Coaching Opinion

Executive coaching… Then and now

What 15 Years of coaching have taught me about leadership transformation.

Christina Khoo

By Christina Khoo

Managing Director Turningpoint Asia, Senior Executive Coach

Having been one myself for 15 years, I must say that executive coaching has come a long way. Once a behind-the-scenes intervention for underperforming leaders, it has evolved today into a mainstream strategy for high-potential development and strategic leadership impact.

๐™‹๐™–๐™จ๐™ฉ: ๐˜ผ ๐˜พ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ง๐™š๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™‡๐™š๐™ฃ๐™จ
In its early days, executive coaching was often viewed as remedial โ€“ coaches brought in to โ€œfixโ€ behaviors or support leaders struggling with performance or interpersonal issues. It was discreet, sometimes even stigmatized, and rarely spoken about openly. The focus was typically on behavioral correction, communication style, crisis recovery or the like.

๐™‰๐™ค๐™ฌ: ๐˜ผ ๐™Ž๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š๐™œ๐™ž๐™˜ ๐˜ผ๐™™๐™ซ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™œ๐™š
Today, executive coaching signals that a leader is worth investing in, that the organization sees potential to be supported. Coaching is now proactive, strengths-based, and future-focused. Itโ€™s not about fixing – itโ€™s about amplifying leadership, navigating complexity, and driving sustainable growthโ€ฆ working with the leader from the inside-out.

Coaching engagements today are quite commonly anchored on:

Leaders are no longer coached in the shadows. They talk openly about it, endorse it, and, in my own personal experiences, some even aspire to become coaches themselves.

Whatever the case, some essentials remain:

 

๐™‡๐™ค๐™ค๐™ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐˜ผ๐™๐™š๐™–๐™™
The world is more complex, ambiguous, and fast-moving than ever before. As organizations grapple with change, so too must their leaders – and us coaches must evolve alongside them.

Tomorrowโ€™s coaching ๐™ข๐™–๐™ฎ involve more systems thinking, neuroscience, and AI integration, but the ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜„๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐—ต๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ป-๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ – still be about helping people pause, reflect, realign, and reemerge with greater clarity and courage.

Executive coaching then and now has always been about belief – in a personโ€™s capacity to grow and in leadership as a force for good, and belief in the quiet, intentional workย that shapes how leaders show up in the world.

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