11 Must-Have Qualities for an Executive Leadership Coach
So, you’re looking at hiring a leadership coach. Smart move! Investing in yourself is always a great decision. Choosing the right coach can make you a more effective leader who really connects with your team members.
A good leadership coach can help you with things like:
Enhancing your communication skills
Identifying your ideal leadership style
Increasing your emotional intelligence
Pushing you outside your comfort zone
Developing your executive functioning skills
Serving as an objective sounding board
Improving your confidence levels
Learning new leadership strategies
Put simply, the coaching process can be a game-changer for professionals in leadership roles. However, it’s important to know what to look for when choosing a coach. It’s a big investment in both time and money. As a potential client, take the time to find someone you can trust and feel comfortable with.
Bottom line: Be informed. Make sure it’s a good fit. Choose someone with a coaching style that can help you reach your full potential.
Here are the top 11 factors to consider when choosing the right leadership coach:
Trust Is Everything
This one may seem obvious, but its importance is worth highlighting when evaluating prospective coaches. It’s imperative that you feel comfortable during your coaching calls — this is one of the easiest ways to develop good chemistry.
At the core, you should trust your coach. Trust is a broad topic — professionally speaking, coaching is confidential: “What happens in coaching, stays in coaching.” A major benefit of coaching is you’ll never have to worry about anything you say getting back to someone at the office.
Further, you should be able to be yourself. Let your hair down, don’t pull any punches, and say whatever you want to. You’re in a safe space. You should also feel comfortable relying on your coach to provide open and honest feedback and to help you see the things you’re not seeing.
You’ll know in the initial meeting if the vibe feels right. If they don’t pass the gut check, they’re probably not the best coach for you.
Judgment-Free Zone
A non-judgmental approach is a critical component of the client-coach relationship. You should never have to worry about anything you say affecting how your coach thinks of you. Your coach is an objective sounding board.
Their job is to be interested and invested in you — it’s all about fostering a dialogue about what you can and should do to move your career forward. It’s never a judgment call. Even if they personally disagree with you, an ICF-certified coach still knows how to coach the person in front of them.
A coach is neutral — doing what’s best for you and helping you reach your goals should be their only bias.
Of course, this doesn’t mean a good coach shouldn’t challenge you. They should. It just means they should never rebuke you or impose their beliefs on you.
Fully Invested in Your Success
Your coach should be committed to your development as a better leader and person. Look for someone who supports your career, personal development, and future. Your wins should be their wins. Legitimately caring about clients is one of the best ways to encourage their professional development.
This coach is FOR YOU. They are only in your life to help you reach your next level. Their entire focus is on making you better. Think of it like a basketball coach, where their team only improves if each player performs at their highest possible level. It’s their job to get them there.
This is not about your coach — it’s about you. The occasional personal anecdote from your coach can be a valuable tool as long as it’s relevant to your journey. That said, they should keep reliving their own achievements or bragging about themselves to a minimum.
During your sessions, 100% of your coach’s focus should be on you. They should never complain about irrelevant personal issues. It doesn’t matter if they’ve had a tough week or their dog is sick — sharing this info doesn’t help you reach your long-term goals, and is not the energy you need. If your coach seems disinterested or distracted, you should look elsewhere.
Active Listening
Active listening is a lost art, even among some of today’s coaches. It’s not just about hearing what you’re saying (and not saying) — it’s also about listening to how you say things. It’s about giving you their undivided attention and observing where your energy dips or to change in tone or inflection as you say things. When a coach shares these observations with you, they can be great data points!
Your coach must always practice active listening and never give you generic, canned answers. Effective communication between mentor and mentee is key to developing leadership abilities. If your coach isn’t catering your sessions to your specific needs, they’re not the right person to help you realize your leadership potential.
Make It Fun!
Good news! It’s not all dire circumstances and heavy introspection. Just like leadership, the coaching process should be fun. A good coach brings levity and lightheartedness at the right times, breaking up the seriousness and deep thought that can accompany a coaching engagement.
As with so much in life, if you’re not enjoying it, there will be limits to the improvements you can make. The right executive coach can make learning new leadership skills fun.
Motivation and Inspiration
Sometimes, you just need a pick-me-up — someone who can help you see the silver lining in a bad situation. Recognizing what you’re good at and providing encouragement and optimism at the right times is part of what a good coach does.
We all ebb and flow during our journeys, especially if we’re working toward long-term goals that take time. Having someone give you a directional nudge or an emotional boost can make all the difference. They can remind you why you’re pursuing that goal and help you push through potential roadblocks and setbacks.
A motivational coach can:
Support an avenue of thought
Celebrate your wins
Alleviate your fears
Help you make decisions with confidence
Whether you’re a senior executive or a future leader, we can all use someone in our corner!
Holding You Accountable
Motivation is a must-have, but the bookend to that quality is accountability. Many senior leaders require an accountability partner — someone to make sure they do what they set out to do.
Some executives don’t have anyone challenging them or saying “no” to their less-successful ideas. Sometimes, you need a cheerleader. At other times, you need a swift kick in the pants. Simply having someone to check in with or answer to can make all the difference.
