Executive Coaching
No top athlete, top politician or successful artist can be without a professional coach nowadays. This is increasingly becoming the case for Executive Managers and whole management teams that bear disproportionately higher responsibilities.
Those who show willingness and openness to continually further develop themselves and accept objective feedback will be able to face up to all the challenges that arise as a strong and valued management personality.
For more than fifteen years, I have been coaching managers and teams on all management levels. As I am not bound to a fixed sequence, I am able to offer tailor-made coaching sessions, adjusted to individual needs and requirements.
Take advantage of a coaching session!
The further up the career ladder you climb, the less feedback you receive. Or you receive it too late and through the wrong channels.
Therefore, it is important to talk to a coach not only in tense, critical phases, but also to work together with a personal coach during “good times”, in a constructive way.
An experienced coach who is on your side and supports you actively and honestly in this process, with whom you can have a professional, personal and if necessary also an emotional conversation, a coach who acts also sometimes a “sparring partner” before important appearances, can provide valuable services on your career path.
But aren't you the best judge of yourself?
When is a coaching session recommended?
- If you want to be successful and satisfied in life, then many factors have to come together. To only manage and judge yourself in a one-side manner often leads to a dead-end. You literally stand still in your professional and personal development.
- Primarily when you are increasingly in “the spotlight”, continually have to make important decisions and carry out more and more management tasks, then a stocktaking session with alternative future perspectives can be of great benefit.
- It will help you achieve the right attitude, prevent setbacks, or even lead to the knowledge that are on the wrong path or moving in the wrong environment.
The Coach
What kind of requirements should a coach meet?
Have own professional experience and a proven successful coaching record on your management level. The greater his wealth of experience – the more extensive and well-grounded the consultation.
It is important that the coach is active internatonally and familiar with various cultures. Even in the business environment, every culture follows its own laws and wisdoms. You have to know these to act accordingly and be successful in different makets
He must have personal management experience – i.e. have managed large departments himself. Only in this way can he speak to you on your level and advise you competently and successfully in areas of leadership, people management or talent management.
Does a coach have to be an expert?
Who is the right coach for me?
- Not necessarily. A coach does not need to have sector experience. The less they are subject specialists, the more they will concentrate on the human aspect.
- Ultimately, the chemistry must be right, as the future collaboration is based on a great deal of trust and mutual acceptance. I think that your gut feeling can and must be considered in this.
The coaching process
Based on some initial personal meetings, I will put together a questionnaire and, according to your requirements, I will interview 12 to 20 colleagues, customers or business partners that you work with.
During the entire process, I guarantee absolute discretion. Accordingly, you will not know who gave which answer to which question.
Following this, I will create a summary for your personal review and list each answer individually. You will be astonished how open the feedback is – completely different to the usual 360 degree surveys. This process is also perceived positively by the employees, because it proves of great managerial style, if you really want to know how you are perceived by your colleagues.
On the basis of this stocktaking, we will then determine together which areas we need to address in which order of priority and which goals we want to achieve. After just a short period of time, you will see the first successes!
What is the sequence of a coaching session?
How long should a course of coaching last?
- Quite frankly, I don’t think that a coaching program can be captured in a formula x, because every client has their individual needs. And accordingly, a good coaching session must fit into the environment like a puzzle piece and fulfil the precise requirements.
- A coaching session should be constructive, honest and encouraging. Positive thinking and a good sense of humor should be present throughout the whole process.
- A coaching series should last between 6 and 24 months.
Team coaching
How does team coaching work?
Interestingly enough, exactly the same – except that it is not just with an individual person, but a whole team that is the focus. Ultimately, it is about finding out how a team is perceived and whether it really works together efficiently. Of course, this goes hand in hand with a coaching session for each member of the team, but on a smaller scale.
In most cases, I will personally take part in team meetings as an observer and give active feedback. The biggest success is when the team really feels like a “team” – and is also perceived as such.
When is team coaching recommended?
- A new team has been formed
- The task area has been extended
- The team spirit has been lost
- New leader – new team members
- Reorganisations
- Unhealthy competitive thinking within the team, jealousy, gloating
- When there is more politics than work
- Communication is kept to a minimal