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Executive Coaching Skills

Executive Coaching Skills

What makes a great leadership coach? What are the essential executive coaching skills that separate an adequate coach from a great?

The impact of the truly special executive coach is felt, acutely.

A good coach will inspire you with their greatness.

A better coach will inspire you with your greatness.

A great coach will inspire you to act to realise your greatness.

You probably know which you would prefer.

What is the difference between a life coach and a business coach?

A life coach, if skilled, will help you improve your life.

Top class executive coaching skills will put money in your bank account.

What characterises a great executive coach? That question is best answered after asking a higher order question: What is the primary responsibility of an executive coach?

To secure the best possible performance improvement for his or her clients.

What is the primary, or over-arching skill that separates great executive coaches from the “weekend training course qualified” coach?

The ability to bring out the best in others.

Executive coaching is about getting others to want to.

That high order skill can be understood by looking at its necessary ingredients.

Listening skills
Listening skills above and beyond the norm. Great executive coaches really listen. They understand the words they hear AND the body language that they read. They hear what is said and what is not said, verbally and non verbally.

Rapport formation skills
Great executive coaches are incredibly effective at forming strong rapport. They get on with most people quickly and (apparently, but not in reality) without much effort. They earn trust and keep it.

High ethical standards
Great executive coaches know that to really help leaders they need to earn and keep their trust. They also know that just one breach of trust will mark the end of that coaching relationship, and probably many others too. For professional executive coaches, one breach of trust can end their career.

Questioning skills
Executive coaches are great at getting people to think for themselves. Asking the right question is essential for effective executive coaching. Knowing which question to ask at which time to achieve what is required is another skill that distinguishes the great coach.

Emotional intelligence
Another difference between an average coach and a great executive coach is this: An average coach will seek to impress you, a better coach will find and nurture what is impressive in you, the great coach will nurture what is impressive in you and get you to take decisive action to achieve your goals. 

Patience
Great executive coaches keep at it until they figure out how to help you to achieve the results you want.

Self-awareness
Great executive coaches have to be exceptionally self-aware. They know what effect every nuance of their behaviour has on others.

Self-control
Outstanding executive coaches have outstanding levels of self-control. They are able to adopt the approach that will work best for the person they are serving, even if that behaviour is not their preferred method of coaching.

What benefits do great executive coaching skills deliver for clients?

Self-coaching
Great executive coaches take their clients to the point of self-coaching. Most coaches try to secure as many coaching sessions as possible. Great executive coaches work to make themselves no longer required as quickly as possible. They set their former clients on the road to a lifetime of self-coaching and ongoing performance improvement.

Promotion
On average 71% of the leaders coached by PsyPerform are promoted within 18 months of starting their executive coaching programme. How is that achieved? By focusing the executive coaching on adding massive value.

Increase in pay and bonuses
Great executive coaching skills are harnessed to make it possible for the clients to earn substantially more. How? Every company knows that people who can add huge value can secure high paying leadership positions with many other companies. They are faced with the choice, pay the person what they are worth or risk them being paid what they are worth by a competitor.

Greater productivity
Most clients coached by PsyPerform experience a massive increase in productivity. Many free up 50 to 70% of their time in the first 4 weeks! Yes, you read correctly (most executives do not believe that is possible).

The Perfect Coach Book Cover 160kLess stressed
It is easy to reduce stress levels when results are improving with more free time to do productive thinking that leads to even greater results.

Further exploration of executive coaching skills can be found in ‘The Perfect Coach’ available on Amazon.

 

If you want to learn about executive coaching with PsyPerform click here.