Senior Leadership Coaching

Trusted advisor & confidential sounding board

One of the biggest challenges of a senior leader is a sense of isolation in the face of a complex network of stakeholder interests. The ability to talk out loud to someone who can be trusted to be neutral, maintain confidentiality, and bring relevant perspective is often the most valued among the functions of a coach.

I have found that people think better and more deeply when their partner brings interest, perspective, and respectful curiosity to the conversation.  Clarifying questions or pointing out potential fallacies of thought or assumptions can also help.

I also engage my clients in conversations that deepen their emotional intelligence.  Emotional intelligence in the coaching industry refers to the capacity of an individual to be aware of the emotions of others.  In senior leadership coaching I help clients deepen their awareness also of their own emotions, the to help them better able to resource this powerful form of energy (their emotional life).  Many research studies in the cognitive and affective [emotional] neuroscience fields, have demonstrated that when access to emotions is cut off (for example due to a brain injury or illness), the capacity of people to make good decisions, or even any decision at all – is severely compromised or outright eliminated.  Like it or not, our emotions form the foundation of our functioning and intelligence.  People who deprioritize emotional skills, never mind those people who have adapted an anti-emotional mode of functioning, are as if they were playing a card game with all the face cards missing from their hand, without realizing it.

Curated Support

Aside from confidentiality and neutrality, support is one of the most important roles a senior leadership coach can provide.  The job is stressful beyond description.  It can easily drive people to excess in the effort to cope with the pressures.  Yet it is critical that support does not take the form of mindless sugar-coated approval.  Effective support must be based on understanding of an individual rather than a rote formula to substitute for that understanding.

Honest and timely feedback

Relevant, helpful, honest and timely feedback is as valuable as it is hard to come by.  In my work I offer feedback derived from two channels of information. First, from high-texture in-person 360° interviews across layers of reporting, board members, customers, and other key stakeholders.  Data so gathered is anonymously, but candidly presented in a structured and sensitively relevant way. Second, I offer clients feedback throughout the engagement based on my observations and interactions with you.  Shadow coaching allows me to give even more relevant real-time feedback.  Feedback is not offered unfiltered, but in the context of the themes and meanings we arrive at together.

Improve leadership skills

“Leadership skills” as described below might be thought of in analogy with physical fitness.  Fitness has many components, from strength & muscle tone and development, cardiovascular fitness, sleep & nervous system health, etc.  Improving one of these implies improving the other component of health. Although you may be aware of an area you would like to develop, for example improving conflict or negotiation skills, in reality all of the skills are interlinked with the others – just as the components of physical fitness are interdependent.  Another way to say this is that improving in one area is likely to improve many or all the other areas. Self-awareness improves relationships and communication; which in turn eases tension and stress, allowing for more spaciousness that can foster creativity, clearer thinking and judgment, and better emotional regulation.