Top managers come and go in an inconspicuous office in Zurich’s Seefeld district. One of executive coach Cristian Hofmann’s clients is a successful banker who works as Chief Operating Officer in a division for wealthy clients. He was finding the lengthy processes and the cautious corporate culture of the big bank increasingly hard to bear. He had already founded a company as a student. The 44-year-old said he wanted to shape and move things directly again. So it was time for a career review and a clear view of his next step. Business coach Hofmann supported him in this.
Executive coaching Schaffhausen answers the same question as in any business region: Top managers rely on coaches because honest feedback is scarce at the top, and a critical outside view from an equal leads to better decisions. That’s how the NZZ described it on 4 August 2020 in its article “Warum Topmanager auf Coachs setzen” (Why top managers rely on coaches).
Executive coaching is one-to-one support for leaders at the highest levels, such as CEOs, members of the executive board and board directors. The coach asks key questions, gives constructive feedback and brings in an outside perspective. The leader finds the solution themselves.
The report began in my office in Zurich’s Seefeld district. One of my clients, a banker, was then chief operating officer in a major bank’s division for wealthy clients. The lengthy processes and a company culture with little appetite for new ideas were wearing him down.
He wanted to shape things more directly again, so we took stock of his career together. Afterwards he resigned and joined a private bank’s executive board as a partner, to drive a digital transformation with fintech.
In the article, I spoke of “clients who want reflection that enables them to act for themselves”, of “solution-focused conversations on equal terms” and of “guaranteed, measurable results in executive coaching” (my own words, translated). Sometimes a company head calls late on Sunday evening to go through the arguments for the next board meeting.
In the executive suite, managers are often on their own. My office partner Reinhard Vissa told the NZZ at the time that most top managers have a coach, though very few talk about it openly.
In Switzerland, Vissa said, coaching was still often seen as a weakness, unlike in the USA. Large companies, by contrast, often give new executives a coach and pay for it. Among SMEs, where Vissa mainly worked with entrepreneurs, board members and investors, coaching was less common.
Vissa and I both held senior positions and sat on boards ourselves. That background matters, because an executive coach has to understand how a business works and be able to stand up to managers. People who are used to setting the tone like to test whoever sits across from them.
In the same article, executive coach Heike Rudolf von Rohr described a recurring pattern: Managers often find it hard to draw a line between themselves and their job. If you draw too much of your self-worth from work, you fall hard as soon as things go wrong there.
How does coaching work? Much as in psychotherapy, coaches ask targeted questions to make a problem conscious and activate strengths. Motives and goals are reflected on, often with images and scales.
The NZZ described a self-experiment with coach Claudia Beutter of the ZHAW. The concern: Speaking in front of many people without fear. After two hours, a new task had been found for “the grey mouse” (die graue Maus), the inner voice of caution. According to Beutter, the client is the expert on their own life circumstances.
The coaching market is opaque. According to estimates cited by the NZZ, Switzerland had around 5,000 coaches, with executive coaches making up only a small share. Anyone may use the job title, and hourly rates averaged between CHF 150 and CHF 450.
Jean-Paul Munsch, then president of the professional association BSO, said that far more coaches are being trained than the market can absorb. According to Munsch, professional coaches have completed a master’s programme or two to three years of training, plus many hours of practice.
Coaches have no legal duty of confidentiality. So make sure a coach explicitly promises confidentiality and discloses their professional ethics. Associations such as BSO and ICF have set standards for this.
Beutter named two factors as central: The relationship of trust with the coach and the attitude of the coachee. Anyone sent to coaching against their will has poorer chances of change.
At the top, honest feedback is rare. A good coach delivers it as an equal, in confidence and with goals that can be checked.
In the NZZ, Robert Wegener of the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland described blended coaching as the future standard: You meet in person once or twice and then hold the sessions online. Top managers, he said, preferred meeting in person, often over a longer period.
My position: For leaders from the region, executive coaching Schaffhausen at Fronwagplatz 8 is a matter of short distances and quiet conversations away from their own office. I recommend holding the first sessions in person, because trust usually grows faster face to face.
I consider the other extreme outdated. Insist on meeting in person every time, and you lose weeks in busy phases. Online sessions work well once the relationship is established.
In 2020, the NZZ cited average hourly rates of CHF 150 to 450, depending on the offer. Executive coaching for top managers is usually at the upper end. Ask for a clear quote with goals and duration.
On average, a coaching relationship lasts a few months. According to the NZZ, top managers often keep a coach for years.
Yes. Many clients combine a few meetings in person with online sessions. The NZZ described this mix as increasingly common.
By sound training, experience in leadership responsibility and a promise of confidentiality. Membership of a professional association such as BSO or ICF is an additional signal.
More about the offer for executive coaching Schaffhausen: Business coaching Schaffhausen.
Further reading on hofmann.coach: Choose an executive coach · Top management coaching: Why leaders work with a coach · Cristian Hofmann: The man who makes effective leadership tangible
Note: This article was first published on 06.08.2020 as an excerpt from the NZZ article “Warum Topmanager auf Coachs setzen” (in German) of 04.08.2020 and was revised and expanded in October 2026. Quotes come from this article.
Cristian Hofmann is an executive coach in Zurich and Schaffhausen (MAS Coaching & Supervision BSO, Forbes contributor). Over more than 20 years he has coached more than 1,500 leaders: CEOs, executive boards and leadership teams in Switzerland, with measurably agreed goals and, on request, pay-for-results. More about Cristian Hofmann.
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