A Guide to Executive Coaches for the Legal Profession
What has driven most people to their success, be it a politician, a business owner, a professional, or an artist is an adviser who has played a crucial role in their life, in their success. When these individuals or groups of individuals are faced with something big or need to make some very crucial decisions in their lives, they usually fail to think out of the box or else they fail to analyze things well and use good judgment over the matter. This is commonly called “blind spot”. And this blind spots are possessed by everyone and the reason why in this present economy the trend is for top corporations to hire external coaches to work with senior level executives.
These coaches that are hired by companies to coach executive act not only as a sounding board but it also conditions everyone to a reality check. What they can do is provide support and validation to the group using their resourcefulness, their acumen, and their expertise.
Today, even the legal profession is finding the need for professional coaching. And in our case, they help lawyers succeed in their career by putting an edge on their performance when they exploit the advantage of having an accomplice mentor. This is not only for the regular lawyers, but even top performing lawyers achieve peak performances when they are under a mentor.
Coaching picks up where traditional consulting leaves off. Here is the difference. When you are dealing with a consultant, he will try to find ways to help you achieve your desired objective. What consultants do is to improve your role but they don’t mentor you. What the consultant then ends up doing is detailing steps that are important for you to achieve your desire for your career. Sometimes the consultants even do the work for you to achieve their own ends.
This is not how a coach works. It does not succeed by having the type of relationship where a more senior or experienced person acts as an advisor or guide to a junior or a trainee. A coach works with the person he is mentoring by providing support, feedback, and an alternative outlook and both does not really know where the discussions will lead them but usually this leads to something really beneficial. It helps the lawyer to think better and to think differently or unconventionally.
When you hire an executive coach he usually charges a monthly fee and there are weekly phone conferences scheduled with the client. Fees can range from a few hundred dollars up to several thousand dollars.
