A recent study found that nearly two-thirds of CEOs do not receive leadership advice from outside consultants, and nearly half of senior executives don't get coaching, either. But what may be most surprising about this study is the fact that "100% of the CEOs in the survey responded that they actually enjoy the process of receiving coaching and leadership advice." Clearly, organizations are missing a key opportunity to provide executive coaching and leadership consulting to some of their most important personnel - the CEOs and senior executives who lead the company!

Study Reveals Concerns Over "Going it Alone"  

Hundreds of CEOs, board directors and senior executives were polled in the 2013 Executive Coaching Survey conducted by Stanford University and The Miles Group. Research shows that there's a clear gap in skill development at the top of many North American public and private companies. Key findings from the survey reveal that:  

One of the most important takeaways from this study is the fact that CEOs actively want to engage in executive coaching. 100% of the CEOs polled said that they're receptive to making changes based on feedback. For CEOs who have received coaching, nearly 80% of them said that it was their own idea.

Stephen Miles, CEO of The Miles Group, said: "Becoming CEO doesn't mean that you suddenly have all the answers, and these top executives realize that there is room for growth for everyone. We are moving away from coaching being perceived as 'remedial' to where it should be: something that improves performance, similar to how elite athletes use a coach."

CEOs and senior executives aren't the only ones who would like to see more executives getting coaching. Many of the board directors polled said they'd like to see their CEOs working on "mentoring skills/developing internal talent" and "sharing leadership/delegation skills."

Professor Larcker who led the research team at the Stanford Graduate School of Business said: "Boards are placing a keener focus on succession planning and development, and are challenging their CEOs to keep this front and center. However, there is still a long way to go in the area of succession planning for most companies, especially as you get further down the reporting structure."

Why the gap?
With so many CEOs actively welcoming coaching, and so many boards looking for skill development in their CEOs, you have to ask yourself: why are so many organizations neglecting this key area of development?  

Retaining and Developing Talent is Key    

Any knowledgeable HR person can tell you that finding and training new talent is far more difficult and costly than developing existing personnel. This difficulty is even more pronounced at the top; one recent article predicted that over 50% of C-level executives would be leaving their posts in the next 5 years. The best thing you can do for the long-term success of your company is to retain and develop your existing talent!  

One of the best things you can do for your organization is to invest in a leadership development program. Provide ongoing training for your executive staff. Conduct formalized assessments to identify strengths and weaknesses, and utilize executive coaching resources to help your execs build on strengths and develop skills to cope with weaknesses. With a good leadership development program, today's high performers can be tomorrow's leaders, and you're creating a built-in succession planning structure.   

It's easy to get blinded by potential, but promoting based on potential is a slippery slope. Up-and-coming employees should be promoted based on performance - not potential. Executive coaching is a useful tool to develop individuals who exhibit potential, but make sure they know how to turn this potential into results before you give them key roles in your organization.

Use Executive Coaching to Build a Talent Pool
Executive coaching is your secret tool to build a talent pool that can sustain your organization for years to come. Spend money now to develop your existing talent - CEOs and senior level executives who would welcome coaching opportunities! If you miss out on your chance to develop your existing resources, you'll spend far more money trying to recruit new talent down the road.