Executive coaching in an owner-led business
Executive coaching was developed largely for senior managers in big organisations, with HR departments, leadership frameworks and 360-degree reviews. Leading a business you founded or own is a different job. Nobody above you sets your objectives, few people around you will challenge you openly, and the habits that built the company, such as doing it yourself, deciding fast and knowing every client, can become the things that hold it back.
Our executive coaching is built for that situation. The subject is you in your role: what only you should be doing, what you need to let go of, how you build a team that can carry more, and how you keep your judgement clear when everything lands on your desk.
Who it is for, and who it is not for
We coach founders, owners, managing directors and CEOs of companies with roughly a handful to a few hundred people, usually at a point of change:
- the business has grown, and you are still doing the job you did when it was five people;
- you have hired or promoted managers but still make most decisions yourself;
- you are bringing in investors, a general manager or a new partner and need to redefine your role;
- you are planning succession, a sale or a step back within a few years;
- you want a confidential sounding board that is not your partner, your team or your board.
It is not the right fit for large corporate leadership programs, for coaching staff members on behalf of an employer without the leader's own commitment, or for anyone who mainly needs mental health support. In that last case a GP or psychologist is the right first step, and we will say so.
Executive coach, leadership coach, business coach or psychologist?
The titles overlap in practice. This overview shows the typical focus of each, so you can choose the help that fits your actual question.
| Executive coach | Leadership coach | Business coach | Psychologist or counsellor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Focus | The senior leader's role, decisions and effectiveness | Leading people and teams, at any level | The company: strategy, market, marketing, growth | Mental health and personal wellbeing |
| Typical client | Founder, MD, CEO, senior executive | Managers, team leaders, emerging leaders | Owner or founder | Anyone |
| Typical topics | Delegation, priorities, leadership team, board and investors, succession | Feedback, motivation, communication, conflict | Positioning, pricing, channels, offer | Stress, anxiety, burnout, personal difficulties |
| Regulated profession | No | No | No | Yes, psychologists are registered through AHPRA |
| With Kaptein Beacon | Yes, for founders and leaders of SMEs | Within executive coaching for owner-leaders | Yes, see our business coaching | No; we refer you on |
What founders and MDs bring to coaching
Every engagement is different, but certain themes come up again and again:
- Delegation that sticks: handing over responsibility, not just tasks, and resisting the urge to take it back at the first mistake.
- Decision rights: which decisions are yours, which belong to your managers, and how to stop being the default answer to every question.
- Building a leadership team: the first general manager, operations lead or finance hire, and how to work with people who are better than you at their job.
- Time and attention: where your week actually goes compared with where it should go.
- Hard conversations: with partners, long-serving staff who no longer fit the role, or clients you need to let go.
- Boards and investors: preparing for an advisory board, outside investors or a formal board, and the change in accountability that comes with it.
- Your visibility: how you represent the company publicly; our personal branding work covers that side in more depth.
Leadership coaching for trade business owners
Leadership coaching for trade business owners deserves a specific mention. Many Australian trade businesses grow from one person and a ute to several crews, and the owner becomes a manager without ever choosing to. The questions then change: how do you lead a leading hand who used to be your apprentice, set standards without being on every site, and step back from quoting every job yourself?
Coaching here is practical and specific. We work on how you run your week, the conversations you need to have with your crews and supervisors, and the systems that let quality stay high when you are not there. Commercial questions such as pricing and where work comes from are covered in our business coaching, and the two often run together.
Workload, wellbeing and the leader's responsibilities
Leaders of growing companies carry a lot, and it shows in their teams as well as in themselves. Two points are worth making plainly.
First, coaching is not therapy. If stress, sleep or mood are seriously affected, talk to your GP or a psychologist. A good coach will notice when a conversation moves beyond coaching and say so.
Second, how you lead affects your people's health, and Australian work health and safety laws expect businesses to manage psychosocial hazards such as excessive workload, poor support and unclear roles. Safe Work Australia and your state regulator publish guidance. We are not WHS advisers, but clearer delegation, realistic priorities and better conversations, the usual subject matter of executive coaching, tend to help with exactly those risks.
How an executive coaching engagement works
- Strategy session. A paid 50-minute conversation with the founder, A$425 excluding GST, about your situation, what you want to change and whether we fit. It is a conversation, not an assessment or written plan.
- Our decision. We coach a limited number of leaders at a time, so we decide afterwards whether to go further.
- Proposal. A fixed period, a session rhythm and a fixed fee, with clear goals in your words.
- Sessions by video call. Typically every two to four weeks, scheduled in your late afternoon or early morning, as we are based in the Netherlands. Between sessions you have a short written recap and agreed actions.
- Review. At the end we look honestly at what has changed in how you lead and whether further coaching is worthwhile.
Leaders in Adelaide, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, Perth or a regional centre work with us in exactly the same way as those in Sydney or Melbourne. More on how we work.
Confidentiality, and when the company pays
What you discuss stays between us. Leaders often bring topics they cannot raise with anyone inside the business: a partner they no longer trust, a senior hire who is not working out, doubts about their own role. We handle personal information in line with the Privacy Act 1988.
When the company pays for coaching, which is common, we agree in writing at the start what, if anything, is reported back and to whom. For an owner-leader that is usually nothing beyond attendance; where a board or investors are funding coaching for a CEO, a short agreed summary of themes may be appropriate. How coaching fees are treated for tax is a question for your accountant.
How to choose an executive coach in Australia
Executive coaching is not regulated in Australia, so anyone can use the title. Some coaches hold accreditation through bodies such as the International Coaching Federation; some have backgrounds in psychology, HR or senior management. Useful questions to ask any candidate:
- Have you led or owned a business yourself, and how does that relate to my situation?
- Who do you typically coach: corporate executives, or owner-leaders like me?
- How do you know when an issue is beyond coaching, and what do you do then?
- What does an engagement look like, how long is it and how do we review it?
- What will you report, and to whom, if my company pays?
Our coaching draws on building and running businesses and brands, including our own, rather than on corporate HR programs. If that suits what you need, start with a strategy session.