First of All, What Exactly Is Executive Coaching?

Here at CoCaptain, our definition of executive coaching is the partnership between a coach and a leader [in any capacity]. They engage in a stimulating, creative, and encouraging process that challenges them to amplify their professional and leadership potential.

Executive coaching services are used for more than just fostering leadership potential within individuals, but for expanding the growth of an organization and improving its overall performance.

What Can an Executive Coach Do for You?

It depends on who you are and what you do—executive coaching benefits can vary across the board depending on what areas you need to help with.

Executive coaching is just another word for leadership coaching; that’s because it ISN’T just reserved for the CEO or senior vice president at a large company. 

Executive coaching focuses on helping individuals in any leadership role within organizations—big and small—who want to expand their leadership potential and acquire the leadership skills necessary to grow their business and/or careers.

Whether you’re a business owner looking to improve workplace productivity or a newly promoted manager who needs help becoming role-ready for their new position—executive coaching is a proven way to flourish individual and organization potential.

Depending on whether you are a business owner or CEO that needs coaching for their employees, or are an individual in a leadership position looking to maximize their potential, here are 8 benefits of executive coaching:

Thinking Of Offering Executive Coaching to Employees? Here Are 4 Benefits of Leadership Coaching:

1. Increase Employee Job Satisfaction & Work Engagement

Studies done on the distribution industry indicate that coaching to promote employee job satisfaction is on the rise and is proven to be effective.

According to a cross-national study carried out by the Utrech University and Jaume I University, in which a means of measuring work engagement was developed, work-engagement is:

“a positive work-related state of fulfillment that is characterized by vigor (levels of energy and mental resilience while working), dedication (involvement and psychological identification with one’s work), and absorption (full concentration and being engrossed in one’s activities).”

Work engagement grows from leadership motivation that results in employee satisfaction and well-being.

An important study done by Brad Shuck and Morgan Herd demonstrates effective leadership as a key factor in increasing employee work engagement—linking leadership behaviors with the ability to understand and meet employee needs.

When these needs are met, employees are better able to engross themselves in their tasks and maintain higher levels of energy on the job.

If critical players within your organization are trained in leadership behaviors, vigor, dedication, and absorption are boosted within the workplace—resulting in satisfied employees and a more productive workplace.

2. Boost Job Performance

A controlled study on coaching-based leadership interventions in the workplace asserts the value of leadership coaching by demonstrating how coaching boosts “in-role” and “extra-role” performance among employees.

The study defines in-role performance as “activities related to the formal job and directly serve the organization's goals.”

Coaching leaders to act as role models, deliver clearer goals, give quick and productive feedback, help employees when they’re stuck, and aid in their learning process significantly boosts in-role performance.

Furthermore, studies like the one done on the distribution industry further provide a direct link between coaching supervisors and boosting employee in-role performance.

On the other hand, extra-role performance “exceeds what the employee is supposed to do, such as helping others or voluntary overtime.”

This extra-role behavior doesn’t particularly influence employee’s work output, but it directly bolsters the “effective functioning of an organization.”

When critical players within an organization are taught leadership skills like candid communication, establishing and encouraging positive relationships, and increased one-on-one support, employees are more likely to lend themselves to more extra-role behavior, resulting in a high-functioning workplace.

3. Business Growth

Finally, we are in the age where employees are getting more respect for what they do; more and more organizations are realizing that employees are their number 1 most important asset.

In fact, to become more competitive, leaders and organizations are finding that investing in their employees and human resource development is one of the most valuable investments they can make to increase company growth.

A study carried out by the Harvard Business Review found that out of three stock portfolios made up of companies that invested aggressively in employee development, “each outperformed the S&P 500 by 17 - 35% during 2003.”

Investing in leadership development for employees is the best next step to ensuring that your employees are doing all they can to promote your organization’s success as much as you do—ensuring ROI and exponential growth.

