Executive coaching involves a series of one-on-one interactions between a manager or executive and an external coach. The goal of coaching is to equip people with the knowledge and opportunities they need to develop themselves and become more effective. Behavior change is the goal of most executive coaching. One of the top researchers in the field of consulting provides the following definition:
“Executive coaching is defined as a helping relationship formed between a client who has managerial authority and responsibility in an organization and a consultant who uses a wide variety of behavioral techniques and methods to help the client achieve a mutually identified set of goals to improve his or her professional performance and personal satisfaction and, consequently, to improve the effectiveness of the client’s organization within a formally defined coaching agreement” (Kilburg, 2007, p. 28).
If coaching intrigues you, then consider executive coaching as a field where you can make a significant impact.
Because the effects of executive coaching extend beyond the individual client to the whole organization, the work is a good fit for those who aspire to have a broad societal impact.
Kilburg (1996) defines executive coaching as “a helping relationship between a client who has managerial authority and responsibility in an organization and a consultant.”
The consultant or executive coach uses their expertise to help clients achieve goals, improve their professional performance and personal satisfaction, and consequently improve the effectiveness of the organization as a whole.
Individuals come to this work from a wide variety of educational and professional backgrounds. This article will explain who executive coaches are, what they do, and how you can become one yourself.
What Is an Executive Career Coach?
An executive coach is a professional who forms helping relationships with individuals in managerial or leadership positions to create sustained behavior change. The executive coach plays the role of change agent in an organization through engaging in a highly personalized form of leadership development.
There are many useful metaphors for describing the work of an executive coach, the most potent of which is the image of a mountain guide who assists climbers, helping them choose a path and navigate the many challenges that arise on the journey to the summit.
The executive coach is a guide for organizations. In many cases, the client is a “high potential candidate” who is already acting in a leadership position. The organization hires the executive coach as a guide and companion on the client’s journey to the pinnacle of the field, often a seat in the C-suite (CEO, CFO, etc.).
Once hired, the executive coach engages in the process of getting to know the client in the context of the organization. The coach, client, and organization work together to create goals and a shared vision of the client’s success.
The coach and client, or “coachee,” then begin the process of coaching, in which the coach provides feedback and insight as the coachee works toward their goals through identifying blind spots (or behavioral deficits) and implementing new, more effective behaviors.
Why Is Executive Coaching Important?
Executive coaching is important because CEOs and other executives often fail.
According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas (2019), a global outplacement and executive coaching firm, there were 1,640 CEO changes in 2019 alone.
Strikingly, the government/nonprofit sector led all industries with a CEO turnover total of 339. These numbers point to a crisis in leadership and a boon for aspiring coaches.
The hiring of an executive represents a significant investment for an organization. By the time the client has been hired, the organization has likely spent thousands to millions of dollars investing in their development. Having to replace an executive can cost millions of dollars in lost revenue, severance packages, and search fees. Executive coaching can be an insurance policy on a new, high-profile hire.
Executive coaches bring something unique to the table: a specialty in the human side of business and leadership. Because coaches spend time getting to know their clients, they are afforded an intimate view of their worlds. This level of access to business leaders comes with a powerful level of influence.
Coaches can choose to use their influence to help their clients cultivate critical human qualities, such as empathy, compassion, and equity (Wasylyshyn & Masterpasqua, 2018).
Types of Coaching
Executive coaches are not the only types of coaches in the professional world. Many managers now take classes to develop their coaching skills so they can help their employees improve their performance, obtain promotions, and develop into leadership roles. Both internal and external coaches can be found offering different levels of support:
Career coaching—Provides support for employees looking to make a career transition, whether short or long term, including guidance on their professional development and job search. Career coaches may help with resume writing, job searches, online profiles, and job interviewing.
Life coaching—While not the most popular type of coaching within an organization, life coaches are still sometimes present internally. This specialty of coaching focuses on a variety of aspects of life, including career, health and fitness, finances, relationships, and spiritual growth.
Organizational or business coaching—Provides business owners and entrepreneurs with support in identifying goals, creating strategies to obtain those goals, and boosting the overall performance of the organization.
Performance coaching—Supports those within organizations who need to improve their work performance, often as a result of performance appraisal results, regardless of level or job title.
