It’s the time of year when many people are turning to personal trainers to trim down their festive excesses. But if your staff’s careers are also suffering from the new year blues, the idea of hiring an executive coach to help get them into tip-top shape may also appeal.

Not only can an executive coach provide valuable career-boosting support to individuals, but they can also benefit employers who may currently be bracing themselves for many of their staff cutting loose and going down that ‘new year, new me’ route.

But how do you go about finding an executive coach? An exploratory telephone conversation or, better still, a face-to-face meeting is worthwhile to decide who can help you. A coach should give you a short time without charge to see whether the relationship is going to work. You soon pick up the signals that tell you if people are likely to get on with them or have long embarrassing silences.

This is vital because people must feel comfortable enough to talk confidentially with the coach about professional and personal matters. The other must for a recruiter is a coach with business experience. The sessions will be more successful if the coach has experience of the sales sector and understands a business in which numbers define success. Try to speak to others who have used the services of that coach – there’s nothing quite like a personal recommendation to give you extra confidence in your choice.

Don’t expect the coach to come through the door with a cure-all potion, however. The coach’s job is to get people talking. Don’t be surprised at this. The coach has to draw out their wishes and ambitions and then help them find the means of achieving them. Coaches say most clients have the solutions in their own heads. They are just not aware of them or they have been reluctant to face them.

So it’s down to the individual, with a little help from their friend, the coach. They will get the best out of the coach by being brave and speaking frankly. All their secrets stay within the four walls so they can feel confident opening up.

The exhilaration people feel from getting to grips with their problems is tremendous. Part of this success is because the coach is independent and unbiased. In this way he or she is rather like the non-executive director on the board bringing a fresh and expert view.

There are also specialist coaches who work in developing particular skills. I knew of a chap in his thirties with fair to middling sales figures in a recruitment consultancy. A company shake-up was coming and the options for him were redundancy, promotion to branch manager or a new role. He felt humiliated when he was offered a new role, as he had thought that he was manager material.

The company gave him an executive coach to help him to deal with his hurt feelings and boost his productivity. Today he is still not a manager but he works with key clients, reports directly to the board and has trebled his earnings. He is a happy man.

A woman who saw the same coach changed her attitudes after one meeting of 11 minutes. With a few deft questions the coach drew out of her what was stopping her from reaching her aspirations. The obstacles were quickly removed.

Employers usually pick up the bill for executive coaches and for good reason. The benefits to the company are huge. If you can blow away the things that are hindering employees they will be more committed, more motivated and more effective. They will see projects through and they will function better as a team.

What’s more, giving an employee the opportunity to work with an executive coach says very clearly that this person is important to the company.

One final word for the employee. Don’t rush in. Sit quietly in a corner and decide what you want from the sessions. Have definite issues and an objective. The more specific you can be, the better the results will be.