|
Coaching
for Leadership: How the World’s Greatest Coaches Help Leaders Learn Edited by Goldsmith,
Lyons and Freas This is a collection of
essays by some of the top executive coaches in the country.
It provides a chance to view leadership coaching from a number of
perspectives. Some are excellent,
and some are little more than ads for a service or product.
It took me a long time to work through this book, partially because of
its uneven quality, and these notes became a little more discriminating as I
went along; I started noting only things that struck me or seemed important.
All in all, I don’t recommend the book. PART
ONE: FOUNDATIONS OF COACHING Coaching
for Behavioral Change by
Marshall Goldsmith 1.
Identify important behavioral
attributes for successful leaders in the position you are coaching.
(Inventories available from Andersen Consulting Global Leader of the
Future, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, and the Center for Creative Leadership. 2.
Determine who can provide
meaningful feed back to the leader. 3.
Collect feedback – usually in
a written, anonymous survey compiled by an outside party into summary report for
the leader. 4.
Analyze results – talk about
it! 5.
Develop an action plan.
Ask the leader to generate alternative behaviors that could help. 6.
Have the leader respond to
stakeholders. Should talk with
members of her team and gather additional suggestions for improvement in key
areas. 7.
Develop an ongoing follow-up
process, possibly using a two- to six-item mini-survey to stakeholders assessing
change in key behaviors. 8.
Review and repeat quarterly for
12 to 18 months.
PART
TWO: ROLE AND IDENTITY Coaching
and Consultation: Are They the Same?
By Edgar Schein To Dr. Schein, coaching
is one aspect of consulting. Coaching
is primarily one-to-one, but can be done for a team.
He identifies three fundamentally different roles: 1.
provider of expert information, 2.
diagnostician and prescriber of
remedies, and 3.
process consultant focused on
helping the client help herself. He suggests a coach
should be able to move freely among the roles, but should begin in the process
mode, and must first establish a helping relationship of trust.
Then the coach can help the client establish a set of behaviors that
enable new ways of seeing, feeling about, and behaving in problematic
situations. When
Leaders Are Coaches by James M.
Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner James Kouzes is chairman
emeritus of the Tom Peters Company which specializes in developing leaders.
Dr. Posner is dean of the Leavey School of Business, These authors report that
their research has shown that the best leaders are caring leaders who:
Leadership must be
heart-to-heart. It must be caring.
And part of caring is setting clear standards comprised
of values and goals.
Values are enduring principles; goals are short-term ambitions that
provide a way to measure progress. The author’s have found
that it is the clarity of personal
values that makes a difference in the individual’s level of commitment to an
organization. Perhaps this is
because an individual without clear personal values cannot really be committed
to the organization’s values or goals. Expecting
the best includes individual
encouragement, but also challenging one’s own and the organization’s
assumptions about the capabilities of those involved.
Limiting assumptions lead to minimal opportunities to contribute.
Enabling assumptions put folks in positions where they can succeed, and
helps and supports them in that effort. But,
the corollary of being able to succeed is that there must also be the
possibility of failure. As noted
above, goals provide a way of measuring progress. Coaches should set
the example, and primarily this means investing in the relationship.
Leaders must embody qualities and values followers admire, the first of
which is credibility. The first
law of leadership is “Do what you say
you will do.” The second
is to make it personal – connect with individuals, give those you lead the
gift of personal time. And, finally,
set a positive emotional tone; don’t be a downer! Both authors are
directors of Keilgy, Goldsmith & Company (customized leadership
development). Here they present a
14-step process for a team to decide if team building is necessary and, if so,
to get it done. 1.
Team members confidentially
answer: a.
“On a scale of 1 to 10 (with
10 being ideal), how well are we doing in terms of working together as a
team?” b.
“On a 1 to 10 scale, how well
do we need to be doing in terms of working together as a team?” 2.
Score.
Discuss results, and decide if team building needed. 3.
Ask “If every team member
could change two key behaviors that would help us close the gap between where we
are and where we want to be, which two behaviors should we all try to change?”
Record on flip chart. 4.
Help team prioritize and, by
consensus, pick two. 5.
Each team member has five-minute
dialog with every other team member during which each partner in the
conversation asks the other to change two additional behaviors that will help
the team close the gap. 6.