Leadership coaching—Provides coaching for those looking to grow and develop leadership skills, regardless of whether they are an individual contributor, manager, or senior manager.
How to Become an Executive Coach
There are many routes to becoming an executive coach, as the field is mostly unregulated (Sherman & Freas, 2004). Psychologists are perhaps best prepared to become executive coaches, as many of the core competencies for coaches and therapists overlap (Yanchus, Muhs, & Osatuke, 2020).
The primary connection between therapy and coaching is that they are both “helping relationships,” meaning they have psychological change and growth as intended outcomes.
Because of this connection, many people enter the field of executive coaching by first obtaining an advanced degree in psychology. Many psychologist executives coaches initially study clinical psychology, while others study industrial/organizational psychology (Vandaveer, Lowman, Pearlman, & Brannick, 2016).
Psychologists transitioning to coaching from these two disciplines will have different educational needs. Much of the education that psychologists need to become successful executive coaches are acquired experientially.
Because an authoritative regulatory body does not govern the field, there is no requirement for an advanced degree in psychology. There are several methods through which someone may become an executive coach without an advanced degree.
One option is to join a consulting firm. There are many consulting firms, from small local firms to those with a global presence that has executive coaching as part of their offerings. A bachelor’s degree is usually sufficient to obtain an entry-level position at one of these firms. The process to become an executive coach involves working one’s way up, starting with an associate role, and learning the ropes by assisting on projects led by senior coaches.
Another option is to become an internal coach. Many companies have internal coaching departments. These departments often train lower-level managers, usually in large group programs. These departments are generally part of the human resources department.
Another option is to simply gain experience through working in the business world and then pursue independent training in coaching. Individuals with business experience can undertake an online training program and obtain credentials from an independent organization, such as the International Coaching Federation (ICF). They may then start their independent practice. There are several of these programs mentioned below.
7 aspects of executive coaching
The main aspects of executive coaching and its benefits are:
- Gathering and giving feedback
- Identifying development opportunities
- Building awareness
- Asking deeper questions to find solutions
- Facilitating further learning
- Providing long-term support and encouragement
- Monitoring progress and ensuring accountability
Benefits of executive coaching
If you’re on the fence about executive coaching, we understand. But here are some of the benefits you can expect from your coaching:
Achieve your goals faster
The best goals have concrete deadlines, and your coach will hold you to them. Once they get to know you, your dreams, and your aspirations, they’ll help you set achievable milestones you can start on right away.
Stay accountable
A coaching executive will assign you tasks and expect you to achieve them within a certain timeframe. You’ll want to think twice about procrastinating because they’ll ask you about your progress at the next session.
Gain a new perspective
Coaches can suggest options you hadn’t considered before. You’ll learn to look at situations differently than before, use your skills in new ways, and let go of limiting beliefs.
Better emotional intelligence
Executive coaching often helps improve emotional intelligence, a critical tool for leaders. As leaders develop their EQ, it becomes easier for them to identify personal triggers that cause distress, regulate their emotions, recognize the emotional states of their employees, and foster positive working relationships.
Guided role play with a coach is one example of how a leader might learn to respectfully discuss concerns with direct reports, share constructive feedback, and resolve conflict.
Increased resilience
According to Kelly McGonigal, author of The Upside of Stress, the way leaders respond to crises is contagious. As leaders work on improving their resilience, they have an opportunity to exemplify to all members of the organization what an appropriate response to a high-pressure situation looks like. To increase resilience, a coach might have a leader work on developing a bank of positive emotions, such as gratitude, to fall back on when challenges arise.
More self-awareness
Executive coaches are skilled at asking tough questions that get leaders to look inward. It’s common to engage in a lot of self-evaluation throughout the process, but not simply to look for flaws. Once leaders come to believe in their knowledge, abilities, and values, they’re able to tap into their personal power.
As social psychologist Amy Cuddy explains, leaders who learn to harness their personal power become more confident and optimistic. Here’s a clip from Cuddy’s Big Think+ lesson on the limitless potential of power over the self.
Stronger communication skills
Even the most charismatic and competent leaders can be stymied by a lack of interpersonal communication skills. Ineffective communication in the workplace can damage morale, prevent team cohesion, and even lead to accidents.
