How to get the most from your Executive Coach

Executive Summary: Executive coaching can be confusing, especially if you’re new to the process, but this article outlines eight tips to get the most out of the experience. Coaches are flexible and will acclimate themselves to your needs, so scheduling, the manner of meeting, and even methods used and topics discussed in each session are up to the coachee. The bottom line is that the coachee should be engaged and understand what they want out of coaching, so that their coach can best suit their needs.

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Starting executive coaching, particularly for the first time, often leads to questions about the process and expected outcomes. Many business leaders, whether they independently hire a coach or are assigned one by their organization, may be unsure of how to maximize the experience.

Some coachees (the person being coached) come in expecting to receive the coach’s direction, inviting the coach to dictate the process and topics for development. Although this approach may seem useful—since, “the coach must surely know what I should work on given they’ve worked with myriad leaders like me”—it rarely maximizes the value of the coaching experience. By gaining a better understanding of how executive coaching works, and knowing what to request and expect, you can significantly enhance your engagement and achieve superior professional outcomes.

With this in mind, here are proven tips for maximizing your executive coaching experience:

Realize that coaches are generally flexible about how often you meet and the length of each session.

Before you start the coaching, think about what scheduling arrangement best suits you. There’s no fixed schedules or agendas when it comes to coaching. You may opt for one 50-minute session per week at a certain time for several months, or you might choose to meet every other week for 90 minutes. You could even meet for 30 minutes each time if that works better with your schedule. You don’t necessarily have to accept what the coach says in terms of the cadence and duration of your meetings.

Also, think about the time of day. Are you a morning person or an afternoon person? What days of the week work best given your schedule and obligations? When do you find yourself most receptive to having growth-oriented conversations?

For example, if you tend to be tired in the late afternoon, don’t meet your coach at that time. If you tend to be a little bit overly busy on Mondays, don’t meet your coach then. The bottom line: you control the timetable. Good coaches are flexible, knowing that when you’re energized and receptive to coaching is the best time to meet.

Decide how you want to meet.

Do you want to meet in-person, on a video platform, over the phone, or possibly some combination of these? While you may have the impression that executive coaching is now conducted almost exclusively over video (and a lot of executive coaching indeed happens that way,) you might find that other forms of connection actually work better for you.

Perhaps you feel strongly about being coached in-person. It is a different experience to be eye-to-eye, so to speak, with your coach. If the coach is local to you and available to come to you, that may be a feasible option. You may have to pay more for in-person coaching, but it may be worth it if that’s the best experience for you.

It may also be an option to receive a hybrid solution that has some in-person meetings in addition to virtual meetings.

It’s also not the case that your virtual coaching has to be over a video platform. You might appreciate being coached over the phone as an entirely different medium than your typical meeting, which signals to your brain that you’re being coached. A telephone session may actually enable you to be even more vulnerable and open than meeting over Zoom or Teams. Try it once and see how it feels.

As with scheduling, you can decide on the platform or medium through which you work with your coach.

Decide on the duration of your coaching.

A typical coaching engagement lasts 6 months, but that duration is by no means fixed. If you have a very specific objective that you’re ready to work on immediately and think you can solve that issue in a shorter time, you might only want coaching for three or four months.

Then there’s the situation where you’re in a brand-new role that’s a big step-up from your prior position, with some very real challenges. To succeed in this role, you may wish to be coached for a period of 9 months to a year.

Perhaps you’re dealing with a particular issue (some examples: doing performance reviews, navigating conflict with a colleague, handling a major change in business culture) where coaching during an extended timeframe would be especially valuable.

Remember, you have control over your coaching schedule and duration. It may happen within a certain timeframe, or it could happen intermittently with gaps in between coaching sessions. As with tips 1 and 2, you decide that.

Shape the style of coaching to best match your temperament and needs.

Establishing a style match with your coach is an important aspect of successful coaching. For example, you may find you have a very action-oriented coach who’s constantly pushing you to take action. However, what you’d prefer is a contemplative style focused on your inner development and mindset. In this case, you can ask the coach to be less action-oriented and more insight-oriented.

