The Leadership Team Sets the Tone. Whether You Like It or Not.
David Buirs is an executive coach based in Amsterdam who works with senior leaders and executives. This article explores why more organisations are investing in coaching at the executive level, which themes come up most frequently, and how friction within the leadership team affects the entire organisation.
When an executive team isn't functioning well together, the rest of the organisation feels it faster than you'd expect. Decisions become unclear. Priorities keep changing. Team leads receive conflicting signals. And slowly, an undercurrent of uncertainty builds that nobody names out loud, but everybody senses.
The reverse is equally true. An executive team that collaborates well, communicates clearly, and moves in the same direction creates a stability that ripples through the entire organisation. People know where they stand. There's direction. And that alone makes teams more effective.
It's no surprise, then, that more organisations are investing in coaching at the executive level. 39% of CEOs currently work with a coach. And 87% of organisations that invest in coaching report a positive ROI. The complexity at that level calls for a confidential space to think freely. A sounding board that sits outside the internal dynamics and politics.
Three Themes I Keep Seeing as Executive Coach
Communication
It sounds basic. But at executive level, how you communicate has an outsized impact on how well your organisation performs.
I see two patterns. The first: executives who think faster and see more than the people around them. They communicate too briefly. Too concisely. In their mind, everything is crystal clear. But for the organisation, it feels like jumping from one thing to the next. The result: teams disengage or start charting their own course.
The second pattern: vague, woolly communication. No clear direction. No concrete expectations. After a meeting, people walk away with different interpretations of the same conversation.
Both patterns are recognisable. And both can be resolved with deliberate effort.
Strategy and Vision
Having a vision is one thing. Translating it into something people understand and can execute is another. Many executives think in broad strokes but struggle to make it concrete. How do you translate a strategic ambition into quarterly goals for your teams? How do you prevent your strategy from becoming a nice document that sits in a drawer?
This is where it helps to think alongside someone who stands outside your system. Someone who doesn't go along with the assumptions that have become normal inside your organisation.
Delegation
Recent research confirms what I see in practice: delegation is the most common theme in executive coaching. Not because executives don't understand the concept. But because letting go runs counter to everything that made them successful in the first place.
You reached this position because you're good at what you do. Stepping in feels productive. Doing it yourself feels safe. But at executive level, that approach stops working. Your impact is determined by how well the people around you perform. And that requires something different from you than operational excellence.
A Logical Step for Executives Who Are Growing
Most of the executives I work with are performing well. They're being coached because more is being asked of them. Because their role is expanding. Because they want to actively steer their own development rather than leaving it to chance and experience alone.
Do you have an executive on your team who is ready for that step? Or do you sense that something at executive level isn't quite working, but you can't put your finger on it? I'd be happy to schedule a no-obligation conversation to explore whether executive coaching fits the situation. No pressure. Just an open conversation. Plan your free introduction here.
