Executive Coaching - A Guide For The HR Professional.pdf

20 EXECUTIVE COACHING
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• Helping people who have good “people” skills to be
better at calling the tough decisions, setting and
enforcing standards, and handling conflict in productive
ways.
• Helping people develop leadership skills when they
have moved (or are about to move) into a more
prominent role. Some typical leadership issues are
providing vision and strategy, performing symbolic
roles, and functioning in a much more “alone”
position without receiving much valid feedback.
• Used in conjunction with formal succession planning
programs.
• Associated with executive development programs.
With increasing frequency, lessons learned offsite may
be combined with on-the-job assignments and the support
of a coach when the formal program is over.
• People are struggling because there are no right
answers. Clients need to develop their own solutions to
certain of the puzzles of executive life and it’s hard for
them to do it on their own. If there were right answers
hidden away somewhere, the task would be a lot easier.
• The learning needs to happen according to the client’s
schedule, and quickly. So timing is critical. People who
are moved into important positions with little advance
notice can be supported with a coach.
• Assimilating a new hire. Another term for this is “onboarding.”
The common theme throughout this list is the need to deal with
a steep learning curve. See “Common Coaching Situations” in
Section V for a summary list of some common categories of coaching
clients.