“A good coach will make his players see what they can be, rather than what they are.” These wise words were spoken by football coach Ara Parasheghian, but the same can be said of a professional executive coach in the workplace.

Unlike a personal or sports coach, a professional executive coach always has the business goals in mind. Executive coaching is a tailored program that starts with a comprehensive assessment of an individual’s career goals, what skills they need in order to deliver those goals, and what they need to do in order to achieve their business targets. These goals and targets are set by the individual but also by business leaders, usually the CEO, General Manager or Human Resources. The first step in the assessment process is making sure all parties are aligned on these goals.

The extensive assessment process then looks at the individual’s leadership philosophy, style, and skills. This is done using “360 Feedback” from their supervisor, direct reports and peers. State of the art tools, such as Myers Briggs, DiSC and 16PF tests, are also used to determine what natural tendencies, strengths and abilities the person has as a manager.

Once the results are collected and analyzed, the coach meets again with the client to create an executive development plan that contains measurable goals for the coaching process. Then the coaching, which usually lasts about six months, is ready to begin.

While coaching on the football field might include calisthenics and chalkboard strategy sessions, coaching in the workplace is a combination of several very different things. It includes one-on-one sessions that focus on the business challenges currently facing the individual, with new approaches for how to address them. These are not theoretical discussions, but rather strategic, pragmatic conversations that are intrinsically linked to the business challenges at hand. Topics might include how to drive execution with direct reports, build a stronger team dynamic, deal with performance issues or resolve conflict.

Once the new work approaches are identified, the client then applies those lessons in the business setting, and meets again with the coach to discuss what worked, what did not work, and how to integrate the new techniques into a repertoire of skills and approaches.

In some cases, a coach might go even deeper, “shadowing” the client in meetings with direct reports or peers. In other cases, the entire team might have an offsite with the coach to bring everyone into alignment and teach them the skills they need to move forward.

Executive coaches at Larcen are not only experts at organizational development and training. They have the experience of being executives in the business sector themselves, and know that professional coaching must always be focused on the business: helping individuals reach their professional potential, and helping businesses achieve their bottom line.