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Executive and Leadership Coaching is Here to Stay

Guest post by: Donna Karlin

Article Overview: Coaching in business, corporations, government and non profits are here to stay. It's not a fad, coaches don't fix people, they evolve people into their levels of excellence and positively impact the organizations they're leading. What makes a corporate executive want to get a coach? They want to be better.

Executive and Leadership Coaching is Here to Stay

Executive, Political, Leadership, Business, Life Coaching are here to stay. Period. It's not a fad, and Coaches are not here to fix people;Coaching ishere to stay. ROI stats continue to rate highwhen it comes to growing people in their level of excellence and in turn positively impacting the organizations they work for. People such as Jack Welch, Bob Nardelli and Eric Schmidt of Google fame praise coaching to the skies and all say the best thing they ever did was get a coach so why the pushback?

What makes a corporate or government executive want to hide the fact that they're even considering getting a coach? Coaches are main stream in sports and are revered by their clients. There is article after article written about those who have just flown because of working with a coach. Where does the perspective of "Coaches fix people or are brought in because you're a problem" come from? Not a clue.

Paradigms are now shifting even in the political world. After all if you were considering who to vote for, wouldn't you want someone who continually honed his/her skills, kept learning and evolving and contextualized change continuously to represent you? I know I would!

So to set the record straight...coaching works. If you want someone to pat you on the back and feel what you're feeling and validate your emotions, then speak to a close friend or relative. If you want someone to evolve you beyond where you are, to help you learn better, work smarter, remove roadblocks that are standing in your way and help you fly, then get a coach. Pick one who you connect with, respect, trust, who stretches you beyond anything you imagined, one who recognizes you might be struggling and helps you use that emotion to get past it. That's when you knowyou've found the coach that's right for you.

If you want a coach to come in and fix a staffer who's creating problems, then turn it around and be coached. Learn how to manage problematic situations rather than delegate your job to a coach. Remember the responsibility of choosing the rightcoachis yours. If it's not a fit, find another coach. Make sure your coach is present and not 'fitting you in' when he or she can. Figure out what you want to achieve with your coach and continually reinvent. A great coach doesn't write things in stone. The coach will partner with you to create something you may not have thought of.

Bottom line is, start celebrating the fact you have a non judgmental 'partner in crime' to support you and help you succeed. Use that relationship selfishly as it's probably the mostsupportiverelationship you will ever have. Do you want to be a great leader? Then look beyond what you know, figure out what you need to know that you don't know and recognize that two minds are better than one.

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Article Tags: coaching, executives, leadership



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