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What is executive coaching?
Executive coaching includes close interactions with an executive, aiming to help them develop themselves in their professional and personal lives to be more effective in their management and decision-making styles.
Executives may be under a great deal of stress and burden due to the nature of their jobs. Therefore, they may look for a way to equip themselves better and learn to handle the workload by getting professional coaching.
The ultimate goal of working with an executive coach is to achieve behavioral change in their professional working life, to be more productive, and to make better decisions.
What is the difference between coaching and executive coaching?
While they share many core principles, there are some differences that make executive coaching a specialized type of coaching. One notable similarity between these two types, however, is that they both seek to improve a person's quality of life in all areas.
As for the differences, the most significant difference in executive coaching is its focus on what the person does rather than who the person is. Life coaching, or coaching in general, begins with our personalities, our reactions, and how we came to be who we are, today.
Executive coaching, on the other hand, does not pay much attention to those factors. Instead, it will focus on what you have done and what you are doing as an executive. An executive coach may also draw attention to the executive's nature and personality but only aim to uncover why they act that way.
What is executive coaching vs. life coaching?
As explained above, executive coaching focuses on the professional actions of people rather than their lives in general. However, life coaching is the most common type, so the difference is quite significant when considering working with career leaders.
Life coaching is also more like being a consultant, as life coaches talk about personal issues, and come up with suggestions and solutions, which would not be the case for executive coaching.
Also, another crucial difference is that life coaches will work with individuals to help them improve their personal lives. On the other hand, executive coaches will try to assist professionals in enhancing their careers.
How about executive coaching vs. leadership coaching?
When we talk about executive coaching, we may include leadership coaching as a subcategory. Both coaching types are closely associated with each other since they both focus on career coaching. Also, two kinds of coaches work with professional career individuals.
There would be some subtle differences between leadership and executive coaching, though. For instance, while leadership coaches often are internal, meaning they work for the same company, most executive coaches are outsourced.
While leadership coaches may work with a team or a group of leaders from the same enterprise, executive coaches solely work with a single executive. Thus, they will focus on the person who holds the administrative position.
Executive leadership coaching could use similar goals and focus. They try to encourage a team of leaders or simply an executive to achieve more and provide support in work-related areas.
Why do executives need coaching?
Regardless of how intimidating they seem, being in charge brings loneliness. It's exceptionally stressful, challenging, and challenging to make decisions alone, especially when any decision would significantly impact the whole company, its present and future, and its employees. That’s a lot of responsibility.
Additionally, not all executives are given their roles when they are not thoroughly trained to be executive leaders. Most companies assign executive roles to their promising leaders. Once such a role is assigned to a leader who has never had the administrative function, the individual is expected to improve with time and the relevant coaching.
Most executive coaches work with those who have not completed their executive training yet but were given an administrative role. So an executive will need support and coaching when they need to lead a company and reach a critical point.
How could the best executive coaching be provided?
As executive coaches will closely work with top-notch leaders, more attention needs to be given to the job. No coach may have the necessary qualities to perform such a service.
Executive coaches have to go through a series of training in order to be certified to work with business people. They should also study case studies in order to gain experience and expertise in leadership-related issues to provide the best coaching service for their advisee.
The best executive coaching will focus on the success of the person they work with, considering their unique conditions, such as
- The size and industry of their company,
- The steps to be taken for the company's future, and
- The current issues to be solved within their teams.
How much do executive coaches make?
Executive coaches work with the most professional and influential people, so how much they charge for their executive coaching services is often a mystery to many.
Of course, there is a range of what they charge depending on their expertise, where they are located, and who they work with. However, an average executive coaching salary per year would be 97,562 USD in the US, according to Glassdoor.
In the US, the most expensive executive services are offered in New York City. It is not only the most expensive city in this sense, but most professional executive coaches are also based in NYC.
The more enterprises and big firms there are in a city, the more executive coaches are present as well. The amount of tax paid by coaching services also depends on the state and its tax rates.
What is the executive coaching process? What are the steps? Once the coaching agreement started between an executive and an executive coach, those four steps will be followed:
Awareness
The first and essential step in executive coaching is to raise awareness. Several sessions may be needed for the participant to reach this state of awareness.
In the very first session, other than the coach and the executive, a few more people could be present in the meeting. For example, an HR member and a senior executive that the participating executive is reporting to. During this first coaching session, the executive's background, goals, expectations, and desired outcomes are the primary subjects.
Usually, a one-to-one session is a follow-up to what's been discussed, plus adding the personal expectations by focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of the executive. Eventually, the coach will guide the client to be aware of the current situation and continue the coaching process accordingly.
Analysis
After the executive has become aware of themselves, deep analysis discussions begin. Every action, decision, or situation is subject to analysis.
They work on designing an individualized plan on how to develop the executive, and they also share the plan with the senior executive and the HR person. This stage is completed by preparing an action plan on how to pursue and what to do to achieve desired development.
Action
As it is evident from the name, in this stage of the coaching, the client is expected to perform the action plan that was prepared in the previous step. It could include:
Attending any necessary training
Having discussions with other executives to connect better with the clients Attempting to form better and stronger relationships within their company Trying new skills and taking on new challenges Trying these new behaviors that are analyzed and put into the action plan
During this stage, the executive and the coach work closely to discuss every step of the action. The coach gives feedback and elaborates on every change and new skill.
Achievement
This final step of executive coaching is where the client gets the rewards of the complex process. The effectiveness of coaching is measured by testing changes and desired developments.
The executive's peers or stakeholders evaluate his performance and examine the results. All parties decide to end the coaching process when the desired results and expectations are met.
The coaching process may end after all expectations have been met, or there may be a few follow-up sessions to evaluate the whole coaching process. As a final step, the coach prepares a written report, which the executive keeps as proof of the coaching's impact on performance.
How to choose the best executive coach?
After getting executive coaching support from a professional coach, picking someone who would be an excellent fit for you is vital. Not all coaches could be working with executives from your field.
So the best executive experience would be with someone with expertise and know-how in the same business area you are working in.
Furthermore, you may decide whether coaching sessions will be online or face-to-face and decide to work with a coach either online or offline.
Is it possible to get online executive coaching?
During the last few years, virtual education has evolved, using the latest technology to provide the same or better results than traditional teaching. Many trainers offer competitive executive coaching over the internet.
Perculus is a digital training portal helping trainers and learners achieve things without the borders of the offline world. As well as different types of online training, professional executive coaches can use many interactive and user-friendly features to manage and facilitate their online sessions.
Key takeaway
All in all, executive coaching experience is a sophisticated and very rewarding process. Experienced and well-trained coaches can only guide it to success when they possess the relevant knowledge and know-how about coaching top-notch executives.
Moreover, undergoing such a coaching intervention is essential for professionals to keep developing themselves and to get better at their careers.