Paige Finn DohertyFounding Partner, Behind Genius · Founding Partner at Behind Genius Ventures

what is the most important goal of an executive coach?

20 Jan 2024 · 1 min

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In this brief interview, the speakers discuss the core goal of executive coaching for founders: enabling them to develop independent conviction by learning to coach themselves. The coach emphasizes teaching founders to pause, reflect on their reactions, and ask themselves probing questions about why they respond a certain way. A crucial step before self‑coaching is shifting from a traditional manager role to a coaching role with their own team members. Instead of assigning tasks, founders are encouraged to run one‑on‑ones by asking what the direct report wants to achieve in the meeting, fostering a collaborative, inquiry‑based approach.

How do you help founders go through that process and start to develop independent conviction, like their line of questioning to themselves about figuring out problems and taking action themselves?
Yeah, so definitely my internal motivation and mark of success is, can I teach this person to coach themselves? Can I teach them to pause and slow down and think, what's going on? Why am I responding in this way? In this way? What would this response be trying to, to teach me? There's often one step before that, which is how do I start to become a coach to my team members rather than managing my direct reports and saying, hey, I need you to do X by Y. You start running your one-on-ones by saying, hey, what do you want to get out of our one-on-one today?
Yeah.