CEO often feel a strong desire to improve their leadership skills. However, they don’t always have access to non-conflicted and disinterested parties within the company to turn to for advice, guidance, and counsel.
A CEO coach is one such person. They help you become a better leader by offering a diverse perspective without hidden agendas and conflicts of interest.
They’re a Sounding Board
CEO coaching is about ensuring leaders understand how their words and actions affect others. The higher a leader goes up the corporate ladder, the more difficult it is to get genuine feedback from their peers. Employees are often worried about their job security, so they offer only positive feedback or sugar-coat the truth.
This is why top-level leaders work with coaches to ensure they are hearing the unbiased, constructive feedback they need. They also encourage the CEO to look at things through a broad perspective and see growth opportunities that are easy to miss. Like an opera singer at the pinnacle of their career works with a voice coach or an Olympic-caliber athlete works with a training coach, the CEO wants to maintain their competitive edge.
They’re a Mentor
As a CEO, you don’t have many peers within the company. As such, getting the honest feedback you need to grow as a leader can be challenging.
Coaching provides unbiased feedback that isn’t available through company peers. Additionally, coaches are current or former CEOs, so they can understand and empathize with the emotional journey of being a CEO.
A skilled coach will help you clarify your vision and develop a methodology for bringing it to life. They will also ensure that you are not getting sucked into non-critical day-to-day issues, which can be dangerous for CEOs who want to stay on top of their game. In doing so, they can ensure that you remain accountable for your leadership goals and performance.
They’re a Coach
A great CEO coach will help you identify your leadership style and skills and then help you develop a strategy (or roadmap) for achieving your vision of success. This roadmap will be based on a thorough assessment of the client’s current state. It will typically include direct observation of the client at work and interviews with the CEO’s superiors and their direct reports.
A good CEO coach will help you think more extensively and find the valuable opportunities often hidden from view at the 30,000-foot level. They’ll also help you to keep your eye on the big picture and avoid getting bogged down in non-critical day-to-day operating issues.
A good CEO coach will also empower you to work with the goods that you have. That’s not to say they won’t call you out on behaviors that don’t yield measurable business results!
They’re a Mentor to You
As CEOs, the pressure to perform is immense. CEO coaching gives leaders a space to reevaluate their performance and goals. The coach helps the CEO create a plan to help them improve their performance and reframe their perspective.
Like everyone, CEOs sometimes need someone they can trust to be a sounding board. They need someone to listen when they want to vent or get something off their chest. A coach understands this need and provides a non-judgmental environment for the CEO to speak freely.
Coaches help leaders stand out and showcase their unique leadership qualities in a world that promotes conformity. This is especially important for CEOs, who often need to be able to make strategic decisions that directly impact others within the company.
They’re a Mentor to Your Team
In a world that promotes conformity, CEO coaches encourage clients to stand out and radiate their most unique leadership qualities. This helps them become the best CEOs they can be.
A coach will teach you to identify and use your strengths while addressing weaknesses. They will also help you to create a blueprint for accomplishing the vision you have in mind. Each time you check off another piece of that blueprint, it brings you closer to manifesting your vision.
Top-tier CEO coaches will not just teach you new skills and knowledge but also provide a broadened perspective that will allow you to address problems before they occur. This will save you a lot of stress, energy, and time while helping you make more informed decisions.
