Profound leaders are often portrayed as solo operators, yet they commonly rely on a small team to achieve their high levels of success. It’s a facade to think that leading alone is possible.

A distinguished coach will deliver a personalized and strategic approach to professional development while also employing evidence based methods to drive success.

Allow your coach to be a game-changer for you in your role and industry.

Let’s jump into why having an executive coach is an essential investment:

An Effective Approach

Not a Relative, Colleague, or Friend

We may receive and deliver helpful feedback and advice to people in our normal circles quite often. This relationship, however, is intentionally different. A coach is ideally a knowledgeable third party perspective in the areas we operate. This eliminates conflict of interest and an especially strategic perspective is able to be utilized. You will notice this idea embedded in much of the reasonings given in this article; without this degree of separation from your life, your coach loses the vantage point and strategic positioning of being a third party.

Beyond Your Current Role

Remaining too static will disrupt a future oriented approach. A coach will ideally guide investment in your present and your future simultaneously.

They may suggest gaining experience in a specific area or skillset that they know fits your strengths and interests, that serves your present role, and yet is also marketable for future endeavors. They may guide decision making with insight into broader market trends.

Preventing Burnout: Balancing the Long & Short Term

High-pressure situations, though common among those in leadership positions, can be navigated successfully without becoming a persistent pain point. Moving in and out of these potentially stressful environments may be significantly more manageable with an experienced,  knowledgeable, and level headed partner: Your Coach.

A quality coach will ensure an intelligent level of investment in the now, and pacing instructions for the long game.

Objective Feedback & Goal Clarity

A low priority goal can unintentionally become our present working task if it is attractive or marketed well. When we achieve clarity in our direction, we will naturally value our highest priorities.

An outside source, like a coach, is a highly effective resource to aid resisting lower priority tasks & driving the highest ones. While it might initially seem counterintuitive to consider a coach as a time saver — given the invested time in meetings — a broader perspective reveals that a coach plays a crucial role in steering us away from pitfalls, such as lower-priority tasks and misleading opportunities. In the larger context, the time, energy, and money saved by avoiding these wrong turns often exceed the resources initially invested in these coaching sessions.

Guiding Our Blind Spots

We’ve discussed what a coach can provide for us,

but what if we don’t think we need one?

Lack of Awareness

In various cases it can be difficult for us to define or even identify where we need help. A coach is dedicated to uncovering our optimal path forward, and this includes revealing our major blind-spots.

We may think that our teams, family, or friends may bring forth worthwhile criticisms as they notice them. Although that theory sounds nice: 1) there is no guarantee that they have the eye to identify our weak-spots 2) they may notice the deficiencies, but it may not bother them 3) they may assume we are already aware of our weaknesses or 4) they may find it uncomfortable to bring up such a criticism. A quality coach will defy all of these reasonings and tell us anyway, with tact, and a suggested approach to overcome the obstacle.

Accountability

A coach will keep you accountable to your short term, long term, and personal goals contributing to the improvement of your overall well-being. Few roles possess such a unique ability to keep us on track. For this reason alone, this relationship could be one of the most rewarding to uphold.

It is too easy for ourselves and others to provide leeway where it is not particularly effective or helpful. A good coach will not let you get away with things that are not to your benefit.

Fear of Change

Change is uncomfortable on a very basic level of our being. We can easily resist change we find unnecessary.

A coach can provide guidance and clarifications on the “Why” something needs to be changed, and this can make all the difference.

Left unchallenged, we may stay in these habits and modes of being. A coach can help us gradually step out of our comfort zone in an area that we agree needs change.

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The Right Coach for You

A key element in the relationship is your ability to thoroughly trust your coach. You need to be convinced that they are highly qualified to lead you to success, have your best interest in mind, and that you can rely on their guidance.

It is important that you hold your coach in high regard and to find your coach worthy of great respect.

Maybe You Need a New Coach

Chances are, if you do not find your coach displaying respectable mannerisms and worthy of honor, you will hold internal resistance to their provided help, even if you know their advice is on point.

If you and your coach measure success too differently, it may be difficult to value their achievements, and there may not be proper alignment and guidance.

Regardless of how esteemed and successful your coach is to your network or in your industry, you, most importantly, will need to be coachable by them to achieve your greater goals. A successful coaching relationship demands engaged deep listening from both you to them and them to you.

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It can be easy to view an athlete as a standalone example of excellence and achievement. Upon reconsideration, we recognize how integral a coach’s resources are for the athlete’s success: structure, follow-up, motivation, and criticism.

Where will you allow your coach to guide you?

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Questions about Executive Coaching?

Reach out to Samuel Dergel

or email [email protected]