One-on-one coaching helps leaders prevent these issues. In fact, in a study by the International Coaching Federation, 70% of participants reported improved communication skills in the workplace after coaching.
Flexible mindset
Leonard Mlodinow – theoretical physicist and author of Elastic: Flexible Thinking in a Time of Change – says our cognitive filters act as the security guards of the mind. In other words, when the mind is too inflexible, leaders can miss out on opportunities to innovate and evolve. It’s important that they learn to interrogate old patterns of thought and open up to the possibility of change and growth.
Greater motivation
There is great power in defining personal goals. Ethnographer and leadership expert Simon Sinek says that successful people and businesses are driven by a sense of purpose. Leaders must learn how to come back to the “why” – an ongoing process of being honest about what is and isn’t important. Executive coaches can help them gain motivation and remain centered on their purpose.
Improved reaction to failure
Executive coaching helps leaders identify their self-limiting behaviors and gives them strategies to improve their perception of failure. Leaders can become less intimidated by failure by embracing a growth mindset and promoting a learning culture within their organization.
Tim Harford, economist and author of Adapt, discusses how to become a “successful failure.” To put this into practice, leaders can focus on separating themselves from their mistakes, experimenting when failure is survivable, and being prepared to embrace feedback with an open mind.
Who should hire an executive coach?
Whether you’re the company vice-president or the mailroom manager, anyone with high potential and eagerness to improve may consider joining an executive coaching program. Ambition is necessary to work goals, but it isn’t the key to growth at work or in your personal life.
If you don’t know where to direct your energy, success is harder to achieve. You must first understand yourself, your motivations, and where you really want to go. That’s where a professional coach can be helpful.
In the past, executive coaching focused on remediation and mitigation. An executive coach often came in to help fix a bad situation or help a struggling new leader. It focused on the very top of the corporate ladder to remove unhealthy behavior and engagement or accelerate already high performance.
Today, anyone looking to improve their capabilities and become a great leader can hire a coach.
Understanding the executive coaching process
Executing a coaching program can take six months or more. It can vary depending on the circumstances. The longer you work with a coach, the more time you’ll have to hone your skills and see change.
In the beginning, a coach will try to understand you as a client. They’ll look for information about your work environment, history, and motivations. This first stage is all about building intimacy and trust between both parties.
Executive coaches often use a scoring system to evaluate your progress quantitatively. They are looking for evidence of behavior change as well as outcomes. Coaches ask you questions and may get feedback from your colleagues. This helps them understand your capabilities and determine what strategies will be effective.
Throughout this journey, coaches will periodically debrief. They might tell you what they see and help you reflect on what you see and feel. This determines what goes on in subsequent coaching sessions.
Once the coaching process nears its end, clients and their colleagues participate in a final interview to compare the beginning of the journey to the results.
To summarize, here are the key steps involved in corporate coaching.
1. Establish a relationship
The goal of your first session is to get to know you a bit better. Your coach will try to:
- Figure out your chemistry. Do you both get along? Will it be easy to build trust and rapport?
- Discuss your goals. What do you hope to accomplish with your coaching?
- Establish confidentiality and working agreements. Your consent is important, so your coach will spend time reviewing the details with you.
- 360 assessment. They’ll ask you questions about your current work and personal life. This will help them understand where you’re coming from, so you can plan the next steps. You might do this before your first session so you can discuss your results while getting to know each other.
2. Coaching sessions
You’ll spend the bulk of your time with your coach in this category. You’ll have regular sessions every two to three weeks, adding up to between six and twelve total sessions (on average).
During each meeting, you will:
- Check-in on how you’re progressing
- Follow-up on any assignments your coach gave you
- Set goals for the current session
- Receive coaching and advice
3. Between sessions
When you’re not with your coach, you should be putting what you learned into action. Your coach will hold you accountable at your next week. Make sure you:
- Try new ways of doing things
- Pay attention to the results
- Keep track of your actions, reflections, and any outcomes
- Stay focused on your goals
4. Between sessions
As your coaching engagement comes to an end, you’ll have plenty to celebrate. Here’s what to expect from your last session:
- Assessing how far you’ve come
- Celebrating your achievements
- Creating a plan for your post-coach life
Job Description and Qualifications
As previously mentioned, executive coaches form individual helping relationships with people in leadership positions in both the public and private sectors.
