Unlock Your Leadership Potential Today with Personalized Executive Coaching
Hi – I’m David Craig White. I offer executive coaching for small business owners, and professionals stepping on to or moving up the leadership ladder.
My executive coaching services are designed to help you lead with clarity, confidence, and resilience in today’s fast-paced business world.
Whether you’re looking to enhance your communication skills, learn how to handle difficult employees or develop your strategic thinking, executive coaching is a powerful solution that can help you get there.
“David is by far one of the strongest coaches I have ever come across…perhaps THE strongest!
Aki Danmark Palikaras – HR Director at A.P. Moller – Maersk
“David is the best leadership coach I have come across and helped me develop in these areas like I would’ve never imagined possible. He’s structured, hardworking, passionate and a natural-born sales leadership coach.”
Michael Rosetti – Co-Founder at The Social Adz
David was my mentor and coach and helped me with everything from how to structure coaching sessions to how you can establish a company coaching culture.
He also helped me with my self-awareness and emotional intelligence and take ownership of my personal development.
I can truly recommend David to every organisation that wants to grow through motivated and skilled employees. He will always be my number 1 success coach.
Kenneth Brandt Ibsen – Inside Sales Manager at Falcon.io (Brandwatch)
Common Questions About Executive Coaching
Below you will find my answers to people’s most commonly asked questions about executive coaching.
Click any of the following questions to jump to the answer:
- What is Executive Coaching?
- What are the Benefits of Executive Coaching?
- Who is Executive Coaching For?
- Why Do People Hire an Executive Coach?
- How Does Executive Coaching Work?
- How Does Online Executive Coaching Work?
- How Long Are The Coaching Sessions?
- How Frequent Are The Coaching Sessions?
- How Long Do Executive Coaching Programs Last?
- When is Executive Coaching a Bad Idea?
- What is the Difference Between an Executive Coach and Startup Consultant?
- What is the Difference Between an Executive Coach and a Mentor?
- What Qualifications Do Executive Coaches Have?
- How Much Does Executive Coaching Cost?
- How Can I Convince My Company to Invest in Executive Coaching?
- How Can I Convince My Management Team to Try Executive Coaching?
- How Do I Get Started With Executive Coaching?
If you have any further questions, you can book a free consultation.
What is Executive Coaching?
Executive coaching is a professional service focused on helping leaders to improve their leadership skills and achieve their goals.
It involves working one-on-one with an executive coach to identify areas for improvement and set tangible goals to help you develop the skills and habits needed for success.
Executive coaching often covers a wide range of areas, including leadership development, decision-making, communication, time management, strategic thinking and many more.
Many executives also use their executive coach as a sounding board for new ideas or for troubleshooting complex problems.
As your executive coach, I will work with you to understand your unique challenges and goals and offers guidance, feedback, and support so you can reach your full potential.
With personalised one-to-one executive coaching sessions, we can help transform you into a more confident, effective and visionary leader.
What Are The Benefits of Coaching for Executives?
The benefits of executive coaching can vary depending on your leadership role, experience and responsibilities.
As an individual, coaching can help you:
- Increase self-awareness
- Become a more confident leader
- Improve your communication skills
- Develop your leadership skills
- Gain promotion to a leadership role
- Learn to manage up and across
- Develop crucial coaching skills
- Become more resilient
- Reduce stress and anxiety
- Advance your career
- Increase motivation levels
- Handle conflict better
- Improve your people skills
Some of the benefits of coaching for an organisation include:
- Increased accountability across the organisation
- Increased employee morale and lower churn rates
- Improving alignment across teams
- Increased performance levels
- Faster and more efficient growth
- Improved customer satisfaction
- Reduced recruitment costs
Great leaders create high-performing teams full of dedicated individuals who are willing to fight for them.
Organisations who invest in leadership coaching are ultimately always going to outperform those who don’t.
Who is Executive Coaching For?
Executive coaching is for new, experienced or emerging leaders at all levels of an organisation, from the CEO to newly promoted team leaders.
C-Suite executives at scaling organisations such as CEOs, COOs, and CFOs often hire an executive coach to help them navigate complex challenges, improve their people skills or use as a sounding board.
