In an era when you can follow your snack foods on Twitter, it’s no surprise that business coaches promote their businesses using social media. In fact, businesses of all types are advised to “engage” on social media. Even businesses with deeper pockets have discovered that paid social media advertising is remarkably targeted, allowing them to get a better return on their marketing investment. And they too use “organic” social media engagement to build stronger bonds with potential customers.

The scope of social media was something we could hardly envision a generation ago.

If you’re searching for a business coach, you will find many of them on various social media platforms. For the most part, this is good, because the web can be unforgiving of people who are discovered to be someone other than who they portray online. Impostors are eventually found out, in other words.  But if you’re looking for a business coach, you shouldn’t rely solely on social media to make your decision.

The Benefits of Engaging with Coaches on Social Media

The very concept of social media is wonderful. It allows anyone to interact with just about anyone else, sometimes in real time. It has helped people find family and friends they hadn’t heard from in years, and it offers a terrific platform for sharing life’s milestones.

You could, for example, contact a business coach through social media directly, learning more about them directly. It can be an excellent tool for learning whether your personality and needs are a good fit for a particular business coach.

Potential Drawbacks of Relying Too Heavily on Social Media

At the same time, however, social media is not necessarily reflective of real life. People who portray themselves as someone fundamentally different than who they actually are can be depressingly commonplace on social media sites. It’s entirely possible that the mental picture you develop from the interactions you have with someone on social media can be wrong.

Maybe you’re actually talking to their representative, or maybe they’re not truthful about their experience or qualifications. Someone purporting to be a business coach could conceivably misrepresent themselves entirely, and these people are almost inevitably caught and shut down. But you don’t want to be the first person who discovers someone isn’t who they say they are online.

Don’t be the person who discovers that a “business coach” isn’t who they say they are.

Evaluation of Potential Coaches Should be Well-Rounded and Multi-Sourced

Social media can be part of your evaluation process when you’re looking for a business coach. Many good and well-qualified ones are active on social media, and represent themselves honestly. But it should be supplemented by other due diligence steps, so you can be confident that your business coaching investment will be a good one.

Ask if your candidate coach has references you can talk to directly. You may or may not get to do this, since many top-level coaches use confidentiality agreements with their clients, but some clients will waive confidentiality to an extent that allows them to talk about their experience. Learn how your potential business coach gained their qualifications. Did they attend an accredited coach training program? Did they go to the trouble of earning reputable certifications? How long have they been in the business of business coaching?

Social media is valuable, but it is just a tool. And tools can be used for good (like the right-sized crescent wrench tightening a nut) or for ill (like the same crescent wrench trying to drive in a recalcitrant nail). Using social media to interact with potential business coaches is a good thing, as long as you do so with eyes open. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of people calling themselves coaches and consultants and trying to drum up business on Facebook without the qualifications to back up their aspirations, and it’s important that you know how to weed them out.

Business coaching is a noble vocation, but it’s not something that just anyone can do. Some top coaches use social media to build their reputation and business, and honest coaches can see great results from this. Use social media to help you evaluate potential coaches, but don’t let it end there. Get multiple points of reference before spending your resources on a business coach so you can be confident in your investment.

Whether or not you’re interested in working with a business coach, I invite you to check out my blog. It’s packed with valuable information on corporate culture, leadership, and talent management, and can help you make more informed decisions about your business and your career.

Any professional can benefit from the services of a coach. After all, a coach’s job is to observe, assist, and generally help the person being coached to elevate their performance – sometimes in general, and other times in highly specific ways. On the other hand, highly trained professionals and executives have countless demands on their time. Why should they take the time required to work with an executive coach? Shouldn’t they already know what to do?

Coaching has similarities across different contexts.

The fact is, the CEO who works with a CEO coach does so with the expectation of measurable ROI. The time spent with an experienced, exceptional CEO coach gets real, observable, measurable results. Some of those results are evident right away, while others take time to unfold, but ultimately, the CEO who is effectively coached can expect to perform better and sustain results over the long term. In other words, it’s an investment that makes smart business sense.

For the same reason the opera singer at the peak of their career works with a voice coach, and the Olympic-caliber athlete works with a training coach, the executive or CEO works with a coach. That reason is to become the best and most effective CEO they can be, and isn’t that what the company wants when they name a new CEO?

The goal of any great coach is sustained excellence.

The CEO coach is similar to the executive or leadership coach, but with the added responsibility of working with the person who is at the helm of the company – the person who can potentially make the most significant difference in the company’s success and the lives and careers of those who work for the company.

