Well, I thought - why not ask them? At the end of February I facilitated a panel Q[&]A session in my role as Guildford Area Coordinator of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council. On the panel were heads of HR, Learning and Development and Organisational Development from 3 multinationals based in and around the Guildford area. So, what are these buyers of coaching looking for? The key requirements seemed to me to be twofold – quality assurance and value for money.

Recently, I described to a department head what happens during coaching. In response, he told me 
how he goes about handling his employees: he constantly must explain to them what they are 
supposed to do and how they should go about doing it. And how he would do all of this with the 
patience of an angel. Even the smallest, most mundane things, they can’t manage on their own, he 
told me. 

Coaches and selling – a tough love

Why should anyone be coached by you?

Executives often fall - after several years in the same position - internally sidelined and wait there for too long (for different reasons) before actively seeking the confrontation with their employer. The result: Most executives come to the conclusion that they should have tackled this issue much earlier.

There I was sitting. Already 25 minutes in the anteroom of the CEO, waiting. Not that I had been warned in advance that my conversation partner would be extremely busy. But of course I had shown up perfectly in time for the clearing conversation for one of his top managers from the first management level, responsible for 16.000 employees in more than 20 locations.

Originally I had suggested a meeting among the three of us. So, we could start coaching process with the same basis. But this suggestion was crushed by the CEO’s secretary weeks ago. He wanted to speak with me alone, the matter was critical.