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Do you need an Executive Coach?

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One Executive Coach, Dr. Stephen R. Graves of Cornerstone Consulting Group, addresses this question. �Certain questions can help signal the need for an executive coach,� he says. �If you�re asking yourself any of these questions, you might need an Executive Coach to help guide you.�

� What kind of organizational structure best aligns with our vision?

� How do we scale our business and meet our dreams?

� What is the best way to expand geographically and still maintain our corporate culture?

� How do I adjust my leadership style to delegate more and become more of a vision-casting leader, not just a do-er?

� How do I harness my faith and my work into one blended footprint?

� How do I better juggle all the balls connected to my personal and professional life better without losing focus or dropping important assignments?

� How can I upgrade the competence, character, and capacity of the people in my organization?

� How do I recoup my energy and passion for life?

� Who can I really process these ideas with that will not come back to haunt me?

He goes on to say that leaders we coach typically are facing such issues as:

Challenges that are especially confusing, problematic, and critical.

� I am thinking of selling my company� Should I go the IPO route? What about selling to a private company vs. a public one? If I sell to a public company, what will happen to the culture we�ve worked so hard to construct? What might my role be after the sale, and do I want to stay during an earn-out period, if it is offered to me? Am I ready to give up control of what I�ve built? If I don�t sell now, where will I find the capital to expand? Is there any reason to explore the venture capital route?

� I have a tangled mess with some business partners� Like most entrepreneurs I have a half dozen companies and structures that I flow my energy and work through. However, I�ve become entangled with partners who are not helpful and quite frankly are destructive to the success of the business and my personal goals. Should I initiate a sell or should I buy them out, and if so, how can I do that without over-risking my financial portfolio or causing a community earthquake?

� I need to re-invent the company�We�ve always been a successful company, though not spectacular. We�ve done our best work by concentrating on operations and by doing our job cheaper than anyone else. That used to be the way to win in our industry, but the industry is shifting significantly and we aren�t sure how to adjust in the process. The industry is moving toward an expertise in marketing. We�ve never had to be that concerned with consumer branding, but if we don�t figure that out now we will simply be a commodity player and constantly get beat up on price. I don�t mind leading, but I�m not exactly sure how to get there from here.

� I need to scale my business�We have tremendous momentum in our company and it�s time to scale to the next level. However, the path to expansion could take us a number of different directions. I don�t want to over extend, but I don�t have the luxury of staying like we are. Is it possible to scale in phases? Do I scale, then let my infrastructure catch up, or do I build out my internal systems, then go and find more customers? Or do I do them in parallel fashion?

The need to align personal and professional worlds.

� I need to slow down�How do I keep it all together? It just keeps on coming: family expectations, work challenges, simply keeping up with the daily issues of life. I don�t have time to read or reflect anymore. I finally went on a vacation last week, but worked half the time. Everyday is a race, and some days I think I am winning in one part of the race only to realize that I totally washed out somewhere else. Is there a way to settle into the pace of a marathon, instead of living at the speed of a sprint?

� I need to re-configure my demands on my employees�I feel a little guilty about the fact that at the same time I am trying to find balance in my life I am asking my people for the kind of output that gives them little chance of equilibrium in theirs. The thing is, every company is doing the same thing, and it is only getting more difficult. I read about these companies that people love to work for, but I really don�t know how they do it. Are they just being nice, giving up shareholder value in order to keep a happy workforce? That would never work in my industry.

� I need to re-align my family priorities�Somewhere along the way I began giving too much to my work and not enough to my family. My kids are at the age that if I don�t make some kind of realignment now, I think I�ll forever regret it. My career is going fine and I know my company is not going to initiate a shift for my benefit. But I know in my gut I must do something. But what exactly should I do and how do I go about it?

� I need to get my faith and work more tightly harnessed�My faith and my work seem to never be in step. I want meaning and fulfillment in both worlds. However, often those two seem like archenemies, or at least secret competitors. I feel alone in my struggle. I can�t talk to my boss, my pastor, my spouse, or even friends about it. They just can�t identify with the specifics of my world. It has to be possible to get both a Kingdom and a commercial appetite into the same skin. If only I could find someone who really understands and appreciates both the business side of life and the ministry side of life to discuss these matters with.