History of Executive and CEO Coaching

The concept of “needing” an executive coach has not always been entirely positive. Coaches in various forms, of course, have been around for more than a century, but in the early days of executive and CEO coaching, it was almost seen as a remedial process – something a company would resort to when they invested in a CEO who was either wrong for the job or clearly out of their depth. A leader who warranted the services of a coach probably didn’t advertise that fact.

All of that has changed now that individuals and organizations can see the immense, positive effects that coaching can have. The thinking now is more along the lines of, “We’re investing in this person who has great bona fides and tremendous promise. Hiring a CEO coach will help ensure this investment pays off for everyone.”

Nowadays, if anything, having a coach is seen as a badge of honor, or a sign that someone has truly arrived and intends to keep moving in an upward trajectory. Eric Schmidt, Steve Bennett, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, and Barack Obama are all examples of professionals at the top of their game who saw the wisdom in working with a coach.

As a result, more companies and individuals are working with coaches, and they’re not secretive about it. If Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, works with a sprinting coach, then why wouldn’t others who are considered the top of their profession work with specialized coaches as well?

How CEO Coaching Has Changed Over Time

CEO coaching has matured, become more objective and measurable, and has entered the mainstream of today’s business world. No longer seen as a desperate act to “save” a faltering CEO, today’s CEO coach is often employed early in a new CEO’s tenure, so that the company will thrive under their leadership starting as soon as possible.

The coach is there to ensure the CEO is as effective as possible, as quickly as possible.

Not all changes to the leadership coaching world have been positive, however. With the rise in popularity of coaches has been a concomitant rise in the number of people who declare themselves to be coaches, hang out a shingle, and then fail to deliver the expected results.

Part of that is due to the fact that there is really nothing stopping the person who wants to call themselves a coach and try to get clients. However, the people who are interested in hiring coaches are gaining more resources they can use to separate the truly qualified and talented coaches from hacks.

Organizations like the International Coach Federation (ICF) not only offer certifications for coaches themselves, but they also offer accreditation for coach training programs, offering clients reassurance that the coaches they hire have been properly and sufficiently trained. Does certification guarantee that a coach will be effective? No, but it does make it more likely that a coach is who they say they are, and has received what is considered to be high-quality, established training.

Examples of CEOs Who Tout the Benefits of CEO Coaching

Stephen Bennett has served as President and CEO of Symantec, and spent seven years at the top of Intuit as CEO. While he was at Intuit, the company’s annual revenue increased from $1 billion to $2.7 billion. Bennett has long understood the value of coaching, particularly for the highest achievers in business, saying, “At the end of the day, people who are high achievers—who want to continue to learn and grow and be effective—need coaching.”

Principal and CEO George Trow of Doncaster College in the UK used coaching not only for himself, but for 70 of his managers upon being appointed to the post. His goal was to install a coaching culture, and the results were impressive. Not only did the student success rate increase dramatically, the school’s finances recovered from being “poorly functioning” to being stellar.

Mary Barra, an engineer who made a transition to HR and ultimately to the CEO office of General Motors, credits the many mentors she has had over her career with helping her reach the top of a major American corporation. She has asserted on many occasions that coaches make a positive difference, and is herself viewed as “the consummate coach.”

Some of industry’s leading CEOs extol the benefits of working with a coach.

PepsiCo Chair and CEO Indra Nooyi was once awarded UCLA Anderson School of Management’s John Wooden Global Leadership Award based on her ability to embody the ideals of Coach Wooden, the most winning coach in men’s college basketball. She also touts the benefits of coaching in helping women scale the corporate ranks, telling Good Housekeeping, “Women helping each other — coaching, mentoring, and providing tips — is a great way for us to be our own force.”

I have had the privilege myself of coaching Steve Jobs (Apple), the former Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, Roger Enrico, the CEO of Nielsen Mexico, Armando Uriegas, the former CEO of FedEx, Bill Logue, the Prime Minister of the UAE and his top team, the CEO of Oman LNG, Harib Al Kitani, and many other top CEO’s and government officials, all of whom fully embraced the experience of working in partnership with me. While we have made positive strides in the world of CEO coaching, however, truth be told the vast majority of CEO’s and government leaders who could in fact benefit from coaching, haven’t yet seized the opportunity to work with a coach. The good news though is that is changing and will continue to change as we will see more and more CEO’s working with coaches in the future.

Why CEO Coaches Have Gained Popularity

The main reason why CEO coaches have become more prevalent is that they get positive results. The CEO sets the tone for the whole workplace culture, whether for good or ill. Coaches understand this, and they strive to help CEOs develop their self-awareness so they can see the many ways in which they affect what it’s like to work at their company.

