What are the core competencies of the Executive Coach?
By Bernard Chanliau, Friday 05 May, 2006
The top 5 'things' that clients want
In the last years as Executive Coaching continues to evolve as a recognized practice or methodology, many other forms of coaching have also morphed into our organizational and personal lives. Life coaching, career coaching, transition leadership coaching, team coaching, and many others have all become popular. What differentiates Executive Coaching most from these other forms of coaching is its dual focus on working one-on-one to develop the executive as a leader while also helping that leader to achieve business results.
External coaches are best when you want to:
• Provide sensitive feedback to senior business leaders;
• Bring in specialised expertise from a wide variety of organisational and industry situations;
• Avoid “conflict of interest” or breach of confidentiality;
• Provide a wider range of ideas and experience;
• Be perceived as objective.
Research has suggested that there were at least 10,000 professional coaches working for businesses in the US, with estimates that this figure would exceed 50,000 by 2007. Many commentators expect a similar picture to emerge in the UK over the next five years (Berglas, S. HBR 2002).
As coaching moves up the maturity cycle and becomes a very widespread development tool, issues arise about how best to manage and deliver coaching in an organisational setting. In the T&D 2004 (CIPD) survey, 81 per cent of respondents to the report said there was confusion about what coaching means. A fact not helped by the lack of agreed standards, ethics, and qualifications in the coaching industry as 40% agreed that ‘the lack of regulation and accreditation in the coaching industry is very worrying’. Add to this the confusion about what constitutes coaching and how it differs from counselling and mentoring, and it is not surprising that many organisations struggle to choose a suitable coach.
This expansion has brought with it a new set of dynamics. Due to the unregulated nature of coaching there have been no real market entry barriers to those wanting to call themselves a coach. As such, the number of coaches and the breadth of backgrounds have expanded enormously. Sports coaches, occupational psychologists, counsellors, clinical psychologists, HR professionals, business experts, existing employees... coaches come in all shapes and sizes and let us not forget the “cowboys” as depicted by Stratford Sherman in the Wild West of Executive Coaching (HBR 2004).
As an example of the degree of misrepresentation, fragmentation and myriad of codes of practice, ethics, guidelines, and standards of practice in coaching Vicky G. Brook in her 2005 Survey of Key Influences and Influencers in the Field of Coaching prioritises the top 13 professional coaching organizations in the world. Each of these organisations are involved in a number of initiatives to improve coaching standards, practices and services and represent many of the professional coaches who are pushing from the supply side for higher standards and quality.
47.0% ICF International Coach Federation; 15.4% CV Coachville.com; 8.1% IAC International Association of Coaches; 4.6% PCMA Professional Coaches and Mentors Association; 4.3% WABC Worldwide Association of Business Coaches; 2.8% EMCC European Mentoring and Coaching Council; 2.7% CU Coach Universe; 2.2% ECI European Coaching Institute; 1.8% PRN Peer Resources Network; 1.7% AC Association for Coaching; 1.6% 247 247 Coaching; 1.3% ICCO International Consortium of Coaches in Organizations; 1.0% PBCA Professional Business Coaches Alliance
Another factor behind the maturation of coaching is the growing number of academic institutions or associations that are introducing or enhancing courses on the subject (DIT, IMI, LBCAI, IPA, IBEC, Tipperary Institute…etc).
Coaching has reached a point where the drivers for professionalism are coming from the demand and supply side. Jessica Jarvis, CIPD adviser, learning, training and development, urges HR professionals to be rigorous in their selection criteria. They should check whether coaches are members of professional bodies, whether they are required to abide by a code of ethics, the extent to which they are supervised and whether they have processes for evaluating progress and dealing with complaints. She states ‘HR professionals need to ensure they have a good understanding of the coaching industry when advising their organisations about whether or not they should introduce coaching to the organisation’. HR has a key role to play in pushing for higher standards in the coaching industry as 92% agreed that ‘when coaching is managed effectively it can have a positive impact on an organisation’s bottom line’. By exerting pressure regarding minimum expected standards, qualifications and outcomes, they can 'raise the bar' in terms of standards across the industry.
Tips for selecting a coach
When selecting a coach, the CIPD recommends that organisations consider a range of areas such as:
• Appropriate coaching and relevant qualifications/training: What is their coaching experience and are they qualified?
• References and background of the coach: Has the coach got a track record of success? Do they have relevant business or industry experience?
• Supervision and membership of a professional body: Do they belong to a professional body and are they supervised?
• Breadth of tools and techniques: Does the coach have a clear coaching process? How do they monitor progress and quality?
• Understanding of boundaries/professional indemnity insurance/personal characteristics: Does the coach fit in with your organisation?
The Executive Coaching Forum in its Executive Coaching Handbook (2004) cites executive coaching competencies in applying the following areas of expertise: Individual and leadership assessment, adult learning organisational systems and development, change management; leadership development, business knowledge, and expertise.
In 2005, the forum in their Core competencies of an executive coach Susan Ennis & Co. suggests that the competent executive coach will likely possess or display psychological knowledge, business acumen, organizational knowledge, knowledge about coaching, coaching skills needed to perform essential coaching tasks, and a set of personal attributes that serve as a foundation for these competencies and skills.
They consider each competency or attribute from a basic or foundational level and from a more advanced perspective as well. As a firm believer in life long learning I have found it to be one of the best tools on the market and use this as a guideline for my own development journey in the executive coaching field.
