One-to-one coaching for Directors stepping up to VP, VPs, SVPs, and C-suite executives. Your coach has held the seat you’re stepping into and does not teach from a textbook.
Executive coaching services pair a senior leader with a credentialed coach in a structured engagement. A full service includes a DISC or 360° assessment, a written plan with three to five measurable goals, twice-monthly one-to-one sessions, between-session access, and formal impact measurement. Stratos Coaching provides executive coaching for Directors, VPs, SVPs, and C-suite executives, delivered by coaches who have held senior leadership roles themselves.
The return is measurable. In the ICF and PwC Global Coaching Client Study, companies reported a median ROI of 700%, and 86% at least made their investment back. A separate MetrixGlobal study measured 788%. See the full cost breakdown.
The higher you go, the less the job rewards being the best operator. It rewards judgment, alignment, and holding your point of view among other strong ones. Most senior leaders hit that wall alone, and mistakes at altitude cost quarters, not weeks.
Director to VP, VP to SVP, or C-suite: tell us the transition and we will map an engagement for it.
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Our coaches are current and former C-suite leaders with 25+ years of experience in board dynamics, peer politics, and difficult first 90 days. Every engagement runs on The Altitude Framework: we establish where you operate today, define where the role needs you, and build the cadence that turns insight into new behavior.
Twenty minutes is enough to map your Point A, your Point B, and the cadence to close the gap.
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Your coach has held a role at or above your altitude in an enterprise organization. You get a peer who can pressure-test your thinking, not a generalist working from theory.
We match you with a coach who has operated at or above your altitude. No generalists, no theory.
Book a Free CallEvery engagement is built around your specific transition, not a generic package. Three common shapes:
Engagements are custom-priced to the leader and the mandate, and you get the exact number in one 20-minute call. Industry ranges are in our cost of executive coaching guide.
Six months, twelve, or ongoing advisory — the right shape depends on what you need to change and by when. One call settles it.
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What a Director, VP, SVP, or C-suite buyer (or the L&D team buying for them) needs to evaluate an executive coaching service.
Executive coaching services are contracted engagements in which a senior leader works one-to-one with a coach. The work targets the judgment, communication, and decisions their current or next level demands. A complete service includes diagnostics, a written development plan, private sessions, between-session access, and impact measurement.
The biggest difference between providers is whether the coach has personally operated at or above the leader’s altitude.
A complete executive coaching service has five components, and providers offering only the third are selling sessions, not a service.
1. Intake and diagnostics. A read of where the leader operates today versus where the role needs them. Strong providers use an instrument such as DISC, often with 360° stakeholder feedback, which is frequently billed separately and typically adds $2,000–$7,000.
2. A written development plan. Three to five measurable goals tied to the leader’s role and time horizon, not a generic competency model. A provider that cannot show a sample plan is improvising.
3. Recurring private sessions. Typically two one-hour sessions per month over a six-, nine-, or twelve-month term. Shorter terms rarely produce durable change.
4. Between-session access. The board paper lands Thursday; the meeting is Monday. Much of the practical value sits here, and lower-cost services often omit it.
5. Impact measurement. A midpoint review, a wrap-up review, and ideally a follow-up survey months later, so leader and sponsor can tell coaching from conversation.
Executive coaching is non-clinical professional development, not therapy. A responsible provider refers clients to a licensed mental-health professional when needed. Our comparison of coaching, mentoring and consulting lays out the distinctions.
Executive coaching services are usually organized by the leader’s altitude and the transition, not by industry.
Leadership coaching supports a leader moving to a materially different scope, most often from running a function to leading leaders. It is the highest-demand category, and the first ninety days weigh most. See coaching for VPs and SVPs and the first 90 days at a new altitude.
C-suite and board-facing coaching focuses on enterprise judgment, board and ELT communication, and the isolation of the top job. See C-suite coaching and board communication.
Corporate and sponsored coaching is bought by an L&D function, Head of Talent, or CHRO for a cohort of leaders, under an annual agreement with one invoice. See corporate coaching, leadership training programs, and how training programs compare with executive coaching.