If you want to overcome core challenges and experience significant change during your coaching engagement, find a coach who understands how to expertly employ both motivation and accountability when necessary.
Asking the Important Questions
Paradigm shifts and “a-ha moments” don’t happen by accident. They happen when someone asks you the tough questions, which is often more important than having the right answers. A great coach will ask the questions no one else asks you. They get to the core of an issue and help you distill it, reframe it, and see options you weren’t recognizing.
An executive coach who knows how to ask powerful, thoughtful questions can help you:
Clarify your thoughts
Break through mental blocks
Set ambitious professional goals
See issues from a new point of view
Better understand all your options
Refine your problem-solving skills
Determine your next steps
Remember, great new ideas come from great questions. They can help you reach the realizations that move you to take meaningful action. If your coach’s questions don’t cause you to think differently about your day-to-day life, they may not be right for you.
Empathy and Relatability
To effectively operate in a business environment, you need at least a certain level of emotional intelligence and empathy. Everyone has different ways of strategic thinking, but we need to respect different perspectives to drive positive change. The same is true in a coaching engagement.
Empathy allows a coach to understand your experiences, emotions, and point of view.
A coach who knows what you’re going through is far better equipped to help you make a significant change than one who is unwilling or unable to make that crucial connection. Look for someone who can put themselves in your shoes.
Respect for You and Your Time
As you’re looking at potential coaches, pay close attention to how they treat you during the intro process. The best leadership development programs will always respect your time and use it wisely.
Do they reply to your emails in a timely manner?
Are they on time for your initial consultation?
Have they reviewed the info you provided?
You deserve respect, and their actions during the initial period will likely indicate how they’ll treat you during the coaching engagement.
Remember, though, that respect is a two-way street. Make sure you respect your coach’s time, too!Qualified and Certified
Professional coaching has become more ubiquitous in recent years, which is great for business leaders! Unfortunately, the growth in the industry has led to a lot of unqualified individuals calling themselves coaches.
Never settle for an unqualified coach. Look for one that has a coaching certification from the International Coaching Federation (ICF). It shows the coach has undergone training that’s up to industry standards. Your chosen coach could work independently or as part of a coaching firm, but you should always check their qualifications before signing up for coaching sessions.
Also, make sure your coach has credibility and years of experience in the business world. They don’t necessarily need directly relatable experience in a similar role or a particular industry — they’re a coach, not a consultant (they’re coaching you, not your industry). However, you need someone with a proven track record in a business environment who can relate to your unique challenges.
Attributes to Avoid
There are some incredible people in the executive coaching industry, so there’s really no good reason to settle for anything less. While there’s quite a bit of subjectivity involved (the ideal coach for you might be a terrible fit for someone else), there are some coaching characteristics that I like to steer clear of.
One is part-time, side-hustle coaches who are just doing it to earn a quick buck. Simply put, successful executive leadership coaches have a lot of expertise and know-how — someone who’s less than fully committed to the gig might not have the experience needed to provide valuable insights.
I’m also not a big fan of coaches who lean too heavily into generic buzzwords and woo-woo methods — they’re more interested in burning sage and singing “Kumbaya” than discussing the office politics of your company’s C-suite that you need help with.
In my opinion, woo-woo stuff can be useful, but it doesn’t necessarily make them a reputable executive coach. If you’re into that sort of thing, fine. Just know that there are also high-level, business-oriented executive coaches out there who actually know how to get stuff done.
Finally, some coaches only want you to be successful with their help. They want you to be dependent on them and keep you signing up for more coaching packages. An effective leadership coach wants you to be wildly successful with or without them. They’ll give you the tools, confidence, and momentum to become a high achiever on your own.
What Makes a Coach the Right Choice for You?
At the end of the day, finding the right coach often comes down to rapport. Strategic planning and personal growth are most effective when everyone’s on the same page. There’s a certain X-factor between a great mentor and their mentees — you just click.
They understand you, they’re experienced in the business world, and they have a “been there, done that” mentality. Even better, they can leverage their coaching experience to help you set clear goals and become a more valuable member of your org’s leadership team.
In this industry, there are coaches, and then there are COACHES! Think of it this way: On one hand, there are countless basketball coaches out there who flame out after a year or two of mediocre results at small colleges.
On the other hand, Mike Krzyzewski reached 13 Final Fours and won five national championships in his 43 seasons as Duke’s head coach. Would you rather hire Coach K or someone who struggled to a sub-.500 record at a Division 3 school? They both call themselves coaches, but there’s a vast gulf between what they can actually offer.
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About The Author
Emily Sander is an ICF-certified leadership coach with more than 15 years of experience in the business and the author of Hacking Executive Leadership. She’s been featured in several print publications, online articles, and podcasts, including CEO Today Magazine, Leading to Fulfillment, and Leadership Powered by Common Sense.
Emily has a passion for helping business leaders reach their full potential. Go here to read her story from seasoned executive to knowledgeable coach. If you want to send Emily a quick message, then visit her contact page here.