How can a CEO benefit from an international coaching program? An interview covering questions on career transition, network management and company politics
Simona Spilak, MSc 04 June. 2024
What are the top international executive coaching firms? If I were to hire or recommend an executive coach at a CEO or top management level, I´d focus on their expertise in a specific area and the quality of their relationship-building. I´m sharing a frank conversation with a colleague with examples so you can understand how client-coach dynamics work. The interview will clarify what for and how to choose your executive coach based on values, vision and growth. The examples are real, with slight variations to preserve confidentiality. To your success, always.
- Why does a CEO need an executive coach?
- 10 Ways a CEO can benefit from executive coaching
- How do you choose the best executive coach?
- How does the Process Communication Model speed up executive coaching for a CEO? Example: understanding a thinker personality in a top management position
- How does career coaching help CEOs in their career transition?
Why does a CEO need an executive coach?
Simona, how do people get in touch with you?
I´ll go back to this one person. We have known each other for several years. We met at a business event, kept in contact and have done recruitment for them and their team. Over the years, he reached out when he needed to discuss a challenge with his team or approach.
Now, he is facing a job change. His company is in the process of a joint venture, and he was notified that there would not be a suitable position for him in the new setting. He wanted to discuss what to do and when to do it so it was not detrimental to the company or to him.
What brought the two of you together at that business event? What was the chemistry between the two of you?
We're very different characters. Initially, it was an interest in meeting new people, just that. We discussed our careers and positions, his challenges' context, and my work. We built a connection at the intersection between his challenges and me as someone who could be a listener and a sounding board.
I sensed I had something he needed that didn't exist in his environment: neither with HR, his spouse, nor his inner circle of business friends, even though he has a rich one.
One of the most challenging things for my clients is verbalizing what is happening. They are immersed in it, know the data, and intuit the picture, but I help them nail it down to the critical move forward. He was in a spiral of "I can't do anything; we're just waiting while it happens," I course-corrected it. That conversation moved him into action. They created a new business model that works today and established a company culture for which they recognize him today. That is the result of my input as well.
When the conversation is honest, and clients feel safe sharing what is going on, I can reflect and offer business or coaching advice that still serves him today, five years after we first met. Maintaining and evolving relationships based on mutual respect, guidance, and trust is rewarding. I'm not pushy or sales-aggressive at networking events. I'm an honest person interested in solving personal and business challenges for both the person and the company.
Ways a CEO can benefit from executive coaching
Coaching conversations are often a mix of half-and-half: the person´s challenges as a CEO and the project at stake. Projects and challenges people consult on are:
- Company and team stagnation
- How do you motivate your team when you must revamp and restructure everything?
- How does he manage himself and the team in difficult times?
- Their challenges as CEO
- People development projects/services-related discussions
- Challenging his team in a decisive style - not too polite or correct
- Communicating difficult information effectively
- Choosing the best leadership development programs
- Positioning and promoting themselves in a way that feels comfortable
- Self-presentation skills to promote their results and those of their teams
- Navigating internal politics and power games
- Career transitioning as CEOs: strategizing, planning and networking their best move forward
The personal challenges of CEOs cover from:
What attracted you towards him becoming a client?
I found him interesting because he behaved and responded and established relationships in a completely different way than I do. He is very thoughtful. I´m outgoing and outspoken. He measures everything he says. If you ask for an opinion, I have five different angles, and he has one: very focused, structured, and thought through. His thoughtfulness got me to spend more time and have a discussion every time he reached out. He is someone who goes deep in his way. He always shares that he loves people. He is excellent at observing and noticing but struggles with how to respond and what to do with it. He senses the situation. He is sometimes reluctant to decide whether he should take the step for which he has already decided. I´m not saying he is incapable of making decisions; he is, but it takes time for him to feel good about the decision before taking it or as an aftermath.
How do you choose the best executive coach?
What would you say has been a foundation in your client-coach relationship?
