​Andy Jones FCA, MSc, extols the virtues of professional coaching.

For many of us, 2020 may have been a ‘watershed’ year: a year where we have maybe had the misfortune of being made redundant, where we’ve been under enormous pressure to keep companies afloat or where we’ve been feeling huge anxiety due to the uncertainty of the current situation.

Some of us may have also been feeling unfulfilled, questioning whether there is more to life and wondering whether the stress involved in our current role is worth it. Yet, many of us will just carry on, finding it too easy to just keep going on the same track and perhaps afraid of losing the status and identity that comes with being a finance leader, whether that be in practice, industry or the not-for-profit sector.

This is where it can help to seek independent, professional help: someone who can help you to see things from a different perspective, challenge your thinking and help you to take those first steps to a new more satisfying future. ‘Independent professional help’...sound familiar? Just as many of our clients call on us as professional accountants to help them with understanding their finances, engaging a professional executive coach can help us understand ourselves, help us break out of established and often unconscious habits and encourage us as we take our first steps towards a new future. Yet how many of us engage the services of an executive coach?

My recent research (completed as part of an MSc in Coaching and Behavioural Change) into how finance leaders are responding to the need for very different skills and behaviours in today’s uncertain world suggests that many of us simply don’t recognise the need to change and that few of us are actually engaging the support of a coach to help us on this journey. Why might that be?

Well, firstly, research(1) shows that accountancy as a profession tends to attract significantly more people with a preference for ‘Sensing’ (e.g. dealing with facts and data rather than relying on intuition) and ‘Thinking’ (e.g. making decisions based on logic and data rather than taking account of emotions and feelings) than the general population. Added to this, even if we came into the profession with preferences more aligned to feelings and intuition, our training, expectations of others and the prudent, risk-focussed environment within which we work may have also led over the years to a focus on tasks, data and logic to the detriment of innovation, people, feelings and emotional intelligence.

We are therefore less likely than the general population to have an interest in ‘soft skills’, trying new things and engaging with activities that explore feelings and emotions, instead preferring to build our leadership style on past experiences and neglecting the ‘people side’. As a result, attention to our own feelings and emotions and ultimately, our self-awareness, may be limited and prevent us from seeing the value of working with a coach.

How can coaching help?

Unlike a friend, partner or colleague, a well-trained and professionally qualified coach is totally independent with no ‘axe to grind’. They will be 100% focussed on you, sharing observations and asking challenging questions that will build self-awareness, open up your thinking and help you identify steps achieve your goals and ultimately maximise your potential. How often do you have the luxury of spending time with someone totally focussed on you and your best interests?

Does it work?

Well, personally speaking, in 2007 I was that accountant I referred to above, lacking self-awareness and the negative impact my Finance Director role was having on me and my health. And I was afraid of the loss of identity, status and ‘safety’ that changing track would entail. However, I was lucky enough to have the support of a coach who shared some very hard truths with me, who challenged my thinking and helped me see the way to a different, more fulfilled and authentic future. So yes, it does work and various research studies have confirmed this, showing that coaching has a significant positive impact in supporting executives with professional growth(2),professional relationships(3),flexibility(4),leadership skills and competencies, self-efficacy, well-being, satisfaction and goal achievement(5),amongst other things.

So, to those of us that are struggling in these difficult times, who are maybe feeling unfulfilled, pressurised and stressed and who are wondering whether a portfolio or independent career is for them, try speaking to a professional executive coach – you might be surprised at the positive changes that it can bring! And don’t forget that some initial personal and professional coaching support is available to all past and present ICAEW members and their close families through CABA.

Andy Jones FCA, MSc
Director, AQ Revolution Ltd

Andy is a board director of the Association for Professional Executive Coaching and Supervision (APECS) and accredited member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF)

References

1. Briggs, S. P., Copeland, S. & Haynes, D., 2007. Accountants for the 21st Century, where are you? A five-year study of accounting students’ personality preferences. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Volume 18:  511-537.
2. Meier, J., Esmatyar, W. & Sarpong, C., 2019. Business partner vs. bean counter. Do the personality traits of accounting students meet contemporary business requirements? Zeszyty Teoretyczne Rachunkowości, 104(160): 103-127.
3. McGuffin, A. A. & Obonyo, E., 2010. Enhancing performance: A case study of the effects of employee coaching in construction practice. Construction Management and Economics, Volume 28: 141-149.
4. Kombarakaran, F. A., Yang, J. A., Baker, M. N. & Fernandes, P. B., 2008. Executive coaching: It works! Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, Volume 60: 78-90.
5. Jones, R. A., Rafferty, A. E. & Griffin, M. A., 2006. The executive coaching trend: Towards more flexible executives. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Volume 27: 584-596.
6. Jones, R. J., Woods, S. A. & Guillaume, Y. R., 2016. The effectiveness of workplace coaching: A meta-analysis of learning and performance outcomes from coaching. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Volume 89: 249-277.

The views expressed are the author’s and not ICAEW’s.