Frequently asked questions about executive coaching
- What sets your Executive Coaching Program apart?
- How does the Center for Executive Coaching define executive coaching?
- What are typical problems that executive coaches help to solve?
- How does executive coaching differ from consulting?
- I am a life coach. Is executive coaching something I should consider?
- What about for trainers? Is this program appropriate?
- What kind of marketing support do you provide?
- How long do I need to complete the program?
- Do you accept students from outside the USA?
- I'm looking for an executive coach for myself/company. Can you help me locate one?
- I have other questions before signing up. What should I do?
- Could you give some examples of what the tele-calls cover?
What sets your Executive Coaching program apart?
Students tell us that the following characteristics set our program apart from others:
- Personal, ongoing support. We run a small school in order to provide our students with ongoing support when they need it. Unlike weekend seminars, your support continues indefinitely. We want you to succeed and make ourselves available to you whenever the need arises.
- Depth of content. Your program includes hours of audio CDs and in-depth program manuals about all aspects of coaching executives and marketing your practice. If any content is missing, we will even work with you to research a topic and provide you with content!
- Marketing support. People join our program to build a successful coaching practice or to enhance their current practice. That’s why we include in-depth material and support to help you attract desirable clients and grow your practice quickly and effectively.
- Andrew Neitlich’s teaching style and knowledge base. Students report that Mr. Neitlich’s teaching style is warm and encouraging – and are delighted to share in his depth of knowledge and experience as a consultant, coach, facilitator, and entrepreneur. Also, because Mr. Neitlich has an active coaching practice, he stays “fresh” with new insights and case studies.
- High-quality students. Our students are generally very seasoned executives, entrepreneurs, and professionals, and most have advanced degrees. The quality of students enhances our interactive tele-calls and makes for some great networking opportunities for you.
- Small class format. We are not trying to be the biggest executive coaching program, but rather the best. We limit class size to ensure that we can deliver on our promise to offer personal support and a wonderful experience for students.
How does the Center for Executive Coaching define executive coaching?
Let’s begin with the formal definitions:
Executive adj : having the function of carrying out plans or orders etc.; "the executive branch" n 1: a person responsible for the administration of a business 2: persons who administer the law 3: someone who manages a government agency or department.
Coach n 1: (sports) someone in charge of training an athlete or a team 2: a person who gives private instruction (as in singing or acting) 3: a railcar where passengers ride 4: a carriage pulled by four horses with one driver 5: a vehicle carrying many passengers; used for public transport; "he always rode the bus to work" v 1: teach and supervise (someone); act as a trainer or coach (to), as in sports; "He is training our Olympic team"; "She is coaching the crew" 2: drive a coach.
— Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University via www.dictionary.com
We like to define executive coaching broadly as follows:
Executive coaching is an efficient, high-impact process that helps high-performing people in leadership roles improve results in ways that are sustained over time.
It is efficient, unlike traditional consulting assignments, because it does not require invasive processes, large outside teams, and lengthy reports and analyses to get results.
It is a high-impact process because executive coaches typically work with clients in short meetings (ie, 30 minutes per session). During this time, the coach and client can generate important insights, gain clarity, focus, and make decisions to improve performance.
Executive coaching works with high-performing people in leadership roles. It is not therapy, meant to “fix” a person. As an executive coach, your clients are already highly functioning, successful people. Like any of us, they need support from time to time in order to perform better.
Finally, your goal as an executive coach is to improve results in ways that are sustainable over time. Your clients want some sort of outcome, usually related to improved profits, career success, organizational effectiveness, or career and personal satisfaction. If you aren't helping your clients get results, you aren't doing your job. At the same time, coaching is about helping people improve their own capabilities and effectiveness, so that the results and performance improvements last. To use the time-worn and famous quote, you are teaching people to fish, not feeding them for a day.
The formal definition of a coach is very interesting. Many coaching programs don't like the idea of executive coaches being like sports coaches. They prefer to have coaches asking lots of great questions so that the client suddenly has an “ah-ha” moment and figures things out on his or her own. While this is one perfectly acceptable form of coaching, it is not enough. Sometimes you need to intervene, the way that a sports coach does. You need to make observations, provide tools, move the conversation forward, motivate, and sometimes give a firm kick in the pants.
You can incorporate the practices of executive coaching into almost any profession that works with entrepreneurs, executives, managers, and up-and-coming leaders in an organization.
What are typical problems that executive coaches help to solve?
These are some of the common issues that executives and managers work on with executive coaches, and that our program helps you address:
- Gain more influence in their organization.