Founders of startups and small businesses also work with coaches to help develop their leadership skills and scale their businesses.
Coaching is also extremely valuable for newly promoted VPs, directors, managers and team leaders looking for help developing their leadership identity and avoiding common leadership mistakes.
Executive coaching is also becoming very popular amongst ambitious individuals who are looking to progress into a leadership role.
Why Do People Hire an Executive Coach?
The people who hire me as an executive coach often either don’t have internal resources available or feel more comfortable working with an external coach in a confidential setting.
Some of the other common reasons people decide to hire a coach include:
Professional Development
Many individuals seek coaching as a way to enhance their leadership skills, improve their performance, and achieve greater professional growth.
Career Development
Coaching can help you position yourself for advancement in your career by improving your leadership skills and expanding your professional networks.
Overcoming Complex Challenges
Coaching can help you overcome complex challenges such as poor communication, low morale, or lack of motivation with yourself or your team.
Enhancing People Skills
A coach can help you improve your interpersonal skills, such as building stronger relationships with colleagues and employees and improving your ability to work effectively in a team.
Achieving Balance and Avoid Burnout
Ccoaching can also help you achieve a better work-life balance and avoid burnout by improving your time management and prioritisation skills.
Personal Growth
Executive coaching can also support personal growth by helping you understand your strengths, values, and areas for improvement.
Managing Mental Health Issues
Acoach may also be able to help you manage mental health issues such as anger, stress or anxiety.
Overall, people hire a coach to support them in a variety of areas on their journey to becoming a more confident and effective leaders.
How Does Executive Coaching Work?
Coaching involves one-on-one sessions over a period of time between a coach (me) and a client (you).
In these coaching sessions, I help you identify areas for improvement, set achievable goals, and develop a personalised plan for success.
During the sessions, I may also provide resources, homework, and other follow-up activities to support your development between sessions.
The following weeks and months typically involve periodic coaching sessions, where we review and discuss your progress.
Here’s how my coaching process typically looks:
Step 1 (Free Consultation)
I provide a free 30 minute consulation call for anyone considering working with me.
The objective of the free consultation is for me to get to know you, and better understanding of your role and challenges.
The free consultation also gives you the opportunity to get a feel of what it’s like working with me and ask any questions.
Most importantly, this call will help us determine if we’re a good match, which is crucial for the success of any coaching relationship.
Step 2 (Intro Session)
Your first coaching session is typically focused on creating a benchmark and setting goals and objectives.
This session usually lasts 60 to 90 minutes and will involve completing short assessments and sharing your objectives.
By the end of this session, you will have a personalised plan, some tangible goals and clarity about what action you need to take.
Typically, I will provide one or two pieces of homework for you to work on between sessions, which could be anything from simple reflection tasks to taking some actions to overcome specific challenges.
Step 3 (Ongoing Sessions)
The following weeks and months will typically include regular coaching sessions every 2 to 4 weeks, depending on your needs and schedule.
In these follow up sessions, we will discuss your progress, handle any new ad-hoc challenges, and adjust your plan accordingly.
In between sessions, you will also be able to communicate with me via email with any questions or guidance needed.
Step 4 (Evaluation)
After a non-specified number of sessions or period of time, we will conduct an evaluation session.
The purpose of this session is to step back, reflect on and celebrate your progress.
After reviewing the initial benchmarks and objectives set in the introductory session, we can then decide on next steps.
Typically, this will include creating a new benchmark and making some adjustments to your objectives and goals.
How Does Online Coaching Work?
Online coaching works similarly to face-to-face coaching, but sessions are conducted remotely using video conferencing tools such as Zoom, WhatsApp, Teams, or Google Meets.
Online coaching provides a more flexible, convenient and accessible option, making it very popular.
With an internet connection, clients can participate in online coaching sessions from anywhere, making it easier to fit coaching into busy schedules.
Online executive coaching is also much more cost-effective than face-to-face coaching, as it eliminates travel time and other expenses.
Face-to-face coaching is still a popular method of coaching for leaders, but very few have the budget or schedule to make it a viable option.
How Long Are The Coaching Sessions?
The duration of coaching sessions can vary for every client based on their needs, schedule and goals.
