Working with one of our executive coaches is a rewarding and enjoyable experience that clients find stretching and stimulating. What goes on between the client and the coach is entirely confidential. Clients can talk about what’s on their mind, share insights, come up with alternatives and rehearse their next steps.
The coach acts as a sounding board, is positive and encouraging, has no agenda other than the client’s and is always on the client’s side. Together with good personal chemistry – which is essential – this builds a working partnership based on trust.
Some typical reasons for coaching include:
- A new appointment to a more senior role wants to ensure success
- A leader has the role of change champion and needs a sounding board to ensure they take the best approach
- A high performing executive planning their route to the top wants help to think through their career and professional development
- A fast tracked BEE appointment knows they have the potential to do the job and needs support to move up the experience curve
As a result of the coaching experience, clients develop their potential and apply it productively in the workplace. The more they practice their new skills, the better they get. Experience shows that clients tackle bigger challenges with more confidence and skill; and achieve better results for their organisations and for themselves.
And because coaching is an investment in the client’s own capability, it pays back year after year after year.
Our approach
Our coaching is geared to the needs of leaders, typically directors and senior executives of private organisations and parastatals, partners in professional services firms and senior officials in public bodies and Government.
Following a successful chemistry meeting, clients commit to work with us for an initial period, usually 12 months. This can be shorter when the client has an urgent, focused need. Most of our coaching is conducted face-to-face, supplemented by phone calls and emails as required.
We agree coaching objectives with our clients at an early stage in each assignment. Where the client’s organisation has contributed an initial briefing, this is taken into account. Clients’ agendas typically include how to meet short term goals; achieve long term aspirations; conquer today’s challenge; generate tomorrow’s strategic opportunity; manage their time in and out of work; do their current job better; and prepare for their next role. Achievement is reviewed periodically throughout the assignment.
At each meeting we seek to draw out and embed the learning so that change and improvement is maintained.
Different people in different situations have different needs and we tailor our programmes accordingly. Sometimes we recommend that a client gets additional data to inform the coaching programme, such as feedback from colleagues or psychometric profiles. Our clients usually ask us to obtain this information on their behalf.
What goes on between the client and the coach is entirely confidential. We sometimes recommend that a client shares some aspects of what they have worked on with a colleague, but that is entirely the client’s call – their data is totally secure.