EBS: Executive coaching importer

As an educator of managers, EBS has made a major contribution to improving the quality of management in Estonia. EBS Executive Education has played a key role in this, with hundreds of people taking part in its management training courses and programmes every year. In 2011, a new topic – coaching – was added to its training portfolio.

Jokingly, it might be said that EBS became an importer of executive coaching because Peep Aaviksoo, the head of EBS Executive Education (then called the EBS Management Training Centre), was bored and Madis Habakuk knew the right moment to push the right button to get Peep looking for interesting new opportunities.

“Madis and I discussed future plans from time to time, and he felt we could expand the range of training courses for managers,” Peep Aaviksoo explains. “I was a bit bored with what I was otherwise doing, so I was ready to take the lead on it. I’d heard of coaching, but I didn’t know a whole lot about it. Madis and I went to a bunch of schools in Europe to find out more, finally ending up in London, where the Academy of Executive Coaching (AoEC) is based.” First, Peep himself went there to learn how to coach. “It just spoke to me,” he says. “I also proposed to the academy that EBS could become their partner in Estonia. That’s how it all started.” EBS Executive Education became a licensed partner to the AoEC and its sole representative in Estonia in 2011.

Speaking about coaching, Peep Aaviksoo – who is himself an executive coach and trainer – describes it as a great way of unlocking people’s potential: in other words, coaching supports people’s development. A coach’s skills are particularly useful for managers, because by adopting such a management style you can create an environment within a team that’s supportive of development and where people are trusted, listened to and supported rather than ordered around. “To me, it’s the job of a modern manager to put together a team that will meet the challenges facing the company and to create the conditions for them to be both willing and able to manifest their skills,” Aaviksoo reveals. “It’s also useful to have skills that will create an environment in which people can realise their talent and potential.”

Alas, there are far too many managers in Estonia and around the world who think they have all the answers. “You often find that less forthright colleagues will knock on their manager’s door to present them with their own ideas, but end up walking away with the ideas their great leader puts forward,” Peep Aaviksoo says, adding that a manager only becomes a leader when they realise they don’t have to be the smartest person in the room. This can be the first step on the path to coaching management.

Nevertheless, it shouldn’t be assumed that coaching is a magic wand that will be suited to or solve all (management) problems. Since the coaching style of management values the individual and helps them achieve results by building up their self-esteem, it won’t suit authoritarian leaders, for example.

Executive coach and trainer Merle Viirmaa points out that there are many management styles and says that when choosing between them, it’s worth picking the one that best matches your personality. However, for those who are interested in acquiring the skills of a coach and plan to become a coaching manager, it’s worth knowing that a number of prerequisites need to be met. “First of all, you have to be self-aware, meaning you understand yourself as well as your team members,” she explains. “Secondly, there needs to be an effective culture of feedback within the company, from the point of view of both the giver and the receiver. And thirdly, you need to be able to adapt to uncertainty, because the coaching management style can prove rather slow in terms of achieving results. After all, it’s about unlocking people’s potential – including finding development opportunities and removing obstacles – and that’s not exactly predictable.”

The champion of more effective management

The EBS Executive Education training calendar features a wide range of development programmes focussing on executive coaching. The two-day Coaching Skills Certificate course on the principles and impact of coaching serves as a perfect refresher. Those who develop a greater interest in the subject can take part in a four-month coaching leadership masterclass to gain practical skills and tools to help them lead more effectively. The longest programme – the Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching, which lasts for six months – is designed for those who wish to pursue coaching professionally and/or use coaching skills in their day-to-day management.

Peep Aaviksoo recalls a board member of a large service company who, since attending the Coaching Skills Certificate course, says the first thing he does when he gets to work is to put a ‘Shut up for 3 minutes’ sign on his computer. It had the desired effect: six months later he was back at EBS taking the six-month coaching programme. “He said that when he returned to work after the two-day course, he properly started listening to his staff,” Aaviksoo explains. “And he realised he had a really smart group of people working for him, and that he’d never really listened to them, but just told them what to do.” It is, he says, a perfect example of how the basic tenets of coaching – skilful listening and questioning – really work.

It’s no wonder then that EBS Executive Education’s coaching programmes are as popular as they are. Over 2000 people have completed the two-day course, while more than 300 managers have graduated from the six-month programme, earning a coaching diploma in the process. The newest masterclass in coaching leadership, which was launched in 2022, has been held twice, with a third course starting in March 2024. “Executive coaching focusses on the solution, the result and the future,” explains Merle Viirmaa. “Managers get that it’s good for their reputation if they know how to use coaching principles, since doing so makes it easier to recruit and retain talent – because people feel valued.”

Peep Aaviksoo agrees that good management and a good working environment are recognised by managers and employees alike, who are willing to contribute to a company in which the environment is right for them. “Through coaching, we empower people and boost their self-confidence,” he says. “That’s essential for good results.”