Executive Coaching

Intent
Executive coaching is not simply about solving problems, sharpening decision-making, or teaching skills. While a CPD coach may engage in each of these activities, our commitment to our coaching clients runs much deeper. In order to set and surpass business goals and objectives, a leader requires vision, strategy, steadfast values, and extraordinary performance. A masterful coach serves at each of these levels, as a vision-builder, a catalyst for strategic thinking, a value-shaper, and a champion for accomplishment and inspiration that lead to powerful actions and results. CPD provides masterful coaching by focusing the leader on the highest leverage points, i.e., the changes that will make the largest difference.

Philosophy
CPD's approach to coaching is completely client-driven. While we can give feedback, supply information, and suggest options, our primary mission is to ensure that the client is successful in fulfilling his or her commitments. It is the most challenging problems and unreasonable objectives that are the greatest elicitors of clients' untapped resources, and it is the coaching process that reminds our clients to call upon those untapped resources rather than to settle for what is known. Even when helping our clients to succeed in one specific situation, the impact of CPD coaching is to create breakthroughs: shifts that dramatically improve our clients' ability to succeed throughout their careers and their lives.

Objectives
The first step of the executive coaching process is to identify the desired outcomes of the coaching engagement for each particular client at each particular moment in time, to focus in on the changes that will have the greatest impact. 

Potential outcomes from coaching include learning how to:

• Ensure the accomplishment of key business objectives

• Clarify vision, strategy, values, objectives, and priorities that lead to powerful action and results

• Develop and sharpen leadership, management, communication, and collaboration skills

• Stimulate out-of-the-box thinking and generate new approaches and performance levels in response to key challenges

• Accomplish and accelerate career-path objectives

Overview
Just as every coaching project has its own particular objectives, so does each project have its own format. The coaching contract can consist of a one-time meeting or a long-term relationship that builds over years. A coaching session can range from a half-hour check-in by phone to an all-day retreat. Some teams employ a coach for all of the members, while others use a coach to train select leaders to coach others. The variety of options is endless. The consistent elements with any coaching project are that a CPD coach co-designs a format with the client that best matches the client's most important objectives and then joins the client in his or her commitment to success.

Read the complete brief on CPD’s philosophy of coaching (pdf).