Values are the crux of the matter for me when choosing a coach. Through the years, we have built trust and deep respect. We are very different characters, but something that connects us is our values: We are respectful and expect others to respect us. We both need time to trust others. We tiptoe to the surface until we are certain we have someone in front who is not chit-chatting but has a business understanding and a professional stance.
How do you bridge different personalities in the coaching room?
As a coach, I adapted to his dynamics and communication style. Still, there was an inner motivation for it: I wanted to support and help him. Besides, it was a triggering challenge for me. Meeting somebody with a different personality requires time and focus, and I learn a lot from supporting clients in their differences.
Later this year he reached and explained what was going on and that he was considering reaching out to executive search agencies and was looking for guidance on how to tackle this in a professional way, pondering confidentiality and how and when to inform and reach out to his network. Obviously back then it wasn't a time. The time is now and so we went out for a coaching lunch.
Do you feel comfortable coaching over lunch?
I do. Taking people from their usual/formal/standard environment can help them find new angles and solutions. It is only for some and not if confidentiality is at risk, but less formal settings spark mindsets and frames that are not available in a regular business setting. The body relaxes, and so does the mind. If the client asks for it or I taste it is suitable for the occasion, I suggest it. It is up to the client to take it or not. It seems like a minor nuance, but it is not.
Three signals you are choosing the best executive coach
- Rapport. Trust, confidentiality, respect and mutuality are critical for me.
- Aligned values. There needs to be chemistry and a particular stretch that keeps both persons sharp and invested in the relationship and achieving the coaching goal.
- Adjusting dynamics. Informal settings where privacy is assured are not just excellent; they are essential for us to initiate out-of-the-box thinking. The body relaxes, and so does the mind, creating a comfortable space for new ideas to flourish.
Why did he invite you for lunch?
We met at an event a while ago. I sensed something was not okay when I asked how he was doing. I had the context because a few months back, he explained his company was merging, and there wouldn't be a position for him there once the process finishes. I know he is confident and approachable, and he is someone with a presence in a business room. That day, something felt broken in him. I sensed it, and I was very direct and invited him gently with one question: Is it already time to think about the future? Yes, it is the time. And we set an appointment to meet a few days later.
Things go naturally when the timing is correct, and both acknowledge that waiting won't improve the situation - instead, the opposite. I can sense the difficulty and approach the challenges with light and enthusiastic invitations that shift the vibe and position them in the right attitude to take action and make a plan for themselves.
How does the Process Communication Model speed up executive coaching for a CEO?
Personality profiling. Psychometric tests such as the Process Communication Model (PCM) and Saville deepen and quicken the coaching process. They provide an accurate overview of inner motivators, stressors, and relational and communication dynamics that can transform stagnant leadership styles.
Do all your clients take the PCM personality test model?
Not all. With some, I run the Saville test. For my clients, the value of personality tests is having precise information on their stressors and communication styles. Those two are critical for smoother and more successful functioning.
Where shall we start? Understanding a thinker personality in a top management position
In your THINKER distress sequence, you are likely to begin by not delegating well, rationalizing that you can do the work better, faster, and more efficiently. Although this may be true, it is unproductive because you remove from others the chance to grow personally or professionally.
In personal situations, your THINKER approach can help you organize your life and family to allow you time to relax (if you'll let yourself). You are responsible and can make it clear to those around you that you expect the same from them, with excellent results. People know they can depend on you to follow your words. You are also fair and reasonable, qualities that are greatly appreciated.
You have the talent to make your home a place of order, a haven from disorganization and inconsistency. Because you can think and plan logically, you can arrange your family's schedule clearly and sensibly. You can prepare for variations and remain calm. You enjoy seeing results, so use your talents creatively in the home environment to develop a hobby where you can see results. Keep an upbeat atmosphere by praising family members and letting them know you also enjoy appreciation for your achievements.
