Thinking through challenges and understanding tactics in demanding situations

As a senior executive in a company there will be times when new circumstances or situations may develop which require a new method of approach it. This is where the relationship with mentors or coaches becomes important. Most of the time mentors or coaches are persons who have been senior executives before, they have the experience and have been through all the possible outcomes. They now will use their knowledge in a way which opens the mind as a senior executive to new perspectives, to adaptive leadership and to expect the unexpected.

More than often senior managers/executives who are the backbone of any company are tasked with making tough and challenging decisions. Having strong and tightly knitted relation with your coach or mentor will help to make this process a simple and less frustrating one. Relations with coach and mentors allows you to better understand the use of various tactics, to develop your own tactics and be guided smoothly through difficult challenges and situations.

Being a senior manager/executive means you do not have any close peers and colleagues. The closest to those are your board members or other senior persons within the company. It therefore means that you must keep a close relationship with those persons rather than allow yourself to be isolate alone at the top. This would also help you as a senior executive to function and be able to operate the company more effectively and productively.

It must be noted that your allies differ from your friends or someone who you would confide in. As a senior manager/executive it is not likely to hold close and personal ties with other employees. In fact, the relationships kept with employees must be more of a professional manner. Coaches and mentors help senior managers to differentiate between your work relations (allies) and persons who you confide in on a more personal base (friend/confidante).

The relationship that is created and fostered between senior managers and their coaches or mentors provide a lot more. It allows them the access to firsthand information and the opportunities of developing specific skills sets that are necessary for the overall development of better management skills. This leads to improved productivity and performance. Balancing new responsibilities and learning to grasp with a new position as a senior managers will be challenging. A senior manager who lacks time management skills and unable to deliver on what is require may lead to low performance and productivity. However, having a coach or mentor the senior manager will be guided and taught how to cope with the changes and develop systems to efficiently deal with time and responsibilities.

Another important contribution that the relationship between coach/mentor and senior manager creates is that of increased confidence and self awareness. From learning new skill sets to coping with the changes as you transition to a senior executive, one will tend to experience what is know as self doubt. This if left for too long can have significant impacts on the downward development of the business. It will result in lack of direction and deficient performance. Luckily with having a coach or mentor the manager will be able to get feedback of their current performance which will ultimately allow them to see the areas where they need to improve in. In essence coach/mentor acts as a key feedback mechanism for senior managers.