Building a Strong Relationship with an Executive Coach

Thursday, April 24th, 2014

At its core, working with an executive coach is just like building any other interpersonal relationship in your life. You need to have trust, reliability and of course, it helps if you just really “click”. In particular, it is important with an executive coach to ensure the chemistry is right and that their background, skills and style suits your needs. If they do, then are you happy to be totally open with them because a high level of openness and trust is paramount if you are to get great results from the executive coaching relationship.

Therefore when selecting an executive coach, it’s a good idea to meet and talk before committing to an ongoing coaching arrangement. You can also ask about their background and experiences, including the kind of clients and businesses they’ve worked with before. This will allow you determine if you get along, and if the kind of client situations they have experience with are relevant to you and your situation. At the end of the day it’s important to start off on the right foot, so think carefully and allow yourself plenty of time when selecting an executive coach to work with.

It is important to remember that during any coaching relationship you always remain at the helm of your own boat – you know the boat and crew best and will always be in the prime position to make any calls. The reason you have taken the coach on-board is that you are travelling through troubled waters and the coach has worked with others and assisted them to navigate similar waters – the coach is on your afterguard to assist you to get successfully get through this phase of your journey.

Once you’ve made your choice, it’s important that you have an open dialogue and that both parties are prepared to say what they think. Sometimes the executive coach will question or challenge you and where this occurs it will always be with a view to achieving your desired results in the most effective way possible. A sense of trust is extremely important here, and belief that they are on your side and ensuring you make the best decisions for yourself and your business.

The relationship you build with your executive coach directly influences the effectiveness of your coaching relationship. To talk more about how to get started with the right coach, get in touch with Stepshift.