Business leaders in Greater Kansas City who want to become more effective leaders can hire executive coaches, such as Marilyn O'Hearne. O'Hearne is a Master Certified Coach and has a master's degree from the University of Kansas.
"Coaching is an ongoing partnership that helps clients produce fulfilling results in their personal and professional lives," explains O'Hearne. "Through the process of coaching, clients deepen their learning, improve their performance, and enhance their quality of life."
Before hiring a coach, leaders can get an inside look at executive coaching by reading the new book, Becoming An Exceptional Executive Coach, written by five New York City-based executive coaches and trainers.
Although the book is intended to give all coaches at whatever level fresh ideas about how to improve their skills, it also provides business leaders a good understanding of what to expect from an executive coach.
Some of the most interesting sections of the book are:
- Understanding adult change and growth through theories that apply to coaching
- Typical phases of executive coaching
- Specific topics that are usually addressed in a standard coaching contract
- Building trust, honesty, caring and credibility with the person you are coaching
- Guidelines for the first coaching session
- Suggestions for structuring ongoing coaching sessions
- Questions to address when creating a development plan for your client
- Bringing closure to the coaching process
The authors are:
- Michael H. Frisch
- Robert J. Lee
- Karen L. Metzger
- Jeremy Robinson
- Judy Rosemarin
They firmly believe that executive coaches achieve results by facilitating client discovery.
The book also explains that senior leaders generally do not get to their positions because they are reflective or even conceptual. And, senior leaders often do not want to give up whatever set of skills and behaviors got them to their current level.
Therefore, the authors recommend that when building credibility with senior-level managers, coaches should avoid:
- too much introspection
- abstraction
- or critiquing past habits
Additionally, senior leaders are apt to treat coaches as consultants, so mission creep needs to be monitored. Most leaders, however, really value a coach's observations and perspectives as a counterbalance to the isolation of their executive roles.
Helping coaches to be the best they can be is important to the authors because they explain that the quality of the coach-client relationship is the most important ingredient under the coach's control in the client's progress and change.
The book features:
- engaging case studies of actual coaching challenges
- sample coaching documents
- a variety of useful tools
- self-assessment questions
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