AI-assisted coaching is a distinct tier that lets leaders rehearse a hard conversation at eleven at night. It is not a replacement for a human coach in a high-stakes transition. See Stratos Coaching AI.
Four categories of executive coaching provider serve this market. The larger the firm, the stronger the process and the weaker the guarantee about who your coach will be. See how to choose an executive coaching firm for the full firm-level checklist. For how an engagement runs from intake to close, see how executive coaching works.
| Provider type | Strength | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Global consultancies | Assessment depth, global coverage, procurement-friendly | Highest cost; your coach comes from a large bench and may never have held your role |
| Boutique specialist firms | Deep fit for one altitude or transition; you usually meet your coach before signing | Limited capacity; less useful for a large multi-country cohort |
| Independent coaches | Direct relationship, flexible terms, often the lowest rate | Quality varies widely; measurement and diagnostics are often absent |
| Platform marketplaces | Fast matching, scalable, transparent pricing | Built for volume at all levels; rarely right for a senior transition |
The category matters less than one question: has the specific coach you will be working with operated at or above your altitude? Ask for that person’s operating history first.
Industry ranges for executive coaching services are $300–$1,000+ per session, $5,000–$20,000+ for a six-month engagement, and $15,000–$65,000+ annually for C-suite advisory work. Organizations budgeting through an L&D function typically plan $10,000–$15,000 per leader per year. A 360° assessment, where offered as an add-on, typically adds $2,000–$7,000.
Price tracks the coach’s operating background, not the session count. A coach who has run a $500M P&L brings judgment about your situation; one with only a certification brings general frameworks.
On return, the ICF/PwC study found a median return of 700%, and a separate MetrixGlobal analysis measured 788%. Roughly 70% of coached executives show measurable performance improvement.
Treat headline multiples with scepticism. The stronger case is the downside: a derailed senior leader costs far more than the engagement that prevents it. Our full cost guide and ROI analysis work through both sides of the arithmetic.
Six questions separate executive coaching services quickly. Ask them in this order.
1. Has my coach held a role at or above my altitude? The individual, not the firm, is the strongest predictor of a useful engagement.
2. Do I meet my coach before I commit? If matching follows signature, you are buying the firm’s bench.
3. What is measured, and when? Without a midpoint review and a wrap-up, a provider cannot notice when an engagement is not working.
4. What is genuinely included? Diagnostics, plans, access, and measurement are often extras. Get the full number before comparing.
5. How long is the minimum term? Anything under six months rarely survives contact with a real quarter.
6. What happens if the fit is wrong? A confident provider states its reassignment policy without being pushed. For a longer walkthrough, see our guide to choosing an executive coach.
Tell us the altitude and the transition. We will say honestly whether coaching fits and what an engagement would look like.
Book a Free CallEvery Stratos Coaching engagement is led by a former C-suite or SVP operator with 25+ years of enterprise leadership experience. Each coach holds the Certified Executive Coach (CEC) credential and has sat on the other side of the promotion decision.
There is no associate handoff and no rotating roster. The coach you meet on the complimentary altitude call coaches you from the first session to the last.
Our track record page answers two questions this page tells you to ask any provider: how coaches are matched and how progress is measured. It also shows the week-by-week engagement calendar.
Healthcare leadership coaching is executive coaching for senior leaders in hospitals, health systems, payers, and provider groups: CMOs, CNOs, COOs, service-line VPs, and those above them. The discipline is the same as in any large organisation.
The context differs: clinical governance, physician and administrative leaders side by side, and decisions with patient and commercial consequences.
Physician executive coaching addresses a specific transition. A clinician moving into enterprise leadership must lead recent peers, make budget calls that cut against clinical preference, and speak for clinicians to a board that thinks in financial terms. Clinical training covers none of it.
Healthcare executive coaching typically focuses on three things: holding authority physicians grant socially rather than structurally, communicating with a board weighing margin against mission, and leading through change the executive did not choose.
Nonprofit executive coaching supports executive directors, CEOs, and senior leaders in mission-driven organisations, where the core challenge is structural. A nonprofit executive answers to a working board, carries fundraising alongside operations, and leads staff driven more by mission than pay. Authority is more distributed and negotiated.
