Train for gain: chief executives turn to coaches to polish up their leadership style.

ALREADY near the top of her game, Mara Pelsman hired executive coach Judy Jernudd to push her a little higher. Four years ago, when Pelsman was promoted from chief financial officer to chief executive of Gateways Hospital and Mental Health Center in Los Angeles, she decided it was time to work on her communication skills, especially public speaking and image.

Pelsman admits she was intimidated when Jernudd showed up with a cameraperson at their first meeting and began capturing her body language on tape. But within six months, she was speaking in front of a room full of 350 hospital donors and directors at an annual fundraising dinner--with ease.

"Allowing yourself to be coached means getting out of your comfort zone," said Pelsman. "It was hard for me to get up and speak in front of people, but it turned out to be a great presentation. That wasn't something I could do well before."

More and more senior level executives are taking that step.

In a 2004 survey of 50 companies in the United States and five in Europe, 24 percent provided external coaching for their chief executives and top management on a regular basis, according. The survey was conducted by Alec R. Levenson of USC's Marshall School of Business 

Chief executives hire coaches more often than general managers and vice presidents, middle managers, and first line supervisors. There are coaches for communication, image, and media relations; coaches to boost self-confidence, ease transitions, organize, schedule, and even to make chief executives seem more likeable to their employees and customers.

On average, an executive coach-chief executive relationship lasts about seven months and focuses on a specific issue, according to Levenson's study. But does it really work, especially given flat fees that can start at $3,000 and rise to $50,000?

"Asking if coaching works is like asking if a doctor can heal a patient," Levenson said. "If you are treating the fight illness, and you have the right doctor, and you have the right medicine, then yes."

Varied techniques

Eli Davidson, a self-titled "life enhancement engineer" puts it another way: "If you are just going out to whack the golf ball every Saturday, you may not have a coach, but if you are in the PGA you definitely have a coach. Peak performers know they are good at the game, and they want to do better."

Jernudd attributes her expertise in chief executive performance coaching predominantly to a career in public relations and experience as a television journalist. As a reporter on several local Los Angeles and Miami stations, Jernudd has interviewed Oprah Winfrey, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, and Tom Selleck.

Armed with that knowledge of star power, she tapes each of her clients to capture their physical and speech mannerisms.

"I can tell people a hundred times, 'you look angry, or you look sad, or you weren't looking me in the eye when you delivered that news,' but they don't believe it themselves until they see it," she said.

Many of her clients come to her with abrasive personalities, having trouble retaining customers and employees. She uses the videos and an extensive list of questions to point out negative gestures and polish social skills. Some coaching methods are more abstract.

With all these different approaches, finding the right match is critical if the coach-exec relationship is to be successful.

"If someone is a real hard-boiled egg, they aren't going to be attracted to what I do. I work with a lot of entrepreneurs and people who want to be innovative," said Davidson. "If you want someone in a three-piece Brooks Brothers suit, that's not me."

It's the same sort of response that executive coach David Rohlander gets.

When asked what type of person is drawn to his services, Rohlander points to his business card. It features an oil painting of a distinguished looking Rohlander, complete with salt-and-pepper beard and a balding head above a caption that reads, "The CEO's Coach."

"The card attracts certain people and repels certain people. If they don't get it, they won't match very well," he said.

Nine months ago, Bill Bancroft, president of Patrol One, a security service in Santa Ana, was ready to take that chance when he found that his efforts to mentor and train his employees to higher performance levels were failing.

Rohlander, who works with chief executives in Los Angeles and around Southern California, attended a Patrol One staff meeting. He interviewed employees about how the company was run and questioned Bancroft about his employee training methodology--all before offering suggestions for improvement.

Rohlander suggested that Bancroft's problem was generalizing training techniques for all of his employees. Patrol One's employees were predominantly aged 25 to 35 years old, and varied in their level of maturity and understanding of the industry. Since Rohlander began coaching Bancroft on employee training issues, Patrol One has grown 30 percent.

"It was hard to take advice at first," Bancroft said. "I am an entrepreneurial kind of guy; I have been running businesses for 35 years," he said. "I had to swallow my ego in order to take advice from someone else. It turns out I do know a lot about the business, but I don't know everything."

As demand increases for coaching, a willing supply of coaches is stepping up to lead them. However, a number of industry veterans are worried that because the sector is unregulated--anyone from former chief executives to students, professors and actors can be a coach--that there is an issue with training and professionalism.

"We see the field broadening and the average quality of coaching lessening," Levenson said. He doesn't believe the field should be regulated, however.

Karen Blondell, a freelance publicist who has worked with chief executive coaches in New York and Los Angeles, said that she has seen her flops. She currently refers clients to Jernudd for media and image coaching, but recalls using an image coach once whose appearance and manner didn't fit the bill.

"This guy was just very sloppy; he was overweight, sweaty, and didn't smell very nice," said Blondell, who advises executives to research a coach candidate's experience and accomplishments. "If you are going to train people for five or six hours, you have to be outgoing."

BY SARAH FILUS

Staff Reporter