Sunday, August 31, 2014

How Executive Coaching Services Can Improve Leadership Quality

By Mattie MacDonald


One of the main characteristics of modern corporate life is the immense pressure placed on individuals and teams to perform, to be innovative and to be productive. The competition for advancement is tremendous. Businesses try to identify those individuals that show exceptional promise and groom them for more senior posts. By employing executive coaching services these promising individuals are mentored and polished.

The transition from employee to manager can be difficult, even traumatic. In many cases newly appointed managers are expected to lead people that used to be their peers. A professional mentor can help new managers to develop their leadership abilities. This is done by forcing the manager to examine his own performance and those of others. Mentorship also aims to create personal contentment and to stimulate continual personal growth.

It is not only new managers that can benefit from the attentions of a coach. Many businesses realize that senior managers that have been part of the organization for a long time are in danger of stagnating. By assigning them a coach they can be helped to remain innovative and to keep exploring new ideas and theories. Senior managers often also need to be motivated and they need to identify areas in which they need to grow.

It would be a mistake to expect a coach to provide practical advice on how to manage or how to achieve the goals of the organization. That is the role of the manager. The role of the coach is to help the manager to discover solutions to dilemmas, to apply techniques that will lead to effective decisions and to act as facilitator and motivator.

Mentoring can be very expensive and it can be time consuming. The average coach charges roughly the same as a good corporate attorney. Instant results should not be expected. Companies should see the cost of coaches as an investment in the future leadership of the business. The high cost of this service is one of the reasons why many companies only hire a coach for individuals that are crucial to the future of the company.

Great care should be taken when appointing a coach. It must be kept in mind that the chosen coach will be enjoying a special relationship with decision makers within the company. In that role they may exert some influence on the decisions made by the client. When candidates are screened care should be taken to make sure that they are accredited and qualified. References should be demanded and checked.

Different coaches follow different theories and they apply a wide variety of techniques and methods in order to achieve their goals. It is vital, however, that the coach be briefed on the expectations of the company, the background of the individual that is to be coached and the goals that need to be achieved during the contract period. This should all be made part of a written agreement between the company and the coach.

Successful businesses make sure that they remain innovative and at the cutting edge of their fields. They also make sure that they groom individuals with promise to take over important leadership positions. A coach can help to prepare such individuals and to encourage them to keep growing personally and professionally.




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