The art and practice of leadership coaching phần 9 pdf

228 I NTERNAL C OACHING outer ring. Equally important, he reached out to ensure that everyone from that outer ring present at various meetings did not feel like outsiders or in- terlopers. He did so by genuinely encouraging them to participate—and gen- uinely taking into account their resulting feedback. Over the course of the year, I had follow-up discussions with Joe’s direct reports. Not only did Joe pick an area for personal improvement, each one of his direct reports did as well. This way the process of change not only bene- fited Joe; it benefited everyone. A couple of his direct reports showed great maturity by telling Joe, “When we started on this process, I was critical of you for not being inclu- sive. In the last few months, you have been doing everything that you can do to include people. You have asked me for my input on a regular basis. I have to admit something. You weren’t the problem in the first place. Sometimes I just wasn’t assertive enough to say what I was thinking. It was easier for me to blame you than to take responsibility myself.” A Year Later At the end of the coaching assignment, I had the opportunity to interview each of Joe’s 15 direct reports and his 10 colleagues from across the com- pany. They were asked to rate his increased effectiveness on each item on a “−5” to “+5” scale (with “0” indicating “no change”). Not surprisingly, his im- provement scores were outstanding. 40 percent of all numerical responses were a “+5” and over 85 percent were a “+3” or above. No individual had a negative score on any item. I have seen hundreds of reports like this. These scores were exceptionally positive. In “reaching out across the company and building partnerships,” both his direct reports and colleagues were extremely satisfied with his progress. They commented on his ongoing dedication to being a great team player. They no- ticed how he had gone out of his way in meetings, phone calls, and e-mails to be a good partner. In “ensuring that his team does a great job of reaching out and building partnerships,” his scores were equally positive. Both groups commented on the ongoing process that he put in place with his team. In fact, some of his direct reports commented that their colleagues across the company had also started becoming better team players. (It is much easier to be helpful and supportive to other people, if they are trying to be helpful and sup- portive to you!) In “ensuring validation and inclusion,” his direct report scores were not just positive; they were amazing! His 15 direct reports had over 100 positive A PPLYING THE B EHAVIORAL C OACHING M ODEL 229 comments and nothing negative to say. They almost all talked about the value of his asking for input on an ongoing basis and his including everyone who was involved in the decision. Like many companies, Clarkson’s business was dramatically impacted by September 11 and its aftermath. This was an extremely hard year for Joe, his team, and his company. Many of his team members noted how easy it would have been for Joe to lose it and not reach out to others during this tough time. He had every excuse not to put in the time. They were amazed at his ability to involve, inspire, and motivate people when times were so tough. Some of the written comments were more than positive; they were moving. Learning Points for Coaching • The key variable in determining the success of coaching is not the coach; it is the people being coached and their coworkers. Joe had greater chal- lenges and problems than almost any of the people that I have coached. In spite of this, he achieved outstanding results in building relationships with his colleagues and being inclusive with his team. He didn’t get bet- ter because I did anything special. In fact, I have put in much more time with people who have achieved much less. He reinforced an important lesson for me (as a coach)—only work with people who care! As a person who is being coached, never put the responsibility for your change on the coach. It is your life. Like a personal trainer, the coach can help you get in shape. You are the one that has to do the work. Not only was Joe a model of ongoing dedication and commitment, so was his team. Every team member had a positive, can do attitude toward improving teamwork across Clarkson. Joe’s positive results were not just a reflection of his efforts; they were a reflection of this team’s efforts. • True long-term change requires discipline over time and process man- agement. One of the great misassumptions in leadership development is “If they understand, they will do.” If this were true, everyone who un- derstood that they were supposed to go on a healthy diet and work out would be in shape. Every executive that I meet is smart. In terms of behavior, they all understand what they should do. Joe did it! Joe established an ongoing process and discipline and stuck with it. He managed a process. He made sure that follow-up discussions were scheduled. He had the discipline to ask, “Are there any people or ideas that we need to include?” over and over again. • By involving team members and key stakeholders, the value of the coach- ing process can be increased exponentially. Not only did Joe get better, 230 I NTERNAL C OACHING everyone around Joe got better! Joe’s entire team was involved in the process. Everyone in his team reached out across the company to build partnerships and increase synergy. Everyone on Joe’s team picked per- sonal areas for improvement and focused on getting better. Many of the members