Executive coaches help their clients to make effective decisions, learn from their mistakes, and navigate job hurdles.
There are a variety of skills that help coaches succeed in this line of work. The first and most important skill is active listening. Coaches use their conversational skills to elicit learning and processing in their clients. They must be able to read between the lines, listening for what remains unsaid and bringing important details to the surface.
Executive coaches must possess some level of business competence (Brotman, Liberi &, Wasylyshyn, 1998). The coach needs to have some understanding of financial, economic, and accounting principles to understand the various pressures underlying the client’s decisions.
The coach must be able to speak in the language of their client. Business leaders often use language and terminology specific to their industry. Coaches must have some understanding of this language, and they must be able to translate complex ideas from their areas of expertise, such as human relationships and emotions, into language that their clients can easily grasp.
Experience in building and maintaining relationships is a must for an executive coach. The coach must be a “trusted and approachable person” who can establish long-lasting relationships with a variety of people throughout an organization (Brotman et al., 1998). Relationships are a vital currency in organizations and can be tricky for an outsider to navigate.
The coach must be able to obtain buy-in from all parties involved, including the client, but also the boss, and perhaps a representative from the human resources department, which is often involved in the development of executives.
Many coaches do not have direct experience holding a corporate leadership position. For this reason, they must be able to learn on the job, and quickly. Executive coaches must be experts in understanding the motives of human behavior, and they must be politically savvy. Understanding how politics and relationships work in the workplace are often essential to helping their client navigate their day-to-day.
Executive coaches benefit from self-knowledge (Brotman et al., 1998). During an engagement, there are many moments when just the coach and the client have a conversation. The coach must be able to use themselves as an instrument.
Having knowledge of oneself and familiarity with one’s own internal world allows the coach to draw on their experiences as coaching tools to help their client. This process requires creativity, quick thinking, and an ability to improvise.
Lastly, the coach must have compassion. Executive coaching distills down to helping individuals improve their functioning in relationships and self-actualize. In order to help one’s client grow and change, and to bring about improvement in the workplace for all involved, the coach must be able to feel compassion for their client.
Executive Coaching Guidelines
Although many coaches have different styles and structure their engagements differently, it is possible to take a general look at the guidelines of executive coaching. There are several concrete steps that coaches take to work effectively with their clients (Vandaveer et al., 2016).
These steps are described below:
First, the coach engages in a needs assessment. This is a series of conversations and assessments with both the client and the coach. It is undertaken to understand why the organization is seeking coaching and what they need from the position.
The coach then makes a contract with the organization, in which each party sets mutual expectations. The organization sets general goals for the engagement, while the coach sets expectations for how they and the coachee will work together. Limits on who will receive what information must be established ahead of time. Confidentiality is vital for clients to be able to open up to the coach.
Assessment and data gathering is a process to generate information about the client and set a baseline against which progress can be measured. Coaches have different preferences about what tools to use, but most conduct an in-depth interview to gather information about the client’s history, including life outside of work.
Feedback is then provided to the client about the results of the assessment, and the next steps are goal setting and action planning, in which concrete goals are determined and a plan is outlined for accomplishing them.
Coaching takes place during the implementation of this co-created action plan. This plan can be very specific or very general, and usually involves a process of self-discovery and self-insight. The client and coach meet regularly during this phase to discuss how the plan is working in the day-to-day.
An evaluation usually takes place toward the end of the engagement, during which the coach and client assess progress and report on the achievement of predetermined goals to organizational stakeholders.
Finally, the coach and client terminate the engagement, and the client transitions to life without the coach. There is a final meeting, or set of meetings, in which the client comes up with post-coaching goals. Coaching can last for a few weeks to years, but most take place over one year.
How can professional coaching help?
Executive coaching helps people find the resources within themselves to create sustainable transformation. It can improve a leader’s performance dramatically and put individuals on the fast track. Because coaching is focused entirely on the individual’s goals, strengths and interferences, it is the fastest and most effective form of leadership development.
Developing a leader’s potential may include improving personal leadership skills, setting better goals, reaching goals faster, making better decisions, and improving communications and relationships.
