Yes, I can give you 7 reasons why executive coaching really does make you successful. Actually, there are more, but I’m limiting myself to 7 just for the moment – keep reading my blog over the next few months and you will discover more many more!
But let’s back up for a minute. Why is it that some people are really successful and others are not? Difficult question to answer, and quite often you hear the comment – well, look at their connections, or, the industry they chose just really took off, or, they were in the right place at the right time. But the research over years really disproves all those urban myths and has come to the conclusion that it has nothing to do with who they are and everything to do with what they do.
So, linking back to executive coaching, the focus for all performance coaching is on what the individual does to achieve success. Our mantra is – coaching for success, and consequently the focus is entirely on the activity that is undertaken to achieve that success.
By the way, note I am saying that “executive coaching makes you successful” – I did not say that “an executive coach will make you successful” because the coach cannot make you successful, it is the process of coaching and mentoring that will facilitate you to deliver your own results. That is important to keep in mind!
So, what are my 7 reasons?
- Your coach will ensure that your goals are crystal clear and specific. You will be challenged over and over again to be so specific and eliminate any fuzziness. Left to our own devices we are inclined to have vague goals. I have never seen anyone who has not benefitted from being challenged to clarify their goals. And, clarity is critical – you have a far better chance of achieving a clear goal than a vague one!
- Makes you accountable. Procrastination is the greatest killer to achieve any goal, and we are all guilty of it from time to time. A coach, however, will make you accountable for when you are going to take the necessary action to move your goal along the road to achievement. Left to our own devices, we are likely to adapt the “I’ll do it tomorrow” approach, but a coach will keep you on track.
- Objective measurement of progress. A coach will ensure that you have agreed milestones to measure your progress and will be the objective assessor of your progress. This, again, ensures that you stay on track, and, very importantly, what needs to be done in the future to deliver the goals on time. The coach exerts that external and objective pressure that we all need.
- Raise your glass ceiling. A coach will drive you to achieve what you are capable of, and to break through your limiting beliefs – and we all have limiting beliefs that determine our glass ceiling. It is the job of the coach to push you to go that bit further than you think you can. It is all about growth – your growth, and we all need that additional challenge to push us forward.
- Keep your feet to the fire. A coach will motivate, inspire, cajole and challenge you in a way that will always keep you moving forward to the achievement of your goals. Let’s be honest, we all need this. The greatest performers in all walks of life have coaches and mentors – performance coaching exists in sport, business, the arts, and just about everywhere else. Coaching and mentoring is for the successful people in this world – it is not a sign of weakness!
- Build you achievement muscles. Success, as we said earlier, is a result of what we do, and if we are continually moving towards our goals we are building muscles that will serve us well into the future. Success is born out of good habits, and habitually doing the right things builds the muscles we need.
- Only focus on what will contribute to your success. Coaching will ensure that you keep the focus on what will contribute to your achievement. Left to our own devices we are inclined to focus on the problems, or the things that get in the way. A coach will banish the habit of accommodating negative thoughts.
You want success – of course you do, and I really wish that these 7 reasons give you sufficient food for thought and motivate you to find the right coach for you so that you can have all the success that you can have. Just remember, you don’t need to change who you are, you just need to change what you do, and executive coaching will facilitate that change.