Each team member reviews the
list of suggestions she received, and chooses two.
All team members announce their two key behaviors for personal changed.
Encourage team members to ask for five-minute monthly “progress
reports” from all other team members on their effectiveness in demonstrating
the two key behaviors common to all team members and the two key personal
behaviors, with specific suggestions for improvement if needed. 7.
Four-months in, conduct
post-card sized mini-survey for each team member on the two common and two
personal behaviors. The
effectiveness of the team member in these behaviors can be rated from a -3 less
effective through 0 for no change and +3 for increased effectiveness, with
options for “No Change Needed” and “Not Enough Information.”
Also provide a spot to rate efforts to follow-up and suggestions for the
team member to become more effective. 8.
Have an outsider calculate the
results for each item for each individual and a summary for the team, and
prepare a confidential summary report for each member on the team’s perception
of his personal increased effectiveness in demonstrating desired behavior, and
the team’s summary. 9.
Hold a team meeting for each
member to discuss key learnings from the mini-survey and ask for further
suggestions in brief one-on-one dialog with each member. 10.
Review the summary results.
Facilitate discussion on how the team is doing in improving effectiveness
on two key behaviors. Acknowledge
accomplishment and encourage continued effort. 11.
Team members continue monthly
progress report sessions. Re-administer
mini-survey at eight months. 12.
At one year, re-administer
mini-survey and conduct summary session. Rate
where we are and where we need to be again and compare to original ratings.
Recognize improvement, and have each team member in brief one-on-one
dialogs recognize each colleague for improvement. 13.
Ask if more work on team
building needed during the next year. If
so, repeat process. If not, declare
victory and work on something else. Becoming
a Coach for the Teams You Lead by
Thomas G. Crane The
author’s belief, as expressed in the title of the book which develops the
concepts in this article, The Heart of Coaching, is that the mind-set of leader’s must
change from “boss” to “coach” for an organization to achieve its highest
levels of performance. A
number of beliefs can prevent a leader from adopting a coaching outlook,
including fear of failure, fear of the personal connection and self-revelation
that’s part of coaching, fear of losing “control”, a belief that
short-term results are more important than the long-term development of team
members, and that coaching isn’t “real work.”
And, although it’s not mentioned in this book, I suspect that some
strength sets (Now, Discover Your Strengths) adapt to coaching more readily than
others. Mr.
Crane suggests that the coaching mindset is one that recognizes that the work
gets done through the team and that the leader does not have all the answers and
that team members will be more effective if allowed to discover answers for
themselves. Coaches should have a
significant amount of knowledge, skills, and experience from which to share, but
they aren’t the sole source of any of these. Coaching,
of course, focuses on change. Coaches
assume that their folks are capable and want to contribute, that mistakes and
failures are rarely intentional and should be treated as opportunities to learn,
and that each team member’s own beliefs about themselves and their capacities
may limit them from full effectiveness. Coaches
support team members in their own efforts to change into better, more effective
people – and such change is never limited solely to work.
Its effects flow into all aspects of the team members’ lives.
So, for those who find assistance and support for their own growth at
work, those “non-work” benefits support the change process at work. Coaches
also recognize the resistance all of us have to putting someone else in control
of our lives. And, we accept input
and support only from those we trust. Once
that relationship is established, we can accept and even seek the clear feedback
we need to improve. How
to Make the Most of the Coaching Relationship for the Person Being Coached
by Don Grayson and Kerry Larson Drs.
Grayson and Larson, both experienced coaches, identify six common pitfalls for
the person being coached: 1.
Failure to commit:
possibly stemming from a perception of suggestion of coaching as
punishment, distrust of the boss’s motives, or lack of understanding or
acceptance of the reason for coaching. Failure
to commit can result in aggression or a game-playing ritual of going through the
motions. The opposite of failure to
commit is perception of coaching as an opportunity to learn and to prepare. 2.
Unrealistic expectations:
including a belief that behavior change will be easy, quick, can be accomplished
for multiple behaviors simultaneously, and will result in specific
organizational rewards. Rather,
patience, focus, persistence, and a pursuit of growth for its own sake set the
stage for the most successful coaching experience.
A good discussion of objectives and expectations with the coach can help. 3.
Defensiveness: in
the form of rationalization, blaming, and denial.
