What Is Executive Coaching?

What is Executive Coaching? 

Executive coaching is a developing field. As such, its definition is still the subject of discussion and debate among practitioners, researchers, and consumers. Executive coaching involves an executive, his coach, and his organizational context (as represented by the interests of his organization and supervisor, including the fact that the organization typically pays for coaching services). All are key stakeholders in the process. This fact by itself would appear to differentiate executive coaching from other interventions, such as career counseling and life coaching. While both career counseling and life coaching can lend concepts and practice techniques that an executive coach might use, they focus solely on the individual client and his needs and goals. Executive coaching, in our view, focuses on the needs and goals of both the executive and the sponsoring organization. In that spirit, we offer the following definition of executive coaching.

“Executive coaching is an experiential and individualized leader development process that builds a leader’s capability to achieve short- and long-term organizational goals. It is conducted through one- on-one and/or group interactions, driven by data from multiple perspectives, and based on mutual trust and respect. The organization, an executive, and the executive coach work in partnership to achieve maximum impact.”

What Is Different About Executive Coaching?

As coaching has grown in popularity over the past few years, it is only natural that some authors have tried to differentiate among types of coaching. Some of these categories define coaching type by its goals or ends. Career coaching, for instance, is defined as coaching designed to help individuals make enlightened career choices. Other attempts at categorization make distinctions based on the means used in a particular kind of coaching. As an example, presentation and communication skills coaching employs video feedback.

The practice of executive coaching may involve many of the types of coaching described below. Thus, an executive coaching engagement may over time touch on the executive's career or personal life issues involving work/life balance, and use video feedback to work on some particular behavioral or communication problem. Two factors always distinguish executive coaching from these other types, however:

"It always involves a partnership among executive, coach, and organization.

"The individual goals of an executive coaching engagement must always link back and be subordinated to strategic organizational objectives.

A discussion of some common coaching types follows.

Personal/Life Coaching

The personal/life coach helps individuals gain awareness of and clarify their personal goals and priorities, better understand their thoughts, feelings, and options, and take appropriate actions to change their lives, accomplish their goals, and feel more fulfilled.

Career Coaching

The career coach helps individuals identify what they want and need from their career, then make decisions and take the needed actions to accomplish their career objectives in balance with the other parts of their lives.

Group Coaching

Group coaches work with individuals in groups. The focus can range from leadership development to career development, stress management to team building. Group coaching combines the benefits of individual coaching with the resources of groups. Individuals learn from each other and the interactions that take place within the group setting.

Performance Coaching

Performance coaches help employees at all levels better understand the requirements of their jobs, the competencies needed to fulfill those requirements, any gaps in their current performance, and opportunities to improve performance. Coaches then work with the employees, their bosses, and others in their workplace to help the employees fill performance gaps and develop plans for further professional development.

Newly Assigned Leader Coaching

Coaches of individuals assigned or hired into new leadership roles help these leaders to “onboard”. The goal of the coaching is to clarify with the leader’s key constituents the most important responsibilities of her new role, her deliverables in the first few months of the new assignment, and ways to integrate the team she will lead with the organization. The major focus of this type of coaching is on helping the new leader to assimilate and achieve her business objectives.

Relationship Coaching

The relationship coach helps two or more people to form, change, or improve their interactions. The context can be work, personal, or other settings.

High-Potential or Developmental Coaching

The coach works with organizations to develop the potential of individuals who have been identified as key to the organization’s future or are part of the organization’s succession plan. The focus of the coaching may include assessment, competency development, or assistance planning and implementing strategic projects.

Coaching to Provide Feedback Debriefing and Development Planning

Organizations that use assessment or 360 feedback processes often utilize coaches to help employees interpret the results of their assessments and feedback. In addition, coaches work with individuals to make career decisions and establish professional development plans based on feedback, assessment results, and other relevant data.

Targeted Behavioral Coaching

Coaches who provide targeted behavioral coaching help individuals to change specific behaviors or habits or learn new, more effective ways to work and interact with others. This type of coaching often helps individuals who are otherwise very successful in their current jobs or are taking on new responsibilities that require a change in specific behaviors.

Legacy Coaching

The legacy coach helps leaders who are retiring from a key role to decide on the legacy they would like to leave behind. The coach also provides counsel on transitioning out of the leadership role.

Succession Coaching

The succession coach helps assess potential candidates for senior management positions and prepares them for promotion to more senior roles. This type of coaching may be used in any organization that is experiencing growth or turnover in its leadership ranks. It is especially helpful in family businesses to maintain the viability of the firm. Since assessment is often part of this intervention, clear expectations and groundrules for confidentiality are essential. It may be necessary in some companies to use separate consultants for assessment and coaching.

Presentation/Communication Skills Coaching

This type of coaching helps individuals gain self-awareness about how they are perceived by others and why they are perceived in that way. Clients learn new ways to interact with others. The use of videorecording with feedback allows clients to see themselves as others do. The coach helps clients change the way they communicate and influence others by changing their words, how they say those words, and the body language they use to convey their intended messages.

Team Coaching

One or more team coaches work with the leader and members of a team to establish their team mission, vision, strategy, and rules of engagement with one another. The team leader and members may be coached individually to facilitate team meetings and other interactions, build the effectiveness of the group as a high-performance team, and achieve team goals.

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