Executive Coaching
Our executive coaching helps senior executives to be more strategic, get results for their organisation and achieve work/life balance.
The Latitude Approach
1. The First Meeting
At Latitude, the executive coaching process begins with an exploration of The Client's needs. The Coach learns about The Client's goals, and works to develop a rapport with The Client. At the end of the first step, The Coach and The Client mutually decide if they can work together. If so, The Client is called upon to make a verbal commitment to actively participating in the coaching process to reach their goals.
2. The Diagnostic Stage
Once The Client is committed and engaged, The Coach must work with them to assess and diagnose the barriers that could prevent The Client from reaching his or her goals. The Coach can employ a number of tools for this assessment, including:
- The use of psychometric tools
- A behavioural interview with The Client
- 360 degree feedback survey
- Performance Management data
- 1:1 interviews with their Manager, a select group of peers and direct reports (these individuals would be carefully selected by both The Client and their Manager)
3. The Feedback & Coaching Stage
At the completion of the assessment, The Coach creates a written report that details findings. The report provides vital feedback and is presented to The Client via a face-to-face meeting, which typically lasts an hour. A copy is usually provided to their Manager after the feedback has been given to The Client. The meeting will conclude with a refinement of The Client’s goals and preparation for the start of the coaching program.
4. Executive Coaching - 12 week program
Latitude coaching approach focusses on a sustainable transfer of skills and successful outcomes for The Client, not a dependence on the coach. Therefore, Latitude provides a program of coaching that consists of twelve, 1-hour face-to-face coaching sessions. For best results, the sessions should take place weekly. This allows for continuity and maintains momentum to ensure the success. In between sessions, The Coach remains available via phone or email for ongoing ad hoc support.
At the outset, The Client also signs a ‘coaching agreement', a document that details the goals that he or she wishes to achieve and makes a commitment to actively working toward those goals.
The Coach and The Client then become partners throughout the process, and the success of the coaching becomes the responsibility of both partners. Throughout coaching, The Coach will maintain The Client's confidence and build trust; however, he or she will also challenge The Client to step outside established comfort zones and encourage real growth and self-reflection. The coach will apply a solutions-focused approach to help The Client identify the root causes of problems and blind spots in their performance. Together, they will also explore options and then set specific, measurable, action focussed, realistic and time-based (SMART) goals.
The Structure of meetings will generally follow the GROW model. The GROW (Goal, Reality, Options, Wrap-up) model is one of the most common and successful coaching tools. The framework provides a simple four-step structure for a coaching session:
Step 1: Goal
The Coach and The Client mutually agree on one or two goals to focus on for the session.
Step 2: Reality
The Coach and The Client objectively assess where The Client stands in relation to goals – this is the ‘current reality’. Together, they determine what stands in the way of achievement and what resources or enablers are already available for The Client as he or she moves forward.
Step 3: Options
The Coach asks questions to help The Client identify possible ways of proceeding. When necessary, The Coach may also suggest possible options, but the focus is on helping The Client isolate opportunities on his or her own. This also results in a transfer of skills whereby The Client learns an independent problem solving approach.
Step 4: Wrap-up
The Client is encouraged to choose and commit to the most effective course of action. He or she is assigned responsibility for agreed tasks, and deadlines and time frames are established for completion. Together, The Coach and The Client identify potential obstacles and develop strategies for overcoming them.
Feedback and Review
During the course of the coaching program, there will be three review stages between The Coach, The Client and their Manager. These will provide The Client and their Manager an opportunity to monitor progress against agreed goals. This is included as part of the coaching program.
5. Conclusion of the coaching assignment
The review stages will have given an ongoing sense of the progress towards goals. By the conclusion of the coaching assignment, The Client will have gained new insights skills and should be able to continue to make independent and sustained progress against their performance and development by continuing to use the strategies they developed with The Coach.
This is the natural end of the coaching engagement, and a new engagement should only be considered if and when new gaps or challenges are identified at another time.
As stated at the outset, a key difference offered by Latitude is to create sustainable ongoing momentum for the Client, and not a dependence on The Coach.
