Linda Hall: Coach - Executive and Organizational Development

What is an Executive Coach?
An executive coach is a one-on-one thinking partner for leaders with a big agenda, demanding schedule and complex decisions to make. Your coach is an objective outsider who asks good questions, listens intently, challenges powerfully and advises selectively.

What role does the coach play?
A coach plays several roles with the executive client; together these provide for a unique and powerful relationship, making big goals achievable:

Partner   While not your business or life partner, the coach gets in there to such a degree that the client feels like they have someone who stands for them, pitches in when times are tough, keeps a view on the longer term and brings additional resources to the table.

Trainer   Most clients want to learn how to live better and do better. A coach shows you how without making you feel inadequate. Clients learn business, communication and personal skills while they work on their goals.

Structure   The coach provides the support and structure for the client to excel. Through the structure of regular appointments, development planning and field work between appointments, your coach helps you be accountable for the intentions you create for yourself. Clients are expected to apply themselves.

What Do I Use an Executive Coach For?
The focus of coaching is to assist you in making the personal and business shifts necessary so that you and the organization are more productive. Coaching is an effective tool for:

Developing leadership and organizational skills
Thinking through strategies
Improving your ability to trust and commit to action
Staying on track while you deal with what comes up in the moment
Identifying obstacles that prevent you from reaching your goals
Developing a vision of where you want to be
Making lasting change in the way you work or live
Improving the quality of your relationships with colleagues
Increasing your focus and income

How Is Coaching Different From…
Coaching is more than consulting. Like consultants, coaches also share information and give advice. Coaches also make requests, versus just giving recommendations. An executive coach pays attention to both the person and the results.

Coaching is different than talking with a friend or peer. Friends don't generally have the perspective or advanced competencies to develop others. Peers have a vested interest in the political status quo; they are unlikely to insist on results.

Coaching can be intensely personal, yet it is not therapy. Coaching is about achievement; therapy is about healing. Therapy moves a person from dysfunctional to functional. Coaching moves an executive from functional to extraordinary.

How Does A Coaching Program Work?
Every coaching relationship begins with an intake process including a questionnaire and an initial conversation to allow coach and client to know each other and to surface the focus for coaching. With some clients we expand our intake work to include 360 degree feedback or data from assessments that help to uncover strengths to build on and areas for development.

The ongoing coaching program is built around regularly scheduled weekly coaching sessions of 30 or 60 minutes by phone or in person to work on the business or personal issues that are most pressing to the executive. The program can stand-alone or be in done in conjunction with on-site work such as high performance team building, leadership development or a change program.

Each week, the executive client brings an agenda to the session, comprised of topics they want to talk through, action learning results from the prior week or insights to share and debrief. Your coach listens carefully, asks and answers questions, mirrors back what she sees, gives advice, draws parallels and distinctions, shares principles and makes requests.

Your coach can also be a resource or gateway to other experts you may need, such as a public speaking coach, a personal technology specialist or a personal stylist.

How Long Does A Coaching Relationship Last?
Executive clients commit to working with their coach for a minimum of 4 months. This is the minimum amount of time it takes to make real progress toward goals. Most executive coaching relationships are ongoing and are negotiated between the client and the coach.

"Linda is a generous thought partner and an insightful listener. With straight talk and great humor she has helped me find focus and has guided me to ask for what I deserve and get it!"
-- Cynthia, a Banking executive

"Linda helped me to define my role as a team leader and helped me coach my colleagues in their roles. She helped me to develop the objectives and logistics for a series of retreats for the leadership team and our entire division to better understand the "business" of our division and to learn how to work together as a team. Over the period of a year we successfully met and exceeded our financial and programmatic goals."
-- Catherine Born, Director of Programs, The Minnesota International Center