Executive Coaching

"Even if executive coaching costs $50K (which it doesn't), it's barely a rounding error to invest in the coaching of a key player who has responsibility for millions of dollars and for key human resources. Coaching is a success if one direct report, who used to be intimidated to speak up, comes up with an innovative idea." - CEO, Fortune 100 Company

Executive coaching provides exceptional ROL (Return on Learning) for the individual who chooses to enter into the coaching relationship, for their immediate group of direct reports, peers and (internal or external) partners and ultimately for the organization to which they belong. Executive coaching can be a core element of any global organization's leadership learning strategy alongside any corporate development programs.

Clarion Learning offers executive coaching for internationally-active managers and global executives who wish to invest time and energy in their current leadership capabilities and future potential. The ultimate objective of executive coaching is to help these individuals achieve their defined business objectives both locally and within the global organization.

Our executive coaching model is based on the eleven core competencies defined by the International Coaches Federation (ICF). Our coaches bring two key elements into the coaching relationship - firstly the core skills and mindset required to be an effective executive coach and secondly a deep understanding and experience of intercultural communication, management and team development. We believe that it is this powerful combination of assets that qualifies us to act as executive coaches in the global context.

Executive coaching with Clarion Learning will typically involve a four step process. First we map the issues and set goals, secondly we develop strategies and design actions which leads to creating awareness and insights. Finally we review the learning and plan for sustainable success.

The focus of this stage of the process is to encourage the client to explore all of the issues that make up their current or future personal and organizational context. This may well include issues outside of the specific business agenda that was initially the catalyst for bringing in the coach. This holistic approach can therefore address issues around, for example, work-life balance that could also have an impact on the client's leadership capabilities and potential and which were not a part of the initial brief.

We will - quite literally - support the client in drawing up a map of current and future issues that could later form the basis of some specific and measurable objectives. It is important to have the individual talk through their issues to understand them more objectively.   Quite often, this process of exploration and clarification of what the issues are will radically alter the initial expectations that the client may have had about the desired outcomes and specific objectives of the executive coaching process.

Once the key issues have been identified we work with the client to develop some specific, measurable and inspiring goals that will help them to visualize the outcomes they want to achieve - linking these goals to a broader sense of personal vision is often very helpful. Unless the individual can truly identify with their goals, the coaching process is unlikely to create the desired results. It is critical to set the right goals.

Once the focus of the coaching relationship is clear and the goals have been established, the coach and the client move on to discuss other key elements of the coaching relationship: the process and key principles, the role of the coach, confidentiality and the mutual expectations for the executive coaching sessions. If the client or the coach decide at this point that the executive coaching relationship is not the right intervention at this time, we will not continue the process. Under these circumstances, the coach will make alternative recommendations to the client and Clarion Learning will not charge a fee.

Developing Strategies and Designing Actions

Now that the specific goals that the individual wishes to achieve have been defined, the coach works with the client to identify a series of strategies that will help them make the transition from their current reality to the desired future outcomes. A key strategy may often be to get a clearer understanding of that current reality. Here the coach may encourage the client to adopt an outside-in approach and seek feedback from other people inside and outside of the organization: either by using a 360° feedback instrument or through informal discussions with individuals or groups.

Again however, it is critical that the strategies are developed by the client not the coach. This ensures that the individual takes ownership of their goals and strategies and remains fully accountable for their own learning. This is a key distinction between executive coaching and consulting. Throughout the process, the coach will use their questioning skills to help the individual develop new ways of thinking about their current reality and the desired outcome and, if appropriate, will challenge the quality of the ideas being generated. Stretching but not stressing the client is a core principle of coaching.

Once the strategies have been developed as a learning roadmap, client and coach start designing specific actions to begin the journey. These actions will be later reviewed as a key element of the learning process. Designing and reviewing actions are a core element of the executive coaching process as they can help to create awareness and insights for the client and ultimately lead to the achievement of the defined goals.

Creating Awareness and Insights

As the executive coaching process unfolds, designing and reviewing actions will inevitably lead to insights for the client. They begin to explore their own strengths and talents and to engage with their own focus areas for personal development and growth. The coach will encourage and challenge the individual to engage with their existing mindsets and patterns of behaviour - often referred to as habits - and, if the client chooses, support them in developing new ones that will help them to achieve the defined goals.

This inside-out approach to personal development may be supported through the use of a learning instrument such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator©. The question of whether to use such an instrument and which would be most appropriate is always discussed and agreed between the client and the coach. Again the overriding principle here is that the individual is accountable for their own learning and they will make the final decision of which of the tools from the executive coaching toolkit they wish to use.

Reviewing Learning and Sustaining Success

A final key principle of a professional and ethical coaching relationship is that it should have a defined end. The executive coaching model is based on the principle of self-directed learning. The objective is not to have the client become dependent upon the coach but instead for the individual to take responsibility for their own learning and growth. The coaching contract in this sense is the beginning of a deeper process of personal development that needs to be sustained by the client as they move forward. From the business perspective, having a defined end to the coaching process allows us to measure the effectiveness of the investment in learning - the Return on Learning or ROL.

Executive coaching normally runs over a two or three month (8-12 week period) with some face-to-face sessions - of a half-day or one day in duration. These sessions are often bridged by some telephone coaching sessions of 60-90 minutes to help the client stay on track with any agreed upon actions and to keep the momentum in the coaching process. The entire executive coaching contract would usually amount to 2 days or 16 hours of telephone or face-to-face contact to be scheduled at the coach's and client's convenience. The final session of the executive coaching program is designed to review and anchor the key insights and breakthroughs and create a new learning agenda for the client to ensure they can sustain and build on the successes they have achieved.

Although executive coaching programs are often implemented with the active involvement of the internal HR organization and senior management sponsors, we should stress at this point that the outcomes of executive coaching process (including any written documentation) belong to the client and the client only . It is always their choice regarding what and how they choose to share their learning with others. The value and appropriate level of self-disclosure is something that the coach and the client will review on an ongoing basis throughout the executive coaching process.