Is executive coaching right for your organization?

Executive and leadership coaching aren't the right change methods for every organization. To the extent that the following statements describe your workplace, executive coaching will probably improve performance. But if many of these statements don't ring true, you might want to rethink using coaching at all.

1. Leaders would willingly share information to help the coach understand organizational, financial, and business-related issues that affect the person to be coached.
2. Coaching is viewed as a developmental bonus, not a punishment or remedial tool.
3. The choice to engage a coach can come from HR/OD, leadership, or executives themselves. It's not just a mandate from higher-ups.
4. The organization is committed to using coaching systematically, as part of an integrated leadership development program.
5. The organization routinely uses assessment instruments such as 360-degree feedback, so conducting a 360 wouldn't be interpreted to mean the executive "messed up."
6. Feedback already has revealed an area in which the executive wants to improve. He's not going into it blind, with management hiring the coach as a hit man to break the bad news.
7. The executive and the organization both are open to insights gained from an outside perspective—not only about the executive, but also about the organization.