Executive coaching: what it is and what it isn’t

Common terminology used in the interactions between people in the workplace that are sometimes confused with coaching include:

The basic ingredient for success in coaching is the supposition that the person being coached is a functional individual who ‘knows his stuff’. This applies to most people who have worked their way into management and leadership roles. The coach is not employed to teach but more to facilitate change, whereby, the executive can do more of the right things at the right time with what they know. At the IECL, this is called the gold miner’s mentality’. The assumption is that the executive has gold within him, but when looking for gold, it’s easier to find dirt. The skilled coach will help to remove the dirt and polish the gold so it shines.

In Tim Gallwey’s book: The Inner Game of Work, he postulates the following equation for performance:

p = P - i

where:

p = an individual’s performance

P = represents their potential and

i = the interference, including underuse of a strength, that can get in the way of peak performance.

It is assumed that nobody, whether a sportsman or a corporate executive is operating at peak performance because there will be one or more factors in the way—including the under or overuse of a strength. If this interference can be removed then performance will also improve to approach potential.

A model developed by Ken Wilber to highlight the various potential sources of interference to peak performance can provide a map of the landscape that conveys the complexity of coaching encounters. Positive or negative influence can, in a broad sense, come from one of the four quadrants noted on the diagram below—quadrants on the left denoting what is ‘unmanifest’ i.e. what is known only to the individual coachee.

Quadrants on the right are ‘manifest’ i.e. known to outside observers. Quadrants above the mid-line represent the ‘individual’ quadrants while those below are the ‘collective’ or ‘organisational’ ones.

The model assists coachees in establishing the various sources of interference including the current interference and factors which may contribute to the prevention of reaching the goals of the coaching programme. Once possible interference is identified the coachee is able to take steps either to eliminate, work around or ‘live with’ the interference.

In summary, executive coaching is a transformational process that regards the coachee as an actor in a whole system that includes the culture, systems and social context of their situation and their interaction with his or her value and belief systems.

Research conducted by the Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership involving 111 coached executives from a range of coaching organisations showed that 92% said they were satisfied or very satisfied with what they had gained from programmes of six to ten sessions, and 57% said they were surprised by the amount of benefit. Those surveyed cited four key areas of benefit: self-awareness; developing communication skills; improving personal organisation and planning; and understanding the context and strategy of the business and where their goals fit.

Participants in the Executive Coaching: An HR View of What Works Study, conducted by the Australian HR Institute, were asked to rate various types of organisational gain achieved from coaching. 94% reported some or strong gains in building talent pool capability and 71% said it had helped talent retention and morale. 65% said coaching had helped build effective leadership and 53% cited cultural change and team cohesion as improving following coaching. Some of the key benefits of coaching noted include:

• Recognising the need for coaches to improve and to believe that improvement and achievement are entirely possible—self efficacy.
• Developing coachee goals which are valuable in the individual and organisational context, and are clearly articulated, measurable and achievable.
• Identifying coachee strengths and areas for improvement in a positive, non-threatening way, recognising that this will lead to improvement, rather than focusing on criticism, failure, errors or problems.
• Analysing the current situation of coachees from a high level big-picture perspective—akin to rising out of traffic gridlock and viewing it from above.
• Planning coachee actions in a clear and concise manner.
• Focusing coachee efforts with determination on implementing and maintaining the identified change necessary in order to achieve a goal even when he or she gets sidetracked.
• Recognising coachee milestones on the road to achievement.
• Making coaches more assertive when necessary and able to conduct themselves in a more principled manner, while applying their signature presence to their leadership style.

Coaching is the second fastest growing industry and fastest growing personal-development tool in the world and has already achieved notable success, particularly in the corporate environment.

Broadly speaking, since the 1950s the role of the manager has gradually been re-shaped from instructor/director to coach/mentor through the recognition of adult learning theory as a framework for developmental interventions. This change could also be framed in terms of shifting organisational culture—the change from command/control cultures to coaching/mentoring cultures.

Executive coaching is youthful in terms of its development as a discipline. There is no doubt, however, that a skilled coach can have a powerful effect on the development of an executive. As with love, once ‘touched’ by coaching—either through training as a coach or being coached—one is never quite the same again.

While executive coaching is undoubtedly an exciting field in personal and professional development, it is not cheap and organisations need to plan its use carefully in order to derive maximum benefit. It should be used as a development tool and not a remedial intervention.