Choosing An Executive Coach

Annotation Leadership in the top management ranks is often a lonely business. It can be difficult to get accurate feedback, for example, and it gets more difficult the higher you move in an organization. Many managers are reluctant to & ldquo;open up & rdquo; to colleagues, and sometimes it may be ill advised to do so. Yet it & rsquo;s difficult to improve leadership skills and job performance without input from others about strengths, weaknesses, and options for improvement. Many managers recognize that to focus their personal development plans they need the uninterrupted time and attention of a skilled, objective facilitator. This guidebook is for managers who are considering executive coaching as a tool in their personal leadership development. It describes what executive coaching is, and can help you decide whether coaching is appropriate for your situation. You & rsquo;ll also learn how to locate and select a qualified coach with the professional and personal credentials and characteristics that match your developmental needs so that you can achieve the goals you & rsquo;ve set.

"As managers move higher in an organization, it can be more difficult for them to get accurate and unbiased input about their performance and leadership skills. Many recognize that to focus their personal development plans they need the uninterrupted time and attention of a skilled, objective professional - an executive coach. This guidebook is for managers who are considering executive coaching as a tool in their personal leadership development. It describes what executive coaching is and can help them decide whether coaching is appropriate. Readers will also learn how to locate and select a qualified coach with the professional and personal credentials and characteristics that can help them achieve their goals."--Publisher's website

Listen to people in every field and you'll hear a call for more sophisticated leadership—for leaders who can solve more complex problems than the human race has ever faced. But these leaders won't simply come to the fore; we have to develop them, and we must cultivate them as quickly as is humanly possible. Changing on the Job is a means to this end. As opposed to showing readers how to play the role of a leader in a "paint by numbers" fashion, Changing on the Job builds on theories of adult growth and development to help readers become more thoughtful individuals, capable of leading in any scenario. Moving from the theoretical to the practical, and employing real-world examples, author Jennifer Garvey Berger offers a set of building blocks to help cultivate an agile workforce while improving performance. Coaches, HR professionals, thoughtful leaders, and anyone who wants to flourish on the job will find this book a vital resource for developing their own capacities and those of the talent that they support.

Praise for Executive Coaching with Backbone and Heart "In this book, O'Neill brings form and structure to the art of executive coaching. Novices are provided a path while seasoned practitioners will find affirmation." —Daryl R. Conner, CEO and president, ODR-USA, Inc. "Mary Beth O'Neill's executive coaching gave me the tools and clarity to become a far more effective leader and change agent. The bottom line was that we succeeded with a monumental organizational turnaround that had seemed impossible to accomplish." —Eric Stevens, former CEO, Courage Center "O'Neill writes in a way that allows you to see this experienced coach in action. What a wonderful way to learn!" —Geoff Bellman, consultant and author, The Consultant's Calling "Mary Beth brings a keen business focus to coaching by not just contributing insights but through helping me and my team gain the insights that we need to solve our own problems. She has the ability to see through the sometimes chaotic dialogue and personalities in order to help a team focus on the real issues and dynamics that can impede organizations from achieving their goals." —John C. Nicol, general manager, MSN Media Network "Effective leaders require courage, compassion, and initiative. O'Neill's systems-based coaching serves as a guide for both coaches and executives to better enable good decisions and good decision-makers." —Paul D. Purcell, president, Beacon Development Group "With Mary Beth O'Neill's coaching, I've become the kind of leader who balances both the needs to get results and to develop great working relationships. Since I started working with her, I've won accolades as the Top Innovator for my company, and as Professional of the Year for my industry. More important, I've been able to scope my job in a way that allows me to learn and contribute at the same time, all the while delivering great results to the bottom line." —Lynann Bradbury, vice president, Waggener Edstrom

Leadership coaching has become vitally important to today?s most successful businesses. The Art and Practice of Leadership Coaching is a landmark resource that presents a variety of perspectives and best practices from today?s top executive coaches. It provides valuable guidance on exactly what the best coaches are now doing to get the most out of leaders, for now and into the future. Revealing core philosophies, critical capabilities, and the secrets of coaching success, this one-of-a-kind guide includes essays from fifty top coaches, including Ken Blanchard and Frances Hesselbein. Packed with cutting-edge ideas and proven best practices, this is the definitive source of information for anyone dealing with coaching.

Emphasizes the importance of commitment from coach, individual and sponsor if coaching is to be of real benefit. This book provides an insight into executive coaching for those who: are contemplating of becoming an executive coach; and are considering using the executive coaching process for their organization or for themselves.

Written by five leading executive coaches, Becoming an Exceptional Executive Coach is the answer to any businesses’ need for more individualized development resources. Drawing on their varied backgrounds, the authors show you that coaching is about more than simply learning a set of skills. Rather, it’s a whole-person activity--one in which coaches connect to and serve clients in unique and personal ways to help them grow in work and in life. You’ll learn how to draw on your professional experience, knowledge of organizationally relevant topics, strong helping skills, coaching-specific competencies, and most important, your ability to use your own intuition to become a more effective leadership coach. You will examine the crucial content areas that drive their work such as: engagement goal setting needs assessment data gathering feedback development planning With case studies that bring the material to life in each chapter and a plethora of additional charts, development plans, and contracts, Becoming an Exceptional Executive Coach continues the discussion of the role of coaching in organizational contexts and equips you to develop your own winning strategies that will advance their careers--and the careers of countless others.

The field of executive coaching is growing at an astonishing rate. Corporations are increasingly turning to coaching as an intervention, as it offers leaders and managers both on-the-job learning and built-in follow-up. But how can you make the best use of coaching within your organization? Executive Coaching for Results helps this critical leadership development method come of age. This is not a “how-to-coach book”—there are already plenty of those—but rather a comprehensive guide on how to strategically use coaching to maximize development of talent and link the impact of coaching to bottom-line results. Underhill, McAnally, and Koriath draw on their rigorous original research (through Executive Development Associates) with Fortune 1000 and Global 500 companies such as Disney, IBM, UBS, Unilever and many others, and combine that with their years of industry experience to advance the state of the art. Executive Coaching for Results includes topics such as: Integrating coaching into your organization's overall leadership development strategy Locating and screening coaches worldwide Developing an internal coaching program Deciding which coaching assessments and instruments are appropriate to your situation Measuring the impact and ROI of coaching Following up after coaching Throughout, the authors provide numerous examples from major organizations such as Dell, Johnson and Johnson, Intel, and Wal-Mart. Offering practical learning, best practices, and illuminating case studies, this is the first definitive guide to the effective use of executive coaching in the corporate environment.