Understanding the Executive Coaching Process

Executive coaching isn’t just any other coaching. It’s designed to help boost the skills of achievement-oriented employees and leaders who are looking to grow and excel in the workplace; that might be by enhancing their management and leadership skills to get them ready for potential job opportunities, or simply upskilling them to excel in their current role. Executive coaching is a process that builds a leader’s ability to achieve organizational goals. Learn more about what executive coaching is, and how it can help your business thrive.

What is the executive coaching process?

The executive coaching process is unique to everyone; there’s no one-size fits all, which is where it is similar to other coaching practices. However, there is a basic framework you can understand to help guide you.

This basic framework is built around 5 key pillars:

1. Awareness – being aware of the current situation.

2. Analysis – analysing the desired outcomes and objectives.

3. Action – goal setting and getting underway.

4. Achievement – recognizing successes.

5. Adapt – planning ahead and adapting your plan to achieve any new or unachieved goals.

Off the back of these pillars, our recommended executive coaching process would look a little something like this:

1. Understanding the coachee’s current situation

2. Understanding the coachee’s objectives

3. Actioning these objectives by goal setting

4. Scheduling regular check-in’s

5. Recognizing achievements & setbacks

6. Re-evaluating their situation

Let’s take a deeper look at these steps.

Understanding the coachee’s current situation

First things first, understanding where the coachee currently is – their skills, their strengths, and their current performance – is key to effectively beginning the executive coaching process. This step involves speaking with the coachee and ensuring you’re mutually aware of the current situation.

Understanding the coachee’s objectives

Next is to better understand where the coachee wants to be. In one year, or in 5 years, what are their objectives, what goals do they want to achieve, and where do they see themselves? This stage is also where you can start to understand how these objectives might be achieved, and what success might look like throughout the coaching experience.

Actioning these objectives by goal setting

Once you understand the objectives of the coachee, actioning these is the next step. Putting these objectives into perspective to understand what goals, both long- and short-term, need to be set to achieve them. What’s equally important is to define how these goals might be met – so, what resources might the coachee need to achieve them, or what support may they benefit from?

Scheduling regular check-ins

Accountability is key to achieving goals. So, scheduling regular check-ins to see how progress is being made, get feedback, alter plans, and give support is vital.

Recognizing achievements and setbacks

It’s not all about the end. It’s also about the achievements, successes, challenges, and setbacks that are faced along the way. Celebrating the wins can increase motivation and engagement, spurring on the coachee, whilst recognizing and evaluating setbacks and challenges can inform next steps within the process.

Re-evaluating the situation

Speaking of next steps, the executive coaching process isn’t set in stone; it’s fluid. So, once the primary process is complete, or halfway through the process perhaps, look at what’s going well and what maybe needs to be tweaked so that goals can still be achieved. Goals may not always be achieved in the time frame we expect; those setbacks and challenges we just spoke about can affect our timelines and so understanding these and re-evaluating the process is necessary. Explore alternative approaches, brainstorm what might work best, and work together to achieve the desired outcomes.

As a company, investing in the executive coaching process can bring you great results – one study found that executive coaching produced a 788% ROI. Another study found that a company investing in executive coaching saw an average ROI of almost 6x the cost of coaching. And understanding the process of executive coaching prior to your investment could allow the process to be even more successful for you. Find out more about coaching today with EZRA.