Executive Coaching: Frequently Asked Questions
Am I ready for an executive coach?
Getting the benefits from coaching requires work on your part. It’s not only about the time of the coaching sessions. Rather, it’s about making space for intentional actions between sessions to try out different approaches, to get feedback, and to reflect.
Without a commitment to those efforts, coaching is less likely to help you achieve your goals.
That said, many clients ultimately find that our coaching engagement is an oasis in the middle of their chaotic work weeks.
How long does a coaching engagement last?
Most engagements are 6-9 months.
Typically, we’ll meet roughly every 2 weeks for 50 minutes. That cadence allows enough time to experiment with new behaviors and get feedback between sessions.
At the end of the first engagement, many clients want to continue coaching with less frequent support.
What happens during coaching meetings?
The first few conversations are structured around getting to know each other, debriefing the 360-degree feedback, and solidifying the goals of the coaching engagement.
Thereafter, coaching meetings are focused on whatever topic you bring. You determine what’s most important for us to discuss, and we’ll jointly explore that topic.
The coach’s role is to listen and to ask questions that help you explore and make progress on the topic. But you’ll be doing most of the hard work of reflecting, ideating, and deciding what you want to do.
Near the end of the session, I’ll invite you to catalog your insights and identify specific steps to which you want to commit yourself. We’ll also discuss what support, if any, you would find helpful for taking those steps. I’ll serve as an accountability partner by asking how things went with the commitments when we next meet.
What happens between sessions?
After each session, I’ll ask you to write a short Action Intention email. It should describe how you’ll turn the insights from our coaching session to action.
Some potential action intentions include:
trying new approaches
reflecting and/or journaling
sharing your perspective with others
asking for help or feedback from others
I’ll send you relevant resources and support your follow-up actions as requested.
Finally, as situations arise between sessions, you can also reach out via text, email, or phone. My role is to support your development, and that support is not constrained to just our scheduled sessions.
What types of assessments do you use?
I use the Leadership Circle Profile for 360-degree assessments. Completing this assessment is a critical grounding point for our coaching engagement. It enables us to prioritize areas for development.
For those who opt not to use the Leadership Circle Profile, I sometimes create a mini-360, which entails a shorter survey of colleagues, and interviews with up to 5 colleagues.
Let’s connect.
Let’s explore the many ways in which a tailored coaching engagement can help you!