LEADER UP! Here’s how to select candidates for executive coaching in your company. BY RICK KOONCE
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ith the demand for executive coaching skyrocketing in many companies and organizations, what’s the best way to prioritize your company’s selection of individuals to receive coaching, especially when talent development and training budgets are tight — even more than usual as we navigate the COVID-19 pandemic? It’s a question leadership and talent development professionals as well as HR departments struggle with every year, as familiarity with coaching grows among new generations of managers and executives, and as the tangible benefits of coaching increasingly have been validated across multiple industries and in countless functional areas of focus. From CEOs and other members of the C-suite to vice presidents, directors, and senior and middle managers, it’s important to note that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to designing coaching engagements. Instead, the intensity, focus, design and duration of a coaching engagement should be based on the developmental needs of the individual, the desired outcomes by senior leadership, the level of the individual in the organization, and the impact that changed behaviors on the leader’s part is likely to have on productivity, leadership effectiveness and business performance. Clearly, the more senior the manager or executive who’s targeted for coaching, the wider the options they may be offered. An engagement with a senior executive might last six to 12 months (or Chief Learning Officer • July/August 2020 • ChiefLearningOfficer.com 33
