Executive coaching has evolved from a corrective practice and is now adopted by companies as a value adding process to enable smooth transitioning into the changing career roles and expectations. Setting up a plan may be an initiative from the employer or employee, the most important factor being the mutual consent in developing in specific areas. The coach is integrated into the growth plan of the employee to ensure accountability as well as an unbiased and informed procedure for growth.
For coaching platform to be set, the logistics must be considered. The features of the role, the cost and the duration, the medium of communication as well as confidentiality affect the results of the process. The most important factor is clarity on what should be shared and with whom. The feedback between the coach and the client should be confidential to ensure total honesty and build trust. The coaching development plan based on the feedback will, however, be shared. The meetings will be held physically since it has been shown to enhance transparency and attention ( Tyler, 2019 ). These sessions will be broken into one or two hour sessions depending on the variables, happening after a fortnight, and will continue over a period of six months. The choice of a lengthy period so that new challenges may arise and be solved instead of forcing a magical transformation through a short period that may be eroded soon afterwards. The sessions cost $350 per hour and include the client initiated phone conversations that are interspersed between the meeting sessions. This is flexible as it is dependent on the employment level of the client, since this may affect their availability and the scope of variables in their occupational environment ( Tyler, 2019) .
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As the coach, all conversations will be had ‘in confidence’, only being revealed to supervisors. All the information received through the various means should also be confidential and treated as personal, requiring the client’s permission. Similarly, all non-coaching relationships (friendship, romantic or business) are discouraged by the coach who is responsible for the setting and supervision of explicit boundaries while working with the client ( De Haan, & Burger, 2005 ). Time boundaries, especially, should be respected with sessions beginning and ending in the stipulated time to avoid negative impressions and blurry boundaries ( Mishraa, 2019 ). The coach should also consider how their preferences and beliefs contradict the client’s and should, therefore, be wary of trigger points.
Coaching engagements will be focused on career growth through setting of personal and professional goals. The biggest challenge would be acquiring enough information so as to achieve specificity of the coaching plan. Data gathering methods would include a 360 interview (involving most frequent colleagues), development history and the current and future career aspirations and challenges ( Wasylyshyn, 2003 ). The GROW method (acronym for goal, realism, options and will) presents a rigid but efficient platform on which the actual goals will be set ( De Haan, & Burger, 2005 ). The client would set their ‘ultimate goal’ that has to be personal without considering the external conditions or the means to actualize the plan, the only limit being the time taken to complete. The second step would be the observing the present reality. The client would be required to identify all the present conditions in their life with respect to the goal and the paths to realize it. The coach’s role would be to ensure that the answers are as objective as possible and void of opinions. The different options that present freedom for the means to achieve are then explored by the client with assistance from the coach. The pros are analyzed against the cons and the most efficient method is then taken. The final step is to decide what is to be done and when, or alternatively, deciding that the goal was overly ambitious or impractical. The client would decide how much this decision emanated from them rather than the coach by analyzing their commitment towards it.
In accordance to the goal setting mechanism, progress would be made with reference to time. The most consistent interval would be the session meetings where brief evaluation at the end of the coaching conversation would reveal the client’s progress against their desires. These would also provide a timeline against which the progress would be anticipated or determined. Depending on the nature of the arrangement, managers or relevant authority would be required to provide benchmarking deployment as this has been shown to boost the development process ( Chen, 2002 ).
The coach is would provide regular assessments from the onset of the coaching period. The most important and insightful one would be the midpoint assessment. The midpoint assessment should track the realization of objectives and the progress according to the contract, with this responsibility falling on the coach and the client as the check-in ( Stevenson, 2004) . The first concern would be whether the training is successfully following the track to accomplish the goal. The areas that would then need improvement would be subjected to the prior goal setting procedure and their viability as well as options weighed. Progress would be tracked by looking at the areas where advancements toward the goal are made. Similarly, this would be used to measure the effectiveness of the coaching strategy. The other stakeholders of the process, like managers, provide input on whether they detect any positive change and help to determine the changes that would be necessary.
The subsequent growth of the client into the end of the contract always means that the coach has to leave. The coach should analyze various variables through reflective questions like:
‘ What are the client’s sentiments on the coaching process and how did it affect them?’
‘ What plans do have going forward and how will they achieve this?’
‘ How did the original objectives affect the client’s present state and development?’ ( De Haan & Burger, 2005 )
The final step for the coach before departure would be to confront the client about their coaching style ( De Haan, & Burger, 2005 ). This would provide valuable insight and provide the coach with an opportunity for growth. The coach should analyze through questions like:
‘ How have they affected the client’s life and career?’
‘ What were the difficult moments during coaching?’
The departure should still incorporate other stakeholders (if they were involved initially) and should still retain its professional manner. Coaches and clients may still meet to discuss skill application or renegotiate terms for a new contract to focus on a new objective.
In conclusion, the career coaching plan is a commitment by two parties to help enhance the growth of an employee by making and adhering to plans. Setting goals and developing structures to ensure their achievements are important and the only way to ensure this growth.
References
Tyler, K. (2019). Executive Coaches Ease Leadership Transitions. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/pages/0914-executive-coaching.aspx
Wasylyshyn, K. M. (2003). Executive coaching: An outcome study. Consulting psychology journal: practice and research , 55 (2), 94.
De Haan, E., & Burger, Y. (2005). Coaching with colleagues . Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Stevenson, H. (2004). What you need to know about coaching services. Article retrieved , 12 .
Mishraa, S. (2019). Boundaries in Coaching - International Coach Federation. Retrieved from https://coachfederation.org/blog/boundaries-in-coaching
Chen, H. L. (2002). Benchmarking and quality improvement: A quality benchmarking deployment approach. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management , 19 (6), 757-773.
