In my daily coaching practice, I generally meet people of that level who think that way, what is understandable, they are people who in order to reach that level in their companies have had to go a long way. Surely they are people with a professional career, with postgraduate degrees and some even with doctorates. With a number of courses throughout their careers that surely makes them think and what else can I learn?
In addition, they have extensive knowledge of the technical or administrative processes that they have learned to manage in the performance of the different positions that they have had to exercise.
However, all this background is not enough to effectively exercise a position of this nature, other skills are needed, which most likely they did not learn at the University, we are talking about a significant number of other behaviors necessary for the exercise of their positions, for example competencies such as leadership, effective communications, managing a work team, giving recognition to its staff when they just deserve it and many others.
I recently had to coach a high-level executive in a high-tech company, (for obvious reasons, I cannot say the name of the company or the executive), this person because of the way he led his people. The company found it necessary to change the entire staff reported to it three times that year, due to the mistreatment they received from that executive.
In my coaching intervention I limited myself to him reflecting on his behavior towards other people, only through questions that he had not yet asked himself, I did not have to be teaching him anything, only accompanying him in his reflection through a deep, empathetic and making him manage to develop another perspective, another look, become a different observer and from there generate an action plan to achieve the change that he set out to achieve at the time of starting the coaching process.
This type of coaching, basically, consists of maintaining a conversation with a strategic focus, with very clear objectives on the part of the executive. Generally, the General Manager / President is involved, but only to know the goals and objectives of the coaching to be started, since this entire process is confidential, and it is the executive himself who directs his change process.
As an executive, if you realize that there is a limitation that prevents you from exercising your position even more effectively, you may need support of this nature.
Think that you don’t necessarily have to know everything