Executive Coaching
A coach helps their clients connect their life and work choices to their values, assess where they are relative to where they want to be, set new goals for themselves or their work, and most of all, stay on track! Coaches have a selection of tools to help clients design and accomplish goals for themselves. The rigor of regular sessions helps keep clients supported, motivated and on track so daily life doesn't get in the way of their best performance.
- Coaching is a partnership between the client and a professional coach, designed to help the client align their life and work with personal values and goals. In a professional context, we focus on the alignment of personal goals, with the organization's mission. Clients find that they perform better in both life and work, and that they derive more satisfaction from all areas of their life.
- Coaching is a commitment to you as the client - to help you connect deeply to your life's work and become more intentional about your choices. What stems from this commitment, is an increased ability to perform, which in turn, brings you greater rewards.
- Coaching is positive. Working with a professional coach is a joyful, non-threatening experience. Coaching starts with where the client is today and moves forward through time with them to refine their choices and unlock their performance potential.
Coaching is a growing practice in the nonprofit field as well as the for-profit arena. Some foundations have expressed a keen interest in studying coaching as applied in the nonprofit sector to see if it can help stave off the pending leadership crisis in the field. According to a recent yearlong study (funded by the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund) with 24 Executive Directors of nonprofits, conducted by CompassPoint Nonprofit Services in San Francisco, executive coaching "has much to offer executive directors in their personal and professional development. Coaching consistently led the ED's to report significantly higher impact in specific management areas, stronger leadership skills, and more hopefulness and confidence that they could create a more sustainable job for themselves."
There will soon be a significant increase in the number and variety of foundations making funding available for this kind of capacity building in nonprofit organizations.