“The Wild West of Executive Coaching”
Co-authored By Alyssa M. Freas
Published in Harvard Business Review, November 2004
Reprint R0411E
Abstract:
Annual spending on executive
coaching in the United States is estimated at $1 billion.
Yet information about coaching's effectiveness is scarce and
unreliable. Companies need understanding and guidance to
fully benefit from investments in coaching. At its best,
coaching can provide critical help both to individuals and
to organizations.
In this article, Alyssa Freas, the founder and CEO of Executive Coaching Network, Inc. (EXCN), and Stratford Sherman, formerly a senior vice president at EXCN, explore the popularity of executive coaching and
investigate ways to make the most of the experience. They
argue that coaching is inevitably a triangular relationship
between the client, the "coachee," and the coach. Its
purpose is to produce behavioral change and growth in the
coachee for the economic benefit of the client. One way to
maximize the likelihood of good results is to qualify all
three.
At the most basic level, coaches serve as suppliers of
candor, providing leaders with the objective feedback they
need to nourish their growth. Coaching gets executives to
slow down, gain awareness, and notice the effects of their
words and actions. It provides a disciplined way for
businesses to deepen relationships with their most valued
employees while also increasing their effectiveness. On a
larger scale, strategic coaching can bring leaders into
alignment with organizational aims, while fostering broad
cultural change.
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We hope you will find the article helpful in your own thinking. For us, this is a starting point, not an end point, in understanding how to realize the potential of executive coaching.
If you would like to discuss the ideas and concepts presented in this article, please contact
Susan Adams at (714)-990-9300.
