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Executive coaching can help remove the fog from your mirror so you can see yourself as others see you. No, I am not talking about literally entering your home and cleaning your mirrors. What I am talking about is helping you see yourself (and your circumstances) as others see you; helping you identify your strengths and challenges, and helping you move toward more clearly defined and preferred outcomes. Sometimes even our best attempts to remove the fog are less than 100% effective and we still do not get an accurate picture of ourselves.

We’ve all done it at least once. We get ready to go somewhere, and after having that last glance in the looking glass having gazed upon an elegantly coiffured image, we walk away only to have someone point out something we’ve missed. Usually after we are made aware of the discovery, we wonder how many others noticed it and did not say anything. We wonder where our real friends are. We may even have feelings of embarrassment or indignation.

This happens in the realm of business as well. It can be caused by fog on a mirror or by our own personal biases that blind us. It usually takes a trusted and secure associate to make us aware of the issue. But what if people do not feel safe enough around us to speak the whole truth to us? We continue in the fog, making decisions based on inaccurate information, and become frustrated because we never achieve the desired results.

Executive coaches can be the objective third party that cares enough about you and your organization that they present you with the truth about yourself. Through the use of tools like the Johari window, executive coaches are able to help improve the client’s self-awareness. As we become more receptive to constructive criticism, we then become able to grow and improve the organization and ourselves. We have recently seen this concept demonstrated in the “Under Cover Boss” episodes.

The late Mr. Jim Rohn once wrote, “We could all use a little coaching.” Executive coaches, who are armed with the proper tools, can help remove the fog from your mirrors and help you better see yourself. This more self-aware leader is more productive, less stressed, and more amiable in the workplace. So the next time you are feel you are not getting the real feedback, or see people shying away from you, or you have a surprising and embarrassing revelation about leadership, ask yourself if you think an executive coach could have helped clear the fog and prevented it from occurring.

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