Understanding Coaching for Senior Executives – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1098

Understanding Coaching for Senior Executives – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1098

Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1098 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here.

Credit: Misbaa Eri

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Preamble

In the world of business, it’s often assumed that those at the top have everything figured out. Senior executives, with their years of experience and impressive track records, are seen as final decision-makers, visionaries, and drivers of organizational success. Yet, the reality is far more complex. Leadership at the top is not only challenging—it can be isolating, high-pressure, and filled with blind spots. Another complicating factor is that it is always lonely at the top. The information that reaches the top is often colored and biased, which affects decision making.

This is where coaching steps in as a powerful tool. Contrary to the common misconception that coaching is only for the inexperienced or those in transition, it is often most valuable for those at the helm. Senior leaders have the greatest opportunity to impact people and results, and coaching helps them do so with clarity, self-awareness, and sustained effectiveness.

Let us explore why coaching is essential for senior executives, how to understand its real value, and how to execute it effectively for long-term personal and organizational growth.

Why Coaching is Crucial for Senior Leaders

Leadership is Isolating

As executives rise through the ranks, honest feedback becomes scarce. People around them often tell them what they want to hear, not what they need to hear. This isolation can cloud judgment and inhibit growth. Coaching provides a confidential, unbiased sounding board where executives can reflect openly and get to the heart of issues. This is even more so about personal feedback. All well and fine or even great and fantastic are the adjectives commonly given to the work of seniors by juniors. In this environment of sycophancy, reality shall never 

Decisions Have a Wide Impact

The decisions made in the boardroom affect hundreds, sometimes thousands of people. Coaching helps leaders think more clearly, anticipate consequences, and make more mindful decisions that align with values and strategy.

Blind Spots Are Risky

No matter how experienced, every leader has blind spots—areas where their perception doesn’t match reality. A coach helps reveal these blind spots in a constructive way, allowing the leader to address them before they become costly.

Change and Complexity are Constant

Today’s business environment is more complex than ever. Disruptive technologies, global crises, cultural shifts, and fast-paced innovation make agility and emotional intelligence vital. Coaching provides support to navigate this complexity with composure and confidence.

Understanding What Good Coaching Really Means

One of the biggest barriers to effective coaching is misunderstanding what it actually is. Coaching is not:

- Therapy

- Mentoring

- Management consulting

- Giving advice

Instead, coaching is a structured, confidential partnership aimed at helping leaders:

- Clarify goals and obstacles

- Discover their own solutions

- Reflect on behaviors and beliefs

- Make decisions aligned with their purpose and values

- Create accountability for real, lasting change

Coaching is built on trust, empathy, and a commitment to growth. It is both deeply personal and powerfully practical.

How to Get Better Coaching as a Senior Executive

Choose the Right Coach

Not all coaches are created equal. Look for someone with real experience in executive development. Chemistry is essential—you need to trust them and feel challenged by them. While credentials and methodologies matter, emotional intelligence and deep listening are even more critical.

Set Clear Objectives

What do you want to get out of coaching? Whether it’s better decision-making, smoother communication, team transformation, or preparing for a board role, clarity of goals ensures the coaching engagement is focused and meaningful.

Be Open and Honest

Coaching is only effective when you bring your whole self to the table. Vulnerability is not weakness—it’s the foundation for growth. Share your struggles, admit your doubts, and be willing to confront uncomfortable truths.

Reflect Between Sessions

Don’t limit your coaching to the hour-long sessions. Make it a habit to reflect regularly. What worked? What didn’t? What patterns are you noticing in your behavior and decisions? Journaling or daily reflection can deepen the coaching impact.

Share the Learning

Great leaders build great cultures. Use what you learn in coaching to improve how you coach and lead others. Ask more questions, listen more deeply, and create psychological safety for your team. When leaders model curiosity and humility, it transforms entire organizations.

Use Stakeholder Feedback

Many executive coaching programs include 360-degree feedback, where peers, direct reports, and superiors give input. This can reveal hidden strengths and developmental areas and help measure progress over time.

Common Coaching Themes for Senior Executives

- While coaching is always customized, some common focus areas for senior leaders include:

- Transitioning into a new leadership or board role

- Leading through organizational change or crisis

- Enhancing executive presence and influence

- Strengthening strategic thinking and decision-making

- Building high-performing, values-driven teams

- Managing stress and preventing burnout

- Clarifying personal legacy and succession planning

These are not just career concerns—they are personal leadership journeys. Coaching helps connect the inner world of the leader with the external demands of the role.

Sum Up

Senior executives are not immune to self-doubt, fatigue, or blind spots. In fact, the complexity and responsibility they carry often amplify these challenges. Coaching is not a remedial tool—it is a strategic advantage. It empowers leaders to be more self-aware, more intentional, and more impactful.

Leadership is not a destination. It is a journey that demands constant learning and reinvention. Coaching keeps that journey purposeful, reflective, and transformative.

For senior executives willing to invest in their own development, coaching is not just beneficial—it is essential.

Note on Pakistan Situation

Three points need to be considered.

One, executive coaching is not in vogue in Pakistan for two reasons. One, senior executives consider themselves to know all and above and beyond more learning. Therefore, they do not seek executive coaching.

Two, getting coached is usually considered a sign of weakness. Most bosses in Pakistan still carry the idea of a tough boss who has all the answers and solutions and who is quick to decide all matters.

Three, executive coaches are not available in Pakistan. Few individual might be doing it, but this field has not emerged or developed in Pakistan. We may say it is due to lack of demand as mentioned in points 1 and 2, or it may be due to lack of availability as mentioned in point 3. Whatever the case, executive coaching is seriously needed at the senior level.

Concluded.

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For most blogs, I research from several sources which are open to public. Their links are mentioned under references. There is no intent to infringe upon anyone’s copyrights. If, any claim is lodged, it will be acknowledged and recognized duly.