What is executive coaching ?

Executive coaching is personalized professional support for executives, managers and leaders. The aim is to help them develop their leadership skills, achieve strategic objectives or improve their individual and organizational performance. The work focuses on the coachee's performance and decision-making, as well as his/her influence and team management . It aims to achieve results by optimizing the coachee's approach to situations, including priorities and different behaviors.

Examples of topics addressed

• "How can I inspire my teams more effectively ?"
• "How do I handle a conflict with an executive committee member?"
• “How do I find a better work-life balance ?”
• “How do I make decisions under uncertainty ?”

What are the different types of executive coaching ?

• Individual Leadership : strengthen decision-making and prioritization, including behavioral mastery and influence.
• Onboarding: secure the first 100 days with a diagnosis, align stakeholders and generate quick wins. At the same time, set the pace and establish governance.
• Executive teamCoaching (COMEX/CODIR): Aligning strategy, roles, rituals and effective decisions. Building trust and managing tensions.
• Results-oriented with stakeholders: Public objectives; continuous feedback and micro-experiments until sustainable observable improvement.
• Transition, transformation, M&A: Developing delegation, organizational design, communication and political risk management.
• Influence without the need for authority: developing a communication, engagement plan and executive presence with high-stakes interventions.
• Outplacement and careertransition : Clarification of target and narrative. Perfecting the dossier, interview training and optimizing networking.

Which type of coaching is most in demand?

Demand varies with the economic situation of each country and region. Geneva is a unique hub : international organizations and NGOs, private banking headquarters, commodity trading houses, plus luxury (watchmaking), biotech, and pharma. This diversity creates a specific demand for executive support : high confidentiality, strong multicultural sensitivity. The economic context also shapes demand, as with recent US tariff policy. For example, current waves of expatriate layoffs trigger career-transition support toward local roles. Another trend : seeking guidance to reinventing oneself and pivot into fundamentally different careers or sectors. For those who remain in role, work often focuses on alignment to new operating plans.

Across the Geneva area in recent years, the most requested types have been :

Executive leadership/impact coaching

This is the number-one format. In private banks, trading companies, international HQs, and regional leadership teams, leaders seek tangible outcomes : better prioritization, faster trade-offs, greater influence with peers, boards, and regulators. Multilingual capability (French, English, German) and sensitivity to Swiss culture alongside the corporate culture are key. Sponsors expect visible indicators: faster decisions, stronger team engagement, and improved 360 feedback.

Onboarding and role transition

The first 100 days are decisive : map stakeholders, clarify the mandate, identify 2-3 quick wins, then set governance cadence and communication. Onboarding often extends to 6-12 months to consolidate authority and credibility. Geneva’s high volume of international moves and expatriations strongly drives this demand.

Executive team coaching

Clearly on the rise. Geneva’s top teams are often multicultural, matrixed, or in a professionalization phase (e.g., growing family businesses). Recurring themes : strategic alignment, role clarity, decision quality and speed, tension management, and coordination with the board. Offsites backed by monthly operating rhythms work well.

Influence without authority

More in demand than elsewhere due to multinational groups and international bodies. Leaders must persuade without direct line authority, navigate committees and coalitions, and perform in high-stakes forums (executive committees, boards, regulators). The work focuses on executive narrative, message architecture, audience reading, and preparation for critical moments.

Transitions, scale-up, transformations, and M&A

Demand comes in waves by sector. In banking : digitalization and regulatory requirements. In trading : strengthened risk and controls. In luxury : industrialization and direct-to-consumer (DTC). In pharma/biotech : quality and regulatory. Coaching helps design the organization, delegate with control, orchestrate communication, and manage political risks.

Stakeholder-centered, results-oriented coaching

More an approach than a distinct “type,” but sometimes requested explicitly by global HR. You turn 2-3 improvement intentions into commitments shared with a small circle who work closely with the coachee. It formalizes goals, sets a cadence of on-the-ground feedback, and runs micro-experiments until the change is observable to others. Highly effective to anchor gains beyond the coach-coachee relationship.

Outplacement and career transition

Cyclical demand, often handled by dedicated firms in Switzerland. Peaks occur during reorganizations (banking/NGOs). Useful to reposition an executive, clarify their value proposition, and activate local and international networks.

How does a coaching session work?

