Concerned about your performance in the boardroom? You're not alone; few directors are immune to the pressures of life at the top. But thanks to executive coaching, it's a lot less lonely up there reports Alison Coleman This article describes how even very successful entrepreneurs can suffer a lack of confidence or momentarily lose direction, making it no surprise that executive coaching is growing fast. According to the Industrial Society, 70 per cent of leading UK employers now use business coaching compared to less than 40 per cent three years ago. The Institute of Directors' Gerard Hargreaves says this growth reflects the changing pace of modern business life and that coaching is as relevant for directors as it is for top athletes and opera singers. Coaching ranges from strategic business coaching at boardroom level to life coaching of personal development - and can combine both. It can be delivered in person or by telephone, generally on a weekly basis, and often over several months. The main proviso is that the client is open to learning. The article goes on to describe how SKAI Associates focuses on helping senior leaders by helping them reassess their relationship to their work. Founding director Alison Brooks explains: "Directors nowadays have less time to deliver, innovate and change. The challenges leaders face are more complex than ever before." SKAI's clients include the managers of several new small and medium-sized enterprises who find, as their companies expand, that they lack leadership qualities and have little experience of either listening to colleagues or sharing information.

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