“For coaching to be successful, the person being coached must be
brutally honest about his or her strengths and limitations.” P. 124. 4.
Passivity: kills
growth. Coaches don’t do the work; they guide the person being coached in doing the work.
Personal change takes personal effort. 5.
Playing it safe: based
on fear, either of the requirements of change such as openness with the coach or
of the change itself, can lead to self-limiting actions such as picking
improvements too easily achieved, while leaving the fundamental problem
unresolved. For example, someone who
resists delegating because of a fear of honest, even confrontational
conversations with team members might select time management as a skill to
improve rather than facing the issue that is causing the overload.
Note that the suggestions in some of the other chapters about getting
feedback from others in the coaching process might make it more difficult to
ignore the most important issues. 6.
Failure
to involve others: keeps
the input mentioned above, the feedback on change they could give, and their
support out of the process. Embarrassment
or a belief that the suggestion of coaching is a form of punishment can cause
the person being coached to hide the relationship from team members.
But, if coaching is an accepted, expected, and virtually universal part
of the culture, then some aspects of this problem go away. Starting Smart:
Clarifying Coaching Goals and Roles By
Robert Witherspoon Four
types of executive coaching:
Core
Values:
PART THREE:
MOMENTS AND TRANSITIONS Leadership Transition (Notes
from Chapter 16 – 19) Create
a stakeholder map
Engage
team in strategy, priority and planning right from the start. Be
prepared to admit mistakes, plan for improvement, and move on. Jump
Start:
Leadership
Development Process
Re-Grooving
Critical Behavior By David Allen (David
Allen & Co, Actioneer, Inc – has worked with Young President’s
Organization) Goal:
Automatic performance under pressure ·
Unconscious Incompetence:
don’t know that you don’t know ·
Conscious Incompetence: know
what, not how ·
Conscious Competence:
know how, can, but must focus ·
Unconscious Competence: mindful
only of absence, automatic Career
Development – Anytime, Anyplace By Beverly Kaye Signals: ·
Demonstrates new skill ·
Seeks feedback ·
Thinks about change ·
Poor job fit ·
Has looked (frustrated) Verbalize Support ·
Would you like to do more? ·
Specific awareness.
How does it feel to you? ·
Give information.
Ask about interest. ·
Ask about his or her
perceptions. ·
Is that something that would
really interest you? Mobilize Employee ·
Suggest more applications or
enhancement of skill ·
Suggest further contribution in
that area ·
Point to more info or request
proposal ·
Offer to work for better fit
somewhere ·
Suggest progress steps FOLLOW UP.
CALENDAR IT! PART
FOUR: PRACTICE AND TECHNIQUES OF
COACHING Situational
Leadership and Performance Coaching by Paul Hersey and Roger
Chevalier The authors categorize
“followers” in four groups according to “readiness” for a task: R4:
Able and Willing or Confident R3:
Able but Unwilling or Insecure R2:
Unable but Willing or Confident R1:
Unable and Unwilling or Insecure They recommend leadership
styles for these categories: S4:
Low Relationship, Low Task S3:
High Relationship, Low Task S2:
High Relationship, High Task S1:
Low Relationship, High Task Otherwise, this chapter
is mostly an encouragement to seek out products with which the authors are
associated. Coaching
Leaders with 3X3 Feedback By Bert Decker Give feedback in 3X3
structure:
Note that the author
phrases weaknesses feedback as observational statements of behavior, e.g.
“E-mail and computer skills are poor” or “Often interrupt meetings to
answer phone calls.” While this is
symmetrical with the behavioral observations share for strengths, it strikes me
as the equivalent of “You’re dropping your bow arm” instead of “Push
your bow hand through the target until the arrow hits.” Mr. Decker suggests three
key characteristics of leadership: Communicate,
Competent, and Caring. Communicate:
Listen.
Speak with confidence and certainty. Show
energy. Smile.
Listen. Competent: Focus.
Set goals. Specific,
physical, time-oriented, and measurable. Repeat
the vision, mission goals. Repeat. Act … collaboratively! Forward Lean: “Senator
[Robert] Kennedy hit the ground leaning forward. 1.
Disciplines. (Exercise, prayer,
diet, family time...) 2.
Cheerlead. (No sarcasm.) 3.
