When you’re in the middle of your day-to-day routine, you may lose sight of the bigger picture, what you should be working toward, for example, and what steps you should take to get there. An executive or career coach, though, can be a person in your life to see what you can’t (as well as let you focus on what you need to!) and hold you accountable to getting there.
Everyone can benefit from working with an executive or career coach, and many Human Resources Departments have hired such coaches because they understand the benefit for their employees. This coaching is usually done one on one. These sessions will help you consider alternatives you may have never fathomed, shore up weaknesses, and gain objective guided feedback. This coaching will change over time in regards to your needs, but the techniques your coach will provide to you will help you get to exactly where you want to go.
Here are 5 ways absolutely anyone can benefit from having an executive or career coach:
- Learn to manage your time more wisely
As mentioned earlier, it can be difficult to find the time (or energy) to focus on where you’re heading five to ten years from now when you’re just trying to tackle what’s on today’s agenda.
A career coach can give you the necessary guidance to adjust your priorities. They’ll help you decide where you should be spending your time and help you consider other options for allocating your energy.
2. Get the push to do something different
Sometimes overthinking or fear can paralyze us. We get stuck thinking about acting instead of actually acting. We get lost thinking about end-game scenarios that we never even call the customer, make the change, or just do the thing.
An executive coach will hold you accountable so you cannot be stuck in analysis. There are always endless avenues you might be able to take, but you’ll never know unless you take one. A coach will help you decide on the best one and how to evaluate as you go in the event you may need to take a different path.
3. Have greater emotional intelligence
Lack of emotional intelligence appears as not knowing, not expressing, avoiding, denying, or minimizing your own feelings. When this shows up in your work life, it can cause disconnect between you and yourself as well as you and your co-workers/bosses.
When someone like a career coach sits down and discusses what you truly want from your career and job, you get to practice getting in touch with your emotions and desires. That self-awareness will help you build deeper relationships and help you respond better to difficult situations at work.
4. Become a better communicator
When you begin working with your coach, you’ll notice that they are great listeners. It’s their job to actively listen to your needs and desires in order to better serve you. As they listen, they’ll be able to mirror back to you what you really may be saying about what you want and need out of your job/career. Once they help you figure out your own vision, they can work with you on better articulating it for when you want to communicate it to others.
5. Get an outside perspective
The best thing about having an executive or career coach is the unbiased feedback they can give you. They can truly help you see your weaknesses and calculate what you need to put into effect to gain what you’re wanting. Further, their experience working with other business professionals will help you because they’ll be able to provide you an entirely fresh perspective.
6. Receive a positive return on investment
In numerous studies, individuals who invest in business, career, or executive coaching see a major return on their investment. In one study, they found that those who received coaching saw an overall return on investment of 788%! “Three-quarters of the…respondents indicated that coaching had significant or very significant impact on at least one of the nine business measures.”
Working with an executive or business coach may be scary, but it’s becoming more and more common. Fortune 500 companies have even employed them as ways to better develop their leadership teams. While the commitment may be daunting at first, you’ll likely find your coach the kind of person you want in your corner to help push you to be the kind of person you want to be.