of Joe’s team began to implement the same process with their own teams. In some cases, people across the company began reaching out to Joe’s team in a much more collaborative way. F IGURE 9.1 Coaching Checklist: Internal Coaching Have you reviewed the benefits and costs of using internal coaching? Are the resources available to train the internal coaches? Do the best candidates for coaches have the time to commit to a coaching relationship? Will the bosses of the coaches put the appropriate priority on the coaches’ involvement in the initiative? How are you going to deal with the question of confidentiality? Do you have a plan to match the coaches with coachees? Are you going to designate coaches or allow coachees to have an option? Establish the ground rules for the relationship. Has the coachee agreed that the coaching engagement will be treated as an opportunity or is the coachee reluctant? The more reluctant the coachee, the more an external coach may be more helpful. Establish and agree on the steps in the process. How is the coach going to get the information to correctly assess the development needs of the coachee? Is the coachee’s boss fully supportive of the initiative? Is coaching being used as a substitute for dealing with a performance problem? Have you agreed on how frequently you will communicate with each other? How will the coach know when the end of the coaching relationship is reached? What will success look like? A PPLYING THE B EHAVIORAL C OACHING M ODEL 231 Joe was given a simple challenge to change his own behavior. Through his effort at personal improvement, Joe ended up benefiting hundreds of people across Clarkson. •Internal HR coaches can use this process if: —They have the 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. • GE Capital did some wonderful research using this behavioral coach- ing model with internal HR coaches. 2 Their results were just as posi- tive (if not more so) than the same research that we have done with external coaches. • Figure 9.1 on page 230 provides a simple but effective tool that you can use when designing and implementing an internal coaching process. 233 C HAPTER 10  The Leader as Coach David Kepler and Frank T. Morgan T he opportunity to be a leader and coach occurs for everyone throughout his or her life. Many times, people miss the opportunity. In this essay, we will discuss why the leader-coach role is so critical in today’s organiza- tion. To begin, Dave Kepler shares how a simple family experience in his life provided the foundation for his philosophy on leadership and coaching. Who Should Build the Car? Several years ago, my young son and I enjoyed an experience in the Indian Guides. It was time for the annual Pine Wood Derby. Each father and son David Kepler is a Corporate Vice President and the Chief Information Officer of The Dow Chemical Company. Dow is a global diversified chemical company with sales of more than $33 billion. Since joining the company in 1975, he has held numerous leadership positions in the United States, Canada, and Pacific regions of Dow. He is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, the American Chemical Society, and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Dave gradu- ated from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in chemical engineering. Frank T. Morgan is Global Director of Executive Devel- opment and Leadership at The Dow Chemical Company. Prior to Dow, Frank was Professor of Management and Director of Executive Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Darden Graduate School at the University of Virginia. He was also Senior Group Vice President for an American firm and ran com- panies in Latin America and Europe. 234 I NTERNAL C OACHING team was sent home with a small block of wood, two steel rods and a set of four plastic wheels. After careful planning, cutting, shaping, sanding, paint- ing, and assembly, the teams returned to the next meeting with a racecar. The objective was to create a car that rolled down a sloped track faster than all the other cars made from identical kits. The only variables were the shape and size of the car, and the careful placement of the axles and wheels. A winning car must minimize friction and resistance, and maximize effect of the car’s only power source—gravity. As the coach of our two-person team, I made sure my son understood the assignment and the challenges we would face in building our racecar. I outlined our strategy and lined up the resources (tools) we needed. As the coach, I had two options: I could dictate how the car would be built and do the work myself, or I could provide an appropriate level of input and coach- ing while my son did the work. Fortunately, I chose the latter option. In my mind I pictured a sleek, Indy-style racecar. My son, however, pic- tured a “racing van.” So we built a van. In retrospect, it was more like a blue brick on wheels, but it was my son’s creation, and he was proud of it and felt a great sense of accomplishment. It even rolled reasonably straight. So off to the races we went. As soon as we entered the race, two things became clear. First, our van was in trouble racing against all the sleek Indy-style race cars. Second, many of the other fathers took a much more hands-on approach to building their cars. Several of the pine wood models looked like concept cars from Detroit, with smooth, aerodynamic shapes and glistening lacquered finishes. The laws of physics were all too predictable. While our van had the other cars beat in cargo space, it lacked considerably in speed and finished near