Effective executives and leaders have a strong desire to realize their full potential.To do so, leaders must constantly grow in confidence, competence, communication, discernment and emotional intelligence. They must work in challenging interpersonal environments, collaborate and communicate clearly, set the direction and inspire their teams. This pathway to growth calls for a broad spectrum of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual capabilities. These leaders often struggle to find a rhythm that is consistent with their personal values and a balanced lifestyle.  

Coaching enables an executive or leader to move forward on the journey to full potential. Coaching unlocks the leader's full range of capabilities and enlists the leader's own creativity and resourcefulness to develop and apply solutions. Leaders also find a rhythm in work and personal life that helps leaders be their best, truest selves in both contexts.

Where coaching starts:  A leader's story, a leader's goals.  Much of the way we conduct our lives emanates from story:  our story about ourselves and about others. So a coaching engagement naturally starts with the leader telling the story about him/herself, and allowing the coach to explore key themes that emerge from that story. This is the indispensable context for the overall engagement and the next, leader-driven step: the leader sets his "macro" goals for the engagement, such as achieving growth in particular leadership competencies, solving communication issues, or overcoming burnout. Thereafter, a series of coaching sessions begins, generally spanning a period of months. I am happy to work with you to find a cost-effective approach that best meets your needs. Please contact Howard here.

Each coaching session explores the specific goal-related topic that the leader finds most important at the time of the session. For example, if a macro goal is solving communications issues, the session topic may be a significant recent occurrence of miscommunication. 

The coaching sessions generally have the contours shown in the diagram below. Powerful questions, active listening and direct communication create new awareness that lets the leader develop and implement an effective action plan. 

The bottom line: the coach assists the leader's formulation and implementation of creative solutions to the leader's concerns and issues. The coach does not try to "solve" the leader's concerns and issues by giving "advice." Because coaching helps the leader develop her/his own solution, the leader is far more likely to implement the solution's action plan and make progress toward achievement of the macro goal.