Instead of a Face-lift, Choose a Career-lift -Get an Executive Coach

Instead of a Face-lift, Choose a Career-lift -Get an Executive Coach

Debra Benton is described by Conde Nast Portfolio magazine as, “One of the top five executive coaches to have on speed dial.”

In today’s competitive business environment, having an executive coach isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity. In a radically changing world, new work habits are required. Even if you have a good reputation today, that does not guarantee continued success tomorrow. You need to constantly refresh your work style and behavior.

More information has been delivered in the last 30 years than the previous 500. A single weekday copy of the New York Times today dispenses more information than the average person had access to in a lifetime a hundred years ago. You’re swamped keeping up with the demands of your job. Your formal education is long since completed. You don’t have time to attend a workshop or seminar every week. So how do you learn the necessary new things? From a personal coach.

You’re ready for coaching if:
-You’re on the radar screen and being watched
-You need a current review of your strengths and your opportunities
-You want an objective sounding board
-You simply wish to improve your performance
-You’re getting somewhat bored and want to look at what some changes would do in your life
-You want yourself, not the corporation, to gain control over your life
-You don’t want anyone else to conclude that you are indispensable
-You want to leave your stamp on people
-You’re reaching a certain age
-You need to constantly raise the bar for myself
-You want to invest in yourself, because no on can take that away from you

Or, if you’ve just received a new promotion, you were passed over, moved into a new job or new industry, have a new boss, turned thirty, turned forty, turned fifty, got divorced, had a death in the family, or had some other eye-opening event that caused you to reevaluate, reflect, or decide to recharge your career? It’s a good turning point for coaching.

An executive coach isn’t a friend, a boss, an in-law, a professional acquaintance, or even a mentor. A good coach is a trainer - he or she fine-tunes your best personal qualities and helps you reach the top of your potential in people-related problem solving, influence with a diverse audience, managing upwards, leading change, public speaking and presentation skills, persuasion and selling, innovative thinking, personal public relations, and executive bearing.

A good coach asks the right questions, assesses problem areas, and keeps track of effective and not-so-effective behaviors. A good coach is skilled at how to critique constructively, sensitive when pointing out problems, and provides positive encouragement - caring for the self-esteem of the coachee. A good coach is thorough in his (or her) approach; is creative in offering a solution; can accurately diagnose the cause of the problem; doesn’t waste your time; listens well; speaks free of jargon; and makes you more effective at what you do.

An effective coach not only gives good advice but offers that advice in a manner you can internalize into your own personality so you feel true to yourself — and it makes no difference where the coach or client lives. What is important is having a qualified and experienced coach.