A typical session lasts 60-90 minutes. You start by clarifying the meeting’s precise objective and success criterion. You bring a real situation; the coach explores facts, perceptions, stakes, and options. They introduce frameworks and tools, and constructively challenge your assumptions (sometimes via brief role-plays). You then choose concrete decisions and an action plan : what to do, with whom, when, and how to measure the effect. The session closes by capturing key takeaways, confirming commitments, and defining follow-up before the next meeting. Between appointments, you test actions in the field; the next meeting begins with a debrief.

What are the tools of coaching ?

To support your progress, a coach may combine diagnostics, assessments, session methods, and execution tools. Diagnostics include targeted 360s (stakeholder interviews) and meeting observations to identify strengths, blind spots, and interaction patterns. Assessments (Hogan, Big Five, Leadership Circle, EQ‑i, DISC/Insights, MBTI) illuminate style, drivers, risks, and preferences; they inform, not dictate, choices.

In session, methods like GROW or CLEAR structure thinking; Immunity to Change helps remove barriers; Stakeholder-Centered Coaching involves your stakeholders; Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and the SBI feedback model sharpen conversations; role-plays and video feedback enable practice. Tools turn ideas into action : OKRs for priorities and a Stakeholder Matrix for engagement planning. Finally, WOOP and implementation intentions help form habits, and journaling tracks progress. The coach selects tools with you, based on your context, and you control what is shared.

How much does executive coaching cost ?

Rates in Geneva vary by seniority, coach reputation, and context (per 60-90 minute session unless noted) :

• Career change or transition : CHF 250-600/hour, or a package at CHF 2’000-6’000
• Executive outplacement (often company-funded, 6-12 month package) : CHF 15’000-40’000 (premium firms : CHF 70’000+)
• C‑suite, board members, or sensitive contexts (crisis, M&A) : CHF 600-1’500/hour (top-level up to CHF 2’000/hour)
• Team coaching (Management/Executive Committee) : CHF 4’000-12’000/day; premium offsites CHF 8’000-25’000/day (1-3 days of preparation often charged separately)

Travel, venue, tools, and assessments are billed separately per the agreement.

How does a first coaching session work ?

The first session provides an initial diagnostic. You clarify priorities, create a development plan, and prepare stakeholder feedback (360).

It also sets confidentiality, aligns the mandate with the sponsor, and turns your challenges into 2-3 objectives.

You start with a short pre-brief (possibly a three-way call), then a 90-120 minute one-to-one. If useful, 15-30 minutes with the sponsor can be included at the start or end. The meeting sets the framework, clarifies the 6-12 month context, constraints, and key players. You define objectives and 3-6 month success criteria, and run a quick strengths/barriers diagnostic. Then you map 6-12 stakeholders and set up a monthly feedback loop.

Finally, you choose a micro-experiment to test, and set the pace (sessions every 2-3 weeks; a sponsor checkpoint every 6-8 weeks).

You leave with a one‑pager of objectives, a schedule, the stakeholder list and feedback calendar, an initial action plan, and the coaching agreement.

To prepare, clarify what success looks like in 6-12 months. Define your three priorities and three key stakeholders, and gather any useful feedback or data. The sponsor’s role is to validate the mandate, provide regular feedback, remove obstacles, and uphold confidentiality.

Depending on the case, variants apply : team coaching, 100‑day onboarding, or sensitive contexts with a tighter circle and limited feedback.

What does the future hold for executive coaching ?

Today, around 60-80% of mid-to large-sized companies offer coaching to leaders and key managers. On the individual side, 20-35% of leaders are currently working with an external coach, and 40-60% have done so at least once. Historically, a Stanford/Miles study estimated roughly 34% of CEOs were being coached. Penetration is higher in North American and European multinationals and in regulated sectors, and lower in SMEs. In Switzerland, professional or cantonal programs increasingly support this growing SME segment. In short, executive coaching has become a mainstream lever for performance and development.

In conclusion, as we widely adopt AI as an assistant, we have already embraced the external perspective. Still, a coach brings what machines do not : intuition, a fine reading of human dynamics, and sensitivity to context. The future is a a three-way dynamic : leader, AI, and coach co-piloted by professionals who can orchestrate this alliance. AI widens the field and sharpens insight; the coach humanizes, mobilizes, and de-risks choices. That combination will make the difference.

If you'd like to find out more, or to see if coaching is right for you, please don't hesitate to contact me for an initial discussion: J.-Matthieu Laburthe

For further information, please also contact : Fabienne Revillard

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