No man ― or woman! ― is an island. Boss ladies need others to thrive, whether it’s by learning from someone else’s example or simply getting the encouragement we need to push forward.
This is one of the biggest differences between women who have found success and those who are still looking for their path. The most successful ones are those who surround themselves with the right influences.
One of the people who should be in your inner circle is an executive coach. Your coach is your biggest cheerleader, greatest motivator, and best resource to champion your efforts and help you reach the apex of your potential. Even the most successful boss ladies have an executive coach, and these 10 reasons explain exactly why:
1. Get an Unbiased Perspective
First and foremost, your executive coach treats their commitment to you like a business. They’re not here to be your “yes man”, coddle your ego, or let you self-sabotage with bad habits. Their goal is to help you grow, and this means giving you honest opinions and feedback.
Your coach doesn’t have the benefit of knowing you on a personal level like your friends and family, which helps them see things for what they are and offer realistic, relevant advice. A coach’s impartial objectivity is one of the biggest assets in your own personal growth journey.
As a result, you can expect to gain a clear, unbiased perspective that can help you move forward and upward without distraction.
2. Gain Confidence
Coaches not only lead and guide. They can also build you up and give you the confidence you need to thrive. Too often, we start to question our own abilities. Imposter syndrome sets in and we start wondering whether we’re really cut from the same cloth of other successful boss ladies.
This type of thinking can be nothing short of toxic. It zaps our confidence, and sometimes, we need someone to remind us of how far we’ve come and how far we have the ability to go.
Lean on your executive coach to instill confidence in all you do. We can be much more effective boss ladies when we truly believe we can.
3. Get Challenged
If we’re never challenged, we never change. And if we never change, we never grow. Many boss ladies find it hard to challenge themselves. Sometimes, we don’t know how big of a challenge we need to attempt. Or sometimes, we don’t challenge ourselves enough and end up not growing as fast as we could.
Your executive coach works to understand where you are and where you want to be, and then challenges you to connect those two points. It’s not a matter of busy work, but rather finding fruitful ways to achieve your goals.
4. Help You Grow (Boss Ladies Need This!)
Challenges are an important part of growth. They help us move from a place of thought into one of action. We’re all resistant to change, to a degree. Change can be scary and overwhelming. Unfortunately, this also prevents us from reaching the next level in our careers and personal lives.
The executive coaching process is all about change for growth. Your coach will help you overcome this resistance to change so you can start making noticeable improvements and stop feeling like you’re just spinning your wheels.
5. Stay on the Right Path
Getting sidetracked isn’t inherently a bad thing. In fact, it can sometimes lead us to ideas that we might never have thought of otherwise. But sometimes, especially when we know the direction we want to take, we need to tune out distractions and stay on our path.
An executive coach can help you shape what the “right” path looks like. In some cases, you might find that what you were pursuing isn’t the best option. Get clarity over your journey so you can keep pushing forward.
6. Utilize Your Best Talents
Some experts say to focus on your weaknesses and try to improve them. But executive coaches know there’s another side of this conversation that needs to be had: Focus on your strengths to make them even stronger! When you can put your best talents to use, you’re able to amplify what you already do well.
7. Identify Shortcomings
It’s not easy to admit our weaknesses, sometimes to the point where we don’t see them at all. But we need to identify our shortcomings as boss ladies so we can be the most effective leaders for our teams.
Your executive coach lacks bias and can help you come to terms with areas that could use improvement. What’s more, they can help you take the next step of filling in the gaps so that those weaknesses become stronger.
8. Uncover Hidden Potential
We are truly our own worst critics. That’s why it’s not surprising when we don’t always recognize our own potential. But your executive coach can. Because they create an unbiased image of you, they may be better able to see strengths that you do not. Knowing these strengths is the first step to honing them.
9. Be Held Accountable
Boss ladies are no strangers to accountability. They have teams, individuals, vendors, and partners to hold accountable, including themselves. But when it comes to improving your leadership, accountability can sometimes fall by the wayside.
It’s hard to admit our shortcomings or wrong choices, but holding ourselves accountable is the only way to learn from these things. When you have someone on your side holding you accountable for your goals and decisions, you can be more proactive in these things, too.
10. Get a Competitive Edge
While others are resting on their laurels, your executive coach is helping you grow and thrive into a more capable leader. That in itself is helping you to gain a competitive edge, which you can leverage to get a raise or even a better position with another company.
Boss ladies need an executive coach to thrive. The next step is to find a coach that vibes with you. Reach out to book an intro session and explore how executive coaching can help you level up.