Selecting an Executive Coach

Posted on January 26, 2014 by George Casey, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.

The Stanford Center for Leadership Development and Research surveyed more than 200 CEOs, board directors and senior executives of North American public and private companies for the 2013 Executive Coach Survey.(1) The survey key findings include:
• Nearly 54% of CEOs surveyed receive coaching;
• 51.4% of the Senior Executives surveyed receive coaching;
• 35.7 % of the CEOs said they needed to work on sharing leadership & delegation;
• 42.9% of the CEOs believe their conflict management skills need to be developed; and,
• 57.1% of the CEO’s and 51.4% of the Senior Executives agreed that they enjoy receiving coaching and leadership advice.
If high performance and inspiring leadership correlate with Executive Coaching as a Harvard survey of 2000 international executives found, why aren’t more CEO’s and Senior Executives working with a coach? (2) The results of these two surveys have left many bloggers speculating on why more CEO’s and Senior Executives are NOT utilizing coaching more. Here are my thoughts… presented in the form of a hypothetical story followed by some helpful questions.

High performing CEO, S. Robin is hired by the board to rapidly turn around the ABC national retail food corporation after a leveraged buyout. Within three years he has divested the unprofitable operations, paid down the debt to a manageable healthy level, and refinanced the remaining dept. The remaining operations have been downsized and reengineered to support a four pillar strategy: competitive pricing, competitive selection, superior service, and return on market value of assets. Smith has bought out two well established very successful family owned operations in adjacent markets, and downsized and reengineered both of those operations to align with ABC’s four pillar strategy. The sales and return on market value of the two new acquisitions decline steadily over the next five years, and after a short trend of post-reengineering gains the original divisions’ numbers level off. Controls and compliance are very strong, but performance is flat, the stock drops, and the options held by managers become worthless. The board members suggest working with a coach, but they do not have a coach to recommend or experience of working with a coach themselves. So, Smith has the Chief Human Resources Officer do some research. The research finds the following:
• Fees range from a low of $200 an hour to a high of $2,000 an hour with a median of $500 an hour.
• There are a number of Universities and Associations who certify executive coaches and can offer names.
• There are coaching referral companies who will match you with three coaches for you to interview and choose.
This is the point where many executives get distracted, and move on to other more pressing issues. What would they ask? How do they determine who is a charlatan and who is a good coach? Diane Coutu and Carol Kauffman (2) suggest you ask about the following when you interview:

What is your coaching process? Good coaches will be able to clearly walk you through their process…
In addition to the executive’s perspective, what else do you take into consideration? A good coach will explore the context in which you are working,…bosses, peers, subordinates, partners, competition, and relevant variables in our ever changing world. They may not be experts, but they may encourage your seeking out experts, and they may facilitate your comfort with understanding and influencing your context.
What real skills do you bring to the coaching process? Executive coaches should have some deep understanding of and experience with leadership, organizational change, and business operations. Conflict management, listening skills, sharing leadership, partnering, team building, relationship awareness, systems thinking, empowerment, and motivating are some of the skills they may list.
What is your policy and practice about keeping confidentiality? Any certified coach should operate by their certifying association’s code of conduct. They should share that code of conduct with you. You will want to ask about their practices when you check references, too. Be advised that a coach does not enjoy the legal protections of your lawyer, doctor, or spouse.
What successes have you had coaching other executives? The qualified coach will be able to describe specific situations in which their coaching has been helpful without violating confidentiality. Again, you may want to ask for references to learn if their descriptions of the outcomes rise to the same level as the clients.

Finally, what does your gut tell you? Listen to your gut. Is this a person who will be comfortable calling you on your waffling, and challenge you to stretch yourself? Is this a person who complements your personal style? Is this someone with courage? Are they willing to stretch themselves with you? Is this someone you can trust? Do they share a similar philosophy and purpose?

It is not unusual for a coach to suggest a trial period of three to five sessions, so each of you can assess the match and progress. Look for a coach who is interested in you learning to identify your needs and address them more creatively on you own, a coach who works to become obsolete. When you find this coach keep him or her, and keep the secret. Such coaches are a competitive advantage.

1)Larcker, David, and Miles, Stephen, 2013 Executive Coaching Survey, Stanford Business Graduate School, Center for Leadership Development and Research http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2013/08/15/5-things-to-look-for-when-choosing-an-executive-coach
2) Coutu, Diane and Kauffman, Carol, What Can Coaches Do for You? 1/10/2014 http://hbr.org/2009/01/what-can-coaches-do-for-you/ar/pr