Managers who are considering a developmental plan that calls for an executive coach need more than a desire to improve their leadership capabilities. They also need to understand how to get the most from their work with a professional coach. This guidebook can help managers understand the unique nature of a coaching engagement and to assess their readiness to embark on this method of professional development. It describes the three main elements of a coaching engagement - assessment, challenge, and support - and provides information on how a manager can collaborate with a coach in each of these aspects to get the maximum benefits from coaching.
About the Author: This series of guidebooks draws on the practical knowledge that the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) has generated, since its inception in 1970, through its research and educational activity conducted in partnership with hundreds of thousands of managers and executives. Much of this knowledge is shared-in a way that is distinct from the typical university department, professional association, or consultancy. CCL is not simply a collection of individual experts, although the individual credentials of its staff are impressive; rather it is a community, with its members holding certain principles in common and working together to understand and generate practical responses to today's leadership and organizational challenges.
The purpose of the series is to provide managers with specific advice on how to complete a developmental task or solve a leadership challenge. In doing that, the series carries out CCL's mission to advance the understanding, practice, and development of leadership for the benefit of society worldwide.

Wayne Hart is a feedback and coaching manager, and a senior faculty member at CCL's San Diego campus. He holds a Ph.D. in psychology and a California Psychology License. Additionally, he has been certified as a Teaching Member of the International Transactional Analysis Association. He has published two books and more than a dozen articles in professional journals.

Karen Kirkland is a licensed clinical psychologist and a feedback and coaching manager at CCL's San Diego campus. She holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Missouri and served previously as Associate Dean of the School of Human Behavior at United States International University in San Diego. In more than eighteen years at CCL she has provided feedback services to hundreds of leaders and executives. She has also written or co-authored fourteen professional articles.