Jeremy Robinson's Ten Commandments of Executive Coaching

1st Commandment

Thou Shall not provide executive coaching for leaders who are derailing – it ruins the reputation of exec coaching for everyone in the org plus it’s a waste of time and money.

2nd Commandment

Thou Shalt not source executive coaches by the brand name.Meaning: thinking large in searching for an executive coach is a mistake. Experts from executive coaching world know the best executive coaches are found either in solo practices or working at smallish firms.

Big coaching companies may have an executive search component which is excellent, but the coaches these companies provide for leaders in your corporation are significantly below the excellent levels of their search practices.

When searching to find the best executive coaches, use sole practitioners or small companies, even if it takes longer to find them.

3rd Commandment

Thou shalt take special care with coaching content especially if you are the sponsor paying for coaching.

Content means assessments taken by a client, and all the information a client tells a coach. Confidentiality of this content is key to establishing coach/client trust.

Since Coach-client trust is the engine which drives a coaching engagement, we can easily see how outside stakeholder intrusions may disrupt it. Yet, paradoxically, coaching goals need to be public to key stakeholders to ensure coaching client accountability—and stakeholders are on the same page about what’s being worked or what still needs to be worked on.

Keeping the client’s behavioral goals public to stakeholders works. It provides a tailwind for the client to change. And it works because the best coaching clients are key talent. These leaders almost always want and need to outperform.

Remember, executive coaching is not a gentle conversation. Rigor in self-observing behavior change is always present.

4th Commandment

As the coaching sponsor, who pays for the client engagement, thou shall not have access to private client assessments or conversations with the coach.

Yes, you will have access to the coaching goals as they may change. And yes, you get to know where they are in the coaching process, when it’s due to end, what assessments have been taken, when cancellations occur. But that’s it.

Yes, the coaching client may tell you all of this. But it’s also the client’s right not to tell you any of this because coaching content (except goals) is private.

5th Commandment

As the executive coach, thou shall not isolate coaching clients from key information needed which coaching stakeholders possess.

Some well-known coaches have zero interactions with stakeholders outside of the client. This deprives clients of key information they need to have develop within the org.

It is essential for executive coaches to make sure their clients receive ongoing feedback from stakeholders. Just getting feedback from the executive coach is not sufficient. Coaches need to ask stakeholders, “What should I know?”

They need to get specific answers from stakeholders about how much the coaching client is changing—or not. Stakeholders best serve executive coaching by becoming the eyes and ears for the coach about how well the coaching is working.

If the coach doesn’t ask for this information, the coach ends up overprotecting the coaching client and may be blocking the client from succeeding in the org. This is the opposite of what’s supposed to happen in executive coaching!

6th Commandment

Thou shalt learn that the best executive coaches have a point of view, even as they listen deeply.

These coaches challenge their clients. Sometimes they get creative and pose riddles to help clients think through dilemmas. Some coaches specialize in helping clients to develop organizational savvy. Leaders want and benefit from growing these skills.

7th Commandment

Thou shalt move away from thinking that long-term executive coaching, when practiced with discipline, rigor and diligence, is a crutch.

Long-term executive coaching is usually the opposite: it is invigorating to leaders. It keeps their leadership fires stoked.

Leaders who think long-term executive coaching is a crutch probably have never experienced it, nor do they have a clue how brilliant coaches provide a competitive advantage to the best leaders.

8th Commandment

Thou shalt not think that Executive coaching is all fancy talk and no behavior change.

Anyone who thinks that does not understand the key premise of executive coaching: it’s about behavior change for the coaching client to become more ferociously accomplished as a leader.

The dance of interdependency between coach and client helps mold leaders who can do that dance well with their executive teams.

9th Commandment

Thou shalt understand that Executive coaching should always be thought of as a designed intervention to help leaders outperform.

10th Commandment

Thou shalt understand that Executive coaching is not the cure for all organizational or leadership problems.

There are key caveats as to how executive coaching should be used and when.

A brilliant executive coach in an independent coaching practice has an obligation to tell you when coaching shouldn’t happen or when it should be limited. It might be limited depending on events taking place in the organization or the personal world of a coaching client.

An organization in the process of being acquired is probably not a good time to launch a company-wide coaching initiative. A coaching client who is not ambitious about getting promoted might not be the best fit for executive coaching.

And, as we learned from the First Commandment… we never want to coach clients if the leader being discussed for coaching is fully derailing. That’s the set up to wreck coaching through the organization.