The Art Of CEO Coaching: Mastering The Chair/CEO Partnership

Forbes

24-06-2025

Dr. John Blakey is an author, keynote speaker and ⁠CEO executive coach.
A number of unique challenges come with stepping into the CEO role. One of these is building an effective partnership with your chair. Just when you thought you had gotten your hands on the steering wheel of the organization, you meet an influential and well-intentioned figure who has the potential to make or break your role.
In my years supporting CEOs, I have witnessed many tales of CEO/chair partnerships built, squandered and rebuilt. In this article, I will capture some of the insights and learnings from these privileged conversations.
The Crucial Partnership Between Chair And CEO
When you become a CEO, it's tempting to think you are finally the "big boss" and can announce your grand plan—the plan that will resolve all the ills and frustrations of the organization you had experienced as a director. Well, I'm sorry to burst the bubble, but it's better you know the truth: The chair might become the immovable object that stands in the way of your infinite will. That is not to say that this has to be the case, but it is a significant risk unless you learn quickly to forge a win/win partnership with your new "next door neighbor."
Picture the scene: I have been invited to facilitate a meeting between a chair and the CEO as part of the CEO's executive coaching program. I make the three-hour journey to the office in person because this one hour of interaction could be pivotal to the organization's effective leadership. If it goes well, then a new phase of growth and potential will open up. If it goes badly, then it is highly likely that someone will lose their job. After all, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
I arrive at reception and am immediately intercepted by the chair, who wishes to have a short, unscheduled pre-meeting with me. As we scuttle into an inconvenient side room, he regales me with all the reasons why the CEO is the problem. Suddenly, the door opens, and there stands the CEO, looking a little surprised but still forcing a confident grin as she shakes my hand. There are a few nervous coughs as we retire to the main meeting room and sketch out our agenda.
This story highlights the importance of trust: It arrives on foot and leaves on horseback. My job as a CEO executive coach is to build trust with both parties, and their job is to build trust between themselves. How do we do that?
The Three Pillars Of Chair/CEO Trust
First, we acknowledge that trust takes time. We must spend enough time together focused on relationship-building despite all the urgent tasks of the day. One effective CEO/chair partnership I witnessed categorized this time as "gray time," since it was neither urgent and task-focused nor big-picture strategic thinking. Gray time was for personal relationship-building, and it needed to be scheduled in everyone's diaries; otherwise, it would not happen.
Second, trust-building at this level in organizational life requires ultimate discretion. This is not a place for idle gossip, humorous asides or partisan flattery. All parties are required to put the organization's greater good ahead of personal ego, despite the temptation to score points and lobby potential allies. If tension from the CEO/chair relationship spills over into the rest of the organization, it can unnerve and undermine the confidence of the whole senior leadership team.
Finally, trust-building requires some degree of opening up and sharing of personal vulnerabilities. A powerful coaching question in this context is "What worries you?" The chair and the CEO are always worried, and this question invites a deeper sharing of what currently keeps them awake at night.
As I drove home from the CEO/chair meeting, I breathed a sigh of relief. Despite the ominous start, we had found some common ground.
It took time, but gradually, both parties opened up. The chair was worried about the organization's safe governance and how the board's independent directors could be kept on side. The CEO was worried about excessive interference from the board in operational matters and the chair's tendency to talk out of turn to leadership team members. I was worried about keeping the meeting on track and ensuring there was a mutual commitment for the CEO and chair to stay connected through planning some regular gray time.
As the CEO and I were leaving the meeting, she turned to me and quipped, "I told you what he was like." Tempted though I was to side with my immediate client, I bit my lip and held my tongue—now was not the time to undo all the valuable trust-building that had just taken place. Discretion is the better part of valor, I thought.
Final Thoughts
Gradually, effective CEOs learn that they don't actually have their hands on the organizational steering wheel after all. It turns out they are riding tandem with the chair.
When this partnership works well, the organization can move faster and with greater agility through periods of inevitable and relentless change. When this partnership works badly, it jolts and jars organizational momentum, leading to fragmented efforts and confused agendas. Meanwhile, the art of CEO coaching is to ensure three-way conversations in every CEO executive coaching program and to prepare for these meticulously.
Finally, the effective CEO executive coach, like the CEO and the chair, must always put the good of the organization ahead of personal relationships. We act as guardians of the wider system, and we must exercise that privilege with great care.
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