By Marshall
From:
Profiles in Coaching, Morgan, Harkins and
Goldsmith, Linkage, 2003
My mission is to help
successful leaders achieve a positive change
in behavior: for themselves, their people
and their teams.
While I am best known as
an executive coach, coaching represents only
25% of what I do. The remaining three
quarters of my time is spent in teaching
others what I know (either executives,
high-potential leaders, HR professionals, or
university executive education
participants), writing or editing books and
articles or working in consulting networks
that can provide a wide range of coaches to
leaders around the world.
Almost everything that I
do as a professional is related to my
mission.
Our "Pay for Results"
Behavioral Coaching Approach
All of the behavioral
coaches that I work with use the same
general approach. We first get an agreement
with our coaching clients and their managers
on two key variables: 1) what are the key
behaviors that will make the biggest
positive change in increased leadership
effectiveness and 2) who are the key
stakeholders that should determine (one year
later) if this change has occurred.
We then get paid only
after our coaching clients have achieved a
positive change in key leadership behaviors
as determined by key stakeholders.
I believe that many
behavioral coaches are paid for the wrong
outcomes. Their income is a largely a
function of "How much do my clients like
me?" and "How much time did I spend in
coaching?" Neither of these is a good metric
for achieving a positive, long-term change
in behavior. In terms of liking the coach -
I have never seen as study that showed that
client’s love of a coach was highly
correlated with their change in behavior. In
terms of spending client’s time, My
client’s are all executives whose decisions
often impact billions of dollars. Their time
is more valuable than mine. I try to spend
as little of their time as necessary to
achieve the desired results. The last thing
they need is for me to waste their time!
Qualifying the Coaching
Client:
Knowing When Behavioral
Coaching Won't Help
Since we use a "pay only
for results" process in behavioral coaching,
we have had to learn to qualify our coaching
clients. This means that we only work with
clients that we believe will benefit from
our coaching process.
As this book so clearly
points out, there are several different
types of coaching. I only do behavioral
coaching for successful executives not
strategic coaching, life planning or
organizational change. I have the highest
respect for the coaches in these categories
that are represented in this book. That is
just not what I do. Therefore, I only focus
on changing leadership behavior for
individuals and teams. If my clients have
other needs, I refer them to other coaches.
Have you ever tried to
change the behavior of a successful adult
that had no interest in changing? How much
luck did you have? Probably none. I only
work with executives who are willing to make
a sincere effort to change and who believe
that this change will help them become
better leaders.
Some large corporations
"write people off", but rather than just
fire them, engage in a pseudo behavioral
coaching process that is more "seek and
destroy" than "help people get better". We
only work with leaders that are seen as
potentially having a great future in the
corporation. We only work with people who
will be given a fair chance by their
management.
Finally, I would never
choose to work with a client that has an
integrity violation. I believe that people
with integrity violations should be fired,
not coached.
When will our approach to
behavioral coaching almost always work? If
the issue is behavioral, the person is given
a fair chance and they are motivated to try
to get better, the process that I am going
to describe will almost always work.
Involving Key
Stakeholders
In my work as a
behavioral coach, I have gone through three
distinct phases.
In phase one: I believed
that my client’s would become better because
of me. I thought that the coach was the key
variable in behavioral change. I was wrong.
Since then we have done research will over
86,000 participants on changing leadership
behavior. We have learned that the key
variable for change is not the coach,
teacher or advisor. It is person being
coached and their co-workers.
In phase two: I spent
most of my time focusing on my coaching
clients. This was much better. I slowly
learned that a hard working client was more
important than a brilliant coach! I learned
that their ongoing efforts meant more than
my clever ideas.
In phase three (where I
am now): I spend most of my time not with my
coaching client but with the key
stakeholders around my client. My results
are dramatically better.
How do I involve key
stakeholders? I ask them to help the person
that I am coaching in four critically
important ways:
-
Let go of the past.
When we continually bring up the past,
we demoralize people who are trying to
change. Whatever happened in the past
happened. It cannot be changed. By
focusing on a future that can get better
(as opposed to a past that cannot), the
key stakeholders can help my clients
improve. (We call this process
feedforward, instead of feedback).
-
Be helpful and
supportive, not cynical, sarcastic or
judgmental. If my clients reach out to
key stakeholders and feel punished for
trying to improve, they will generally
quit trying. I don't blame them! Why
should any of us work hard to build
relationships with people who won't give
us a chance?
-
Tell the truth. I do
not want to work with a client, have
them get a glowing report from key
stakeholders and later hear that one of
the stakeholders said, "He didn't really
get better, we just said that". This is
not fair to my client, to the company of
to me.
-
Pick something to
improve yourself. My clients are very
open with key stakeholders about what
they are going to change. As part of our
process, our clients ask for ongoing
suggestions. I also ask the stakeholders
to pick something to improve and to ask
for suggestions. This makes the entire
process "two-way" instead of "one way".
It helps the stakeholders act as "fellow
travelers" who are trying to improve,
not "judges" who are pointing their
fingers at my client. It also greatly
expands the value gained by the
corporation in the entire process (see
the following case study).
Steps in the
Behavioral Coaching Process
The following steps
outline our behavioral coaching process.