While many of the benefits of effective CEO coaching are subjective (like making it a “better place to work”), many of the benefits of coaching can in fact be quantified. One American Management Association study concluded that the organizations that used coaching had stronger market performance.

A survey of coaching clients by PriceWaterhouseCoopers found that the average ROI for companies that invested in coaching was seven times their initial investment. More than one-quarter of survey participants reported ROIs of 10 to 49 times the initial investment! The reason for such an impressive ROI has to do with CEOs learning to “walk the talk,” inspiring people to listen, and spreading their enthusiasm far and wide. Trust and team effectiveness also increase throughout organizations that engage coaching.

What CEO Coaches Do

So, if I am a CEO, or I have appointed the next CEO and hire a CEO coach, what exactly happens? First, it’s important to note that while CEO coaches must be flexible and adaptable, one thing they don’t do is “wing it.” The most effective CEO coaches are ones who have developed clear processes and methodology that inform their direction, yet who personalize their services to the client.

Often, the coaching relationship begins with direct observation. A coach may shadow a client in action and make notes. Many coaches also use in-depth assessment tools to help identify a client’s most pressing needs, as well as their strengths and skills gaps. And great coaches talk and listen – to the client, to the client’s superiors, and to their colleagues and direct-reports. They want to start with a comprehensive, 360-degree view of their client so they can tailor services accordingly.

Gathering comprehensive information on the client is one of the first tasks of the CEO coach.

Once the initial assessment is made and is discussed with the client, both coach and client identify goals, as well as stepwise objectives for reaching those goals. They lay out a timetable and develop a personalized set of metrics to evaluate periodically to assess progress toward goals. Coaches may assign “homework” for the client, and may spend one-on-one, in-person time with the client at the beginning of the coaching contract.

With goals and a workable plan established, coaches typically determine a schedule for meeting up with clients regularly, whether by phone, teleconference, in person, or some other way. During the time in between meetings, the client is expected to work on achieving specified goals and objectives, and future meetings may be spent reviewing those accomplishments.

When the coaching contract comes to an end, the coach and client look back and evaluate progress, and may develop a plan for maintaining momentum once the coach has left. Some coaching clients include periodic follow-up after the intensive part of coaching is over.

How CEO Coaches and Clients Measure Progress

Progress must be measured both objectively and subjectively.

Progress should be measured in ways that are meaningful to the client. Often, progress can be marked in different ways for different types of progress. Progress may in some cases be “measured” simply by talking it over with the coach. Suppose a CEO has difficulty delegating without tending toward micromanagement. One goal may be to delegate a specific task completely (say, production of a weekly report) and trusting the team entirely to take care of it rather than butting in and constantly checking that everyone’s doing what they’re supposed to do.

If the CEO accomplishes this, and the report gets written to everyone’s satisfaction, the CEO and coach may discuss this. How much time was freed up by delegating effectively? Were there any feelings of diminishing authority? What benefits were experienced as a result of delegating effectively? This type of progress may be noted by client, coach, or both to be reviewed later.

Another way coaches and clients may measure progress is by repeating assessment tools at the end of the coaching contract. How has the client changed over the course of the relationship? Where is there still progress to be made? Both objective and subjective measures of progress are important for maximum success of the coaching relationship.

How CEOs and Businesses Benefit from CEO Coaching

Better self-awareness and self-regulation are two of the most important benefits of CEO coaching, affecting the CEO individually and the overall organization. The CEO who is aware of their tendencies, proclivities, strengths, and weaknesses is a CEO who is prepared to tailor their actions and their thought processes accordingly. And self-awareness and self-regulation are critical components of emotional intelligence.

Outstanding coaches help clients with critical “soft” skills like self-awareness.

Emotional intelligence is largely what facilitates effective communication between people. Yet, it may be lacking in people at the top of the leadership chart. Emotionally intelligent people are more transparent, honest, and easy to talk to, and this simple fact can lift a significant amount of stress from interactions between CEOs and the people who work for and with them.

Coaching not only helps CEOs develop better habits, address skills gaps, and build better emotional intelligence, it can also help them understand how others view them, and how their words and actions affect other people. To an extent, direct-reports and others are expected to work around some of the peculiarities of the gifted CEO, but that doesn’t mean a CEO can act as they please at all times and not expect it to affect others (and ultimately the company). CEO coaches can be tremendously effective in helping CEOs learn how others regard them and how their actions and words affect the people they interact with.

How to Select a CEO Coach

Selecting a CEO coach requires much more than going down a list and seeing who is available. There needs to be a good fit between coach and client, and this is hard to gauge from a web page. In addition to checking a potential coach’s credentials, it’s important to learn something of their track record, and to communicate directly with them to see if the relationship appears fruitful.

