Ignite Inspired Leadership with Executive Coaching 

Whether you are part of a start-up, small to mid sized company, or a Fortune 500 organization, executive coaching is essential for inspiring and empowering individuals at every level; it produces the intangible competitive advantage of leadership excellence.

Some leaders and organizations build inspired company cultures by working with executive coaches on an ongoing basis. Some invest in this invaluable partnership for specific reasons such as on-boarding a new leader or a new role so the employee is empowered to hit the ground running. Additional reasons for investment in executive coaching include:

• Offering specific insights for women leaders to help them maximize their executive presence and impact.
• Working with team leads to develop their emotional agility through deepening self-awareness and aligning with decision making styles to inspire followership.
• Bridging the divide of an inter-generational workforce by focusing on differences and strengths.

Your Way to an Inspired Company Culture through Executive Coaching

Over the past five years, we’ve brought our unique perspective on what effective leadership looks like in the workplace through various formats, including executive coaching. Our approach is empirically based, anchored in the fields of applied positive psychology and emotional and social intelligence employed by using time-tested processes and a carefully curated resource of models, frameworks, and tools. 

As our clients expand their leadership roles and put new patterns of thought and behavior into action, the imprint of executive coaching can be found in their new and inspired company culture. Leaders bring their new skills learned from the coaching process forward through their projects and teams to change the heart of their organizations. Below are examples of typical areas of coaching focus that support leaders in building inspired company cultures.

Leading Through the U-Curve of Change

Change management is the process that guides how a team prepares, implements, and adopts change within an organization. Moving through change can be a slippery slope;  it is not only happening for the company, but for each individual involved. A successful outcome requires buy-in from everyone affected. A thoughtful and structured change management process will support the entire organization to move collectively and individually from what was to the way they will work in the future. 

This process has some similarities to other change processes, like the stages of grief. In the U-Curve of change, typically the first reaction to an unexpected change is a mix of difficult emotions – shock, anger, frustration, sadness. These are normal. As individuals progress along the U-curve, they eventually reach acceptance of the “new world order.” Once acceptance is achieved, they can begin to get curious about what’s next and charging forward with new commitment and energy. The U-Curve of change is not always linear – in fact,  individuals will often go back and forth across the U, for example shifting from frustration to acceptance and back to frustration several times, before charging ahead. 

Change is hard; executive coaching offers leaders a partnership opportunity to assist them in moving through the U-Curve more swiftly, so they navigate change with clarity and confidence.

Influence and Impact 

Executive presence is a standout skill that all modern leaders need to cultivate and build. Having a strong executive presence inspires confidence and trust internally in teams and peers, and externally in clients and strategic partners. It emanates that you’re capable, reliable, and have the ability to lead. 

An executive coaching partnership provides leaders with tools, resources and opportunities for engagement and feedback as they increase their presence. Coaches offer leaders feedback on how they can use their natural strengths to showcase their passion and vision. Clients walk away changed by the process, confident and clear in their commitment to having a positive impact.  

Strengths-Based Leadership 

Leaders become more effective when they know their strengths and the strengths of those they lead. 

Applying strengths-based leadership creates a team of people that focus on the skills they naturally enjoy and perform well. By knowing the “super powers” of each individual, you lead from a place of mutual knowing and trust. This is an approach that encourages working in unison, effective delegation, and targeted hiring practices. The team is invested in success, which has a significant impact on outcomes.

From the perspective of the leader, it’s easier to lead and manage a group of people who are more engaged, doing work that they feel good about that aligns to their strengths. This level of team knowledge also informs the development of a diverse and agile team, with a range of strengths,  attitudes, and values.

Leadership and Emotional Agility

Leaders today need to be agile in their style and the emotions they bring to different situations so they have the intended (ideal) result. 

This requires:

• The skills in reading the situation at hand
• The understanding what approach is needed 
• The ability to shift accordingly

As leaders and their teams face ever growing challenges at both macro and micro levels, emotional intelligence and emotional agility are essential. Executive coaches challenge leaders to identify their emotional triggers and rigorously practice shifting their emotions as needed to increase their intended impact on others, especially their team. 

Conclusion

Whether a leader is assuming new responsibilities, entering new organizational culture, or tackling their performance deficits, high-quality executive coaching provides leaders with a strategic edge in navigating and succeeding in today’s dynamic business environment.