Tech savvy. Care:
Spend
time with people. Listen.
Know names. Interpersonal
Techniques for Leaders By Judith Bardwick One:
Establish Rapport and Stay Calm Rapport flows from
readiness to listen. If upset, do
not prejudge. Accept emotion, yours
and the others, as data. Two:
Listen and Ask Responsive Questions Counseling requires
effortful, active listening. It
allows providing information and opinions. Advice
and orders are outside the counseling relationship. Three levels of questions
are: 1.
Information (includes rephrasing as an accuracy check) 2.
Implication
(tentative, willing to listen) 3.
Inference
(often based on your intuition and articulates feelings
of which the other was unaware Three:
Open up to all sources of information – including feelings, intuition
(hunches, gut), non-verbal, and what’s not said. Four:
Focus on current behaviors and feelings.
Don’t dwell on past experiences. Five:
Emphasize choices (don’t solve problems). Six:
Be open to emotions. Observe emotions as data.
Remember, as a symbol of power, it may not be personal (likely isn’t).
Also, be alert to a lack of emotion where there should be some. Seven:
Opinions, not judgments. This one is tricky to me.
Basically, the suggestion seems to be to try and understand perceptions,
choices, expectations, and attitudes in the context of the other’s values,
goals, and beliefs about the likely consequences of their actions.
Then you can evaluate them from your perspective as accurate or
inaccurate, effective or ineffective, achievable or unachievable, and you can
share those evaluations. But you do
not judge those perceptions, choices, expectations or attitudes as
“good/bad”, “useful/dysfunctional”, etc. Eight:
Be honest. “THE ULTIMATE MARK OF RESPECT FOR
PEOPLE IS WHEN YOU REGARD THEM AS CAPABLE OF MANAGING THEIR OWN LIVES.
BY BEING HONEST, YOU CONVEY YOUR BELIEF IN THEM.” Great quote!
She goes on to suggest that we are usually not dishonest; rather we
simply evade the truth. We are
“not honest.” But evasion can be
as potent as dishonesty in producing mistrust.
Others know when we are evading, even if they may not really want us to
be honest, and send subtle encouragements for us to evade. Coaching
Others to Accept Feedback By Joe Folkman Four key points:
First, many higher level
executives have trouble hearing feedback because it was their very ability to
ignore the doubts and questions of others and forge ahead that got them promoted
to their current positions. Mr. Folkman notes that
changing behaviors requires significant effort and times, and that expending
resources on a behavior that doesn’t affect performance is likely to
discourage further efforts. He
suggests that key objectives and expectations for the position be clarified, and
then the behaviors prioritized for those that would most obviously affect
performance. He gives the example of
a manager who received strong feedback about his cynicism.
However, changing this did not seem likely to affect the performance of
his group. So, he decided to simply
keep his cynical thoughts to himself and focused on involving others in decision
making and keeping them informed. Third, the individual
must be involved in choosing the behavior to change.
If the client doesn’t have a passion, commitment, or some excitement
about the change, it won’t happen. Also,
look for “quick wins”. Things
are easiest to change (new systems, tools, office arrangements, etc.).
Basic skills and knowledge are
next. Personality traits are hardest.
Might be a good idea here also to remember the suggestions from Now,
Discover Your Strengths: focus
on maximizing strengths, and simply find ways to cope with weaknesses. Four, make it happen.
“I’ll try to do better,” doesn’t cut it.
Set a specific goal, and picture change clearly and simply.
Get others involved, and plan for follow-up and follow-through.
PART FIVE:
EXPANDING SITUATIONS Coaching in the Midst of Diversity By
R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr. The author suggests that diverse organization cannot allow coaching, mentoring, and sponsoring to be implicit, and informal. Rather, they must be explicitly sanctioned by the organization and formally encouraged. Otherwise, social allegiances, concerns by minorities about appearing to seek preferential treatment or by white males that offering coaching, mentoring or sponsorship would be seen as either preferential treatment, insulting, or both. Further, only explicit sanctioning can help minority or women members receiving coaching to believe that efforts to change in difficult, challenging ways will be well-received by the organization. Explicit sanctioning can also reduce fears of the intimacy. The author suggest his book, Redefining Diversity for help in identifying action options for coping with diversity. |
|
|