How to Make The Case for an Executive Coach
While most of my clients—founders, executives, and senior leaders—control their own budgets, I reserve a portion of my practice to work with rising leaders who need to ask work to support coaching. If that’s you, I wrote this guide for you.
I recently came across this tweet:
This is all true. And it got me thinking…do you know what else those people ask for that you can ask for, too? An executive coach.
Most of my clients who ask work to financially support coaching get full support. All you have to do is ask. It sounds daunting, but it’s totally doable.
Here’s what I’ve seen work for my clients.
Use your coaching benefit.
If you work in tech or at a fully-distributed company, your company might already offer a coaching benefit in addition to a professional development budget. Find out. You might be surprised. Non-tech companies are starting to think about this, but it hasn’t become widely adopted yet.
Tap into a professional development budget.
If you don’t have a coaching budget, you might be able to tap into professional development funds to cover part of or all of a coaching engagement. Your personal budget won’t cover much, but sometimes my clients pool their entire team’s budget and apply unused funds towards hiring a coach—a LOT of funds go unused every year, but they’re still available. You can also stretch your budget by splitting it across two calendar years to cover part of the cost.
Tap into (or create) a consulting budget.
Most commonly, my clients create or tap into an existing consulting budget in order to work with me. Executive coaching is ultimately a business expense. The impact you create as a leader after working with a coach should ripple across your business and beyond.
Our work might feel personal sometimes, but our goal is to create systemic, measurable impact. And that’s something that businesses pay for.
If you’re the CEO, you own this budget. If you have a manager, you just have to ask for help. I can help you do that. (More on that below).
Ask HR, L&D, or an ERG to fund the engagement
If your company or organization already works with coaches on a per case basis, they might want you to work with one of their approved coaches or vendors. If you’re OK with that, great. But if you already have an external coach (like me!) picked out who you want to work with, you can ask to work with them. As long as your coach is certified, HR can easily add them as a vendor.
If you and/or your coach are underrepresented or if they have an area of expertise that can help you, make that case as well. For example, I’m an executive coach who is a woman, queer, and specializes in working with women in tech and product executives. For those reasons, my clients choose to work with me and HR is always on board. My clients just have to ask.
Accept the discomfort of asking.
If you don’t control your budget or are afraid to ask your manager or HR for funding, it can feel daunting to ask for something like coaching. BUT, BUT...you say. I'm a woman. I'm queer. I'm underrepresented. I'm not like other leaders in my org. I ask for things and it's seen as pushy or worse yet, a sign of weakness… I can’t just ask for things and get them.
I understand. Here’s the thing.
a) Humans are helpful creatures. Asking for help isn't an imposition. It's an invitation to kick ass together. Chances are, your boss or HR wants to help you succeed as long as your progress benefits your organization. Bringing me in saves them time and gets ridiculous results. Win, win.
b) ESPECIALLY if you are a woman, LGBTQ, or underrepresented person in tech or at your company, your boss and organization want to keep you. They want you to be your best. They theoretically want you to advance, even if it doesn't feel that way. Bringing in a coach ultimately helps them help you.
BUT, BUT...I work at a startup, nonprofit, or in government. We don't have money to spend on things like coaching.
Yes. You. Do.
Half of my clients work at startups, nonprofits, or in government. All who have asked for support have gotten it.
Clarify your pitch, tell your story.
Phew, OK. Now that you have done your research, now it's time to make your pitch. DON'T FREAK OUT. You can do this. All you have to do is tell a story. The key here is that in this story, help your boss or HR be the hero. This is easier than it sounds.
A good story has:
Goals
Action(s)
Challenges
Results
Feelings
Here is a template you can use:
I want to [insert shared goals: your professional goal and how that relates to your manager, team, org, and/or business goals]
But or and...[struggle, things you've tried, be honest…or…an opportunity you see]
Idea: work with a coach!
[Expect possible fear, questions, resistance (this is normal), be prepared]
[Help your boss make this happen]
[Tie goal to boss/team/org outcomes]
Once more….with feeling.
Look over what you have so far. What feelings can you tie to different parts of your story? Are you excited? Worried? Delighted? Stressed? Overwhelmed? Clear? Unclear? A little of a few of those?
Great! The story you tell and co-create with the other person as you figure out the best solution together will be more effective if you tell is with real, human feelings and invite the other person to share feelings, too.
The trick with all of this is to accept that you will feel vulnerable making your request. And that’s OK.
While it might feel like you’re showing weakness, you’re actually showing strength by a) letting your manager know that there’s a problem or opportunity, b) proactively showing that you want to improve something, and c) inviting them to be a part of the solution, which ultimately helps them meet their goals of building a stronger team, culture, and business.
Go forth. You can do this.
My clients have had this conversation with their managers and HR in person, over Zoom, over email, and even in Slack (this is a last resort—do it face to face, in real time if you can). It sounds scary, but you can do it!
If you (esp. women/LGBTQ/underrepresented folks) have been thinking of working with a leadership coach and if you want help making the case with your boss, let's chat!
I’m here to help.