Coaching sessions typically last for 60 minutes each. However, sometimes 60 minutes is too little, and other times it’s too long.
I always include buffers between coaching sessions to cover all scenarios for my clients and advise you do the same to get the most out of them.
In the event we only need 30 or 45 minutes, we can always bank the remaining minutes for another session.
How Frequent Are The Coaching Sessions?
The frequency of coaching sessions will also vary for each client based on their needs, schedule and goals.
On average, most of my clients have a coaching session every 2 to 4 weeks, but some have weekly sessions so they can make faster progress.
The main considerations when deciding how frequently executive coaching sessions should be are the following:
- How much do you need to learn, and how fast can you learn it?
- How much time do you need for reflection between sessions?
- Will you have time to implement objectives between sessions?
- How frequently does your schedule allow for it?
- How frequently does your budget support?
It’s common that the frequency of executive coaching sessions reduces over time, but it again depends on the individual.
I take a flexible approach to the frequency of coaching sessions. What’s important is that you get the most value possible from each one.
“David is a strong sales-driven leader with fantastic empathy and a great personality who develops people, teams and leaders by investing time in understanding where they are, what their potential is and empowering them to take full advantage of their talent – aligned with the company objectives and a no BS attitude.”
Jesper Lindhardt – President & COO at Ocean.io
How Long Do Coaching Programs Last?
The duration of executive coaching programs may last a few months or many years.
If I am working with ambitious individuals new to leadership, such as a startup founder or recently promoted team leader, they typically want to continue their development over a longer period.
Alternatively, I may work with a more experienced leader who only needs help with a specific challenge.
The duration of your coaching program is something we can discuss following the free consultation call.
When is Executive Coaching a Bad Idea?
The worst scenario for any coaching relationship would be for me to waste my time and you to waste your money.
Coaching is not always the best solution for every problem or person, and executive coaching is no different.
Executive coaching may not be the best idea for the following reasons:
Wrong Timing
Sometimes people are in a really good or really difficult period, and this can mean the timing is wrong for coaching.
For example, if you’re a new manager who is doing a brilliant job and don’t feel like you need support, the timing is wrong.
Alternatively, if you’re a VP working 60 hours per week and unable to slow down to take in new perspectives, the timing may not be ideal.
Another example might be if you are the founder of a new startup with very little experience but too much to do.
In this scenario, you might benefit from a faster, more direct approach such as my startup consultant services.
Resistance to Change
Coaching requires an open mind and a willingness to change.
If you or a member of your team are resistant to constructive feedback or unwilling to make changes, executive coaching may not be an effective solution.
I am always adamant that coaching should never be forced upon anyone as a requirement. The desire to change needs to come from within.
Budget Restrictions
Executive coaching can represent a significant investment for some individuals and organisations.
Although working with an executive coach can result in a significant return on investment, it’s important to consider if you can invest without causing financial stress.
Ultimately, hiring an executive coach can be a valuable investment for anyone looking to develop themselves or their business.
However, it is essential to carefully consider whether it is the right investment for you based on your specific needs, goals, and circumstances.
What is the Difference Between an Executive Coach and Startup Consultant?
An executive coach and a startup consultant are similar in many ways but fundamentally different in others.
As a startup founder or owner of a small business, you can benefit from both executive coaching and startup consulting.
However, coaching requires a more patient approach to consulting, which is one of the fundamental differences.
Coaching is designed to help develop the personal and professional skills of an individual in various areas, whereas consulting is a more instructional process designed to help an organisation grow.
When acting as an executive coach, I will ask strategic questions with the objective of helping you come up with the answers for yourself.
As a startup consultant, I will ask you questions with the objective of understanding the issue so I can provide the answers for you.
As an experienced coach, I can help you without necessarily knowing too much about your role or industry.
When hired as a consultant, it is crucial I have advanced knowledge and experience in the areas in which I am providing advice.
When providing coaching for executives, I often blend the usage of coaching and consulting to help my clients progress faster.
What’s the Difference Between an Executive Coach and a Mentor?
An executive coach and mentor share similar objectives in that they both provide support, guidance and feedback to help you reach your goals.
