The Role of an Executive Coach

Twenty years ago, if a person mentioned having a coach most people would have assumed that they were an elite athlete or that they drove a tour bus in their spare time. Today, having an executive coach has become an increasingly common feature of corporate life – but why?

In the past, organizations were relatively simple structures. There was usually one leader to whom a number of sub-leaders reported, each being responsible for a department related to their own specialization. There was usually a clearly defined hierarchy, explicit reporting lines and specific job descriptions. Of course this led to its own set of problems, in that departments did not always collaborate to the extent necessary, but it was at least fairly simple to manage. With globalization has come a complexity which was not present in the old traditional structure. Companies today have numerous different structures and matrices which overlay each other in a complex web of local market and centralized resources.

It is not uncommon for people to report to several people for different aspects of their job and the ‘dotted line’ reporting system is an accepted way for people to work. Often work is structured on a Project or Process basis, which means there is less basic hierarchy but more complexity in working relations as people have to collaborate and co-operate across disciplines and perspectives. This brings with it its own set of human dynamics which many executives are simply not equipped to handle. The average executive today is being asked to manage stakeholders in a full 360 degree radius. This means not just having the skills to motivate, direct reports and handle their boss, but to facilitate progress on tasks with a wide variety of individuals and groups over whom they have no formal authority.

Most of us are trained to do a job, have specific areas of expertise and naturally want to deliver results. The path from the identification of a task which needs doing to the end result of actually delivering it is often not so difficult to achieve on its face. But when you add in this organizational complexity and the subsequently large number of stakeholders in every decision or action which has to be taken, it is not surprising that nothing seems to be straightforward. One of the key roles a coach can play is in helping individuals in organizations to unravel this complexity and develop their skills in stakeholder management.

Individuals turn to coaching for a number of reasons: they may feel they need additional support in a new role, they may have been less successful in their career than they had hoped, or they may be beginning to experience feelings of stress and being unable to cope with the challenges of a complex role. Coaches can also support an individual in re-focusing through the myriad information to get clear about their role, their priorities, and the task at hand. Every coach has his or her own methods and tools for helping individuals develop themselves, find a manageable balance and improve their stakeholder management skills.

Having been a coach for more than 10 years, I have found that most individuals who seek coaching are experiencing some sort of internal stress. This does not necessarily come from having too much to do, although this can be part of it, but from trying to deal with their own patterns of behavior in relation to the demands of all the people they need to manage at different levels in an organization.

As a result, I have identified some common themes which hinder self-development and effective stakeholder management, resulting in frustration and stress. Some of the most common themes are:

• Fear of letting go or losing control
• Anxiety about saying no
• Difficulties in confronting others
• Low self-esteem
• Being too optimistic about the amount time things take
• Unrealistic expectations about one’s own performance/perfectionism
• General sense of anger/bitterness
• Victim tendencies

Sometimes just helping an individual to recognize that one or several of these themes is re-occurring in the issues they choose to raise during coaching sessions can be enough to get them to think differently. Once they see the impact that a particular pattern is having on their life, it can be a big incentive to try to work on the issue and improve their skills.

Contributed by Deborah Mattsson Clarke. For more information on Deborah’s executive coaching, please visit her website at www.gdn.nu