- Launch a new initiative.
- Get commitment and build alignment among the executive team.
- Improve their relationships up, down, and across the organization.
- Implement difficult changes.
- Grow the organization.
- Develop creative ideas.
- Improve their leadership skills as they venture into new, unfamiliar areas.
- Quickly gain knowledge about new functions (eg, marketing, finance) where they lack experience.
- Make a transition to a new role or organization.
- Avoid burn out and balance work, family, hobbies, and health.
- Make decisions with incomplete information.
- Get clarity about organizational strategy and direction.
- Make improvements in response to negative feedback from colleagues.
How does executive coaching differ from consulting?
If you are a management consultant, you likely already provide coaching as part of what you do. Executive coaching is the part of the engagement where you work one-on-one with executives to encourage them to make difficult decisions, step out of their comfort zone, stop destructive behavior, embrace change, and shift performance.
Andrew Neitlich writes, “For me, a long-time consultant, executive coaching is the fun part of consulting. It's when you stop doing the analyses (and most of the time the client already knows the answer anyway), stop revising the PowerPoint presentation, and sit down face to face with the client to help them improve results. It's the part of the engagement where the client turns to you as their objective, trusted advisor, as a colleague and confidant.”
I am a life coach. Is executive coaching something I should consider?
If you are a “life coach”, executive coaching can help you put some more “meat on the bones” of your coaching content. Too many life coaches lack concrete, results-driven content that resonates with executives.
Executive coaching combines three components that can help you take your life coaching practice to the next level: process, content, and context. Process is the way you coach executives, covered in our program. Content refers to your knowledge and ability to contribute insights with relevance and impact: how to communicate effectively, strategic thinking, marketing insights, operational improvement, organizational development, leadership skills, and financial management (also covered in our program).
Context is about who you are, and who you help your client to be – namely how to help them be more effective as a leader in their organization and as a person. Executive coaches get involved in all three domains, and our program covers all of these areas.
What about for trainers? Is this program appropriate?
Executive coaching provides training professionals a new platform for them to adapt their materials. Instead of leading group programs, you can use your training materials to coach executives one-on-one. (And the reverse applies: executive coaches often offer training programs).
What kind of marketing support do you provide?
We find that many coaches and consultants have difficulty marketing their practice (surprisingly, even marketing consultants and coaches). That’s why we provide a comprehensive 203-page marketing manual that shows our members exactly how to attract desirable clients. It includes strategies, step-by-step action plans, and marketing materials that really work.
In addition, we provide one-on-one support to answer any questions our members may have.
How long do I need to complete the program?
That is entirely up to you. You work at your own pace. The range seems to be between two months (for experienced coaches) to six months for those who make the program a priority.
Do you accept students from outside the USA?
Yes. We have students from seven countries in addition to the USA, including Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, and China (Hong Kong). Many participate in the tele-conferences, and all of them receive all program materials and links to download any calls they miss. For people in many countries, the decline of the US dollar makes this program very affordable.
I'm looking for an executive coach for myself/company. Can you help me locate one?
Contact us at coaching@centerforexecutivecoaching.com and tell us about your goals, your organization, how to reach you, and what kinds of results you want to achieve through executive coaching. We have an extensive database of executive coaches with a wide variety of backgrounds and skills.
I have other questions before signing up. What should I do?
Contact us anytime at info@centerforexecutivecoaching.com and we will respond within one business day. Or, feel free to call us at 941-539-9623.
Could you give some examples of what the tele-calls cover?
Following is a partial list of the content that calls cover. Each call runs from 30–45 minutes in length and is very interactive. We also have “open calls” in which students can ask anything on their mind or discuss current client situations. NOTE: The list that follows represents only a small amount of the content covered.
- How to coach executives, part I (Orientations)
- How to coach executives, part II (Process/focus on behavioral coaching)
- How to coach executives, part III (Inquiry)
- Marketing I: Define your target market
- Marketing II: Define your solution(s)
- Dashboard/metrics
- Assessments/blind spots
- Influence
- Communications and expectations
- Creating a high-performance culture I (Structure and accountability)
- Creating a high-performance culture II (Levers)
- Motivating and leading employees/temptations
- Leadership styles
- Managing up
- Navigating the political “game board”
- Leading strategic retreats and coaching executives about strategy
- Governance
- Decision-making
- Logic trees and hypothesis-driven problem solving
- Marketing III: Get visible
- Marketing IV: Develop relationship over time
- Marketing V: Referral marketing