I was speaking to a small business owner recently, and she asked, “Do you think Executive Coaching is appropriate for me?” She did not view herself as an executive. I asked her, “What is your definition of an Executive?” Her response, “Someone with a great deal of responsibility to the organization, someone who oversees multiple people, and is entrusted to make critical decisions.” You can guess that my answer was something to the effect, “Have you looked in the mirror lately?” Regardless of whether you lead a team of two or two hundred, your first step to uncovering greater balance and enhanced productivity is to view yourself as an executive and believe it. If you see yourself as anything less, you are putting yourself at a disadvantage.
Competition in corporate America continues to proliferate. Along with the challenges to move quicker and differentiate ourselves, advancements in technology remove the four walls of our work environment. Thus, leaders find themselves getting pulled in many directions. The impact of this overextension spills beyond just stress in the workplace. It affects a leader’s physical health, impedes diet and exercise habits, interrupts quality time with family, and often places undue stress on marriage and intimate relationships. I have learned that many leaders get caught up in a place that feels like they are on the “Tilt-A-Whirl” at the amusement park. There are high points and some low points, but they are continuously spinning and repeating the same loops.
What was once a stigma (“You’re so broken you need a coach?”) has become a smart and sometimes necessary strategic action (“You are valuable why don’t you have a coach?”).
More and more people are turning to executive coaches to gain clarity on their goals, to provide more strategic leadership, and to balance their personal needs and aspirations with their professional obligations. Companies are even paying for their executives to get one on one coaching to improve various aspects of their leadership, management, and performance. The coaches not only help managers take huge strides in their career and for the overall business, but they also aid in opening doors within the manager’s personal life. So often are these two areas intertwined.
Professional Leadership Style
In my experience, executives commonly struggle with leveraging the talent within their teams so they can most efficiently and rapidly attain organizational goals while remaining at a strategic level. Coaches help to refine a broad vision for the executive’s leadership style. The goal is to become more well-rounded, a better fit with company culture and a manager that can help the organization reach its most aspirational goals. For example, the coach might assist the executive with using more empathy, caring and understanding in their leadership, while still pushing innovation and transparency. The most common area my clients desire to be coached around it their ability to achieve results through others. This area requires a comprehensive assessment of the leader’s communication style, ability to adapt and connect with others, and most importantly their willingness to examine and address their fears and limiting beliefs.
Personal Goals and Life Balance
An executive coach guides leaders on how to set new goals for themselves, calibrate them and obtain them. A coach challenges her clients to examine their habits, style, and interactions more carefully to identify new approaches to making each day more efficient step by step. Maybe that means installing a downtime where the internet is unplugged so that there is more focus on challenging problems. Maybe that means taking time for yoga or meditation. Maybe that means installing new software that can radically improve business processes. Beyond this, and just as important, the coach helps clients compartmentalize the various facets of their life so they can rebuild those virtual walls removed by advances in technology and the ever-growing pressure to do more with less.
Everyone needs a place to start so, why not get started with a free 30-minute consultation?
Schedule yours today at mariechindamo.youcanbook.me
