Top 3 Benefits of Coaching for Executives
The business landscape is in constant flux, just like everything in our physical world is ever changing, the business arena is impermanent. This creates a lot of uncertainty, anxiety, and pressure for executives and leaders to try and stay one step ahead of their competition, economic conditions/policies, and dynamic talent expectations. Demands like these can leave little room for reflections and gaining insights about oneself. Without taking the time to explore our own thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and values we can find it harder to be connected to our teams, work, and other aspects of life. Coaching provided a space to explore such topics (read more about: what coaching is and the coaching process). In this post, we explore some of the top benefits of coaching.
Navigating Change & Finding Support
The world has changed more quickly in the last 100 years than other points in history. We have become accustomed to cars, airplanes, computers, cell phone, and so many other modern conveniences that were invented not that long ago in the grand scheme of our world. So change is not only constant, it is increasing more quickly now. In the business environment, navigating this type of rapid change can not only be challenging, it can also be isolating for both leaders and employees. Coaching provides an environment for vulnerable conversations, sound board for ideas and strategy, and encouragement towards goals that align with values.
Elevated Executive Presence
If we search for what executive presence means, we will find many different definitions and criteria. While everyone agrees that leaders need to display executive presence, the term itself can be subjective and different people can have their own idea of what executive presence means to them. However, we can agree that a successful leader is one that can communicate well and clearly, convey a level of confidence and competence, and have the ability to command and coordinate a team towards top priority goals that align with organization vision. Each of these elements requires constant evolution as we reach new heights in our career and as demands in the business environment and talent changes. Executive coaching helps us to find clarity in our thoughts and ideas which leads to better communication and alignment with our teams. During coaching sessions, you can also address any doubts and insecurities you are feeling which can helps to boost your confidence. By confronting topics that keep us in one place or hold us back completely, coaching can help you to find the next steps you need to take to make progress in elements that build up your executive presence.
Better Productivity & Stress Management
When I started to research productivity and stress in the workplace, it became clear that this needed to be it’s own article because there is a lot to consider. Both productivity and stress have elements of qualitative measures and subjectivity. Your perception on your productivity and stress is very individual, however, there are also qualitative measure around output and biological measurements on the stress that your body experiences. We will explore these topics in depth in a future post. What we do know is that executive coaching provides an amazing opportunity to address both of these areas in very impactful ways. When we manage our stress and interruptions better - we can focus better on the task at hand and feel better at work. Through coaching, you can explore how stress impacts you professionally and personally, and you can also explore how you view productivity. Through these explorations, we find critical solutions that help us to not only be more productive but also deliver better results while finding a way to balance our stress.
Conclusion
In this post, we shared just some of the benefits of leveraging executive coaching. Leaders can find tremendous support and a safe space to navigate difficult decisions, explore strategies, and encouragement towards goals that align with values. Through executive coaching, you can also elevate elements that make up executive presence, including communication, confidence, and how to better coordinate team efforts towards top priorities. We also shared how productivity and stress management can be improved through coaching.
