If someone invests in you, don't be so foolish as not to take advantage of it

If your company is offering you the opportunity to take part in an executive coaching program to develop your managerial and leadership skills, know that you have an extraordinary opportunity in your hands. Not only do they want to invest in you, which is already relevant in itself, but they intend to keep you for a long time, if only to be the ones who benefit from your growth and return from the investment they are making.

Those who believe in you believe in your future, not (only) in your present. Even a very welcome increase in salary is not always a symptom of the esteem and consideration that the company has for you. It may be that, at that time, it is preferable to give you what the English call "bone", that is, a sop, and avoid tensions. In any case, when you leave the company, you will also leave your salary.

But if the company invests in your professional growth, it knows that what it is giving you will go away with you and you will no longer be lost. a deal. So, if you are starting an executive coaching path you have the duty, for you and for your company, not to betray the trust that has been answered in you. How? Simply, following some behaviors that will make your path of truly productive executive coaching.

How to engage in employee investment

Come to the sessions prepared

Before each session, (re) list,  in writing , your goals and put them in the order that you consider most relevant to your aspirations. Write what you want to acquire: a "knowledge"? A skill? List your concerns, whether they are related to your skills, work environment, colleagues, bosses, employees, etc. What do you want the topic of the session to be? Decide and write it down. Growth goals are usually set at the beginning of the journey, so the theme of the session is, to some extent, already defined. But you are able to better focus the session address,

Be extremely clear about your goals

Many coaches open the session by asking you what you want to talk about and what goal you set for that specific meeting. If you have a topic that is particularly close to your heart, this is a great opportunity to steer the session in the direction you prefer. The point is that you must be as precise and exhaustive as possible in defining the goal you have set for yourself. It's not just about clarity. You have to be precise, circumscribed. A goal can be defined in terms of scope and in terms of depth. Work both ways and you will find that the coach will also be much more effective at supporting you.

Leave your office outside

The work you were doing or finishing, the meeting you just finished or that you are going to do after the session, the on-site or off-site appointment you will have to go to, in short, everything that does not pertain to your coaching session must remain strictly out . Your laptop must not enter and your mobile must remain switched off. Your attention must be totally on yourself. You are working to improve yourself, to grow and develop new skills and competences. If you try not to repeat this phrase like a chant, you will realize what an extraordinary undertaking you have undertaken and how this inevitably absorbs a large part of your physical and mental energies. So, no distractions. You have to be 100% about yourself.

Be open and ready to be surprised by new ideas

An executive coaching path is a challenge to your usual way of thinking. It is a process that undermines your mental paradigms and pushes you to explore new concepts about yourself and the environment in which you operate. It is your path and, therefore, it is your challenge to yourself. New ideas and perspectives will present themselves and may be totally antithetical to the established ones, with which you have been familiar for years. Do not be prejudiced and do not put up a childish resistance to your growth. Be positively disposed towards all the ideas that will flow into your mind and boldly enter yourselves. The coach will only be the inspirer of a method, you will be the protagonists and authors of everything that you will be able to conceive again.

These are just four simple tips, but I assure you that if you follow them you will be amazed by the results. As I said at the beginning, if someone invests in you, don't be so naive as not to take advantage of it.

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About the author

Giuseppe Ando is a C-Level & Executive Coach - Associate Partner at the acclaimed Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching. With a career that presides at the crux of the Venn diagram of Passion, Skills, and Experience, Giuseppe’s reputation as top executive coach has spanned decades. Among his many accolades, he is also recognized for his unique ability to understand and inspire those he coaches to excel professionally and personally while also delivering their organization’s desired results.