Coaching your Executives: Overcoming Resistance to the Opportunity
Executive Coaching presents an immense opportunity for your senior leaders to refine leadership capacity and elevate performance, but not every leader embraces the moment.
When a team member resists coaching with the line:
“I don’t need fixing,” it’s not stubbornness — it’s self-protection.
As our Clinical Director and Executive Coach Dan Auerbach recently explained to audiences of the Cutting Through podcast, such leaders are typically high performers holding onto patterns that once helped them succeed, but are now limiting their impact.
In the podcast, Dan explains how, as a highly sought-after Executive Coach, he overcomes resistance to coaching.
His method? He listens to the resistance.
It tells him exactly where the growth opportunity lies.
Here are the three most common patterns that Dan sees in his coaching practice:
1. The Controller
“I need to hold it all together.”
These leaders are driven, decisive — but often exhausted. Coaching helps them shift from control to clarity and shared ownership.
2. The Expert
“I must be right.”
Highly intelligent and cautious, these leaders shy away from vulnerability. Coaching helps them engage earlier, and embrace opportunities for collaboration.
3. The Accomodator
“I need everyone to be happy.”
These leaders avoid tension and often over-function for others. Dan’s coaching methodology supports them to lead with care and courage — including an enhanced ability to make the tough calls.
Turning Resistance into Insight
For HR and small business leaders, this means:
- Resistance isn’t the end — it’s the start of the real conversation.
- Coaching that works with identity, not against it, gets the shift.
To listen to the entire podcast, visit:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4zqIQPFnC6IWMSxImnCxhR?si=AZ3eIzxZSrS2pXTvZM7NsA
