Senior leaders operate under constant pressure. There are targets to meet, teams to lead, stakeholders to manage and difficult decisions to make.
Yet there are often very few places where a leader can openly say: “I am not sure.” “I need to think this through.” “Something needs to change, but I don't yet know what.”
Executive coaching creates a safe, confidential and non-judgemental space for those conversations.
You don't need to have a “problem” to work with a coach.
Often, the situation has changed — and the way you respond may need to change with it.
Listening first.
I listen, ask questions and help you step back from the immediate situation. At times, I may challenge an assumption or invite you to look at something from another perspective.
We may explore what is happening around you — your team, manager, stakeholders or organisation — and how you are responding through your decisions, behaviours, emotions and assumptions.
The purpose is not judgement. It is to create greater awareness, because greater awareness creates more choice.
You don't need to arrive with all the answers. You do need to be willing to explore the questions.
The purpose of our conversations is to help you think more deeply, explore possibilities and arrive at choices that make sense for you.
At the same time, I bring many years of leadership experience of my own. Where I believe that experience could provide a useful perspective, and with your agreement, I may share it — while being clear that I am moving from coaching into sharing a perspective.
The choice and the decision remain yours.
Every engagement is different, but coaching can help you:
The value of coaching is not simply in having a good conversation. It comes when greater awareness leads to different choices and, over time, different outcomes.
You don't need to arrive with a perfectly defined coaching goal. You may simply know that something in your leadership, role or career needs more thought. That is enough to begin.