Tweet

Top Ten Signs You Need a Coach

Written by: Kevin Fleming

Article Overview: Do we really know whether we are "in pain" regarding failed results and eluded goals around happiness and achievement? Sometimes we miss even the cues to tell us we should be getting help. Here is a Top Ten List for describing the scenarios most fitting for a personal/professional coach

Top Ten Signs You Need a Coach

No. 10 -- Your team or corporate environment is experiencing interpersonal conflict.
Many managers mistake this sign as a warning to look out for break room brawls or on-the-road-sales-call spats. Would be nice if it were that clear of a symptom. Actually, most corporate conflict occurs in a passive-aggressive-oriented manner due to the cost-benefit ratio that is perceived by most to favor keeping everything cool and status quo. The result? Withdrawal, implicit agreement with head nods yet under the breath sighs and actual behavioral compliance, and other creative ways to simply plateau peacefully. As quoted in the bestseller Crucial Confrontations (Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, & Switzler, 2005, p. 17), a national poll of U.S. workers found that 44 percent reported putting in as little effort as they could get away with without being fired. If this speaks of human nature innately, as it is, nothing gives this statistic more fire to increase in percentage points as emotional or interpersonal conflict. Too bad that you won't see it so directly---till later when "numbers come out." And sometimes it is too late.

If you suspect sub-optimal performance, an executive coach can use interviewing skills and assessments to get at core issues quickly and efficiently and most importantly as an unbiased outsider.

No. 9 -- Sudden/unexplained "shift" or change in a crucial business indicator of success, specific to a particular industry.
Many times the human performance element is too subtle for the keenest of managers and one is left with pure outcomes to tell the story. I have worked with executives that have hired me with the question "Doc, something is odd.... Our numbers are down in this division, and it is a change from the norm. I don't get it. Those guys are great players for us." Executive coaches look for both the individual parameters (motivation, skill, confidence, knowledge gaps) that could have changed, as well as systemic, environmental processes that may not have had optimal communication channels in place to support the stellar talent within, and the most common culprit, the combination of both.

Executive coaches in these instances make sure they leave the client with performance enhancement tools as well as ways to increase feedback systems.

No. 8 – Decreased emphasis on preserving human capital
This is a difficult one to swallow and typically is couched within budget reasons. Given the excuse typically given out, it is a hard one used to justify calling in an executive coach, the Cadillac of human capital investment strategies. However, an executive coach will sometimes enter with one of the other Top Ten reasons cited here but will ultimately have this difficult discussion with the CEO. That is, that there are no personal flaws of a significant nature with his/her employees, but rather an insensitivity to the motivational systems that refill an "empty tank" and produce what Covey calls the 8th habit of success---personal fulfillment, the most desired aspect in a work environment. This characteristic is only attained with an investment in ways to engage workers significantly and give them the opportunity to feel alive. No one stops being fully human between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday to Friday.

I ran across a quote I fell in love with the other day. It said, "Don't ask yourself what the world needs from you. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that. For the world needs more people that have come alive." It is hard for us to do this if our paid job doesn't increase the probability of our making this more likely.

No. 7 -- Oversimplification of strategy
To the man with a hammer, the world is a nail. Too bad the business world doesn't need more hammers. In fact, it is full of rich textured strategies to gain success. In my opinion, I don't believe anyone has done a meta-analysis of the factors needed for organizational excellence. Nope, no empiricism. Instead tons of "7 steps to..." and "7 habits for..." What is it about this number 7? Seems to belong more in the Bible then in a board room, but I digress...
In my years of studying human nature in performance realms, I have yet to be granted such a divine revelatory experience that would lead me to such hubris of declaring the finite nature of tips, tools, or strategies that I could apply everywhere. Now, I can either see myself as inexperienced and incompetent, but my results with CEO's and their companies do not show that. Instead, I believe My Approach with people is more of a personification of the paradoxical nature of truth. That is, the more I acknowledge individual differences and see the sense in human choice, the more truth of performance emerges naturally.

In my work as an executive coach I have seen many leaders fall victim to idolatry, hailing the God of their strategy at the expense of seeing their colleagues and direct reports as co-holders of the truth. Even if one does not believe that ultimately this is true, your choices our limited to get to the truth; one must engage those around you.

No. 6 -- Isolation and withdrawal
Though many executives have busy travel schedules and unique personality differences that would predispose some to not be as present as others do in the workplace, one needs to watch out for these variables. I have seen many professionals take the slippery slope down to failure, making daily if not moment by moment choices to avoid conflict and "check out." This disassociated strategy attempts to achieve an illusory equilibrium within them, for they see their challenges, whether personal or professional, as too daunting to mount. As with any other human being, the path of "temporary" least resistance is chosen leading us to make the outcome far worse than it could of been if we had chosen openness and honesty in our communications.