For a CEO in particular, it’s important to select a coach who has significant work and life experience. CEO coaches who have been CEOs themselves may be a good choice. Regardless of whether the coach has been a CEO, they should have the experience to know what it’s like to have to hire and fire people, and generally make sure a business remains operational and profitable.

Any CEO coach should be prepared to describe their methodology, their assessment tools, and how they plan to measure success. Likewise, they should be strong enough to hold the CEO accountable for doing the work involved in a productive coach-client relationship. They should be prepared to determine where skills gaps lie, where there is most room for improvement, and specific techniques for overcoming deficiencies and measuring progress.

Different CEO coaches have different methods for assessing baseline measurements and skills gaps.

Finally, a great CEO coach isn’t afraid to call out the client when they are neglectful, lazy, acting out, or generally not participating in the coaching process. A coach is not a drinking buddy or a shoulder to cry on, but a willing and capable partner in measurable performance improvement.

The CEO coach is becoming an increasingly important resource for companies that want to excel in an ultra-competitive business environment. Much is expected from today’s CEO, and while many of them are highly competent and experienced individuals, that doesn’t completely eliminate the learning curve of how to orchestrate operations of an entire business.

The coach’s role is not to train a CEO in how to be a CEO, because they should already know what’s expected of them. What the CEO coach can do, however, is help the CEO become more effective, waste less time, communicate better, and set the stage for a lasting, positive legacy. Studies have shown that investing in CEO coaching pays off on the bottom line, too.

My work as a CEO coach has been some of the most rewarding of my career. Seeing another human fulfill their potential is tremendously inspiring and satisfying, and it makes the hard work and planning well worthwhile. I encourage you to check out my blog, all of which cover important aspects of corporate culture, talent, and leadership so you can make the most of the opportunities you encounter in your career.

Glossary of Terms

• Assessment tools – questionnaires and other tools used by CEO coaches to identify skills gaps, strengths, and opportunities on the part of their coaching client
• CEO coach – a personal coach who assists chief executive officers in carrying out their many responsibilities more effectively and leaving a positive, lasting legacy
• Delegation – the skill of entrusting a responsibility to another person without undue interference
• International Coach Federation (ICF) – an organization designed to advance the coaching profession through certification and accreditation programs that represent the highest qualities in coaching.
• Leadership coaching – similarly to CEO coaching, leadership coaching assists those in positions of leadership in carrying out their responsibilities with maximum effectiveness both short- and long-term
• Micromanagement – management that crosses over the boundary into control, wherein a manager observes or controls the work of subordinates to an excessive and detrimental degree
• Progress metrics – specific indications of progress being made. For example, if a CEO wants to increase revenues by a certain percentage, then revenues represent a progress metric. There are many types of progress metrics, including those that are custom-tailored to a CEO coaching client.

What people want from executive coaching isn’t changing, but how they expect to get it is. It’s the same with any type of coaching. A major league pitching coach in 1970 worked differently from a major league pitching coach of today, because the clients changed, expectations changed, and because technology has allowed new ways of delivering effective coaching.

The game of success remains largely the same, but the tools to produce success evolve.

The same is true in business. Executives want to be effective and to leave a lasting, positive legacy, but the techniques and technologies they use to learn how to do that are evolving along with just about every other aspect of business. Here are a few of the ways executive coaching is expected to change in coming years.

Executive Coaching Certification and Accreditation Increasingly Important

Calling oneself an executive coach and actually being an effective one are not necessarily connected. Coaching certification programs have increased in number in recent years, and in general that’s a positive development. However, not all coaching certification programs are of high enough quality to consistently turn out executive coaches who are effective and successful with their clients.

To that end, accreditation of coaching certification programs has become increasingly important, and will continue to increase in importance as executive coaching is employed in more businesses. Companies and individuals who are going to be making an often-substantial investment in an executive coach want to be confident there will be a positive return on their investment. Hence, indicators like certification by an accredited training program will become increasingly necessary for the executive coach.

Fast, Measurable Results Expected

Coaching is far more than just a feel-good exercise that boosts a client’s confidence. Coaching clients, and their companies want to see measurable results over a defined timeline. Companies can’t wait a year or two for a newly-appointed C-level executive to reach full competence, so they want to hire an executive coach who can help deliver results both long term and short term.

The executive coaches who do this are the ones who arrive equipped with powerful assessment and analytical tools, so they can work with the client to establish a baseline, define goals and objectives, and develop an actionable plan for reaching those goals and objectives. Companies and clients want results that are demonstrable and that make a measurable difference.

