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The Roles Coaches Play

One way to think of executive coaching roles is in terms of client need. Does the executive need to learn a new skill, to perform better in the present job, or to prepare for a future leadership role? Does the executive understand and acknowledge these needs? Is he or she willing to seek and accept coaching? Or is the executive looking for a confidant to talk through issues and receive constructive feedback before taking action? These questions suggest client need—or primary coaching function—as one key dimension for distinguishing among different coaching roles.

Coaching role refers to the coach’s primary function in helping an executive learn, grow, and change. These coaching functions may focus on imparting specific skills, addressing performance issues on the job, or supporting broader changes in the executive’s behavior.² There are often several coaching functions in any situation, but unless one is defined specifically as primary, there tends to be considerable confusion about expectations and resulting loss of time and effort.

Executive coaching entails several distinctly different roles, based on the primary function:

• coaching for skills (learning sharply focused on a person’s current task);

• coaching for performance (learning focused more broadly on a person’s present job);