Effective Coaching for Executives - The CEO COACH Matthias Hettl
The challenges for CEOs and managing directors have never been greater and more demanding than today. The conditions for effective leadership at the top level have drastically changed in recent years. To meet these demands in the long term, even the most experienced and toughest executives need support. Management Consultant Dr. Matthias Hettl knows from his many years of collaboration with countless CEOs, board members, managing directors, and supervisory board members: Smart leaders who do not want their path to success to be a one-way street are never alone. They have a Top Executive Coach! CEOs of today face significant challenges. An increasingly global competition, technological change, shifts in the political landscape, unprecedented interest rate declines, oil price collapses, or global currency turbulence are just a few examples of the drastic changes CEOs in the business environment are confronted with. Previously common restructuring programs like Six Sigma, Business Reengineering, and many other performance enhancement measures have gradually broken down existing hierarchies, thus distributing high responsibilities among fewer shoulders. At the same time, the complexity of individual tasks and projects has increased. Leading and collaborating with multinational teams and coordinating with a variety of internal and external stakeholders require executives to possess a high level of personal effectiveness and time discipline. The pressure keeps mounting. It is utopian to believe that entrepreneurial burdens of this kind can be sustained in the long run by a single shining figure of leadership, completely alone."Every CEO needs a Top Executive Coach to lead successfully."
Masters of the Universe - Once upon a time Just a few years ago, those at the helm of large companies felt like true "Masters of the Universe." They could determine almost everything and achieve even more. They believed they could handle everything, truly everything, on their own. But that was once upon a time! Because top executives who still believe they can do everything alone are usually the biggest burden to themselves and their companies. This intense and lonely path of decision-making often leads straight to burnout. As a result, these CEOs make poor or no decisions at all. Market opportunities go unused, frustrated employees feeling misunderstood leave the company. In short, the company ship is off course, begins to sway, and quickly ends up in total business oblivion.
An icy, lonely wind blows at the top As intelligent, talented, experienced, motivated, and clever as most CEOs are, they all work in a sort of personal vacuum. In the ivory tower of power, so to speak. The only thing CEOs and managing directors can count on is that their performance is under constant scrutiny by absolutely everyone in the company. It is automatically expected that the man or woman at the top has all the answers and makes all difficult decisions in a goal-oriented and correct manner. This kind of expectation is isolating, very isolating. It requires immense strength and resilience to withstand this icy wind at the lonely top. Additionally, a CEO or managing director has no real colleagues. In this special role at the top as the "Top Dog," there is no unbiased feedback either. It is highly unlikely that employees at the next levels of management will tell the top boss the harsh truth or provide honest criticism. Due to the different "altitude," they are usually not capable of doing so. And it is not their job to hold up a mirror to the CEO or alert him to certain situations of imbalance with constructive and challenging feedback. Everyone needs a coach! In this extreme and tense high-performance environment, top executives need a peer-level confidant. Someone they can trust, exchange ideas with, and who can tell them the full, unvarnished truth about their views and opinions. Someone with whom they can truly be themselves. Someone to whom they can show weakness or doubt. Someone who will listen without judgment. In short, every leader, every CEO needs a Top Executive Coach to function and lead powerfully in the long run. The tasks and objectives of such a Top Executive Coaching program are diverse and not only concern the CEO himself. It also revolves around the following themes. Building a High Performing Team Forming an efficient leadership team and effectively leading the executives is one of the most demanding and crucial tasks facing top executives today. Effective collaboration among top executives is the foundation for ensuring that decisions are not only made but also implemented with the necessary momentum, rather than failing due to individual departmental egos and vanities. Truly successful CEOs and managing directors make other executives around them successful. They act with passion, are engaged, authentic in their approach, courageous, honest, and absolutely reliable. The neutral coach provides valuable services to CEOs to help them fully and responsibly fulfill this role. Successful CEOs promote team performance In working with the top management team, tensions due to differing perspectives and opinions are inevitable. Additionally, top management teams consist of strong personalities with corresponding determination and assertiveness. This is exactly right, as otherwise they would not have reached these positions. However, it also requires a strong willingness from personalities to not only tolerate but actively seek out dissenting opinions and other viewpoints. It is always about competition, about striving to find the best proposal, the best possible course of action in each situation. This is where it becomes evident if the CEO can establish a culture of active and constructive discussion to effectively lead the necessary decision-making processes with the top management team and ensure their implementation in the company. Effective coordination can only be achieved through a team-like process of development and coordination. CEO leadership at its core is the ability to enhance team performance. Therefore, it is crucial for the CEO to ensure the operational capability of his management team and to ensure productive collaboration at the top. The Executive Coach helps ensure that the CEO does not neglect this task amidst his demanding daily routine!"Exercising authoritarian power at the top can be very costly."
Stop Micromanagement Time is one of the most visible constraints in top management collaboration. The challenge lies in the fact that while the CEO has the final say, many upstream decisions are in the hands of managers more involved in operational business. A CEO must recognize that he needs to delegate responsibility; he cannot monitor everyone. Therefore, clear strategy, stringent structures, precise rules, shared corporate values, and effective communication are important as a framework for commitment from all in the top management team. The Executive Coach supports the CEO in this crucial task of "letting go" of tasks that do not concern him directly, thereby helping to avoid energy-draining micromanagement.
Use power wisely Exercising authoritarian power at the top can be very costly. If the CEO issues orders without much regard for others, he can easily trigger a "getting bogged down in operations" among the next levels of management. If a CEO exercises his authority radically, he diminishes his power! Therefore, the CEO should use his power very selectively. It is better to exert indirect influence, for example, through the establishment of an overarching strategy. If the desired interventions by the CEO are carried out in an appropriate manner and tone, they allow the CEO to make decisions that he believes will lead the company and individual top managers in a successful direction. A CEO is most powerful when he expands the powers of his employees within the limits of possibilities. An Executive Coach will immediately notice if a CEO is acting too powerfully and will help him limit this to the necessary extent."If a CEO exercises his authority radically, he diminishes his power!"
Walk your talk Effective cooperation and sustainable performance influencing in the top management team are not achieved solely through decisions made in committees, boards, and meetings. The litmus test of unity is how decisions are presented to one's own leadership teams. How congruent are the verbal and particularly the nonverbal communication of top executives? Employees and managers pay close attention. If they perceive a "Say-do Gap," an incongruence between words and actions, acceptance, respect, and ultimately motivation suffer. Unfortunately, this happens all too often in companies. A brief question to assess the middle management and employees about the credibility of top management members is all it takes. The fact is, in every company, more leaks out from the meeting circles than all participants would like. The descriptions usually range from "Each board member says something different, you can freely choose who to believe" to "The last decisions were not pleasant but necessary. Why certain areas now obviously don't adhere to them and no one from the top intervenes is incomprehensible" to the statement "Preaching water and drinking wine does little to motivate the team." On the other hand, a contrary effect