A personal or professional transition or intersection.

� I need to walk toward the deep dream of doing something different�I have enjoyed a very exciting and successful career and have had the opportunity to make more money than I ever thought I would. But I�ve been thinking about a transition lately. For years I have dreamed of retiring early and investing my skills and resources into another venture with more of a personal pull. Perhaps it is time. But how do I know for sure what would the path of transition looks like?

� I need to transition the reins of the company to the next generation leader�I am the second generational leader, and I am working to understand what leadership succession ought to look like as it moves to the third generation. Should my son take over the company: does he want to, can he do it and, if so, what would give him the best positioning and experience to make that happen? If he does take over the company, would it be best to make that transition sooner or later? If we do it sooner, he has less experience but more energy and ambition. If we do it later, he might get bored waiting for control of the wheel. By the way, our board structure is quite messy and probably needs to be cleaned up. It seemed like a good idea at the time to have the board made up of family members, but they really don�t contribute much to the business any more, and some of them don�t get along. Sometimes the company gets caught in the crossfire of bad relationships.

� I need a re-boot of my passion, direction and energy�Quite frankly, I don�t know where I�m going. I�m very good at what I do, but for some reason I don�t know if I really want to keep doing it. I�ve always been goal oriented, and now that I�ve accomplished what I set out to do, I�m not sure what�s next. Other people looking in at my life, career, and position have no idea what I am really thinking as I work everyday. I�m sort of on remote control going through the paces. I certainly don�t have much passion for the job. Who would have ever thought I would catch myself staring out the window in the middle of the day? And that is the irony: I work with a great company and wonderful people. My customers are the best. Why should I be feeling the way I do?

The necessity to modify leadership style.

� I need to transition out of day-to-day operations�My business has grown to such a place that we are no longer a mom-and-pop company. The small cozy business I founded no longer exists. It has been almost 20 years since I launched it and today we find ourselves with hundreds of employees and dozens of locations. I am a great founder but a mediocre CEO (at best), and everyone knows it� including me. I need to move a new leader in to run the company, which will domino a new role for me. I am not sure how to get there from here.

� I need to upgrade my executive polish and skill-set�I am a first-generation founder and visionary leader. I love what I do and have built a company that is killing the competition. Our growth trajectory is nothing short of phenomenal, and I am under pretty constant stress. I don�t think anyone else in the company really understands what it takes to make this place what it is. They don�t work the long hours I do, and they don�t have the risk on their shoulders. I�ve somehow got to get my top people�s game up. I know I need to change some things myself, too. The other day someone who was quitting told me: �We love following you, but we hate working for you.� I know I�m hard on people: I�m a perfectionist. Our customers demand it, and so does our brand. Here is the problem. I need to figure out a better way to lead, at the same time they dial up their competence, at the same time we continue to grow. Somehow we have to do all these things at the same time, and we need to be there yesterday.

� I need to become a better delegator and leader builder�When I signed on for the job as COO/Operational Leader, this company was much different than it is today. In fact, the title COO/Operational Leader was kind of a joke: there was almost no one to supervise. When there was a job to do we all looked at each other, then just went and did it. What we have now is very complex, with lots of moving parts. If I drop the ball we could really be in trouble as an organization. I need to move from a hub-and-spoke kind of leader, where all the decision-making comes through me, to a cross-functional model where all the fast-moving work is integrated. The hub-and-spoke design works OK when the company is small, but I just can�t run fast enough now to keep up with the velocity. I know where I need to go in theory, but this is reality.

� I am over my head and need some quick tutoring�I just received a huge promotion. I have more responsibility than I ever dreamed I would have in my career. But going forward I don�t feel like I have the executive polish that is necessary to play at the level of my new title. If I go to my boss and tell him I need a little help I am afraid he will think he made a mistake. I don�t need a total overhaul- just a little fine-tuning in certain areas.

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