I am executive/business leader. What can Jeff do for me?

Coaching helps leaders develop essential skills and provides them with a safe and confidential environment in which to explore possibilities.

More and more, executives and business leaders are using coaching to improve their performance, much as a top athlete might use a coach. Within an organization coaching is sometimes reserved for top executives, but in others it is an important part of the development of key talent at all levels.

Finding yourself in a leadership position does not mean that you suddenly have all of the answers. It does, however, mean that expectations and demands are high. Quite often it also means that there are few people either within or outside your organization that you can turn to. It can be lonely at the top.

Coaching is a confidential relationship within which it is safe to share and discuss things that you can't really talk about elsewhere. It is a place where you can let your hair down, look at the decisions you face, establish personal and organizational objectives, set priorities, develop plans, brainstorm strategies, anticipate and overcome obstacles, and choose among options.

One of Dr. Hester's particular strengths is in helping clients discover things that "they don't know that they don't know." Such discoveries allow clients to better assess risk, but even more importantly they often open the door to new options and opportunities for innovation.

An Executive/Leadership Coach will help you with four levels of learning:

• Creating a vision and setting goals and priorities.
• Tactical problem solving for specific problems.
• Developing leadership capabilities and new ways of thinking and acting that generalize to other situations and roles.
• "Learning how to learn." This is the overarching goal of coaching. It means developing the skills and habits of mind that will change the way you deal with learning, growth and change long after the coaching relationship is over.

A 2013 study by the Stanford Business School, found that executives frequently use coaching to improve many different skills. Among them are:

• Sharing and delegating leadership
• Listening skills
• Conflict management
• Planning skills
• Mentoring/developing internal talent
• Team building
• Decision making
• Communication skills
• Persuasion skills
• Motivational skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Compassion/empathy