Executive coaching is used by 25% to 45% of the Fortune 500 companies according to a survey by The Hay Group. Training and Development journal reports that the executive coaching delivers a very high ROI. Fortune magazine suggested that executive coaching delivers an average return of $100,000. Ten years ago, executive coaching was not the buzzword it is today. Yet, when we understand the true purpose of executive coaching, it is much easier to recognize the source of this highly effective performance improvement strategy. Over 2,000 years, a philosopher by the name of Socrates, was probably the first executive coach. Socrates believed in creating a dialogue with his students. Dialogue means to build a relationship and that is exactly what executive coaches do build relationships. Through critical reasoning, Socrates was able to help his students, friends and even strangers come to a better understanding first of themselves and then of themselves in the context of their performance within the world. Socrates held to 3 key principles through his Socratic dialogue: - Truth
- Kindness
- Necessary
As he dialogued with others, Socrates focused on discovering the truth by being a kind individual who wanted to make sure that the discussion was necessary.In todays world of executive coaching, the executive coach helps the client to discover the truth that in most cases resides within the individual. The coach in many instances just coaxes it out. Sometimes this is a painful process for the individual because facing fear and self-limiting beliefs is not easy. Through this process improvement strategy, the coach always remembers to be kind, yet firm. She or he believes that negativity serves no purpose and is counter productive to discovering the truth. Finally, the executive coach holds true to the purpose that united the coach with the client. The executive coaching process was determined to be necessary so that the client could achieve her or his goals and overcome those repetitive obstacles. Executive coaches who truly understand the Socratic dialogue are indeed practicing a centuries old proven process. Hopefully, they will not be asked to drink hemlock as they help their clients understand what is holding them back from achieving their goals. |