However, a mentor is like a trainer or a consultant who can guide you with general advice based on their extensive experience in a specific role or area.
An executive coach may have a similar level of knowledge and experience but is trained in coaching rather than advising.
Finding a mentor can be extremely valuable for anyone transitioning into a new role and for those who don’t have the budget to hire an executive coach.
However, coaching is a much more powerful solution, designed to develop individuals by empowering them to think and act for themselves rather than following instructions.
What Qualifications Do Executive Coaches Have?
Executive coaches all have different backgrounds and levels of education, training and experience.
Some coaches are certified by recognised organisations, whereas others have extensive business and leadership experience.
It’s also not uncommon to find an executive coach with an advanced degree in psychology or a background as a therapist or similar.
And there are also people with very little education, experience or training who become an executive coach because of the lucrative earning potential.
My Coaching Credentials
I have a combination of experience, certifications and proven results from more than 15 years experience as a leader, coach and consultant.
I am a Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), and am certified by the Harvard ManageMentor Coaching program.
Additionally, I hold several psychology-based and mental health diplomas and have advanced experience coaching people with mental health challenges.
While certifications and experience can be important indicators of a coach’s competence, it’s also important to assess their coaching style and approach and their ability to build rapport and establish trust with their clients.
Ultimately, the best way to determine if a coach is right for you is to schedule a free consultation call to see if their coaching style and approach align with your needs and goals.
How Much Does Executive Coaching Cost?
The average cost for an executive coach can range from £100 to £500 per hour, depending on the coach’s experience and the format and duration of the coaching package.
Alternatively, if budget allows, you could hire one of the world’s top executive coach’s to jet out to you personally for as little as £5,000 per hour.
Personally, I offer executive coaching packages for individuals starting from just £1,800 for 10 hours, which can be used over a 12-month period.
Remember, the benefits of executive coaching will very often far outweigh the required investment for most organisations.
How Can I Convince My Company to Invest in Executive Coaching?
The best way to convince your company to invest in an executive coach is to put together a business case.
A business case for executive coaching should include:
- The challenges you and your team are facing
- The impact these challenges are having on the organisation
- The potential solution you have found
- A list of the benefits of executive coaching
- An overview of the costs and what’s included
- A paragraph about the long-term impact this can have
- Suggested next steps for how to move forward
Your chances of persuading your company to invest in an executive coach will be strongly dictated by the timing of your approach.
Before putting your case forward, consider the following:
- Is there likely to be budget available?
- Do you have, or can you get some allies for your case?
- Does anyone have any experience working with an executive coach?
- Has the company recently made any large investments?
- Has something recently happened that would support your case?
- How much are the listed challenges impacting the organisation?
All of these factors can influence the decision to invest in executive coaching positively or negatively, so time your approach wisely.
Most importantly, don’t force the issue if you don’t get a positive response.
You can always make a second approach if your challenges persist, provided you keep a cool head on the first attempt.
How Can I Convince My Management Team to Try Executive Coaching?
Convincing your management team to try executive coaching might not be as easy as you expect.
Executive coaching is unknown territory for many people, which can make them feel uncomfortable and result in resistance.
It’s also not uncommon for people to have a negative association with working with an executive coach due to a bad personal experience or sometimes because they read a negative article about it.
For this reason, the best way to convince your management team to try executive coaching is to try and ease their concerns.
6 Strategies to Influence Your Team to Try Executive Coaching
You can gently persuade people to try executive coaching by trying one or more of the following strategies:
- Link executive coaching to being a solution to one or more of the main challenges your team are facing today.
- Ensure your team that all sessions are 100% private and confidential and will never be shared with anyone without permission.
- Let your team know they have full control over the topics and objectives of the executive coaching sessions.
- Ensure your team are aware the coaching sessions can be booked and delivered over a period that suits their schedule.
- Find advocates who have a positive experience with an executive coach to share their stories with the team.
- Help the individuals in your team to associate the benefits of executive coaching with a personal motive.
Communicating the benefits, addressing concerns, and linking executive coaching to personal gains will hopefully help you get buy-in from your team and encourage them to give it a try.
I would also be more than happy to have a free consultation with any of your team who still have doubts or questions.