As an executive coach, I have seen my clients countless times take the risk to share some rather wrenching and/or potentially damaging comments to colleagues, only to experience the resiliency of human nature. Many times, the people around him/her already knew what was going on and waited for him/her to “fess up”. Integrity is preserved and respect gained. And these attributes are invaluable to a leader.

No. 5 -- Increase in turnover, absenteeism and tardiness
Well, sometimes as an executive coach, I get handed a gold nugget--the kind that doesn't make me go on a Columbo-like search throughout a company to see the root cause. It simply is written on the wall. However, you would be surprised how few executives see reality as it is. In a personal conversation with the world's expert on employee retention, Leigh Branham told me that he recently looked at 4,000 exit surveys from the Saratoga Institute to glean data as to why employees leave. Interesting finding, 89% of managers think they leave for promotion, pay, or status increase, while 89% of employees actually leave for "disengagement" reasons with critical individuals at work. Do you see the self-serving perceptual bias at work?

Executive coaches work with managers to get them to see reality. This is only difficult if we use confrontation as the primary door "in." However, if we match the manager where he/she is at in their perception of their employees who leave and gently guide them to any pattern, that will always be greater than any single "data point."

No. 4 -- Performance quotas missed
I once heard a story of a European manager talking to an executive coach about his befuddling experience in why his team was 6 months into the fiscal year and way behind in reaching their sales quota. The coach asked him what it would take to close the gap between current performance and desired performance, signifying the successful outcome of what his team was committed to accomplish. He said approximately 2 million pounds. The coach had to rephrase the question, for it was evident that the manager did not understand the significance of the question. The coach restated it as, "What have your team members personally committed to in accomplishing in sales this year?" After a few moments of silence, the manager said, "I have never asked them that." Though this story may seem so simplistic, you would be surprised how many managers assume commitment based on the appeal of the commissions, with no regard to obtaining the optimal idiosyncratic way of motivating each worker with the ultimate goal of aligning personal commitments to the organization' s goal.

Executive coaches work with managers to change their "telling" relationship into a more coaching-oriented one where their direct reports naturally thrive and enjoy accountability and success on their own.

No. 3 -- Complacency among managers - "The Fine Syndrome"
This important sign for an executive coach to get on board is sometimes missed by senior executives for the "all is fine" response satisfies executives in many instances. That is, many executives see crucial confrontations as a "bother" and reserved more for Titanic-proportion problems. By then, it is simply too late and the executive uses power and insight maladroitly to add insult on top of injury. Though senior level management is trained to look for performance indicators and bottom line-type inquiries, they sometimes forget the process-oriented pieces that are essential in getting outcomes. When a manager consistently responds with "fine" on many issues, they are usually lazy in some regard and have chosen some shortcuts that have redefined success as "the absence of problems."

Many philosophers, business consultants, and coaches would agree that the absence of evil is not equated to the presence of good or excellence. So don't settle for verbal confirmations that are equivalent to "we are breathing oxygen, so we are fine."

No. 2 -- The Insanity Definition: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
This sign is the center of countless bureaucratic meetings where individuals become experts in describing the water while someone is drowning. Business publications don't help this problem for they seem to come out with new terminology that can really hide the fact that a company is really in essence doing the same type of approach to a problem over and over and over again. As long as one talks "optimizing a business model" or "best practice" it's got to be good, right? An executive coach never loses sight of inquiry as a tool. I sometimes will dig for multiple levels of explanation to see how well my client really knows the issue at hand, for it takes a layer or two usually to get past the linguistic illusions. But it is not just business people who get caught in this.

I was boarding a plane for business travel and the ticket agent was asking everyone to comply with the "boarding process." Why "process"? Isn't this unnecessary? Aren't we just being asked to follow the rules to boarding the plane?

No. 1 sign that you might need an executive coach...You say you don't need one!
Isn't it true that when we think we have it figured out that is when we get it right between the eyes? This sign is reserved for the CEO who does most of the visionary assessments for how they and the company are doing. The powerful, all-knowing, narcissistic leader typically doesn't call in an executive coach. Yet it is these types of leaders who really need one, but are lost in the "bell curve" where their myopic approach to getting results is temporarily rewarding them. However, if you are a VP or an executive team member for someone like this, executive coaching could really be a powerful, confidential resource to making sure your success is ever-lasting and not a tool for your CEO's ill-fitted ways of validating his own success.

Shall we talk?

