Coaching has had demonstrable success in improving the performance of individuals in many walks of life and at many levels for many years. Its prominence at the highest level in professional sports is perhaps the clearest example of this.

The usefulness of an objective third party who can observe and reflect what is happening is now becoming widely appreciated in other fields. It is this observation and reflection of attitudes, actions and behaviour that is the key to successful executive coaching. It allows an individual to understand their own situation, develop their own goals to improve performance and enact changes that allow average performance to become outstanding.

Whilst the overall objective of any form of training is to enhance skills and technical abilities and thereby enable individuals to meet performance requirements, Executive Coaching is specifically designed to facilitate an individual’s progress to becoming more rounded and better prepared for future roles within their company. It also reduces the recruitment burden by allowing companies to retain and re-motivate employees who might otherwise leave.

A key observation is the fact that whilst training programs are generally well accepted, they can be generic in style and may not necessarily reveal solutions to individual problems that may be affecting overall performance or the achievement of career path potential.

Often such performance issues are the symptoms of much deeper problems, which may be handled more successfully in a one-on-one setting, utilising the specialist skills of a personal coach or mentor.

Executive Coaching is an ongoing personal development process facilitated by a skilled professional, that:

Executive Coaching is a personalised training and development program built upon a detailed analysis of the underlying strengths and weaknesses that contribute to individual successes and failures.

It will not just highlight where you are doing well or falling short, it will tell you WHY those things are happening. It will also then allow you, AHEAD of time, to select situations and courses of action that will lead to successes for you. It will either direct you in avoiding those situations which will prove troublesome OR more positively provide you with action plans to upgrade your ability to handle them.

A Better Return on Investment for the training dollar. Coaching often takes place in the workplace, saving time and thus avoiding the inconvenience and disruptions caused by people away on courses. Second, it addresses some of the main reasons why training may fail to produce any great result in the workplace. It gives:
 
Efficient transfer of training to work results. Coaching transfers training to the workplace most efficiently by using work challenges as the basis for individuals to try out techniques they have learned. It is by its nature just in time.
 
Close relevance of the training to the need. Coaching's use of workplace dilemmas makes it absolutely relevant to the issues faced by individual clients.
 
Close relevance to the learning style of the individual. As coaching is a one to one relationship, it can be tailored to the different ways individuals learn, thus enabling them to learn more effectively in their own way.
 
Greater opportunity to breaking down barriers to change. The duration of a coaching assignment allows new behaviours and methods to become more embedded and accepted in the workplace than training courses of shorter duration. It is of sufficient time to allow the reactions to change – denial, resistance, exploration and commitment - to run full cycle.
 
A personalised and adaptable way of developing different people. The technique of coaching can help address a wide variety of different development needs. There are four main groups to whom the technique can bring different benefits in addition to the development of skills:
 
Senior executives. Coaching can provide a sounding board where ideas, fears, thoughts and opinions can be voiced or discussed with a receptive and understanding listener. To these people it provides a forum that relieves the loneliness at the top.
 
The rising stars. For those who are ascending rapidly through an organisation, coaching can provide access to new knowledge as it is required, a sounding board of experience, and a positive signal of the regard in which they are held by the organisation.
 
The technically skilled. For those who have reached the top of their profession technically, coaching can provide the encouragement to reach out to new goals beyond their technical skills to become managers and leaders in an organisation.
 
Those who are ‘off form’. Potentially excellent staff may, for many reasons, drop below their usual excellent levels; perhaps due to a change in role, mounting stress or changes in skill requirements. Coaching can address these issues by rekindling self-belief in an individual and encouraging them back to their full potential.

 

Acknowledgement of a person’s importance to the company. Selection for a  coaching program is a visible signal of an individual’s worth and an acknowledgement of their future potential and advancement.
 
A personally tailored development program. The flexibility of coaching allows the technique to be tailored to an individual’s learning style and their most pressing need for development. The relevance described earlier is magnified for the individual by bringing new ideas to bear on their workplace problems when they need them.
 
Flexibility in delivery. Coaching can be adjusted to suit the demands of a busy individual. While mentally intrusive, coaching need not intrude in time and place and through follow-up by telephone, a coach can be available whenever a client needs them.
 
Help to solve real work dilemmas. Instead of the distractions and unreality of many development courses, coaching deals with real business problems and issues. Individuals develop their own solutions to their work problems through coaching, thus improving their own performance, gaining satisfaction and increased respect from others.

The overall benefits of accessing Executive Coaching follow: