Raising Executive Performance to Stellar Heights

For 20+ years I’ve provided Integrative Performance Coaching (IPC) to leaders, executives, and managers in government and the nonprofit and for-profit business sectors. Although the fundamental aim is to improve their performance and effectiveness, in the process, their wellbeing, fulfillment, and work-life satisfaction inevitably rise as well. These changes stem from their making and sustaining incremental improvements in the physical, environmental, social, and human performance factors that impact their executive performance in the workplace. Along the way, executives also acquire greater leadership acumen, and the teams they lead typically realize a performance hike, too.

Learning to perceive and measure these dimensions of executive performance proves eye-opening for most leaders. In fact, the more they develop such awareness, the more intrinsically strategic, proactive, and ethical they become—three pillars of exemplary leadership. By the same token, to the extent they see themselves and their impact on others completely and clearly, they are motivated to grow and change. This is the greatest gift that IPC delivers. Not fancy models or exercises, but rather a mirror through which unseen or unexamined dimensions of each executive’s performance come into focus.

A diagram of the Johari Window, which depicts aspects of self that are open, blind, hidden, or unknown
Johari Window of Self-Awareness

Peak Executive Performance by Design

In the long term, it doesn’t pay to “coach up” an executive to achieve individualistic, short-term performance goals. This is because a leader ultimately is measured by the performance of the people they lead, whether teams, departments, or entire organizations. IPC is geared to initiate ongoing performance improvement not only in the coachee, but also in the teams or departments they lead. This is achieved by building leadership knowledge, skills, and behaviors to help them:

  1. Evaluate their work through leadership and team performance frameworks rather than individualistic ones.
  2. Use this richer perspective to modify their speech, behavior, and leadership approach.
  3. From this higher ground, coach their teams to greater effectiveness than ever before.

Leadership & Executive Coaching Focus Areas

A young, Hispanic female leader speaks to a racially diverse group of women

It’s important from the outset to establish the specific kind of coaching that suits each executive as well as their organization’s needs. During most coaching engagements there isn’t time to improvise—or to try to do it all. In our initial coaching agreement, we’ll define our work together in a few of the following areas:

  • Leadership development
  • Strategic vision
  • Team development
  • Social & emotional intelligence
  • Communication effectiveness
  • Productivity & efficiency
  • 360° feedback
  • Business skills development
  • Conflict resolution
  • Role clarity
  • Professionalism
  • High-level problem solving and decision making

Bringing Out the Innate Leader Within

Deep down, many executives are already great leaders. All the vital ingredients are there.

A drop of water is poised to fall and a bright green seedling in a pot of soil

It doesn’t matter whether they’re an introvert or extrovert, a thinker or a feeler. It doesn’t matter whether they’re charismatic or understated, tall or short, thick or thin, male or female. Every seed of leadership excellence is within them. Simply waiting to germinate.

IPC is all about watering these seeds, simply watering the seeds they want to grow (and perhaps removing a few weeds). I can assure you, based on decades of executive coaching experience, that the capacity for leadership excellence is boundless in most people. But it’s often untapped or poorly developed. You’ll be amazed at how much someone you know—or someone like you—can truly grow and blossom as a leader and manager. All it takes is the right care and feeding.