Learning the Benefits of Executive Coaching the Hard Way

“The problem is nobody likes you!”

I was stunned early in my career when an executive coach sat me down and gave me the bombshell news.

As VP of Sales I was proud of my team. We’d consistently achieved double-digit growth, quarter after quarter, for several years. We’d exceeded all of our goals. We’d achieved numerous business metrics from new client acquisition to client retention to client growth.

But then we’d had two quarters where sales were flat. No growth at all. An executive coach spent three days interviewing me and all sixteen members of my team. It was the morning of the fourth day that he gave me the shocking assessment.

While I was a high-performing individual, he said, the success had come because I had been pushing and pulling people to achieve. I had not been developing them. I was floored. I had been totally blind to this flaw. My team didn’t like me, and my management style had reached its capacity for growth.

It was my first experience of working with a coach. A major revelation, to say the least.

The outcome was that I hired the coach to work with me for a year and we got back on the growth track. I focused more on our overall mission and values, showing more respect for the individual members of the team instead of it being all about me. We had a shared purpose, instead of me being the driving force. We became a true team. The power of executive coaching was proven to me and is why I place such a strong emphasis on it as my current team of coaches and trainers and I work with companies across the country to enhance corporate culture.

Far-reaching Results

Executive coaching can have dramatic benefits. A Korn/Ferry Institute review of more than twenty studies on its effectiveness concluded that it produced moderate-to-large improvements in skills and/or performance. 

The report stated, “Effects of coaching are far-reaching. Coaching influences a wide range of organizational arenas, such as individual skills and behavior, team performance, productivity, employee job satisfaction, and some measures of business deliverables.”

Other organizations have attempted to measure the impact. According to The International Coaching Federation there can be a:

• 70% increase in individual performance—goal attainment, clearer communication, and higher satisfaction.
• 50% increase in team performance—better conversations, improved collaboration, and enhanced work performance.
• 48% increase in organizational performance—increase in revenue and improved employee retention.

Improved Productivity

A study published in the journal Public Personnel Management found that the addition of an  eight-week one-on-one executive coaching course boosted productivity by 88%. This came after  productivity increased 22.4% among managers who underwent a conventional training program. Coaching included goal setting, collaborative problem solving, practice, feedback, supervisory involvement, evaluation of end-results, and a public presentation.

Most companies want to know what Return on Investment (ROI) they can expect—something that’s notoriously hard to measure as it depends on many factors. How good is the executive coach? How willing are individuals to be coached? Why are they being coached in the first place? What’s the length and intensity of the coaching program? And how does this all gel with the overall corporate culture?

One study of a Fortune 500 company found that executive coaching delivered a 788% ROI when factors such as increases in productivity and employee retention were taken into account. Of course, no one can promise such extraordinary specific results but there’s no doubt that executive coaching makes a meaningful difference.

What I find with my clients is that executives by and large are open-minded and excited about their sessions with one of my coaches. Which is just as well because they have to engage to reap the rewards. 

Positive Outcomes

As discussed, thanks to executive coaching the corporate body often sees an increase in productivity and employee retention which is particularly important at higher levels of management. The organization also enhances its reputation for valuing and developing employees—it becomes a healthy corporate culture—and that in itself attracts top quality employees. 

For the executive being coached, the benefits are manifest.

A good executive coach helps you work your way through your business challenges, weigh up your options, and make more informed decisions through the advantage of different perspectives and thought-provoking insights.

The coach is adept at employing techniques to identify your strengths and more importantly your weaknesses as a leader. Of particular relevance as far as I’m concerned—identifying your blind spots and your Achilles’ heel. This is always meaningful for me because of my first executive coach revealing how unaware I was of my own failings.

Leadership requires making one important decision after another and building a team that respects you and commits to the corporate culture. It means being able to guide the company with a steady hand during times of change or crisis, visualizing and planning for every eventuality, inspiring creative thinking, managing conflicts, aligning stakeholders, and a whole lot more.

A good executive coach over time empowers individuals to do all of this while providing unbiased input and holding the coachee accountable.

How it Works

Coaching should begin with a thorough intake to understand the individual as a unique person so that a highly customized approach can be created. Trust is a critical part of the coaching relationship. The coach needs to be positive and encouraging yet candid and tough, always keeping the coachee’s goals and best interests at the forefront.

At the same time 360 performance reviews involving managers, direct reports and peers make a significant contribution since they yield high quality feedback that paints the full picture of an executive’s performance.

Ideally, coaching sessions should run an hour at a time, once or twice a month for six months and occasionally be supplemented with small group sessions attended by leaders at the same level. The coach should also be available for 10-15 “mini-sessions” so that the executive can obtain real-time support on specific issues as they arise. And for the engagement to be successful executives should sign a co-commitment agreement at the beginning.

Executive coaching is designed for anyone in a leadership position—not just those in the C-suite. And it’s a never-ending process. Developing exceptional leadership skills is not a “one and done” endeavor. Good leaders appreciate that it’s a long-term career commitment.

Written by Jason Richmond.
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