A lot has been said about coaching these days. It seems that suddenly the world woke up for the subject in the last years.
People talk about Business Coaching, NLP Coaching, Executive Coaching, Commercial Coaching, Team Coaching, Life Coaching, Food Coaching, Health Coaching, … coaching.
I think you get the idea. In other words, nobody can have a simple and practical definition that everyone agrees!
The question is: what is Executive Coaching for, after all? This is the more traditional side of coaching. Some say it’s the only coaching ttype here is. Even when we are referring to “Life Coaching,” which some people use in the market to separate coaching in the professional and personal sphere, in practice, it is coaching.
Can you separate the person from the professional?
Well, neither can we. I’m still to discover a process of coaching that has worked only on one side of life.
This process has its characteristics. An executive coaching process works on a topic that the client brings to the session to gain a greater understanding, different perspectives, or reflect on the possible solutions for it.
We may be talking about leadership issues, communication, achieving goals, internal or external relationships in the organization, delegation capacity, motivation, and so many other themes that have already emerged in the processes we carry out.
There is a very high incidence of top managers from medium and large companies in the clients with whom we have been working in coaching processes.
Think of a coach as someone who helps you:
- Stop to think
- Question your assumptions and beliefs on the matter
- Looking at the theme from different perspectives
- Helps you define the appropriate action plan
- Commit “really” to the desired outcome
- To act when you are ready
You might think: but for what?
When was the last time you were able, as a leader, to speak openly to someone about the problems you face to stop, reflect, and find new paths?
Often in organizations, executives that are on top of the ladder, suffer from isolation. In other words, it is not that I cannot talk to colleagues, but often the issues are so personal that it is not easy to expose yourself internally.
A coach can help you, “literally” to put on a new pair of glasses through which he can observe the reality to gain a different insight.
How many times have you felt walking in a circle? No matter how many times you walk and think you’re taking a different path, you always return to your starting point?
Are we able to see by ourselves that we are walking in a circle? Do we know how to get out of this path?
Often we do, but at what cost and after how long?
Can the market and current state of competitiveness afford to wait for you to find out?
After all, by having the external perspective of a coach, we often succeed in catalyzing much more quickly the results we want in our life, in our team, in our company.
This week take a moment to think:
“Am I walking in a circle and haven’t figured it out yet?”
Also published on Medium.
