Corporate executive coaching: a buyer’s guide for HR.

Start with the business problem

The most common mistake in buying coaching is starting with the coach. Start with the problem instead. What is happening, or about to happen, that costs the organization if it goes wrong? A new VP who needs to land in ninety days. A strong operator showing early signs of burnout. Two senior leaders whose friction is slowing the whole team. A high potential who is one step from a bigger role and not quite there.

If you can name the problem in a sentence, you can judge whether coaching is the right tool, choose a coach whose training fits it, and measure whether it worked.

When coaching is the right investment, and when it isn’t

Coaching works best for a capable leader who wants to change something specific and has the room to practice while doing the job. Harvard Business Review’s survey of 140 coaches found the most common reason companies hire a coach is to develop high potentials or support a transition, at 48 percent. Fixing derailing behavior was only 12 percent.

It is the wrong investment in a few situations. When the organization has already decided the leader is leaving, coaching becomes theater. When the problem is the role, the incentives or the manager, coaching the individual only teaches them to absorb more cost. And when the issue is clinical, such as depression, an anxiety disorder or substance use, the leader needs treatment, not coaching.

Independent coach or coaching firm

Searches for executive coaching companies return two very different kinds of provider.

Coaching firms and platforms are built for scale. They match many employees with many coaches, standardize the process and report across a program. That suits broad leadership development across dozens or hundreds of managers.

An independent senior coach is built for depth. You get one person’s judgment, accountable for the whole engagement, usually with more senior experience and a narrower specialty. That suits a small number of critical leaders where the stakes are high and generic coaching won’t touch the real problem.

Many organizations use both: a platform for the broad program and an independent coach for the few leaders they can least afford to lose.

What to ask a coach before you hire

A short interview tells you a lot. Ask what training they have and whether it is regulated. Coaching itself is unregulated, so anyone can use the title. Some coaches hold a credential from a coaching body; a smaller number also hold a professional license with its own board and ethics code. Ask what kinds of leaders they usually work with and what problems they decline.

Ask how they handle confidentiality when the company pays, and what the sponsor will see. Ask how they measure progress. Ask what happens if it isn’t working. And ask how they recognize when an issue is outside coaching. Research cited in the Harvard Business Review report suggests that between a quarter and a half of people who seek coaching have clinically significant levels of anxiety, stress or depression. A coach who cannot spot that is a risk to the leader and to you.

Confidentiality: what the sponsor sees

Coaching works because the leader can say the unpolished version. That only happens if they trust it stays private. The standard that protects everyone is simple, and it should be written into the engagement letter.

The sponsor sees the goals agreed in a three way kickoff, attendance and schedule, progress at a three way review, and recommendations for how the organization can support the change. The sponsor does not see what is said in sessions, personal or health information, any clinical referral, or session notes.

That split keeps the work clear for the organization and private for the leader. It also protects the company. You get accountability without taking on information you should not hold.

Measuring it honestly

You will find coaching vendors quoting dramatic return on investment figures. Treat them with care. Most come from single company case studies that are hard to generalize.

A more reliable approach has three parts. Two or three behavioral goals agreed in writing at the start, specific enough that colleagues could notice a change. Feedback from stakeholders before and after, where useful, so change is seen by others and not only reported. And a defined review, usually around ninety days, where everyone says plainly what has changed, what hasn’t, and whether to continue. If it isn’t working, stop.

Coaching several leaders in one company

I often work with more than one leader inside the same organization, and with the dynamics between them. That can be very effective, because patterns at the top tend to interlock. It needs clear rules.

Each leader has a separate engagement with its own confidentiality. I do not carry messages between leaders, and I do not share what one tells me with another or with the sponsor. When the issue is the relationship itself, such as friction between two executives or a senior team that agrees in the room and splits outside it, the right format is a facilitated team intensive. Everyone knows the work is shared, and interviews beforehand are confidential.

Duty of care

Coaching is not a substitute for an employee assistance program or for treatment. An EAP offers short term counseling. Coaching is performance work for a functioning leader. The two can sit side by side.

What matters is what happens when a clinical issue surfaces during coaching. The coach should say so to the leader, refer them privately to appropriate care, and keep that referral out of any sponsor reporting. As a licensed clinician I am trained to recognize those moments early. I do not provide therapy to anyone I coach, and coaching through Deepcrest is never therapy for your staff.

Contracting and billing

Expect an engagement letter that sets out scope, goals, confidentiality, reporting and fees, and a mutual NDA where your organization requires one. Engagements are usually priced per leader for a defined period, with team intensives and talks priced separately, and invoiced to the organization.

If you are scoping coaching for one leader or several, a short sponsor call is the fastest way to tell whether it is the right tool. Nothing about a named leader is shared without their consent.

Sources: Diane Coutu and Carol Kauffman, “What Can Coaches Do for You?”, Harvard Business Review Research Report, January 2009, including commentary by Anthony M. Grant.

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