Executive Coaching

The business world overvalues education. How often have you heard someone say, “that person is really smart?” I don’t know what being “smart" means. Did they get A’s in school, are they thoughtful, are they musically brilliant, are they creative, do they have a special gift the rest of us don’t have? All these make someone smart. However, I believe someone saying they're smart is an assessment of someone’s left-brained intellect. 

Having a strong intellect is valuable in business. However, what’s more important for leaders is people skills, curiosity, judgment, decision making and mindset. Today it's EQ, not IQ, that differentiates effective leaders.    

Starting a business makes you the boss, but it doesn’t make you an effective executive or leader. Conversely, if you rose up in your career to become an executive, that doesn’t guarantee success at each successive executive level or in other organizations. I have seen executives switch companies and struggle, or move from large companies to smaller businesses and fail because they simply don’t have the skills to lead in a different culture or environment. 

Too often in business, executives believe that their job is to have all the answers. This comes from our overvaluation of “being smart.”  The best executives I have observed don’t have answers; they have questions.  

I’ve seen excellent executives operate and the common thread is they are great at asking questions, listening, and processing what they heard to make decisions on the best path forward. They have a balanced perspective of the world. They factor in the needs of people, their employees, customers or stakeholders while determining best paths forward to resolve problems and challenges. And, they understand that systems and structure are there to support people, not the other way around. 

What is Executive Coaching?

Executive Coaching is a process where an executive works one-on-one to elevate their personal effectiveness as a leader. They have, or we work together to identify, or we get 360 feedback to determine, the one or two behavioral changes needed to significantly elevate their effectiveness as a leader. 

Each of us is limited by what we know and how we see and interpret our worlds. For senior leaders it's more challenging, as too often their direct reports are reluctant to challenge or speak their truth to the leader; which magnifies the leader's blindness.    

My job is to help my clients change the lens through which they see the world. I do so by asking questions, listening, probing and filtering the data provided. Then I ask more questions to direct  where they are looking from in order to help them see the situation they are dealing with from different angles. Then, with this different perspective, we explore how else could they deal with the situation? In the questions, a series of new possibilities emerges. This process helps them become present to the impact of their behaviors and actions on others. With this new insight they see new and different paths forward.  

Ultimately, my clients focus on altering just a couple key behaviors that when implemented will dramatically impact their leadership and effectiveness.  

“I hired Alan because I felt as though I was failing my team due to my inefficient management style and needed a professional coach that would teach me new/different/better ways to think. My experience with Alan has been outstanding. He is very knowledgeable and genuinely committed to having his clients benefit from his wisdom. He’s a great listener, honest and candid. He provides constructive feedback and is always nonjudgmental and respectful. Alan is always eager to follow up on previous conversations and provide guidance as situations change. He continually provides contexts that help me “get out of my box” of preconceived thinking, which generates new paths forward. He has taught me better ways to manage and mentor my team while holding them accountable at a whole new level. My management team has improved radically since we’ve started working together. I credit that to the work we’ve done together. I highly recommend hiring Alan, but only if you are

open-minded and truly want to change your ways.”

— TIM MAY, CEO, MEDICAL MACHINING SPECIALISTS

Who Should Pursue Executive Coaching?  

Executive coaching participants who thrive with my work are pragmatic achievers. They are energy positive, open-minded, curious, driven, challenge-oriented and have a healthy dissatisfaction with the way things are. 

If this describes you, reach out and lets discuss the dissatisfaction you are experiencing. 

Am I the coach you’ve been looking for?