An executive coach can make a pivotal difference in a leader’s life and career. But the coaching client and the circumstances have to be right. Answer these questions and you’ll make a smarter decision about hiring a coach.
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1.How valuable is this person to your organization?
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Executive coaching is expensive and time-consuming. It should be reserved for people who are critical to your organization’s success. Either now or in the future.
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2.What’s the person up against right now?
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Most executive coaches excel helping leaders work through people and organizational challenges. If you need strategy or marketing help, hire a consultant, not an executive coach.
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3.Is the executive motivated to work with a coach?
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Motivated, coachable, and action-oriented executives make great coaching clients. But don’t waste time and money on the resistant, the uninterested, or the know-it-all leader.
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4.Are there workable options to coaching?
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In many cases, training, reading, special assignments can give the executive what he or she needs. But the most powerful alternative is good coaching from the exec’s own boss. Don’t let a manager pass off her coaching responsibilities to an executive coach unless the problem is clearly beyond her scope.
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5.Are others in the organization ready to stand behind the executive’s efforts to change?
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It’s hard enough to change basic thinking and behavior patterns when you have good support from others. But when key people like one’s boss or spouse is not on board, change becomes increasingly difficult. So before engaging a coach, check to make sure that important others are behind the exec’s efforts to grow and change.
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For a more in-depth view of “Who Needs a Coach?”, check out Doug’s Op-Ed article in the CEO Section of Forbes.com on August 4, 2009. Or get in touch with Doug directly via email (dougmckenna@oceansideinstitute.org) with comments or questions about Executive Coaching.
