In the competitive business world, many executives find themselves struggling to assert themselves or achieve their full potential. These issues are often blamed on external factors but there are many ways that we can improve ourselves to accelerate our careers. Executive coaching has helped people from small business owners to CEOs develop the skills to succeed.

What is Executive Coaching?

Executive coaching, also referred to as performance coaching, is a tailored development program for people who are in (or aspire to be in) senior leadership positions. The coaching process involves one-on-one or two-on-one engagements where professional coaches train and support leaders in acquiring new skills and developing a leadership style that works.

While counseling and mentoring are often confused with coaching, coaching is different from either. Counseling aims to achieve therapeutic outcomes through introspection. Mentorship aims to have a more experienced person impart his knowledge to a less experienced one. Coaching, meanwhile, is a partnership of equals, where the coach helps the client to focus on the future and develop a path to their goal.

The idea of performance coaching is to enable people to transform themselves by harnessing the resources within themselves. It is tied directly to the client’s needs and goals. Clients are encouraged to direct the process and empowered to uncover their abilities and maximize their potential and performance.

More Self-Awareness

One of the most important qualities that a leader can have is self-awareness. Having clarity about your actions and motivations can help you to identify poor habits that have led to recurring mistakes and less than perfect results. Self-awareness and realization is a key coaching outcome that has a lasting impact on your overall emotional intelligence.

When you are self-aware, you have a strong grasp on how you feel, what triggers your emotions, and how you can and should respond. Instead of blindly reacting to external triggers, you can regulate your feelings and maintain focus on your goals. The positive result of this could be anything from better time management to smoother relationships with staff.

Executive coaching will also help you to view things from an outside perspective. We often have blind spots from being too close to our work. Having a trusted party lend their perception can enable you to increase your self-awareness about how you fit into the bigger picture. You may realize that there is much more room for growth than you previously thought.

Greater Empathy

Empathy is the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and relate to what they experience and how they think or feel. It is an essential ‘soft’ skill for leaders that is not generally taught in business school. However, emotional intelligence and empathy are crucial to becoming an effective and respected business leader.

Developing greater empathy will help you to gain a better understanding of your team members as well as your clients, and recognize what motivates them. Being able to empathize with your employees will provide them with acceptance and support. In turn, they will trust your leadership, seek your counsel, and form a more cohesive and productive team.

Improved Social Skills

Although social skills may sound more relevant to a sales or HR position, you will be surprised by how helpful they can be for someone in a leadership position. The emotional intelligence and social skills that you gain from executive coaching will combine to give you a personal and professional edge that you did not have before.

Effective communication is a large part of successful leadership. When you have good social skills, you can build successful relationships, motivate without dominating, and negotiate easily for the outcomes that you want. Your new and improved social skills can also boost team dynamics, augment your authority, and inspire your team members.

Regain Motivation

Speaking of inspiration, life as a senior leader can get boring. You may think that you have peaked in your career or that the next rung of the ladder may be out of reach. As you spend time with an executive coach, watching yourself make progress can help you to shake off the stagnation and start to feel motivated again.

If you were facing resistance and problems before, strategizing with your executive coach can open your eyes to new approaches and possibilities. Some challenges can seem insurmountable, but executive coaching can provide the support and guidance that you need to regain your drive. With your enhanced social skills, your renewed sense of vigor will extend down to your team members as well.

It can be lonely at the top. There may not many people in your company that you can speak freely with and many executives are afraid of showing weakness to others within their organization. An executive coach is a professional shoulder that can provide support and be a sounding board for your thoughts and feelings.

Executive coaching does more than teach you to be a leader. It allows you to see your potential, develop yourself to your full capacity, and find performance instead of problems. Opportunities abound for those who are ready for them. Embark on a professional transformation journey with executive coaching.