One billion dollars. That’s how much corporate America spent on Executive Coaching for business leaders in 2017. However, spent isn’t exactly the right word, as Executive Coaching is an investment that undoubtedly pays itself off. How? It’s simple. When you invest in your organization’s leaders, you’re investing in the overall performance of the entire company. Tiffany Gaskell, global director of coaching and leadership at Performance Consultants International, believes that “Executive coaching unlocks leaders’ potential to maximize their own performance and that of their organization.”
It’s vital to understand that Executive Coaching isn’t solely reserved for top-level leaders. Any organizational leader can significantly benefit from a coaching experience, even lower-level managers. If your position requires you to manage and direct others, no matter how large or small the team may be, Executive Coaching is worth the investment. While everyone’s experience with Executive Coaching is different, as it’s tailored to your specific role and team, there are a few key takeaways that everyone is bound to have.
An Increased Sense of Self-Awareness
You’re probably thinking, “What does that have to do with my leadership skills?” Well, a study done to explore the relationship between executive self-awareness and company performance found that self-awareness was highest for CEOs of the best-performing companies, while it was the lowest for CEOs of poor-performing companies. In order to effectively lead a team, you need to make sure that your employees see you in the same way that you see yourself, which isn’t an easy feat. A good Executive Coach will help you understand the perception your team members have of you, and show you how to alter your own perception of yourself. When you have a heightened sense of self-awareness, you become unbiased towards your own weaknesses and are able to focus on improving them.
Enhanced Productivity – Potentially Company-Wide
When a leader is productive and efficient, his or her team members have to be too in order to keep up with their assigned tasks. With the right coach, you’ll become aware of your limiting behaviors, and develop a new system that prevents inefficient habits and allows you to reach your maximum level of productivity. You’ll then be able to pass what you learned on to your team members and on to other leaders within the organization.
A Clearer Set of Goals and Priorities
If someone asked you what your biggest organizational goal is, would you have a straight-forward answer? If you’re completing your day-to-day work just to get it done, or without any long-term goals in mind, you’re not using your full potential as a leader or an employee. In order to effectively lead others in their role, you have to know what your big-picture goals are, so that you’re able to cascade goals on to them. A coach will be able to evaluate what your position entails, including what your daily tasks and projects are, to help you determine what your biggest goals are for the organization. Once you have your goals set, you’ll then find it easier to determine which tasks take priority over others, and then you can schedule your time accordingly.
Executive Coaching might have been a taboo topic a few years ago, but now it’s one of the most utilized resources by high-performing companies. As a leader, your success is dependent on how well you’re able to help others become successful, so maintaining a high level of productivity and empowerment is vital to your role. Executive Coaching allows you to delve deeper in to your strengths and weaknesses, and ensures you have a realistic grip on how you can impact the company. The research is unanimous: high-performing leaders result in a high-performing organization, so the ROI on Executive Coaching is always worth the initial cost.