When budgets are tight and organizational dynamics are changing, it can feel hard to justify executive coaching. The optics could also be challenging if you do coach the leaders but not the downline team. Plus, who has the time?

That time and money is worth it. Investment in executive coaching has a trickle-down effect that benefits the entire team and organization. With the right coaches and accountability practices, executive leaders can improve communication, save valuable time, and streamline succession planning.

Improve communication

The first key improvement that results from executive coaching is better communication. Leaders pave the path for organizational culture and big picture decision-making. Thus, their communication skills are absolutely vital if their visions are ever to become realized.

This improved communication operates on several levels. First, a good coach knows how to rephrase ideas so that the leader can hear their own words repeated back to them in a slightly different way. This practice can identify potential weak spots and helps the leader better understand how their words may be interpreted by others.

Second, when working with a coach, a leader does a lot of thinking about their behaviors and values. This close study naturally informs the way they communicate with their team and subsequently reduces misfires or conflict. For example, if the leader has identified a high aggressiveness risk with their coach, they will begin to catch themselves before communicating in an ineffective manner.

Finally, clarity of thought for the leader leads to clarity of communication for the team. It is this communication benefit that saves time.

Save time

Improved communication means that leadership will spend less time clarifying their decisions and requirements for their teams.  A choice that has been evaluated thoughtfully with the insight of a coach can be disseminated to the team with specificity and consideration for how it will be received, anticipating many of the questions that will arise.

Additionally, executives engaged in coaching learn how to address team dynamics issues head on, without weeks or months of undesirable behaviors wasting time and energy. This applies to executives themselves learning how to navigate disagreements at the top, as well as becoming equipped to lead team members through conflict.

Consider the time saved when a leader names an issue and facilitates a group discussion rather than enduring multiple one-one-ones filled with personal complaints. Sometimes individual meetings are still called for, but they can be concise and focused on values and goal behaviors because the leader has learned what to steer toward.

Streamline succession planning

Finally, coaching helps develop future leaders. When there is a focus on desired behaviors and values, leadership can begin to see the strengths and constraints of each team member and assign responsibilities accordingly.

This also applies to self-awareness: when a leader becomes familiar with their own strengths and constraints, they can better delegate tasks they need assistance with and focus their energy on what they’re good at. This gives team members a chance to develop leadership skills as they take on the delegated tasks.

Both of these practices streamline succession planning. It helps leadership see how different people operate in various situations, and makes it easier to promote within the team or even find your own replacement when you’re promoted.

Find the right coach

All of these benefits of executive coaching are not guaranteed. They depend upon finding an executive coaching team that is a good fit for your organization. You also need to approach the process with full engagement and a willingness to change.

Here at Teamalytics, we’ve spent three decades honing our proprietary analytics to equip our coaches with individualized profiles that are truly actionable. We operate on a three-step process: Awareness, Accountability, and Acceleration. It’s not enough for coaches to help leaders become aware of their strengths and constraints. They also need to build an accountability structure so that they can accelerate personal and team growth.

We understand that you need to know your investment will be worthwhile. That’s why we’ve created a free guide, “Calculating ROI: A Practical Guide for Measuring Return on Human Capital Investments”. Download and read today.