Related Articles
  Turn the browsers into buyers…
  Signs
  Exceptional Business Leaders Know How to Find and Read the Signs Do You
  Business Presentations - How Boring Are You?
  “Ten Tips For Nonverbal Communications From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach ”

Article Tags: benefit ratio, brawls, break room, core issues, corporate conflict, corporate environment, crucial confrontations, environmental processes, executive coach, executive coaches, human performance, interpersonal conflict, interviewing skills, knowledge gaps, national poll, optimal performance, percentage points, performance element, spats, those guys



Related Forum Posts
Re: Business Coaching Resources - You're fortunate when you can find a Business Coach who has experience beyond where you've been and even where you are going. When your budget is slim and even after, it's good to have a mentor. Several of various backgrounds are very useful. They can be teachers, professors, pastors, business people, family members, bosses and former bosses. You have to be clear on what you want and what you desire to achieve, be able to convey it as simply as possible. Stop and listen and don't over tax their time. You should always expect results whether from a Business Coach or Mentors. If you're not gtting results, you're either not focused or you need to upgrade the quality of your mentors/coaches. Always surround yourself by people smarter than you.
Post subject: Too successful for a mate? - That was an interesting article, Shri! Most of the women I know who continue to be single have some type of self limiting behavior which interferes with them either meeting or attracting the perfect mate for them. They are incredible and talented women, they just haven't set themselves up for relationship success. I know there are men who may be intimidated, but there are also men who aren't. Some men are attracted to smart women! My advice to these women would be to focus on creating the right environment for a relationship to happen. This would be a great time to hire a Life Coach or Relationship Coach. Taking action to get ready for a relationship doesn't mean having to be aggressive in finding a man. It's more subtle. If you don't make room for a man in your life, you might just squeeze out the opportunity before he gets to you. As well, you may be sending off all the wrong signals without realizing it. Seriously, I don't think successful women are off the proverbial "good wife material list". However, if you think yourself off of it then don't be surprised if you fulfill your own prophecy.
Re: Want to be a published author? - Thanks for sharing some options out there for us, Ladies! I'm one of those people who have a number of books in the works, but haven't quite finished them yet... I think I need to bring this up with my own Coach, but that's another story! *LOL* Anyhow, it's nice to know what I can do about it all when I'm ready. Shri, I'll keep you in mind when the time comes! Thanks again, Tami
Re: How To Succeed With Search - At this point, I lean towards "organic" search engine optimization. Last fall, I stretched my advertising budget and purchased a plan to put my website on the top of 15 search engines for the key phrase, "Life Coach". The only catch was that the person must have downloaded a specific popular tool bar on their computer in order to access it (several million had). The company was able to prove to me that close to a 1,000 people per month had seen the actual top part of my website open on their tool bar. They captured the IP addresses to prove it. Just previous to that, I had undergone some search engine optimization using key words and removing my heavy graphic intro page. Not long after I made the purchase for the tool bar advertising, the search engines had crawled through my updates and I was suddenly number one on Yahoo and number one on Google for Women's Entrepreneur Coach. Other key word variations were high enough to be in the top ten. I did notice that these results would shift rapidly and I was required to keep my website updated. Right now, I've been attempting to target Women in Business and Leadership. I've got a bunch of changes to do to get back up where I want to be, but now I know how to do it. Anyhow, as I watched the results of my paid advertising, I realized the organic method drove far more traffic to my website. I submit articles and post on Forums so some of those factored into the "organic" search engine equation. However, even without those, very few of the tool bar advertising ever clicked to see more of my website. I plan to stick with the "organic" method.
Greetings From Destiny's Door - Hi Everyone, Thanks for the invitation to introduce myself. I'm looking forward to being part of the discussions here. I called my business "Destiny’s Door Coaching" because I believe you already have everything it takes to create the business of your dreams. The door to your destiny stands always open. The choice is up to you. I work with Business Women and Entrepreneurs who want to create a life and business that matches their true potential, while still allowing them time to do the things they love most. I support them as they discover how to work smarter and not harder. I coach because I am passionate about seeing women achieve amazing things when they fully accept their own greatness. Business really gives women a great opportunity to express their passions and purpose in a way that also brings financial rewards. I believe you are highly important as the foundation of your business. As you grow and unleash your true potential, you enable your business to do the same. In fact, I'm doing that personally through my own business. I coach women and write articles inviting women to step into greater personal success. As a Certified Life Coach with a Degree in ministry, this is a perfect fit for me. On a personal level, I believe in living fully alive and making the most of every moment. I even have my own Coach! Of course, life is always a work in progress, but I keep moving forward. I do this happily in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of B.C. with my husband and two feline companions. Anyhow, I look forward to meeting you through the forum where we can challenge and inspire each other to really grow towards our full potential. Let’s really commit to creating the businesses of our dreams. I’ll meet you at Destiny’s Door! Warmly, Tami


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Creating a Better Place to Work

Selling with Humor (and a Sorry Butt)

Five Ways to Show Honest Appreciation

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.