A Decision Guide for Executives and Leadership Teams
1. Why Leaders Choose to Work With a Coach
Today's business leaders face unprecedented complexity, pressure, and speed. It’s no longer enough to be technically brilliant or strategically sound—leaders must also build trust, foster adaptability, and make decisions amid uncertainty.
According to Harvard Business Review’s research, 48% of coaching engagements are now for developing high-potential leaders or facilitating transitions, 26% for acting as a strategic sounding board, and only 12% for addressing derailing behavior. Coaching today is about unlocking potential, not fixing problems.
The most successful coaching engagements share three traits:
1. Strong motivation to learn and grow.
2. Good chemistry between coach and client.
3. Organizational commitment to genuine development.
2. What Makes Choosing a Coach Difficult
Selecting a coach is as much an emotional decision as a rational one. As David Maister’s classic research on professional relationships shows, clients hire advisors not simply for skill, but for trust. Leaders want to be understood, challenged, and supported by someone who truly understands their world.
Professionals are chosen for empathy, preparation, and sincerity—not just credentials. The best coaching partnerships are grounded in understanding, chemistry, and the client’s comfort with vulnerability.
3. How to Know If Coaching Is the Right Step for You
You or your team may be ready to engage a coach if any of these are true:
- You face a major transition or strategic inflection point.
- Your team works hard but lacks shared rhythm or alignment.
- Communication and accountability could be stronger.
- You want to grow personally without losing authenticity.
- You’re ready for candid feedback and meaningful change.
Coaching succeeds when readiness replaces desperation—when the drive to improve is greater than the fear of change.
4. What to Look For in a Coach
The Harvard Business Review survey of 140 executive coaches identified the most critical selection factors:
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Key Attribute
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Why It Matters
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Pilot Advisors Perspective
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Experience coaching in similar settings
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Ensures practical relevance and credibility
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30+ years across steel, energy, food, defense, and technology sectors
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Clear methodology
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Creates predictable, measurable progress
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The Pilot Way — a five-step performance and alignment system
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Quality of client list
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Shows earned trust with major organizations
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Includes Groupe Danone, Dean Foods, Energy Northwest, Battelle, Lucent, EVRAZ, DOE, DOD
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Ability to measure ROI
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Validates results and business impact
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Award-fee gains, profit growth, safety and turnaround metrics
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Chemistry and readiness
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Essential for trust and transformation
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Verified through The Pilot Alignment Session before engagement
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5. What Pilot Advisors Brings to the Table
Pilot Advisors integrates the science of performance with the art of leadership. Our work produces measurable results built on The Pilot Way—clarity, assessment, commitment, planning, and execution.
Notable outcomes include:
- Oregon Steel Mills: 200% market value growth, record profits.
- EG&G Defense: From federal contract risk to 99% award-fee performance.
- Groupe Danone: Every coached executive advanced within 12 months.
- Lucent Technologies: 50% improvement in delivery time.
- Battelle Memorial: $1M+ new federal contracts gained post-engagement.
6. Making the Decision — A Practical Guide
When deciding whether to engage a coach, the best leaders ask:
1. Are we ready to listen, learn, and act?
2. Do we trust this coach to be candid and credible?
3. Do they have a clear, proven approach?
4. Can we measure progress and impact?
5. Will this make us stronger and self-reliant?
If the answer is yes to all five, you’re ready.
7. How Pilot Advisors Reduces Risk
Choosing a coach requires trust. Pilot Advisors reduces that risk through transparency and structure:
- Pilot Alignment Session: Ensures mutual fit and readiness.
- Discovery and Readiness Assessment: Reveals reality and potential.
- Defined outcomes and measurable goals.
- Progress reviews shared with stakeholders.
- Transition plan to sustain success beyond engagement.
8. Final Thoughts by Andrew — Choosing With Confidence
Hiring a coach is a leadership decision, not a luxury.
Done well, it becomes one of the most leveraged investments in enterprise performance.
Executives who enter coaching with readiness, trust, and structure consistently achieve greater clarity, confidence, and cultural health.
When readiness meets experience, the result is more than growth, it’s the creation of the Best Possible Enterprise™.
To verify mutual readiness for a coaching or fractional engagement, align on goals, and ensure both sides have confidence in the fit, timing, and working relationship before committing.
Executive Coaching Session Overview
• Duration: 60–90 minutes
• Participants: Client executive(s) and Andrew Bielat (Pilot Advisors)
• Format: A candid, two-way conversation focused on clarity and fit — not judgment.
• Goal: Determine if there is genuine alignment in purpose
Outcome of the Session
If we’re both confident in the alignment and timing, we can confirm our agreement and set a mutually appropriate start date — beginning the engagement with clarity and shared commitment. The objective is not a sale; it is clarity. The right fit ensures real results and lasting value.
Building the Best Possible Enterprise™
The Pilot Advisors Promise
At Pilot Advisors, we help leaders and teams close that gap, and guide enterprises through the rough waters of complexity toward clarity, confidence, and execution excellence.
For over 30 years, Pilot Advisors has partnered with CEOs, executives, and boards across industries — from manufacturing and energy to food, technology, and defense.
We bring a disciplined, proven process — The Pilot Way — which integrates strategy, culture, and leadership into one continuous system of improvement.
This is not consulting. It is partnership, and a guided journey to build what we call the Best Possible Enterprise™.
The Pilot Way
1. Clarify the End Goal – Define vision, purpose, expectations, and ownership.
2. Objectively Assess Capabilities – Evaluate team, culture, systems, and market realities.
3. Determine Willingness to Change – Test commitment, confidence, and readiness for accountability.
4. Develop a Realistic Plan – Prioritize, integrate, assign roles, and build systems that last.
5. Facilitate Execution – Provide coaching, accountability, pace, and celebration of progress.
The Engagement Model
1. Objectively assess the current situation.
2. Clarify goals and verify willingness and capacity.
3. Develop a plan for sustainable success.
4. Facilitate disciplined execution.
5. Course-correct and sustain results.
What Client's Say
“Outstanding! Well, in one word, that about sums up our experience. The Pilot Advisors team did an excellent job.”
— Martin Feinstein, Senior Vice President, Farmers Insurance
“The fit was right because Pilot Advisors facilitated solutions from within our team rather than dictating answers.”
— John Robinson, COO, Dean Foods