4. Self-Regulation & Self Awareness

Self-awareness and self-regulation are both skills that help define effective leadership. A 2015 study maintains that one of the main benefits of coaching leaders within organizations is increased self-awareness and self-regulatory behaviors among employees.

Emotional intelligence skills like self-regulation and self-awareness go hand in hand; the study found that when these behaviors are instilled within employees, they set higher & clearer goals, become committed to achieving those goals, are more confident in overcoming seemingly impossible obstacles, are effective in coping and diffusing difficult situations at work, think actions through before carrying them out, and make more productive decisions.

So, when employees at all levels are taught how to foster emotional intelligence qualities like better self-regulation skills, it boosts job performance while creating a competitive advantage for their organization.

Thinking Of Hiring an Executive Coach for Yourself? Here Are 4 Benefits of Executive Coaching For Your Career:

Because there are so many different situations and careers that stand to gain so much from executive coaching, the benefits one could reap from a coaching relationship are countless.

However, for the sake of this article, we compiled the 6 basic benefits that underlie the standard executive coaching process.

1. Honing Your Leadership Skills

Good leaders possess specific qualities that make them successful in their leadership. Some individuals are born with a few of these, but it takes training and coaching to master each and every one of these skills.

After all, most people are never taught in school or life exactly how to be leaders—most people landed a leadership job and had to make do with whatever tools they had available to them at that point in time.

Executive coaches are well-versed in these leadership skills because most of them have years of successful leadership under their belts.

Skills like making decisive decisions on the spot, communicating productively, motivating others, extinguishing problematic situations, knowing how to take risks, or efficiently juggling your day-to-day tasks with your leadership tasks.

An executive coach will pass on every leadership tool in their arsenal to you, so you have the necessary skills to succeed in your position.

2. Inspiring Your Motivation

An executive coach will dig deep to find out what is your driving force—what fuels you and drives your passion—and use that to motivate you throughout your coaching engagement.

As your sounding board and number 1 supporter, your coach will be the perfect partner for boosting your creative thinking within your sessions.

In these communication sessions, your coach will create an atmosphere conducive to setting goals and overcoming obstacles, charting your future, and strategizing how to put all of this into play.

These sessions will continuously boost your motivation as your coach enables you to look towards a future that you are excited about creating. This motivation will radiate through those around you—further boosting morale in the workplace.

3. Maximizing Your Strengths & Overcoming Your Weaknesses

Within your sessions, your coach will be able to pinpoint where your strengths and weaknesses lie.

This is one of the most beneficial aspects of coaching, whereas a therapist might not find it beneficial within their sessions to tell you—objectively—what your weaknesses and strengths are. In contrast, it is a coach’s job to give you the self-awareness necessary to become a good leader.  

By building on your strengths, you will keep doing what you’re doing right to be able to grow to your fullest potential—while boosting your self-esteem.

And by shining a direct light on your weaknesses, you immediately know what you have to stop doing, what is preventing you from growing, and in what areas you have to enact change and improve.

4. Building & Maintaining Productive Relationships

A good leader is only as good as the people they lead; they know that their success comes from the growth and successful relationships within their team and employees. 

A good leader must have the emotional intelligence and excellent communication skills to know how to quell problematic situations and flourish positive ones by being empathetic to people’s emotions and solving problems on a deeper level.

An executive coach will show you the importance of creating productive relationships with those around you for you to have the capacity to directly motivate, inspire, and build them up.

Bottom Line

Individuals who want to acquire effective leadership capabilities and skyrocket their professional growth to reach their career and/or business goals should look no further than the help of an executive coach.

Executive coaches are skilled at helping a wide range of different clients from different industries, backgrounds, positions, and pay grades.

For more information on finding an executive coach that fits your needs, check out the different coaching options CoCaptain has to offer.

If you have had a successful outcome with an executive coach, tell us the benefits you got from your coaching partnership in the discussion below: