Knowing when to register for executive coaching

Picture this. You are a senior executive of a company, a position you have held for some time. Or maybe you have just been appointed to the post.

You have some ideas on what you would like to do to achieve the organisations’ goals. Some of these are major undertakings and you could be fairly anxious about them.

You would like to sound off your ideas, but you cannot discuss this with your subordinates, nor can you discuss this with your board in an honest, open manner.

People you might talk to within the company will have their own vested interests in what you are proposing and will give you prejudiced views.

You might want to talk to your spouse, but you will be lucky if he or she has a clear understanding of your situation and will they be completely objective?

With this situation in mind, you feel like a lone ranger and set out to make the decisions and implement your plan all the time wishing that there was someone who could honestly challenge your decisions, someone with no vested interests who would take the time to listen to you and work with you to enable you make what you feel are the best possible decisions.

If you had such a person, you would be able to see different perspectives, identify different options and help you be certain about your decisions.

Or maybe you are the head of the human resources department in your organisation and there is need to guide senior executives through a change period.

Being the head, you cannot do it all on your own and your colleagues in management cannot tackle the task of working with each individual as it takes time.

You need someone who can come in, be impartial, knowledgeable and yet have the expertise and time to work with your team so that the end result of better staff performance, better staff alignment with the organisational goals and better working relationships are established.

If you are in any of the above situations, then you are in need of an Executive Coach. And the situations I have described are not exhaustive.

People struggling with work relationships, say, with colleagues, management and others can also work with an executive coach to resolve the relationship issues.

Coaching has always been identified with sports coaching. With the 2010 World Cup now behind us, football coaching is still on our minds.

Those football fans among the readers are familiar with Jose Mourinho, the self-proclaimed Chosen One and we remember the famous Harambee Stars coach, Reinhard Fabisch.

When people think about coaching, this is the sort of coach they normally have in mind — the sports coach, who motivates team members, enhances their skills and refines performance.