The Executive Coaching Process – Manifesting Magic
The executive coach is not a magician… But magic manifests in executive coaching – the individual coaching conversation and overall engagement. Transformational coaching operates in the realm of magic, thanks to the executive coaching process.
The executive coaching process is governed by ethics and anchored in trust. The executive coach and client partner to
- set goals
- explore deeply
- Set action plans & act upon them
Step 1: Setting Goals for the Executive Coaching Engagement:
An executive coaching engagement begins with your coach and you setting goals for yourself that are
- SMART: Specific, Measurable, Audacious, Relevant, Time-bound,
- PURE: Positively stated, Understood, Relevant, Ethical,
- CLEAR: Challenging, Legal, Environment-friendly, Appropriated, Recorded.
I encourage leaders to set audacious goals for themselves and not settle for the ordinary. When you want to access a powerful transformative tool like executive coaching, you’ve got to think larger than life!
Step 2: Explore Deeply with a Certified Executive Coach:
The executive coaching process assumes that the solutions to all problems and opportunities lie within you.
Too good to believe? No, it’s true! Once you accept this, your possibilities just expand magically! An executive coach enables you to focus on yourself and your internal factors, which are within your control.
A middle-level executive had a toxic relationship with her boss. She then moved to a larger organization, where her new boss was just as difficult. Over the next many years, she moved organizations, but the same core issue kept cropping up, as though in a perpetual loop.
When she finally came for coaching to me, I held the proverbial mirror to her, asking, ‘What are you doing and being to attract similar people in authority?’ It was a defining moment for the executive. She discovered how she was expecting her supporting father in all her superiors and how they were not living up to it. Additionally, she also realized that she focused only on these issues and so missed out on a lot of beautiful things happening in her life.
Step 3: Determine Action Plan:
Leading is action-based, and so is executive coaching. Transformation happens when you convert awareness into action. You have to act upon your goal-setting and deep exploration. Or else your potential will remain just that..potential. An executive coach can be an effective accountability partner for you to stay on course and complete what you started.
I was once asked to coach an executive who had withdrawn after being denied a promotion. His performance had taken a hit. The leader was hesitant initially, but once trust was built, became open to executive coaching. He identified empowering habits and built them over a twelve-month period – late sleeper to early riser, focus on fitness, rekindling the reading habit, daily dog walks, family time/dinners, reflective journaling, and blogging. He also let go of limiting habits, such as alcoholism, on his own. A year on, he was out of his shell. When this executive chose to take action, he was able to move toward his full potential.
Executive coaching is a powerful medium of transformation. But its efficacy finally depends on your readiness to go deep within, discover yourselves, and, most importantly, act upon your discoveries to align with your goals. If you feel you are there, don’t miss the opportunity. Reach out to an executive coach.