What Is Executive Coaching for PR Leaders and Communications Professionals?

Executive coaching for PR and communications professionals is a structured, confidential partnership between a coach and a leader to strengthen leadership effectiveness, build confidence, and achieve measurable results. Unlike consulting (where someone tells you what to do) or mentoring (where someone shares their experience), coaching helps you discover your own answers, with an expert guide who understands leadership development, the coaching process, and the unique demands of the communications industry.

I’ll be honest: when I was running agency teams earlier in my career, I didn’t fully understand what coaching was. I thought it was for executives who had problems. (Boy, was I wrong about that.) It wasn’t until I experienced coaching myself that I realized it’s actually for leaders who want to get better and who are willing to do the work.

How Does Executive Coaching Work?

A typical coaching engagement involves regular sessions, often every two weeks, where we work together on whatever is most pressing for your leadership. That might be navigating a difficult team dynamic, preparing for a big presentation, building executive presence, or figuring out how to have a conversation you’ve been avoiding.

I use tools like the Energy Leadership Index (ELI) to help leaders understand their default patterns and expand their range. But mostly, coaching is about asking the right questions at the right moments. Questions that help you see your situation more clearly and act more intentionally.

What coaching is not: it’s not therapy (though it can be therapeutic). It’s not someone telling you what to do. It’s not a lecture series on leadership theory. It’s a working relationship focused on your real challenges and your real goals.

Why Does Industry Experience Matter?

Here’s something I feel strongly about: PR and communications leaders face specific challenges that a generic executive coach may not understand. The pace of agency life. The relationship between creative work and business development. The dynamics of client service. The pressure to be “always on.”

I spent more than 25 years in PR agency leadership before becoming a coach. That means when you tell me about the tension between a demanding client and a burned-out team, I don’t need the backstory. I’ve lived it. That shared context means we can get to the real work faster.

What Results Can You Expect?

The research on executive coaching is pretty compelling: MetrixGlobal found an average 788% ROI on coaching investments, and the International Coaching Federation reports that 96% of executives who’ve been coached would do it again.

But I’ll tell you what I see with my own clients: they become more confident in difficult situations. They have better relationships with their teams. They get clearer on what they want and more effective at making it happen. They stop avoiding the hard conversations. They start leading with intention rather than reaction.

Is that worth the investment? That’s a question only you can answer. But I’d encourage you to think about it this way: what is it costing you right now to not be the leader you want to be?

How Do You Know If Coaching Is Right for You?

Coaching tends to work best for leaders who:

Are open to examining their own patterns and behaviors (not just blaming external circumstances)

Have specific goals they want to achieve, or challenges they want to navigate

Are willing to do the work between sessions, not just show up for calls

Want to grow, not just vent

If that sounds like you, I’d be happy to have a conversation. I offer a complimentary consultation where we can explore your goals and whether coaching might be a fit. No pressure, no pitch. Just a real conversation about where you are and where you want to go.

What questions do you have about executive coaching? Leave a comment or reach out directly here. I’d love to hear from you.

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