The THINKER's need for Recognition of Work motivates you to be goal and achievement-oriented. You take pride in your ability to think and perform and are willing to work hard to reach your goals. Achievement is significant to you. You know when you have done an excellent job. Affirmation from substantial others about your accomplishments is welcomed.
The THINKER need for Time Structure motivates you to plan and organize your time efficiently so that you are in control of your schedule. You want to be prompt and expect others to be as well.
Knowing deadlines, preparing and planning in advance and efficiently coordinating time frames are essential to you. You are likely to have time-related rituals. Once locked into such rituals, almost any interruption is an intrusion.
How does career coaching help CEOs in their career transition?
What was your client challenge, and how does it connect to a thinker?
They present it as "I need clarity about where to go". As I do career coaching in the career transition or change phase, I create a structured map:
A quick guide for career transition in top management positions
- First, describe your professional profile and strengths. Are you a crisis manager, a business developer, or someone who loves to work in the products or services industry? Once you're clear, you will be able to build your presentation, which will support you when you reach out and on the first round of interviews.
- Second, you need to know your target. It is easier to do this if you create a list of the sectors and companies you would like to work for.
- Third, you need to reach out. That list is the basis for reaching out not only through executive search agencies but also your business network. You will communicate that you're on the market.
Those are topics for discussion. However, the most significant challenges at the CEO and top management levels, for instance, are more strategic factors such as timing—when to start—strategy—who and how to communicate that you're searching for a job—and politics: how to be transparent and proactive yet not too vulnerable. How do you ensure the right person gets the information the right way?
Tackling those concerns confronts clients with their assumptions and fears of getting bad referrals, damaging their reputation, or rejection, which are discussed in private and have their roots in past situations, often from childhood. PCM also informs clients about coping mechanisms that were functional in the past but are dysfunctional and limiting in present adult life.
Thinkers are vulnerable when you touch the points they value most: their results, professionalism, knowledge, experience, and expertise in the industry. If their results are ignored, they suffer enormously and resent it in their self-trust, even at the top management CEO level. We're humans.
In executive coaching conversations, we discuss how to do it and what is stopping you from doing what you know or want to do. For instance, in a career transition, we inform everyone involved and activate your network to identify opportunities.
"If you don't make your plan, you will become somebody else's plan. You should create the opportunity for your next career move".
I learned from these discussions that in career transition we need clarity, but this is easy to tackle. It's about the courage to talk about your inner fears that move the needle. When you talk about your sadness, anger or disappointment, something shifts in you - you may call it ego, but if you can vocalize it to someone you trust outside your inner circle, you break through the stagnation.
This is the significant advantage of career coaching or coaching at the career transition phase. Getting to the point of admitting and expressing your fears - instead of covering them up with "I would like to be confident, assertive, I don't know what my next career move is, I don't know what my strengths are". That is fair but progression comes after understanding why you feel how you feel.
That requires mutual confidence and respect.
Executive coaching is about discussing topics that are important for you in a setting that feels comfortable.
Sometimes, all it takes to decipher a challenge and answer questions about strategy is one conversation; I do that mostly with long-time clients. However, significant shifts require a deeper immersion; it can't be otherwise. That's why I invite every coaching candidate to meet with me to see if we match and how I could support them and their business.
We have an initial meeting, do personality profiling and feedback on profiling, define the goal, and take it from there. That is a solid foundation for a first coaching session to be effective and support clients in planning and execution.
When you nurture relationships this way, clients know where to find me to discuss what, when and how a challenge appears, either for them as CEOs and top managers or in a specific team or organizational challenge.
I'm the founder of BOC Institute, one of the renowned consulting agencies for international companies operating in Slovenia and South-East Europe.
I coach CEOs and top managers 1:1 worldwide. I'm here to save you time, energy, and money through your objectives, decision-making, and leadership development. I understand we can change the world one coaching session at a time!
Do you feel like having a call? You can reach out here and let me guide you from there.
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Simona Špilak www.simonaspilak.com
