you vet your coach correctly, and have a chemistry call with them to understand how they work. You should also set your goals with your executive coach and ensure you are open about what you are seeing progress on and what you need more support with. Open communication is key to ensure you have a successful coaching experience.
Working with an executive coach presents a wealth of opportunities for professional growth. However, it's essential to weigh these against the potential challenges. It's like having a supportive friend along your career journey—invigorating, enlightening, but also a partnership that demands consideration and commitment.
Want to have a free consultation? Fee free to reach out for a chat.