Executive Coaching
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Executive coaching is a career pathway in which trained professionals advise their clients on methods for improving techniques in leadership, creativity, and initiative. Despite the job title, it is not always that executive coaches lend their services to those in executive positions. Nor is executive coaching exclusively centered on improving the ways in which a given client manages their office or other working environment. In actuality, professionals in the executive coaching field are experts at coaxing their clients to see for themselves the nature of their performance, and they also help clients to learn how to properly and effectively evaluate the quality and effectiveness of their own performance.
The best executive coaches are masters are working alongside their clients in a collaborative manner, with a professional rapport that stimulates thought and values creative contribution, in order that the client experience a maximization of their potential in both personal and professional arenas. They lend a lucid point of view on the various issues and concerns of their clients, subsequently devising a plan of strategy to help combat the dilemma and achieve a triumph.
The education required for a successful career as an executive coach varies. A master's degree in business administration appears to be a must for most executive coaches, as does serious experience in business. Before heading into a professional business education, many coaches earn their bachelor's degrees in fields like psychology or sociology. Certification is also necessary in order to serve as a mentor to most businesspeople. Most executive coaches earn nearly $80,000 annually. In terms of a job outlook, statistics are not specifically available for executive coaching. However, consulting, a very similar occupation, will experience an increase in demand, as should the coaching sector.
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Career Specializations
Most executive coaches lend their advisory services toward others in the field in which they worked. For example, a former human resources businesswoman who becomes an executive coach may focus her work on other HR professionals. Earning a bachelor's degree in international relations and an MBA in international business would make an ideal preparation for an executive coach for globally minded professionals.
Degree Levels
- Bachelor's Degree: 4 years to complete
- Master of Business Administration: 2-3 years to complete
- Doctorate in Psychology: 3-7 years to complete
- Certificate in Executive Coaching: 1 year to complete
Education & Certification Requirements
The preparation for an executive coach can frequently lead down the same path as that of a professional businessperson. The first step is earning a bachelor's degree in a relevant field; psychology, sociology, business management, advertising, literature, history, international relations, and political science are all very appropriate degrees for budding businesspeople and executive coaches to be. Work in a foreign language is also recommended for those looking to specialize in international business. Students should also work on building their practical business acumen at this phase by finding student jobs, joining university business clubs or organizations, and taking internships with upstanding companies.
After earning the bachelor's diploma, recent graduates should also aim to spend a few additional years in the workforce, building their skills of business on the job. Investigation of potential MBA programs also should start now, including study of the scores needed on either the GMAT or GRE exams to enter their ideal choice. During their Master of Business Administration program, students should focus intensely on networking and establishing positive and lasting rapport with their fellow pupils; these contacts often prove extremely helpful down the line. After a few years of work with the MBA diploma in tow, students can then begin the transition into executive coaching training.
Another pathway into an executive coaching career is becoming a psychologist. After earning a bachelor's degree, students should then pursue their master's in psychology, and then earn their PsyD, the doctoral program more focused on practical counseling work than its alternative, the PhD.
Following the earning of either an MBA and a few years of high-quality business experience or the PsyD degree, executive training programs become an option for candidates. Most programs offer their students certification, such as the Coaches Training Institute, Sherpa, and the Institute of Management Consultants USA, Inc. Alternatively, or in addition, students can also gain experience by working with a consultant firm for a number of years. The contacts that ideal coaching candidates will have been making over the years now come in handy a source of potential clients for their services; executive coaching is a predominantly self-driven field, and coaches must target their own clients and market their own services. (BLS)
Salary Information
There is no set or strict salary figure for executive coaches, as pay hinges directly on a coach's particular set of experience and education, as well as the tier of clients with whom he or she works. However, consultants, in a career field similar and parallel to coaching, make more than $900 a week, which may translate into roughly $45,000, which would be what a newly beginning executive coach should anticipate earning. This may go up as reputation improves and trust is built with clients. (BLS)
Job Outlook
Similar to concerns and information regarding their salary, executive coaches do not yet benefit from a clearly delineated figure regarding the future of their employment possibilities. In the neighboring job field of consulting, however, estimates predict that the number of job opportunities will increase from 7 to 13 percent by the year 2018. Coaches who seek work with established corporations -- to work in their HR departments, for instance -- may experience competition from other qualified applicants. Obtaining coaching specializations and earning a reputation for bringing about real results should improve the odds of being hired. (BLS)
Related Careers
Executive coaches frequently emerge from such business fields as management. This field denotes those employees who have been granted authority to oversee fellow staff and monitor their productivity. Operations managers, project managers, and CEOs are all examples of management positions.
