Being an entrepreneur is not easy. You have to be a jack of all trades and do a lot of things at the same time. You are involved in management, accounting, HR, logistics, sales…. The list can be never-ending. In short: you get tired fast. It is strongly advised to delegate some tasks (to employees, for example), but doing so requires excellent delegation skills yourself. No matter how much delegation you do, it is impossible to keep track of everything your employees are doing and see whether they are doing their jobs well or badly. This is exactly where executive coaching can help you.

There are several reasons an employer would choose to assign Executive Coaching with Performance by Design. It is not as common as hiring a leadership coach for lower-level managers or team members. In fact, less than 50% of organizations hiring leadership coaches actually use them for executive coaching. The most common reasons for providing an executive coach are increasing job performance or improving current leadership abilities.

1. Awareness

One of the major benefits I’ve derived from my executive coaching experience is heightened self-awareness. Although being aware of one’s strengths and weaknesses is not a new concept, it has been proved that moments of insight can help us achieve our goals in life. It reminded me of my time helping friends and acquaintances on the GMAT; there are just so many resources online, yet students could use more guidance to make gradual improvements.

The single most important step in self-improvement is heightening self-awareness. This is true for every area of life, from business to personal development. In order to understand why you’re doing what you’re doing, why you’re making the decisions that you’re making, and why they are leading to where they are taking you (or not taking you), it’s imperative that you get a grounded assessment of your mental status–or psycho-emotional make up.

2. Improves the level of empathy

An elite high-performance coach can sharpen someone’s emotional intelligence and help them develop empathy on a number of levels. Not only can they tune into your emotional cues and help you find the best way to express yourself, but an executive coach can help develop a greater sense of self-awareness.

The benefit of Executive Coaching is that it brings leadership through a conscious approach. The inner dialogues that happen during coaching can produce higher levels of empathy. Empathy is getting beyond yourself and understanding the needs and wants of your employees because you want to help them succeed. Going beyond yourself means that your intentions are not about self-improvement or self-actualization. Going beyond yourself involves compassionate listening, the ability to listen without judgment. At times, compassionate listening becomes challenging. The coach may be judging an idea, but the intent is for the idea to be heard without being judged until later.

3. Social skills

One of the things people often struggle with is social interaction, whether in their personal or business life. And this can come from not knowing how to respond to certain situations or perhaps not understanding body language and reading nonverbal cues. A professional coach can help you understand those things and provide you with the necessary skills for successful social interactions. Some people are extremely nervous when speaking in front of groups or talking with their co-workers, and they may need some sort of guidance to succeed in those situations. People that have difficulty communicating well with others can also benefit from coaching.