For the leader, the clear and measurable benefits of individual coaching can include:
- better decision-making and strategic planning ability
- leading change and in times of crisis
- ability to fully motivate teams and communicate effectively
- managing stress and conflict
- improved work/life balance
- successful role transition
- increased confidence, self-belief and enjoyment
For an organization, providing executive coaching to a population of leaders should lead to higher performance through:
- increased motivation and commitment from recipients of the coaching and their teams
- more creativity, empowerment and ownership unleashed in the business
- high employee engagement and retention of key people
- underpinning effective implementation of organizational change through supporting teams and individuals
- greater efficiency from teams acting with more agility and collaboration
Who needs an executive coach?
Regardless of their industry or geography, any leader from a board member to a team leader can benefit from the fast-track development provided by a professional coach. Coaching is tailored to the individual’s needs and goals. It is widely used to maximize personal impact and performance. One-to-one coaching is particularly helpful where a leader may face a new or challenging situation for them or their team or organization.
Reasons for coaching include:
- preparation for role/career changes
- managing stress, change, conflict or crisis
- supporting the appointment of a person into a different role
- accelerating the personal development of individuals defined as high potential
- acting as an objective and independent sounding board for senior leaders
- offering tailored development as a means of rewarding and retaining key individuals critical to the business
“Coaching is unlocking people’s potential to maximize their own performance.”
Sir John Whitmore, pioneer of coaching in business
6 Best Executive Coaching Programs and Certifications
There are both training programs and certifications available for executive coaching.
Training programs offer online courses and instruction to provide foundational skills.
Certifications are credentials that experienced coaches can apply for and obtain. These certifications ensure that coaches are qualified. They are meant to protect clients from purchasing services from unqualified coaches.
Certification programs are especially useful for those transitioning to the field of executive coaching without education in psychology or extensive business experience. They allow new coaches to establish credibility by aligning themselves with reputable organizations. Although they have many benefits, these certifications are not necessary for one to work as an executive coach.
The most prominent credentialing organization for coaches is the International Coaching Federation (ICF). It offers three different types of certifications for coaches at differing levels of training.
These are five of the top-rated online training programs for executive coaches:
Co-Active Training Institute is one of the longest-running coach training programs and has trained thousands of coaches. It offers a variety of online training programs at various price points.
Coach Training Alliance is an ICF-credentialed program. It offers several different products for executive coach training and holds frequent online and in-person workshops.
The Center for Executive Coaching offers another program for ICF certification. The process takes anywhere from two to nine months and involves sending in recordings of your coaching sessions for review and feedback.
Run by the University of Texas at Dallas, this program offers virtual learning and ICF certification. It also offers a speaker series showcasing experts in the field.
The Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching is an organization that provides resources for coaches, including online training and information for starting a practice. It offers credentials in specific coaching practices that the institute itself has originated. It is certified by the ICF.
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Ideal for helping leaders get focused and grounded quickly, our on-demand executive leadership coaching can help with:
- Providing a confidential, space to test ideas;
- Managing or regaining energy and focus;
- Recapturing a sense of clarity and purpose; and
- Navigating tough decisions.
Online Courses and Training Opportunities
If you are interested in becoming credentialed with the ICF, it is useful to seek out programs that are approved by the organization before starting a training program. The ICF has developed a search engine of its approved programs for this purpose.
Other organizations provide opportunities for online training outside of the constraints of the formal credentialing process. Some online courses in executive coaching may count for continuing education credits, which are useful for coaches who are licensed as psychologists or in other areas of professional practice.
The Society for Consulting Psychology is a division of the American Psychological Organization that specializes in serving executive coaches and consultants. The organization provides many opportunities for online learning, including a variety of webinar series for transitioning and early career coaches.
A Take-Home Message
Executive coaching is an exciting field that allows helping professionals to broaden their impact beyond the individual client. It is also a way to make a great living while experiencing personal growth and fulfillment.
Prospective coaches should be interested in individuals, organizational systems, relationships, and human behavior. The work is a perfect fit for those with a mix of interpersonal skills and business acumen.
Those trained as psychologists are uniquely suited to take on this work, but there are many options for training and certification for those with different backgrounds. If you are interested in becoming an executive coach, do not be afraid to follow your dreams. The field is so broad that you are almost certain to find a niche that works for you.