App-Based Coaching Platforms and Online Tracking of the Coach-Client Relationship

Apps won’t replace the human executive coach. It simply isn’t possible for an app to simulate the type of actual human relationship that executive coaching requires. However, app-based coaching platforms are expected to increase in number, making coaching tools such as assessments and tracking functions faster, easier, and more accurate.

Technology will make tracking success of the coaching process easier and faster.

Such technological tools could, for example, make it easy and fast for a coaching client to check their progress against milestones regularly, so that when an in-person coaching session occurs, time can be devoted to more important matters, such as learning and practicing new techniques for better leadership. Technology won’t supplant coaching, but will likely make it more efficient.

Niche Coaching and Coaching for Non-Executive Leaders

Coaches that work primarily within a single industry are expected to increase in number. While leadership has many universal characteristics, what is required from the healthcare executive is different than what is required from the mining and petroleum executive. Coaches specializing in niche areas are likely to increase in number in coming years.

Likewise, coaching may become more accessible to non-executive leaders, and this is a positive development too. Overwhelmingly, when people leave their jobs, they’re leaving a bad manager rather than a company. Top executives can only be so effective when they’re worried about lower level managers ruining morale and making bad decisions. Expect that as companies are able to devote resources, they will enlist in leadership coaching for non-executive leaders as well as their top executives.

Executive coaching, like most other professions, is evolving. The emerging generation of top leaders grew up in a profoundly different world than did the top leaders of the 20^th and early 21^st centuries. The importance of coaching is becoming more widely appreciated, and technology and specialization are helping both executive coaches and clients to work together more effectively, for faster, measurable results. If you won’t accept anything other than the most effective business environment, I encourage you to check out my blog, which go into depth on timeless subjects like talent development, corporate culture, and performance management.

If you have decided to work with an executive coach, or to hire one for one of your company’s leaders, then you are to be commended. Executive coaching is one of the most powerful and effective ways to unleash leadership potential and improve performance. But how do you choose an executive coach? Clearly, they’re not all the same, coming from vastly different backgrounds, and with different skill sets and experience levels. Here are 5 questions you should ask of any executive coach you consider hiring, whether for yourself or for a leader in your organization.

More companies are realizing the immense value of executive coaching to company leadership.

1. What Is Your Experience, and Which References May I Contact?

A leader who has achieved a top leadership position through many years of work, study, and dedication needs an executive coach who likewise has sufficient experience to have learned many lessons – about people in particular and about business and humanity at large. And while coaches often use confidentiality contracts, they nonetheless should have past clients you can contact to learn more about what the coaching process was like.

2. What Is Your Executive Coaching Methodology?

There’s no single “correct” methodology, because coaches themselves differ so much. But your prospective coach should be able to describe to you in detail what their approach is, why they use it, and what types of results you can expect. They should also be willing to show you a track record of results their methodology of choice delivers.

3. How Do You Define and Measure Success in a Coaching Context?

Coaches and clients need to be on the same page about how to define success in the coach-client context. If the client wants to improve their delegation skills, but the coach is hung up on some other key to success, the process will be less successful. Both parties should agree on what “success” means in context, how they will measure a baseline level of competency, how they will measure progress, and what they expect over the course of the coach-client relationship.

It’s hard to measure results if you don’t agree on what success means.

4. Do You Have Both Accredited Certification and Relevant Business Experience?

Is certification by an accredited coach training program required for a person to be an executive coach? No. In fact, anyone can say they’re a coach, or use their experience as a life coach as a basis for promoting executive coaching services. Certification by an accredited executive coach training program doesn’t guarantee a coach will be good, but it does offer the client more confidence that the coach has undergone training specific to the business coaching profession. That, plus relevant experience (as confirmed by references) offers greater reassurance to clients.

5. What Types of Activities Do Clients Do Between Coach-Client Meet-Ups?

There may be a period of time at the beginning of the coaching relationship where the coach and client spend a couple of days together, gathering information, doing various assessments, and devising an actionable coaching plan. Afterward, however, clients will be expected to make progress while checking in regularly with their coach in person, by phone, or by video conference. What activities will the client engage in between meetings with their coach, and how will their progress be measured from one meeting to the next? How available is the coach in between scheduled meetings to answer client questions?

The services of a good executive coach can be invaluable, but every client wants to be confident from the start that their investment in executive coaching will deliver results. Don’t be afraid to ask probing questions before signing a contract with an executive coach. If the idea of executive coaching piques your interest, I invite you to learn more about my leadership coaching services. I would be more than happy to talk with you and answer your questions.