Research Paper: The Key to Executive Coaching

Research Paper By Lisa Gravel
(Executive Coach, United States)

In March of 2013, Forbes conducted an article titled, The Key to Executive Coaching.

Candice Frankovelgia, who is a coaching portfolio manager at the Center of Creative Leadership (CCL) was interviewed to explore the upcoming needs for internal executive coaches.  The internal executive coach is borne out of a desire to create a coaching culture.  Typically the internal executive coach has little to no experience with coaching when tasked with these responsibilities.  They are often in management roles wherein they can dedicate, on the average, less than 10% of their time to coaching and developing their direct reports.

These five core skill sets were identified as necessary by the spokesperson with CCL:

• Relationship Building; facilitating the trust of the coachee while maintaining positive and appropriate boundaries
• Assessing for progress and improvement (which dovetails into the ability to guide the establishment of relevant goals.)
• The skill and ability to challenge thinking and assumptions affords coaches with the opportunity to reflect upon and question the beliefs informing actions, behaviors and decisions.
• Supporting and encouraging in connection to the goals and progress of the coachee.
• Driving results.  As internal executive coaches the connection of individual goals to measurable results is a key skill set.

The notion of creating a coaching culture includes developing and supporting coaching role models that model, support and sustain the coaching efforts leading to this move from aspiration to reality.

What is key for coaches that are striving to impact the organizational culture, and provide this valuable and skilled service to associates? The ability to connect the coaching work and its associated results to the goals and strategic intention of the business, to make a business case for coaching.

Executive coaching is a place of a treasured relationship, wherein asking is the norm; awareness and thinking are expanded; strengths are identified and played to; and relevant goals are set and met by the coachee. The skill in achieving these objectives comes down to that of the coach.