Saturday, June 6, 2009

The Bad News about Executive Coaching … it’s not going to go away.

I’ll explain. I began my career as an Executive Coach when I began working for the largest outplacement and organizational consulting firm in the world back in the day – 1990, to be exact. My colleagues and I called ourselves consultants or counselors but make no mistake about it, we were executive coaches. Our work consisted predominately of coaching candidates who had lost jobs because of downsizing, restructuring and mergers.

At first, we coached our clients on researching and preparing for the interview, writing unforgettable cover letters and resumes, the politics of networking, and negotiating for higher salary, bonuses, more vacation days, and all the other perks they were accustomed to.

Within a short time, we found ourselves advising our clients on their interpersonal or “soft” skills, ability to communicate and make presentations, and other positive managerial attributes. With my background of 18 years as a senior corporate executive and a degree in clinical psychology, I became officially an Executive Coach.

Then companies began asking us to coach “under-performing” managers and executives who needed some coaching assistance in order to keep their jobs. It was a “shape up or ship out” mandate to the person who needed coaching. If you had a coach at that time, it was like a dirty little secret. You didn’t tell anyone because it meant you were having some major difficulty in your job.

The Good News about Executive Coaching … it’s not going to go away.
Within the last ten years there has been a complete 360 degree turnaround. Executives are no longer secretive but actually bragging that they have a personal executive coach. Their star is in its ascendancy. A recent study indicated that more than 43% of CEOs and 71% of senior executives have worked with an Executive Coach.

A typical comment from one of the leaders I coached is: “If you and the coach are compatible and you are willing to do your homework, coaching is a developmental activity that can change your life.”

And that’s the rationale of this blog. I intend to use my early psych background, my years in the corporate arena, and 16 years as an Executive Coach to share with readers all the remarkable strategies and tactics and tips you could learn if you had your own personal Executive Coach.
I have already shared job searching strategies in my latest book, “Much of What You Know about Job Search Just Ain’t So.” You can read the first chapter free at Barnes & Noble: http://bn.com

2 comments:

  1. More recently,
    career coaching los angeles has evolved from just a tool rectifying underperformance of employees to cover a much broader array to issues due to the increasing demand for immediate results in the work place.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Interesting tips and advice! Executive coach is extremely important and there is no denying that without his proper role the matter wouldn’t be solved.

    Executive coaching Toronto

    ReplyDelete