the end of the pack. Our first Pine Wood Derby experience was a failure. Or was it? My son had the satisfaction of approaching a challenging as- signment (a block of wood, two steel rods and four plastic wheels) and emerging with a racing van. He had a structured learning experience of using woodworking tools for cutting and sanding, and techniques for painting. He also experienced first-hand how to evaluate performance and results to de- termine the best approach to future challenges. And these valuable lessons were capped off with a pleasant surprise. After all the speedy winners received their trophies, my son’s van was chosen as winner of the design class. Thankfully, the judges recognized the creative design capability of a seven-year-old over the advanced engineering prowess of the parents. We still have that van on display, after all these years, as a symbol of the lessons learned. I sometimes wonder what lessons T HE L EADER AS C OACH 235 were learned by the sons on other teams whose fathers stepped beyond their coaching role and built the cars themselves. The Leader as Coach A leader’s primary function is to set the strategy and direction for the orga- nization, and align the resources necessary to be successful. Of course, re- sults and success are very important for any organization. If an organization is to have a future, the leader must produce results and develop the organi- zation’s assets—the most important of which is the performance capability of its people. Great leaders (and great organizations) view continued people development as a high priority. Great organizations focus not just on results, but also on sus- tainable success through people development. Recent research indicates that people-centric firms have significantly higher financial returns when com- pared with less people-oriented companies in the same industry. 1 As outlined in Figure 10.1, effective leaders contribute to a people-centric culture and thus influence employee satisfaction. Satisfied employees tend to stay with an organization longer, and to work harder and more effectively. The end result is better operational performance, higher levels of customer satis- faction, and, ultimately, business success. How do organizations develop people? That’s the role of the training de- partment, right? Not really—training departments train, leaders develop. One model of individual development (Figure 10.2 on page 236) shows that structured learning experiences (e.g., organized training and education ef- forts) are but one aspect of development. In fact, for most people, structured F IGURE 10.1 The People Development Value Chain Effective leadership People-centric culture Employee satisfaction Customer satisfaction and retention Employee retention Operational performance Business success and financial returns 236 I NTERNAL C OACHING learning represents only 10 to 20 percent of their development experiences. The vast majority (80 to 90 percent) of professional growth comes from on the job experiences through completing challenging job assignments, being accountable for measurable performance results, and receiving coaching and mentoring from leadership. As a coach, the leader is the touchstone for all the aspects of professional development. The leader not only makes job assignments, he or she also sets the direction for structured learning experiences and performance measure- ments, gives feedback, and provides the individual mentoring that is often the critical ingredient in developing an individual. The role of a coach in business and in sports is very similar. For example, a sports coach determines the overall strategy for the team; aligns the resources (chooses the players); assists with key decisions in the game; and works with individual players to develop their personal skills, attitude, and approach. F IGURE 10.2 The Sources of Professional Growth Challenging job assignments Performance results accountability Coaching and mentoring Structured learning experiences T HE L EADER AS C OACH 237 Likewise, the business coach determines the overall strategy; aligns the resources (in this case, both people and finances); assists with key deci- sions; and works with individuals to develop their personal skills, attitude and approach. One additional challenge for business coaches, however, is that their role is not as clearly defined. Trailing by one point in the NBA finals with two seconds left on the clock, Pistons coach Larry Brown will likely design the in-bounds play and decide who takes the final shot. But he will never come off the bench and take the final shot himself. In other words, a business leader is more of a player-coach. Business coaches must provide the strategy, align the resources, and provide individ- ual development. But business coaches have the option to jump into the game. In business, the leader-coach can choose to take the final shot. Most business leaders are promoted through the ranks. They are first rec- ognized as effective doers. They are promoted to be managers and closely di- rect the work of others. Then, some evolve into a leadership position in which they must direct and influence business outcomes without being as in- timately involved. Unfortunately, many leaders have a hard time evolving their role along with their responsibilities. In business, a leader-coach faces a daily decision process to balance: •Results versus Development •Motivation versus Critical Assessment •Being an Evaluator versus a Being a Developer •Risks versus Learning Opportunities • Delegation versus Direction versus Doing