Executive Coaching

What is Executive Coaching?

Executive coaching is aimed at improving the performance of high powered executives within an organization. Executive coaching is similar to sports coaching for high performance athletes. The role of the coach is to expose blind spots and challenge the executive to achieve greater levels of success.

Everyday, hundreds of executives seek the support and council of independent, outside, third-party executive coaches - often referred to as thinking partners. Unlike middle managers or front-line staff, executives are in a unique position at the top of their organization.

Executive coaching: what it is and what the benefits are.

What are the benefits of executive coaching?

Benefits Experienced by the Individual

Here at Noomii, we interviewed a number of coaches and their clients to find out what the benefits are. Below is an incomplete list of benefits of executive coaching experienced by the executive.

  • Better communication with team members
  • Increased confidence
  • Better work-life balance
  • Quicker decision making
  • Better time-management

Benefits Experienced by the Organization

The benefits of coaching depends on the type of organization and the desired outcome of the coaching. In the case of executive coaching, the company benefits if the executive's performance is improved by more than the cost of the coaching PLUS any additional improvements experienced throughout the organization based on the executives performance.

Let's say for example, an executive earns $100,000 and the company invests $10,000 per year for their coaching. Can the coaching improve the executive's performance by 10%, an amount equal to the investment? And what's the multiple effect? If the executive manages 10 people, how much of their performance is affected by the executive coaching? Ideally, there will be benefits throughout the organization and the return on investment will be much greater than 100%.

According to the International Coach Federation Global Coaching Study performed in 2009, the median company return was reported to be 700% with almost one fifth of respondents reporting an ROI of at least 50 times (5000%) the initial investment.

Executive coaches are experts in human performance

A common misconception about executive coaches is that they are business experts. While many executive coaches possess extensive business knowledge and experience, they need not be experts in your line of business to deliver quality coaching services. A commonly held belief among coaches is that you, the coachee, are the expert in your business.

As a result, many executives use their coach as a sounding board, a thinking partner, and an independent third-party who helps them stay focused on the most important parts of the business. In coaching, the learning and the change that people experience is much more impactful and sustainable when the coachee has come up with it on their own – when they discover it from within.

In theory, any executive could hire a suitably trained executive coach. In practice that doesn't happen. Most executives want to work with someone who can relate to them, can understand the corporate environment, and has experience in a variety of personal and professional situations.

Executive coaching articles by Noomii coaches

How do I find an executive coach?

The most important thing to remember when looking for an executive coach is to find one whose training, background and skills most closely match your specific goals. There are many coaches with many different specializations, and your ultimate success will largely depend on finding the coach with the best “fit” for your particular situation.

Because finding the right fit is so important, it’s critical that you not just hire the first coach you talk to. Instead, we recommend you speak with at least 3, and ideally 4 or 5, to find the one who you’re going to feel the most comfortable working with over a period of several months. Almost all professional coaches offer a free, 15 or 20 minute consultation to help you determine if they are the right coach for you.

If you’re fairly sure about what you’re looking for in a coach, you can find a list of hundreds of coaches with several specializations in Noomii’s directory of professional executive coaches. However, if you’re not sure exactly who you should be coaching with, you can request a coach through our coach referral service. With this service, you tell Noomii about your goals, background, and budget, and we send you a select list of compatible coaches to interview for your free consultations.

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