discussion

Organizations today recognize the need to cultivate and retain successful leaders. Some organizations choose to bring in and train new leaders, while others seek out those with a significant amount of experience. Do you feel that the listed approach to executive coaching be effective? Can a “one size fits all” Identify some of the challenges unique to coaching seasoned leaders/executives.

I would not see a “one size fits all” model an ideal approach in any coaching engagement. Individual’s circumstances and journeys vary in many ways, including those of senior-level executive leaders. Any attempt at a linear or “cookbook” approach as Ting & Scisco (2006) describe is risky. It becomes more advantageous to utilize a straightforward approach that puts collaboration, rapport, and commitment as the central tenets of the relationship (Ting & Scisco, 2006) It is the relationship we have learned to be one of the most valuable aspects of successful coaching more so than how many books you have read or how many degrees you have.

Just as a coach would not want to generalize or oversimplify any level of leader they are coaching, Ting & Scisco (2006), point out that familiar themes and patterns do exist among senior executives that the coach should have awareness of.  Examples of these “themes” as Ting & Scisco describe include but are hardly limited to, experience, power, and control, or resistance to change. These similarities are important for the coach to be mindful of given they may also create challenges for the coach. In the example of resistance to change, senior leaders who have “made it to the top” so to speak may question the need for change. The coachee may be willing to change but finding it is still difficult to make the change (Ting & Scisco, 2006). With the primary goal of coaching understood to be helping the leader think differently about themselves in a way that they feel the change will benefit them could be particularly challenging in a seasoned leader.

Coaching a seasoned executive leader requires special skill and sophistication. The coach must possess confidence in their ability to influence. Regardless of whether they acknowledge it, and do not particularly like it, top executives expect a coach to fulfill the key role of truth-teller (Tin & Scisco, 2006). The higher an executive has climbed the less they can rely on people to tell them many times what they need to hear, disagree with them, push back. While general considerations are important, they in my mind serve as a guide, not a prescriptive approach.