Executive coaching can help with some problems and be poorly suited to others. A leader may need commercial expertise, an organizational change, a different reporting relationship or qualified health care alongside a coaching conversation.
The question is what kind of help fits the problem.
Ask for an explanation of fit
Describe a recent situation and the result you wanted. Ask a prospective provider how they would investigate it, what information they need and what would lie outside their competence.
Be cautious about a method that explains every difficulty through the same cause. A claim that conventional coaching cannot help high performers needs evidence; so does a claim that an alternative diagnostic can identify hidden physiological constraints.
Request a clear distinction between the provider's interpretation, an established measurement and a business offer. Those are different kinds of information.
Review the value of the engagement
Agree on a practical change to test and the observations that will inform the review. Some outcomes will be qualitative, but they can still be specific: a difficult conversation completed, a decision boundary clarified or a recurring escalation reduced.
If the work does not help, revisit the explanation before demanding more commitment from the client. The initial problem may have been framed incorrectly or may require another specialist.
An effective provider should be able to discuss those possibilities without treating them as a failure of the executive to engage.