Ask yourself: do you want to be pushed and challenged with your assumptions questioned? Or do you seek clarification or reinforcement of your existing beliefs and principles? Don’t hesitate to tell your coach what you’re looking for and what you want out of the engagement.

When there’s a style alignment with the goals clearly understood, your coach can better adapt to meet your needs and help you even more.

Also keep in mind that your coach would appreciate such feedback from you at any time during an engagement as your needs change or evolve. Remember, coaches are flexible to serve your specific needs.

Prepare yourself before coaching starts.

To maximize your coaching sessions, your coach will be fully prepared and focused, giving you the control to direct the conversation. How can you best leverage this opportunity?

The answer is simple: to maximize your executive coaching, it’s essential to plan ahead and clearly define your desired outcomes for the conversation. Approach each session with an open mind that’s ready for learning, development, and personal growth.

Typically, in coaching, the coach doesn’t tell you what to focus on. You tell the coach. This is how coaching differs from a mentoring, consulting, or training experience. So be aware of what coaching entails, and do your mental homework by planning ahead accordingly. Your coach will value you arriving with clear objectives and a readiness to engage with the work.

Don’t be afraid to open up and say what’s on your mind in the coaching sessions. It’s OK to be vulnerable.

Coaching conversations are not just helpful chats. They’re dialogues designed to get to the root of your challenges, with the goal of helping you find and implement your own solutions. Conversely, they are intended to help you generate ideas and action plans to achieve your highest ambitions.

Therefore, embrace the confidential nature of the coaching session, and show up as vulnerable and willing to share things with your coach that you might not share with anyone else. It’s a forum where it’s not only okay to be vulnerable, but by doing so, you’ll get more out of it.

Understand that while executive coaching typically focuses on your role in an organization and your professional aspirations, you can at times bring personal topics into the conversation. Maybe there are issues outside the workplace holding you back, such as personal relationship issues or deep-seated trauma. Your coach may not be qualified to help you in such areas, but by sharing about such matters, they can refer you to qualified professionals who can help you address those needs to then better support your professional growth and development.

Indeed, coaching works across different dimensions of your life, so don’t hesitate to bring up sensitive topics with your coach that may be outside the workplace or your comfort zone. Anything affecting your business performance and professional growth is relevant to your coaching and could be worth bringing into the space.

Journal your thoughts for guidance and reference.

Recording your thoughts and insights by journaling between coaching sessions can be a powerful tool for marking your progress and remembering the topics discussed and actions decided upon. Your journal could be written or even an audio recording. What’s important is making a record of your thoughts, actions, and possibly triggers that have initiated a certain behavior you are tracking while the thoughts or events are fresh in your mind. The more you reflect and document these things, the more likely you are to be ready for the next coaching session with plenty to talk about.

Journaling also extends the long-term value of your coaching engagement because you’re creating a record that you can review. It’s like having a good reference book on the shelf you can refer to whenever needed.

Get your leader involved in the coaching process.

While coaching is generally a dialogue between you and your coach, you needn’t exclude everyone else from the process. Very often, it might be relevant and worthwhile to involve your leader in the engagement. Your leader can be an ally to you if you’re willing to talk with them about what you’ve been doing to act on your coaching and what you’re trying to accomplish. By doing so, you’re likely to receive their valuable feedback and meaningful support. They can become an integral part of the process, alongside your coach, that can advance and accelerate your progress.

Chances are you’ll be having a few check-in meetings with your leader and coach during the engagement so you may as well include them in to have them play even more of a role in your success. We believe that when your leader is actively involved, the likelihood of success goes up. Don’t think they’re too busy to hear about your coaching. They are aware of the investment that’s being made in your professional development and they want to do what they can to help.

By following the ideas presented here, you are likely to be much better prepared to get the most from your next executive coaching engagement. Do your part and make it great!

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Our executive coaching services have helped scores of executives and business leaders advance their careers and reach new levels of success. We would like to help you succeed too. Contact us today for an exploratory confidential conversation to find out more about our coaching team and services.

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