Every leader that I coach has to agree to
implement the following steps. If they don't
want to do this, I make no negative
judgments. They are many valuable things
that leaders can do with their time other
then work with me! Our research indicates
that if leaders won't do these basic steps,
they probably won't get better. If they will
do these basic steps, they almost always get
better!
-
Involve the leaders
being coached in determining the desired
behavior in their leadership roles.
Leaders cannot be expected to change
behavior if they don't have a clear
understanding of what desired behavior
looks like. The people that we coach (in
agreement with their managers) work with
us to determine desired leadership
behavior.
-
Involve the leaders
being coached in determining key
stakeholders. Not only do clients need
to be clear on desired behaviors, they
need to be clear (again in agreement
with their managers) on key
stakeholders. There are two major
reasons that people deny the validity of
feedback, wrong items or wrong raters.
By having our clients and their managers
agree on the desired behaviors and key
stakeholders in advance, we help ensure
their "buy in" to the process.
-
Collect feedback. In
my coaching practice, I personally
interview all key stakeholders. The
people that I am coaching are all
potential CEOs and the company is making
a real investment in their development.
However, at lower levels in the
organization (that are more price
sensitive) traditional 360 degrees feedback
can work very well.
-
Determine key
behaviors for change. As I have become
more experienced, I have become simpler
and more focused. I generally recommend
picking only 1-2 key areas for
behavioral change with each client. This
helps ensure maximum attention to the
most important behavior. My clients and
their managers (unless my client is the
CEO) agree upon the desired behavior for
change. This ensures that I won't spend
a year working with my clients and have
their managers determine that we have
worked on the wrong thing!
-
Have the coaching
clients respond to key stakeholders. The
person being reviewed should talk with
each key stakeholder and collect
additional "feedforward" suggestions on
how to improve on the key areas targeted
for improvement. In responding, the
person being coached should keep the
conversation positive, simple and
focused. When mistakes have been made in
the past, it is generally a good idea to
apologize and ask for help in changing
the future. I suggest that my clients
listen to stakeholder suggestions and
not judge the suggestions.
-
Review what has been
learned with clients and help them
develop an action plan. As was stated
earlier, my clients have to agree to the
basic steps in our process. On the other
hand, outside of the basic steps,
everything that I give my clients is a
suggestion. I just ask them to listen to
my ideas in the same way they are
listening to the ideas from their key
stakeholders. I then ask them to come
back with a plan of what they want to
do. These plans need to come from them,
not me. After reviewing their plans, I
almost always encourage them to live up
to their own commitments. I am much more
of a facilitator than a judge. I usually
just help my clients do what they know
is the right thing to do.
-
Develop an ongoing
follow-up process. Ongoing follow-up
should be very efficient and focused.
Questions like, "Based upon my behavior
last month, what ideas to you have for
me next month?" can keep a focus on the
future. Within six months conduct a
two-to-six item mini-survey with key
stakeholders. They should be asked
whether the person has become more or
less effective in the areas targeted for
improvement.
-
Review results and
start again. If the person being coached
has taken the process seriously,
stakeholders almost invariably report
improvement. Build on that success by
repeating the process for the next 12 to
18 months. This type of follow-up will
assure continued progress on initial
goals and uncover additional areas for
improvement. Stakeholders will
appreciate the follow-up. No one minds
filling out a focused, two-to-six-item
questionnaire if they see positive
results. The person being coached will
benefit from ongoing, targeted steps to
improve performance.
The Value of
Behavioral Coaching for Executives
While behavioral coaching
is only one branch in the coaching field, it
is the most widely used type of coaching.
Most requests for coaching involve
behavioral change. While this process can be
very meaningful and valuable for top
executives, it can be even more useful for
high-potential future leaders. These are the
people who have great careers in front of
them. Increasing effectiveness in leading
people can have an even greater impact if it
is a 20-year process, instead of a one-year
program.
People often ask, "Can
executives really change their behavior?"
The answer is definitely yes. If they didn't
change, I would never get paid (and I almost
always get paid). At the top of major
organizations even a small positive change
in behavior can have a big impact. From and
organizational perspective, the fact that
the executive is trying to change anything
(and is being a role model for personal
development) may be even more important than
what the executive is trying to change. With
top executives, behavior may be the only
leadership attribute that can be changed in
a cost-effective manner. At that level it is
usually "too late" for technical or
functional education.
Can Internal Coaches
Use this Process?
GE Capital did some
wonderful research using this behavioral
coaching model with internal HR coaches .
Their results were just as positive (if not
more so) than the same research that we have
done with external coaches.
Internal HR coaches can
use this process if:
-
They have to time to
do it. In many cases coaching is an "add
on" for HR professionals and they are
just not given the time to "do it
right".
-
They are seen as
coaches, not judges. Clients may not
"open up" to HR professionals if they
are later going to use what is being
shared as part of a performance
appraisal.
-
Their internal
clients give them credibility. In some
cases internal people can say exactly
the same thing as external coaches but
not be listened to.
Using this Process to
Improve a Team and the Larger Organization
The following case study,
"Expanding the Value of Coaching" will give
a great example of how this coaching process
can expand beyond an individual executive
and ultimately have a positive influence on
hundreds of people!
Post your comments at
amin@aiminlines.co.th
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