To Coach or Not To Coach: But is That the Question?
To Coach or Not To Coach: But is That the Question?
want to do) and take them through a lesson where they come face to face with accountability…where one realizes one can’t be made to commit and instead one can only evaluate the ramifications of one’s decisions. In this messiness of organizational life, it gets you wondering what do I, as an expert executive coach, see as the best of the best situations for the richness of executive coaching? Read on for my top five.
1. Your team is not underperforming, just getting comfortable with what it is performing. Many coaches go after the dysfunctional team as their prime
candidate to coach, as if not being aligned actually hurts or has some overt pathology. However, I prefer the team that has come to the conclusion that they are doing just fine. What illusion are they colluding on? Where has the fear been displaced to?
2. Sudden unexplained positive shift in a business outcome critical to your company’s success. To quote the well-known executive coach Marshall
Goldsmith, there are factors of success that are best explained under the willful heading of “because” factors and those that are coined as the elusive “in spite” factors. When a success happens that is of a large scale nature some leader is ready to step up and take credit. But what if the success happened in spite of someone’s portfolio of “skills?”
3. Oversimplification of strategy. Beware of the leader who begins his sentences “all we have to do is just...” Typically some nuance is missed. No area is more susceptible to this then in the alignment area of business. “We just have to know who is on the bus and who isn’t”. Wish human nature was that binary. It just isn’t. You don’t seek complexity in your decision making, it won’t seek you.
4. Failing to see value trade offs. Next time you see an employee doing something you don’t get, before you tell them what they did wrong, inquire about what value was underneath the decision that they made. In every moment we make a decision, we are operating from some value center. You will likely uncover a bind that is common in your organization. . . one that you
unconsciously did not want to uncover through inquiry as it would put some self-interest component at jeopardy.
5. Fallibility of perception. Most of the work I do can be linked to being asking to join two perceptions into, hopefully, a more realistic indicator of human nature, and therefore organizational performance. When I meet a leader that has an illusion of invincibility, find a “maybe” or a “perhaps”—don’t prove them wrong. In essence, these top five areas have a “do not coach” side to them that is very tempting as a fault that is either imperceptible or a right that is so darn true filling that person up to the brim. Don’t lose faith. Coaching is not about motivationally enhancing the motivationally inclined people…it is about seeing the stage of change that people are in and inviting them to question from their value center—not yours.
Reprinted with permission by Executive Decision magazine, March/April 2007
To Coach or Not To Coach But is That the Question - To learn more about this author, visit Kevin Fleming's Website.
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In my practice, I have realized over time that not everyone wants to change, but everyone wants to think either they can or don’t have to. Instead of answering the question of whether John Doe the VP is “coaching material or not,” I guide an organizational leadership team into understanding natural laws of humanity (i.e., people will do what they want to do and not what they don’t
want to do) and take them through a lesson where they come face to face with accountability…where one realizes one can’t be made to commit and instead one can only evaluate the ramifications of one’s decisions. In this messiness of organizational life, it gets you wondering what do I, as an expert executive coach, see as the best of the best situations for the richness of executive coaching? Read on for my top five.
1. Your team is not underperforming, just getting comfortable with what it is performing. Many coaches go after the dysfunctional team as their prime
candidate to coach, as if not being aligned actually hurts or has some overt pathology. However, I prefer the team that has come to the conclusion that they are doing just fine. What illusion are they colluding on? Where has the fear been displaced to?
2. Sudden unexplained positive shift in a business outcome critical to your company’s success. To quote the well-known executive coach Marshall
Goldsmith, there are factors of success that are best explained under the willful heading of “because” factors and those that are coined as the elusive “in spite” factors. When a success happens that is of a large scale nature some leader is ready to step up and take credit. But what if the success happened in spite of someone’s portfolio of “skills?”
3. Oversimplification of strategy. Beware of the leader who begins his sentences “all we have to do is just...” Typically some nuance is missed. No area is more susceptible to this then in the alignment area of business. “We just have to know who is on the bus and who isn’t”. Wish human nature was that binary. It just isn’t. You don’t seek complexity in your decision making, it won’t seek you.
4. Failing to see value trade offs. Next time you see an employee doing something you don’t get, before you tell them what they did wrong, inquire about what value was underneath the decision that they made. In every moment we make a decision, we are operating from some value center. You will likely uncover a bind that is common in your organization. . . one that you
unconsciously did not want to uncover through inquiry as it would put some self-interest component at jeopardy.
5. Fallibility of perception. Most of the work I do can be linked to being asking to join two perceptions into, hopefully, a more realistic indicator of human nature, and therefore organizational performance. When I meet a leader that has an illusion of invincibility, find a “maybe” or a “perhaps”—don’t prove them wrong. In essence, these top five areas have a “do not coach” side to them that is very tempting as a fault that is either imperceptible or a right that is so darn true filling that person up to the brim. Don’t lose faith. Coaching is not about motivationally enhancing the motivationally inclined people…it is about seeing the stage of change that people are in and inviting them to question from their value center—not yours.
Reprinted with permission by Executive Decision magazine, March/April 2007
To Coach or Not To Coach But is That the Question - To learn more about this author, visit Kevin Fleming's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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