There is a certain buzz around the term ‘Executive Coaching’ right now. Career Coach, Life Coach, Executive coach, the role has had many names. One man that would know all about that is our CEO William. With over 30 years business experience, Director of both Avatar International and their sister company Skye Business Solutions – William is a man with a plan. With an MSc in Information Systems and many IT certifications, he is always eager to keep learning.
Founding Skye Business Solutions in 2017 to offer his consulting experience to Business Owners, Senior Directors and Execs, and then acquiring Avatar International (Recruitment) in late 2020. He is currently studying for his MSc in Executive Coaching and Behavioural Change; his newfound passion is just that. Helping individuals both in and out of the corporate world to better understand themselves, and their unique ways of thinking and working to become more productive, efficient, and goal oriented. Have you ever wondered if Executive Coaching could benefit you or your team?
Read on to find out directly from our CEO what it’s all about…
In your own words, what is Executive Coaching?
Well, it’s important to tell people that it’s not advising, it’s not mentoring and it’s not therapy or counselling. In Executive Coaching the client is the expert in their life, and the Coach is there to try to unlock the individual’s true potential.
What was the reason you initially took an interest in this field?
I had worked on a year long Agile transformation project, and worked alongside an Agile and Executive Coach, and I liked the approach with coaching individuals and allowing them to find solutions to their own problems, instead of just solving the problem for them.
How can Executive Coaching positively benefit those partaking, both in the short and long term?
I think it starts with facilitating a really good Coaching conversation with a client, this allows them to explore both their short term and/or longer-term goals, and then help them to work on an action plan in order to achieve those goals – and this could be in their personal and professional life!
How would you define and measure success in a coaching context?
Working with Coaching clients to clearly define their goals for one or several Coaching sessions, allowing them to explore their current situation and how they’d like it to change in the future. Working with them on all possible solutions and putting together an action plan to achieve those goals. Some clients would say ‘I want to improve my career’ but aren’t even 100% sure what they want from their career– so the Coach is there to help them figure out what their specific goals are and then working with them on their action plan to achieve that – that is the best measure of success.
What kind of clients have you had the most success with?
Through some coincidence I’ve ended up with lots of clients who wanted to work with me on their career or their businesses, so mainly around their professional life.
Are there any reasons why Executive Coaching may not be successful for someone?
Yes, if the individual isn’t 100% bought into the process of Coaching itself. Sometimes corporates will hire an external or internal Coach to work with an individual to improve performance and overcome challenges, but that individual hasn’t yet opened their mind to the process. Also, where the Coach and the client haven’t built a good enough rapport, there needs to be that element of trust.
Do you think its imperative for coaches to have senior leadership experience in the industry of their client?
Not necessarily, because you are not providing mentoring or advice to a client – sometimes it’s more beneficial to Coach in an industry that you are not qualified in – otherwise you may be tempted to solve a client’s problems/challenges yourself – just because you might know how, this is obviously not what Coaching is about.
Do you think Executive Coaching could be useful during the onboarding process of a new employee? And how? ‘Over half of new executives fail within the first 18 months of entering a new position. This is a staggering statistic that speaks not only to huge, wasted investment but dangerous organisational turmoil’ (parachuteexecutivecoaching.com/executive-onboarding)
Yes, I do, anybody going through change, like changing their careers, will be dealing with some level of stress or challenge to fit into the new working environment. Having someone neutral like an Executive Coach to talk to, would allow them to overcome those challenges. The first 3 months in a new role are the most important from the company and employee’s perspective and so having someone to Coach you through that would be incredibly beneficial.
In your opinion, what are the most important characteristics to be a successful Executive Coach?
Every Coach is different – but adhering to any one of the Coaching industry bodies codes of conduct and ethics would be of vital importance – especially around the requirement for confidentiality. The top 3 bodies are: International Coaching Federation (ICF), Association for Coaching (AC) and European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC).
What would you say are the main differences that you have found since being a manager trying to manage your own staff, and being an Executive Coach, who is coaching someone elses staff?
Executive Coaches can coach their own staff, so you aren’t necessarily Coaching someone else’s staff all the time. Having some formal Coaching training would certainly make you a better leader/manager.
What advice would you give to someone who is thinking of either hiring an Executive Coach for themselves or for their team?
Having an initial exploratory meeting to get to know the Coach for the client is important, as mentioned earlier, building that rapport. Making sure that you select a Coach that has been trained and accredited by a reputable institution.
Finally, can you list your top 3 ways Executive Coaching can benefit the client:
- Unlocking an Individuals true potential, in their personal and/ or professional life
- Allowing them to understand themselves better and what may be holding them back
- Providing them with clarity on what goals they want to achieve in the future, in their personal and/ or professional life.
Coaching doesn’t have to be just professional either, William talks about the ways Executive Coaching can be a powerful tool in everyday life:
‘You can use Executive Coaching to figure out goals in different areas, goals in your personal life, your relationships, it could even be a discussion about a big decision you are struggling with and helping you figure out the pros and cons of that decision and why you feel that way.
People just get so busy – what we forget is we have so many solutions locked in our brains, but because we overthink things, we don’t even realise it. We are born with so much potential, but rarely do we achieve most of it.
Coaching doesn’t have to be a permanent thing either; over time your coach should be able to help you change the way you think so that you are able to solve these issues yourself on an ongoing basis. As a Coach, asking the right questions is crucial. Keeping your client talking until they get to the root of what is holding them back – keeping them on track, but able to dig deeper into their thoughts. That is when a client can really start to unlock change. God gave us two ears and one mouth, so that should be the ratio of talking to listening between Coach and Coachee. Listening is the most powerful thing. Not hearing, really listening.’
William leaves us with one important phrase ‘We should learn to talk less and listen more.’
