By P. Afeefa Murray

Afeefa Murray

P. Afeefa Murray, a PHI Coaching and Organizational Development Specialist recently interviewed three organizational leaders engaged in Executive Coaching relationships with members of PHI’s Training and Organizational Development team.

In this article, Murray describes how Executive Coaching can help provide perspective and support.

No doubt, executive leaders play a critical role in supporting employees, clients and their family members.

Yet some leaders of eldercare and disability services organizations find themselves grappling with a sense of isolation, lacking the same supports that they so freely offer others. A recurring theme voiced by executive leaders is that there are “very few people I feel I can talk to and trust.” Additionally, leaders are often privileged with sensitive organizational information they cannot share.

“The job of being an executive leader is lonely, pressured, with lots of responsibility; and in healthcare, it is very vulnerable,” explained Rick Surpin, President of Independence Care Systems.

Through Executive Coaching, each of the organizational leaders that we interviewed realized that they need to focus on creating a more participatory process and also empower their staff to handle issues within their own departments. This shift opened up possibilities for the executive leaders to be engaged in a different way, resulting in better, more effective management relationships.

As Anne Thomas, Executive Director of New Bridge on the Charles explained: “I learned to be less reactive to problems and no longer feel I have to fix them myself. I can take a step back and hand decisions over to the team.”

PHI coaches encouraged the leaders to set goals, engage staff, manage resistance, and ask for feedback. With the coach invested in the success of the organization and its leadership, a coaching relationship was built on a foundation of mutual respect and trust.

This trusting relationship provided executive leaders with a sounding board for their ideas, but also with the opportunity to discover their own internal resources and strengths. “The coach helped me to explore what was troubling me so that I could get to the root of the issue,” said Margaret Franckhauser, CEO of Central New Hampshire Visiting Nurses Association and Hospice. “She helped me to know what made me tick and my reactions to it.”

“As an advocate for change I met with lots of resistance and my coach encouraged me to use my voice,” said Thomas. “My coach was my partner; she walked the walk with me.”