All Leaders Need An Executive Coach
To get or not to get an executive coach?
There's a popular belief that the higher up you climb the corporate ladder, the lonelier it becomes. This is why getting an executive coach is more relevant and essential for leaders now in order to become effective leaders of influence.
Having had experience in the executive coaching scene for more than a decade, let me share my personal take on why all the top leaders need an executive coach and have benefitted from having the guidance of one in their leadership journey.
Here's why:
All leaders have room for growth
What I've heard a lot from the leaders I speak with in my executive coaching sessions is that the higher their position is, the fewer people they have to share their struggles with, and bounce off ideas with on methods to resolve them.
That is the unfortunate sacrifice and natural progression that many leaders face as they climb the corporate ladder.
But leaders do not have to journey alone. The hard truth is that when you are "up there" as a leader, you might not receive the same level of feedback you once did. Without feedback, you lack (what I like to call) data points on where and how to improve. That stifles your growth as a leader.
This is where the expertise of an executive coach can be relevant and critical in helping leaders to grow effectively and achieve their goals in the process.
Even the best leaders "fall" sometimes
Executive coaching is not just for "incompetent" leaders. Even the best of the best benefit from an outside perspective and fresh ideas that an executive coach can bring.
Everybody faces struggles in one form or another in their leadership journey unique to their role –– be it dealing with different characters in the team, having to inspire a newly formed team, or perhaps even managing relational conflicts within the team.
No leader is immune to making mistakes. If you are in an executive or managerial position but continue to leave these areas unaddressed, these leadership struggles will eventually permeate into other areas of your team.
It could end up surfacing in the form of poor performance among staff members, diminished morale, disengagement among team members, low job satisfaction, reduced employee engagement, increased absenteeism, lower productivity levels, increased turnover rates, and the list goes on…
Every leader needs help (even if they don't realise it)
The best leaders have blindspots they are not aware of. An executive coach can help them build self-awareness and identify these blindspots before they adversely impact the team.
Most leaders are not aware of their own blindspots. This can hinder their effectiveness and influence as a leader, especially if these blindspots are inherent character traits that could potentially rub the team the wrong way.
An executive coach can help them raise self-awareness and overcome these blindspots. This process of raising self-awareness helps leaders know where they stand and what they need to do to bridge the gap between where they are at the present and the leaders they envision themselves in the future.
Take Action
Through all my executive coaching sessions with leaders, I've come to realise that leadership is not a static skill. It is constantly evolving and growing.
As the world changes, every change brings new sets of challenges to leaders. The leaders who I have journeyed with in my executive coaching program have all experienced how an executive coach can equip them to be leaders of influence who build high-performing teams.