These decisions have significant consequences. For example, a business coach who jumps in to take control of a given situation might have a positive impact on short-term results—while negatively impacting team development and long-term success. Returning to the Pine Wood Derby metaphor, if Dave had dictated that his son build an Indy-style racecar, and taken a more hands-on approach to its construction, they certainly would have built a faster, more competitive car. But Dave’s son would have lost out on some of the personal accomplish- ment from completing the assignment himself. Dave’s son would have lost out by not learning how to use woodworking tools. And he might have missed the design award won by his unique van. The long-term success of the team (Dave and his son) would definitely have suffered if Dave had focused on short-term objectives and built the car himself. [...]... percent • Andrea D Ellinger, “Antecedents and Consequences of Coaching Behavior,” Performance Improvement Quarterly, vol 12, no 4 ( 199 9), pp 45–70 Summary: Discusses the use of coaching to facilitate the development of learning organizations Presents the results of a study to determine the outcomes of coaching interventions Finds that managers’ commitment to coaching can impact employee, manager, and organizational... phase is reliability of the product and reputability of the person or company providing the service In the next 20 years, we will see a consolidation of the coaching field around accepted best practices and a further refinement of the research studying coaching For now, the best advice for those who would seek coaching is to know your practitioners; evaluate his or her reputations; and have detailed conversations... strengths and weaknesses, particularly any gaps that may exist in skill sets required for them to follow their preferred path • Defining and documenting a plan to fill the gaps or develop the skills they will need to succeed Coaches can play a critical role in helping employees uncover the best learning opportunities and helping apply them to the needs of both their individual career and the success of the. .. between the coaching event and the performance improvement Adult education tends to have quite a bit of lag built into it After learning something, adults tend to digest it—to make it their own and put it into practice in their own environments The actual performance impact of a useful developmental experience, then, will likely start off low, gradually climb and then diminish as the executive wrings the. .. established as part of the coaching process is an effective way to impart new practices and ideas A couple of guidelines are important here First, we have to be careful to include enough people in the coaching process to get the advantages of both the classroom and the one-on-one session Many who have experience in IS COACHING WORTH THE MONEY? 253 group educational settings can tell you that some of the most... of 2003 In this study, the authors looked at the effectiveness of 360-degree IS COACHING WORTH THE MONEY? 2 49 feedback when participants met with a coach versus the effectiveness of the 360-degree feedback alone.2 The authors found that individuals who met with a coach to discuss their feedback and their action plan were more likely to set specific goals and achieve them in the year ahead What is good... the Internet will prove that there is no shortage of what calls itself research on coaching To be charitable, most of this material is not useful Anecdotal stories of individuals who found greater effectiveness through their relationship with a coach, or elaborate case studies of coaching effectiveness told from the standpoint of the coach don’t advance our understanding of the root effectiveness of. .. success of the business • Making sure the plan is implemented and evaluated, and that it is developed and expanded in the future Effective Coaching: Performance and Results Ultimately, the development of employees is dictated by how they evaluate their own performance, and how it is evaluated by the organization Employees who monitor and adjust their activities, and capitalize on learning opportunities... should be a reduction in the perception of abrasiveness on the part of the people with whom the executive works If the issue is an unwillingness to engage in conf lict, colleagues, superiors, and subordinates should regard the executive as better able to engage in effective conf lict at the end of the coaching engagement If all of this sounds very obvious, it is Nonetheless, most coaching engagements are... effect on the effectiveness of the executive The first case is called an amplifier, where a small amount of improvement facilitated by the coach has a large effect on performance The second is called a damper where a coach can work and work and not make much of a mark on the effectiveness of the executive Coaches and executives should be on the lookout for these amplifiers A good example of this is . all the other cars made from identical kits. The only variables were the shape and size of the car, and the careful placement of the axles and wheels. A winning car must minimize friction and. individual career and the success of the business. •Making sure the plan is implemented and evaluated, and that it is de- veloped and expanded in the future. Effective Coaching: Performance and Results Ultimately,. elaborate case stud- ies of coaching effectiveness told from the standpoint of the coach don’t ad- vance our understanding of the root effectiveness of coaching as a practice. What we need are