Executive coaching for nonprofit leaders centres on the board relationship. An executive director who manages the board well has room to lead; one who does not spends the year defending decisions. The work covers bringing hard recommendations, handling a founder or long-tenured trustee, and holding strategy when funding pulls elsewhere.
Sales leadership coaching develops the senior commercial leader (the CRO, VP of Sales, or SVP of Revenue), not the sellers below them. Sales training improves how a rep runs a deal. Leadership sales coaching improves how an executive builds a commercial organisation, forecasts credibly, and holds a number they do not personally close.
The usual trigger is a leader who excelled at selling and now must build a system that sells without them. Old instincts, such as taking the hard call or running the key account, start to limit the team’s growth.
Typical focus areas: forecast credibility with the CEO and board, a leadership layer beneath you, pipeline discipline without micromanaging, and cross-functional work with product, marketing, and finance.
Executive coaching for lawyers supports general counsel, chief legal officers, and law-firm partners moving from practising law to leading an organisation. Legal training is precise, adversarial, and individual, while enterprise leadership is ambiguous, collaborative, and exercised through others; the coaching sits in that gap.
For a general counsel, the shift is from identifying risk to helping the business decide despite it. A GC who only flags exposure is consulted late, while a full executive team member is consulted early, where legal leverage sits.
Educational leadership coaching supports senior leaders in schools, districts, and higher education: superintendents, deans, provosts, and heads of school. Governance sets it apart: an elected or appointed board, unionised or tenured staff, and parents, faculty, and alumni who see themselves as stakeholders.
Executive coaching for principals and heads of school tackles the same problem at building level: leading a faculty you cannot easily reassign, holding an instructional standard without adversarial supervision, and managing parents who can reach your board.
Training programmes give a cohort shared frameworks, while coaching works one leader’s live situation, so most districts pair the two.
Executive coaching services are delivered virtually, so the same coaches and the same structured engagement are available to senior leaders in every U.S. market. What changes city to city is the leadership context: the industries that dominate, how the executive population is spread across a metro, and the transitions leaders there face most often. Each city page below covers that context and the VP and SVP, C-suite and executive leadership coaching we offer in that market.
A complete service includes a DISC or 360° assessment, a written plan with three to five measurable goals, recurring one-to-one sessions, between-session access to the coach, and impact measurement at midpoint and close.
Industry rates run $300 to $1,000+ per session and $5,000 to $20,000+ for a six-month engagement. C-suite advisory runs $15,000 to $65,000+ annually. Organizations budgeting through L&D typically plan $10,000 to $15,000 per leader per year. See our cost guide for the full breakdown.
They are designed for Directors moving into VP roles, VPs and SVPs leading other leaders, and C-suite executives facing enterprise-level decisions. The common thread is a change in altitude, not function or industry.
Most engagements run six to twelve months, with two one-hour sessions per month. Shorter terms rarely produce durable change, because leaders need live situations to practise against and a full feedback cycle to measure.
Yes, when scoped to real business goals. In the ICF and PwC Global Coaching Client Study, companies reported a median ROI of 700%, and 86% at least earned their investment back. A separate MetrixGlobal study of a Fortune 500 program measured 788%. Stratos Coaching ties every engagement to three to five measurable goals.
Results are measured against the goals set at intake. A rigorous engagement re-runs the 360° assessment at close, scores goal attainment, and gathers feedback from the leader's manager and direct reports. It also tracks the business metrics coaching should move, such as retention, decision speed, and stakeholder trust. Stratos Coaching builds this into the midpoint and final reviews.
No. Executive coaching is non-clinical professional development focused on leadership behaviour, decisions, and outcomes, while therapy is clinical care from licensed professionals. An ethical coach refers clients to a licensed mental-health professional when needed.
The definitional references behind this service: what it is, how it works, what it costs, and how to choose well.
Tell us the transition you face and what you need to prove. In twenty minutes we will map an engagement and say honestly whether it is the right call.
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