Executive coaching is a powerful and beneficial tool for improving the performance of executives and their organizations, and is likely worth the investment. Over the past 15 years, it has become increasingly popular to hire coaches for up-and-coming executives. These coaches come from a variety of backgrounds, including psychology, athletics, law, business, and consulting. Undoubtedly, these professionals help executives improve their performance in many areas. However, when done incorrectly, executive coaching can do more harm than good.
Without proper psychological training, coaches may overlook or ignore deep-seated psychological issues that they don't understand. This can make a bad situation worse. The primary benefit of executive coaching is not the training and development of a single individual, although this person will certainly benefit from coaching. The real advantage is the influence that the participant has on the rest of the organization. When the participant is at or near the top of the organization, their high-performance behaviors elevate the behavior and performance of the entire team. Executive coaching can bring clarity to problems and discover new approaches that yield results, which in turn increases motivation.
It also provides an increase in emotional intelligence, a more flexible mentality and a greater capacity for creative thinking when it comes to making decisions and solving problems. To better help their executives, companies must draw on the expertise of psychotherapists and executive coaches with legitimate skills. Relationship training can act as a sounding board, and good professional training will help you see the big picture. Finally, executive coaches who don't know the dynamics of psychotherapy often exploit the powerful influence they develop on their clients. Companies should be aware of this risk when hiring an executive coach.
