What is Executive Coaching?
“What exactly do you do?” This should be an easy question to answer, right? Doctors help people improve their health. Teachers help people learn. Coaches… Coach?
I used to lead the consultancy business of a global education organisation, helping improve education systems and life opportunities for young people around the world. It took me about 10 seconds to formulate that sentence.
Articulating what I do now is a whole lot more complicated.
I’ve come to realise, during another mind-blowing supervision session, WHY it’s so hard to articulate - and that’s because…
What clients WANT, what clients NEED and what they GET are entirely different things - they’re aligned but not the same.
Power of a Professional Coach
Most people who come to me WANT support to:
Transition into a new role, organisation or both.
Lead through a period of change.
Navigate relationships with their colleagues and teams.
Find more fulfilment and contentment.
Feel more confident, less anxious, worry less.
Tune into their strengths and define the kind of leader they want to be.
Get clear on what they want in the next stage of their life/career and plan how to get there.
Regardless of what they want to achieve, what they NEED is:
To reflect deeply on what is driving them and the behaviours, thoughts and feelings that aren’t serving them anymore (and those that are).
To explore and understand their blind spots with curiosity and self-compassion.
To build a more realistic, empowering belief system that allows them to show up courageously as their true selves.
To plan and practise new tools and ways of being - and reflect as they go.
What they GET when they work with me is:
A relationship with another human who truly SEEs them.
A space where they can think, breathe and be completely honest, knowing they will never be judged.
Insights into what I am witnessing and experiencing as I work with them.
Tools, frameworks, resources and practices tailored to their needs.
Framing Self Care
The outcome of working at this level of depth is that my clients tend to get what they want - at least that’s what they’ve told me so far. That’s because our relationship, what we co-create together, has allowed them to develop their ability to be courageous and compassionate (with themselves and others), having unburdened themselves from old, unhelpful beliefs and stories.
What does it mean to be more compassionate and courageous?
Courage and Compassion
Being courageous can sound a whole lot like self-care - because it is. It all starts with choosing authenticity and recognising we are fundamentally okay just the way we are - it’s a process of learning to love ourselves. Putting that into practice requires us to:
Maintain our boundaries and understand that meeting our needs is an act of love for ourselves and those around us.
Express our thoughts and opinions with dignity and respect for others, acknowledging that our voice holds value without discrediting anyone else's.
Pursue our genuine desires, understanding that we deserve to chase our dreams.
Take ownership of our mistakes and imperfections, realising that we are all fallible, imperfect human beings doing our best.
Being compassionate requires us to choose curiosity over judgement - we recognise that our experiences and perspectives shape our perception of the world.
Being compassionate means:
Honouring our suffering and challenges, allowing ourselves the necessary time and space to heal, and understanding that processing our emotions is vital for living authentically.
Valuing understanding and connection with others as much as the tasks that need to be accomplished, acknowledging that we are human beings, not merely human doings and that our purpose includes fostering love and connection.
Letting go of what is beyond our control, acknowledging that we deserve to experience less unnecessary suffering.
Put simply, Executive Coaching is HUMAN COACHING.
So, there you have it. These themes run through everything I do in my 1:1s, group work, team development/coaching, leadership development programmes, organisational culture building, etc.
If this sounds like something you would like to experience for yourself, send me a message and let’s chat.