Becoming a leadership coach is a rewarding and challenging journey. It requires certified coach training and accreditation from the International Federation of Coaches (ICF). You don't need to be a teacher or consultant to become an executive coach, but you must be a curious person who is willing to challenge someone's thinking and approach. The role of an executive coach is to act as a mirror and help the executive see what they cannot see for themselves.
Having at least 10 years of experience in a leadership position before pursuing a career as an executive coach is beneficial. Individuals with careers such as corporate executives, consultants, human resources, training professionals, or professional therapists can succeed as executive coaches. To start gaining leadership experience, you can accept tasks or projects that allow you to make plans and objectives for an entire team. Aim for a high-level management or leadership position within your company to begin developing executive coaching qualities.
Executive coaching is a long-term investment that requires time to produce the desired results. Executives require ongoing training to reinforce and sustain behavior change. Executive coaches typically work with one person for six to 12 months. Within this time frame, coaches and executives must fully agree on how their relationship will progress towards clearly defined goals.
The cost of executive coaching varies widely, with many executive coaches charging by the hour and working on 12-month commitments. Over the past 15 years, it has become increasingly popular to hire coaches for promising executives. Although some of these coaches come from the world of psychology, a greater proportion are former athletes, lawyers, business academics and consultants. These people help executives improve their performance in many areas, but it's important to note that in some cases, executive coaches who lack rigorous psychological training can do more harm than good.
When an executive's problems stem from undetected or ignored psychological difficulties, coaching can worsen a bad situation. The solution often lies in addressing unconscious conflicts when the symptoms affecting an executive are stubborn or severe. Open opportunities for them to improve their leadership skills and commitment levels, increase business performance, generate greater impact at work and move to the next level of their career. If you're trying to help someone in an executive leadership role by serving as your executive coach, it's important to have a vision of the context in which you're operating. Self-awareness, self-control and self-management are fundamental to your effectiveness as a coach, and they manifest when you work to help someone develop their leadership skills. Setting and achieving goals is a classic topic of leadership coaching and fundamental to coaching for performance management.
As a direct result, they become a greater overall asset to the companies they serve as they hone their leadership skills. Offering this type of guidance allows an executive to gain valuable leadership experience and skills. It can provide not only a space for self-awareness and self-reflection, but also serve as a guide for the leader to find relevant resources and ideas that help them expand and develop a greater range of leadership. In addition to earning a certification, prepare yourself with real-world context, knowledge of leadership and organizational development content, and perform the deep autonomous work needed to serve others effectively. You can also search for coaches through organizations such as The Center For Creative Leadership (CCL), ICF, Co-Active Training Institute (formerly The Coaches Training Institute), among others. This skill comes with training and experience, the first steps needed to become an executive coach or a leadership coach. As an executive coach, it's important to first conduct a leadership assessment and then create a development plan based on the data collected and the desired results the CEO wants to achieve.
