Last night was options evening for my 14 year old son as he now chooses the subjects that he will go on to specialise in at school. He has been learning both German and Spanish and he is particularly good at both, but now needed to choose only one of them. All you parents know where I am going with this, when it boiled down to the final decision, he chose Spanish. Not because he was getting better marks or because of a sound reason based on future career or use of Spanish. The tipping point was how much he was enjoying Spanish because of the teacher compared with his German teacher.
Executive coaching is on the rise as organisations seek to improve competitiveness and better engagement. The relationship between coach and executive is critical to the success in coaching: there are many studies that support this fact and emphasise the right dynamics between coach and executive. Often in life we make decisions based more on the emotional element and here it might mean we focus too strongly on the relationship and enjoyment but not on the actual results that we could achieve if we also consider the whole picture.
To assist, it might be useful to evaluate what it means to be a mature and effective executive coach. Clutterbuck and Megginson (2011) identify traits that they believe represent maturity in coaches and these could be used in identifying experiences and effective coaches. This can be used when meeting coaches and exploring competencies. Here is their list of traits of mature executive coaches:
- Personal philosophy of coaching – Built through experience which leads to a personalised perspective and the ability to self-challenge.
- Understanding of the business context – Debunking the myth that coaches need no knowledge of the context. A broad understanding is needed of the executive landscape, not too close to limit perspective.
- Freedom from the tyranny of the question – Mature coaches are able to facilitate a lot from you by saying very little themselves.
- How they use coach supervision and mentoring – A good coach is themselves coached and mentored and they recognise its value to their professionalism.
- How they maintain professional development and integrate learning – They are happy to turn the spotlight on themselves and are keen readers and learners.
- How they identify and manage boundaries – Beware the coach who is oblivious to the need for professional boundaries.
- Their personal journey as a coach – A mature coach can identify their own personal maturity journey and identify how their client experience has played its part.
- Knowing what kind of clients and situations they work best with – Self-awareness of strengths and weaknesses and how these are perceived by clients.
- Understanding what makes a fully functioning individual – What the coach’s fundamental beliefs about human-kind which is still very relevant in the business context.
- Understanding what makes an effective organisation – Again the coach’s own experience of business strategy and organisational development and the models they aspire to.
Of course you will still want to ensure you feel a connection with the coach and especially that you feel comfortable being able to share and talk without restraint. Don’t worry, my son was not made to change his mind about studying Spanish, but it helped him to also look at the other reasons he might consider one language over the other. I hope this helps you likewise to find a great and rewarding partnership.
Clutterbuck, D., & Megginson, D. (2011, June). Coach Maturity: An emerging concept. John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from https://www.davidclutterbuckpartnership.com/wp-content/uploads/Coach-maturity.pdf
