LEADERSHIP COACHING

According to the International Coaching Federation—the largest credentialing organization in the world, coaching is “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.” The key word here is partnering. As the client or “coachee,” you and the coach determine your focus and objectives together. There are lots of different kinds of coaching: business coaching, executive coaching, life coaching, career coaching, and more. At WYMORE, we tend to use the word Leadership Coaching because it encompasses each of these areas while keeping the focus on the most important aspect: the personal and professional growth of the leader being coached. Leadership coaching is similar to—but different from—three other learning experiences: Counseling. Like counseling, coaching explores the whole person and leads to holistic flourishing. But where counseling tends to focus on the past, coaching focuses on the present and the future. If you are struggling to connect with your spouse, a counselor might ask you to revisit the concept of marriage you developed as a child. A coach, however, will focus you on the actions you can take today to improve your relationship. Consulting. Like consulting, coaching brings frameworks and tools to diagnose and solve business problems. The problem is, consultants often sell their ‘tried and true’ methodology as the solution to your problem, but that approach has two limitations: Often, their advice is at least somewhat wrong because they lack the contextual knowledge of the people and the problem that you have. If you follow their advice exactly, you’ll often see that advice fail. That’s no fun! But even if their advice was magically right 100% of the time, you’d have a second problem: you’d be paying that consultant to solve your problems for eternity. Because they are doing your thinking for you, you’ve got to keep them on retainer forever. That’s a great business model for the consultant but not a wise stewardship decision for you. As coaches, we want to help you solve your problems, but we have a different focus: you and your growth. In coaching, we say, “We coach the person, not the problem.” We don’t just want to hand you a solution for this particular problem—we want you to become the kind of person who can solve this problem (and the next five or six problems like it). In short, personal growth, not solutions to specific problems, is the focus of coaching. But in pursuing this approach, you get two for the price of one. Class. Like a class, coaching will be a rich source of intellectual stimulation and personal growth. But unlike a class, the professor (coach) does not give you a syllabus with lists of assignments and resources. You and your coach will work together to determine what you want to work on. A coach will often provide resources and frameworks throughout coaching, but those resources come at your request—they aren’t force-fed by the coach. And a coach will never “give you homework”—you always decide what action items you want to commit to. That ensures that you only commit to the things that add value for you—and that you are ready to be held accountable for those steps, too. While counseling, consulting, and classes are all valuable in their own way, coaching offers a unique approach for solving problems you might not have been able to solve through other means.

In general, coaching is for individuals who are motivated to grow. Since so much of coaching is self-directed, it’s ideal for leaders who want to be proactive and take ownership for their lives. If you want to be told what to do, or you don’t want to work hard, coaching is probably not for you. Josh has worked with leaders in two dozen countries and just as many Fortune 500 companies. On the business front, he’s helped entrepreneurs launch businesses, Chick-fil-A operators drive culture change, and CEOs navigate the lonely challenges of leadership. Regardless of the industry or organization size, the process is the same: helping leaders Become More disciplined, healthy, and focused on the things only they can do. At WYMORE, our ideal client is a high-performing leader who still has untapped potential. If you have already invested in your own leadership but you are hungry to grow faster, let’s talk.

Since coaching is the most expensive form of leadership development, you naturally want to maximize your return on investment. Fortunately, there are three levers you can pull to do that: Coach-Client Fit. The most important determinant of your progress in coaching is how well you connect with the coach. Like any other relationship, a coaching relationship is based on trust. If you’re considering coaching, book a get-to-know you meeting to gauge whether you have trust and chemistry with the coach you’re considering. Even the most terrific coaches are not a good fit for everyone. Time. The second most important factor is the amount of time and energy you can invest in yourself outside of your coaching calls. Meetings with your coach will be clarifying, energizing, and encouraging, but if you don’t act on what you learn during coaching, you’re only gaining a fraction of the value. This does not mean that you have to clear your schedule if you’re going to get a coach. Most of the things you’ll do as a result of coaching are things that you were already going to do anyway. But coaching often reveals the need to be more intentional about those things—taking 15 minutes to plan out a 1:1, for instance, rather than walking into the meeting cold. The time you’ll need will vary greatly based on what your goals are. However, if you can carve out an hour in between coaching calls to move those goals forward, you’ve got enough space to make meaningful progress. Transparency. The final factor that determines the rate of your progress is your willingness to be transparent and reflective. Transparency is critical because most of the time, your problem isn’t what you think it is. Coaching is great at unearthing the root issues underneath your symptoms, but in order to dig deep, you need to be willing to excavate yourself to some extent. The goal is not navel-gazing but understanding the motivations, values, and fears that lie just outside your awareness. Once you understand how those factors play into your challenges, your odds of solving the right problem go up exponentially. As your self-awareness grows, your effectiveness will, too.

The ideal cadence for coaching is twice a month (roughly every two weeks). Meeting more often doesn’t allow you much time to act on the commitments you made during your coaching session. Meeting less frequently often leads clients to forget what they committed to for a few weeks before scrambling to catch up before their next coaching call. A two-week cadence is thus ideal for steady, consistent progress.

Clients begin with a one-quarter (3-month) commitment and then go quarter-by-quarter from there. Some choose to stop after a quarter, while others continue for years. The ones who go on for years aren’t slower than others—their goals just evolve over time. It’s similar to a patient who starts seeing a physical trainer because he is morbidly obese. After six months of working with the trainer four times a week, the person has shed a hundred pounds and has gone from being obese to simply overweight. Some people will choose to stop working out then because they have escaped imminent danger, while others will ask the trainer to help them prepare to run a half-marathon. In the same way, coaching goals evolve over time as clients grow. As they evolve, their goals tend to become more proactive, long-term, and thriving-focused rather than survival-focused.

Most coaches are secretive about their fees because they want to charge you as much as they can. At WYMORE, we think that’s slimy, so we’re transparent about what we charge. Our standard rate for twice-monthly coaching is $1,000 a month, or $3,000 a quarter. That covers coaching sessions, customized resources, and support in between sessions. For individuals who are paying out of pocket (i.e., self-payers), we discount that rate to $750 a month ($2,250 a quarter). For organizations who bring on multiple clients at the same time, the first coachee is $1,000 a month, and every additional coachee is $750.

Finding the right coach is more of an art than a science. Many people think that the top priority in choosing a coach is finding someone with expertise in the area they want coaching on. While that's certainly helpful, the most important factors are finding someone who you connect easily with and can trust quickly. Ideally, you also share similar values.

Sometimes, even great things can be a burden because the timing is wrong. If you just birthed a baby, or you’re just coming out of rehab, this might not be the best time for you to start coaching. That said, coaching can be incredibly valuable during tough seasons. Coaching enables you to focus on the most critical priorities—something that’s especially valuable if you’re feeling overwhelmed by your schedule. Most of the work you do outside of your coaching sessions are things you need to do anyway: e.g., have an accountability conversation, plan a meeting, or reflect on your goals. Coaching just enables you to do those things more effectively, saving you time and emotional energy down the road. In short, if you can carve out an hour every week for your own growth—one hour for a coaching session and an hour the next week to act on your commitments—then you probably have enough time for coaching.