5 reasons why you’re more likely to succeed with an executive coach
The benefits of partnering with an executive coach are well documented.
Numerous studies and peer-reviewed articles have found individuals and teams who engage executive coaches can gain a number of benefits.
These range from enhanced goal attainment and increased resilience, through to better management skills and change coping mechanisms, to name a few.
So why are individuals and teams who engage executive coaches more likely to experience greater results?
Here are 5 key reasons why an executive coach can help you get more out of yourself, or your team.
1. Accountability
When wanting to improve performance in any aspect of life, you’re less likely to fail if you’re accountable to someone else. Whether that’s a personal trainer to increase your fitness, a study group/mentor when completing postgraduate education or your spouse/partner when saving for a deposit for a house. The same goes with your performance professionally. An executive coach will help you set goals and keep you accountable to those over time. The reality is, when people set goals for themselves, 9 out of 10 will fail (this varies slightly depending on whose statistics you use). The point being, skill and competence will only get you so far - an executive coach will keep you accountable and on-track.
2. Evidence-based approach
For most individuals and teams, attempts at increasing their own performance without professional help are often done in an ad-hoc manner with little-to-no knowledge of theories and methods that can deliver results. A good executive coach will use up-to-date research and evidence-based techniques to develop a strategy suited to your individual or team circumstances. They will develop this strategy for you after careful and thorough analysis of your problem, your current environment and your desired outcomes.
3. Solutions focused
For most of us, performing better in the workplace is something we all strive for. Whether it’s higher motivation, increased performance in a role, greater wellbeing, enhanced goal attainment, or something else - there’s usually some aspect we want to improve. Regardless of the area of improvement, a good executive coach will take a solutions-focused approach to help. So rather than focusing on what’s wrong, who’s ‘to blame’, or what doesn’t work, the emphasis is put on the solutions. For example, what has been working, what are the individual’s or team’s strengths, what’s the desired outcomes/preferred future and what actions need to be taken to get there?
4. Objective feedback
If you’re trying to improve your own performance (or that of your team) without professional help, you’ll be lacking one key ingredient - objective feedback. Objective feedback is important because it helps promote professional growth, and when it comes from a third-party (i.e. an executive coach) it will be completely impartial as opposed to a colleague or mentor who will hold preconceived biases towards you or your team. Overall, objective feedback is crucial to improving performance because it will help you:
Identify and remove actions or behaviours that inhibit your performance;
Create new actions or behaviours that promote performance;
Stay on track to reach your goals; and
Increase your motivation and confidence.
When done on an ongoing basis, objective feedback also works as a medium for continuous learning and improvement for oneself.
5. Experience and expertise
Executive coaches are highly trained and skilled individuals helping people on a daily basis to improve their performance. Despite this, many individuals and teams still take it upon themselves to try and improve their own performance. This is usually done with the most basic understanding of performance - typically based on their own experiences, limited exposure during tertiary studies or worse, from pop culture! This becomes an immediate downfall (i.e. they don’t know what they don’t know). Ask yourself, if someone thinks they know how to improve their performance, then why haven’t they? A good executive coach has a deep knowledge base and understands the different levers that can be pulled in order to improve performance. They’ll utilise a range of proven techniques and strategies, not just the latest motivational fad they’ve heard on a leadership podcast.
Getting more out of yourself and your team
Executive coaches have a clear benefit and can help you and your team increase your performance, confidence and wellbeing
Our specialist coaches use researched, evidenced-based techniques to help individuals and teams reach greater performance in high pressure environments.
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