Executive coaching has gained real popularity over the last decade, but plenty of people still don’t understand what it actually involves. It gets confused with mentoring or advising. I always draw the same distinction: a coach may or may not know your domain, and may or may not have an answer for you — and that’s the point. Coaching starts from the belief that people are already capable and resourceful. You grow more adaptable and more self-sufficient by learning to think differently, not by collecting someone else’s advice.
What coaching actually involves
Coaching is patient listening and sharp questioning, aimed at helping you see past what’s obvious to you right now. A coach is trained to help you find your own solution — not hand you one. That makes a coach a sounding board, a mirror, an accountability partner, and, often, a confidant.
What executive coaching gives you
Greater clarity. More confidence. Stronger executive presence. Adaptability. Effectiveness. Sharper self-awareness. More resilience under pressure.
This isn’t just a coach’s sales pitch. The ICF’s 2024 Global Coaching Client Study found that the large majority of organisations tracking coaching ROI report a positive return — typically three to seven times the initial investment. A separate industry survey found a strong majority of respondents rated executive coaching’s ROI as high. The benefits aren’t anecdotal. They show up in the numbers too.
Signs it might be time
A few scenarios where I’d tell you, plainly, to get a coach:
- You’ve just stepped into a new leadership role and want to close the learning curve fast, not slowly.
- You’re working hard, but the effort isn’t translating into results.
- You’re losing good people from your team and can’t quite pin down why.
- You keep hearing you’re “not ready yet” for the next promotion, despite strong performance.
- You or your team keep missing deadlines, and accountability has become a repeated conversation rather than a solved problem.
- You want to give honest feedback without damaging the relationship or being seen as harsh.
- You feel taken for granted — under-recognised for what you contribute — and it’s quietly costing you your motivation.
- You want a team that thinks and owns, not one that simply executes instructions.
If two or three of these sound familiar, that’s usually the signal.
Coaching helps you become a better version of yourself, and that serves the people around you — professionally and personally. I’ve had more than one client tell me they were surprised by how far the impact reached beyond work.
Coaching only works if you do the work
Here’s the catch: hiring a coach doesn’t guarantee results. What you bring to it does. Three things make the difference.
1. Take full ownership. Coaching succeeds on trust and partnership. You and your coach stand on level ground — you’re paying them, but they’re not working for you the way a vendor does. Expect to be pushed, challenged, and told the hard things.
2. Come ready to learn something new about yourself. You’re smart, driven, accomplished — you already have answers to most things. Getting real value from coaching means holding those answers loosely. Assume what you’ve been telling yourself is only part of the truth. Taking that apart is hard. It gets easier with every session.
3. Protect the session. You’ll be tempted to cancel when things get busy. Don’t. Almost nothing on your calendar matters more than the work of growing yourself.
Coaching is hard, and it should be. You won’t grow without pushing past your comfort zone.
Where this leads
What’s the biggest challenge you’re dealing with right now? What would it look like if it were actually resolved?
Here’s a gift: book a free coaching session with me on exactly that challenge.
Ready to begin? Book a Discovery Call.
