RESOURCE
Observations
In writing this I am reflecting on my own experience of working with leaders of UK based commercial businesses. I am not commenting on specialist coaches eg: presentation skills nor leaders in other fields eg. politics.
Leadership coaching can add real value to both the creation of a high performing leadership team and individual leaders.
At its simplest level, it acts as a catalyst to focus constructively on leadership and at its best, it can become an integral part of the leadership rhythm.
Given that leadership is a key driver of value, if the coach can help leverage this, then their contribution is very meaningful.
Leadership Coaching should not be used to address poor performance, that is a line management role.
The growth of coaching in the UK was heavily linked to changes in US medical insurance, which meant that receiving payment for psychotherapy became much more difficult. Psychotherapists then moved into the business world to meet the shortfall.
Some good came out of this including the visibility of coaching and the need for some sort of professional standards. However, in my view, it also had some significant downsides particularly as coaching qualifications have been dominated by the therapy model with relatively little business context.
In therapy there is a real need to be concerned about co-dependency, contracting and boundaries particularly where you are dealing with emotionally vulnerable people.
Generally, leaders are not emotionally vulnerable people (other than we all are at some level) and therefore issues of co-dependency, boundaries and contracting can be covered in a relatively brief conversation, which is revisited when necessary. If they do have meaningful emotional or psychological needs, then they should see a therapist not a coach.
The onboarding coaching processes of many organisations tend to over emphasise the areas influenced by therapy in a way which does not set up the coaching relationship for success. In particular it:
Creates an unhealthy short term focus (typically 6-12 months) to avoid co-dependency and convince accountants we are not being frivolous with our money. I am a much better coach after I have been working with somebody for 6 years rather than 6 months. I understand them and their business context better, we have a much deeper level of trust, I can more clearly see repeat patterns and better support their long-term vision. Along the way, if I stop adding value, then we stop working together.
Overemphasises simplistic coaching models – which bear little relation to the reality of most business leaders. The GROW coaching model may be relevant to sixth form Business Studies but not much beyond.
Does not set up the conversation for success. There is often too much emphasis on weaknesses and simplistic objectives. I am there to help the leader or team perform better and it will take time before we collectively understand what that means.
There are many excellent coaches and organisations who either work round this or do it differently. In starting to work with a coach, whether you are the beneficiary or the inhouse intermediary (typically Talent & Development)) I would strongly think about the engagement process.
Framework
These are the areas I think about when reflecting on my coaching.
Purpose (of the coach)
This is my 100,000 word doctoral thesis reduced down to 21 words.
‘To help create better conversations about leadership, which generate practical insights that are acted upon and add value when judged pragmatically’
I also like the 5 word version
‘To help leaders perform better’
The key themes are:
It is about engagement in the form of an ongoing leadership conversation which generates better perspectives.
Those perspectives need to translate into actions.
The actions need to add value but that can only be judged in a common sense way ie: don’t over think it.
Focus
My engagement with a client typically looks like:
For An Individual
Regular scheduled meetings, usually two hours monthly.
Follow up notes and reflections from me. This provides an opportunity for me to reflect on our conversation and capture the key themes as a thread for our future conversations. See NB below.
Ad hoc contact in between meetings, which varies considerably by client. Some never make contact; others do when they have a key event and some like regular interaction. For me this reflects the need for the conversation to be natural and reflect the personalities of the two people involved.
Sharing resources (contacts, ideas, articles) that will add to the ongoing conversation.
NB As a coach I am not a consultant, I am not being paid to provide my recommendations. However, over the years I have realised that clients want to hear my view. It provokes their thinking and gives them practical ideas. As a result, as much of the value is in the written reflections as it is in the face-to-face conversation. However, for this to work, it is a fine balance for the coach to share insights and experience that act as a catalyst for the clients thinking – but are not seen as ‘the answer’.
For The Team
Individual coaching to the CEO as above.
Regular offsites with the Leadership Team, typically an evening and a day or two days every 3-4 months.
Agreement on the agenda beforehand, based on the ongoing Leadership Conversation created from: previous offsites, feedback from the team and any current leadership challenges eg business planning.
Facilitation of the workshop, where my role is to enable the best conversation possible by retaining focus on the agenda, injecting pace, provoking (challenge and support) the individuals to contribute fully and capturing robust outputs.
Write up of the outputs, which feed in to my 1:1 conversation with the CEO and future agendas.
Ad hoc sounding board to the team. NB In some cases I have worked with a team of coaches to support the whole Leadership Team. This is fabulous in terms of aligning around the Leadership Agenda but it can be quite challenging to make happen, depending on the different coaching relationships.
Benefits
This is what you should expect to gain from engaging with a great Leadership Coach.
Overall
Greater value creation.
Individual Benefits
Support to be a great leader who delivers results and builds a high performing leadership team.
A clear Leadership Agenda.
The space and discipline to focus on the most important issues.
A greater perspective.
Challenge and support to act and then follow through at a business, team and individual level.
A clear vision of what success looks like for you.
The opportunity to learn and reflect.
Personal support (it’s tough being a leader).
Meaningful input and challenging feedback (business, team and individual).
Access to a wide network of other leaders and leadership ideas.
Team Benefits
A high performing Leadership Team which:
Builds a great business.
Has a compelling Leadership Agenda that is acted upon.
Challenges and supports each other.
Works well together based on a high level of trust and understanding.
Develops and leverages a robust Leadership Ecosystem.
Is bold, sets priorities and takes tough decisions.
Creates and lives the culture.
Values feedback and continually learns.
Has more fun.
NB For new clients I no longer work with teams. For part of the year, I am with my family in the US where I can continue with my individual coaching, but it is difficult to make the team coaching work.
Andy Murray’s Coaching List
Here is a great example of the output of a coaching conversation.
This handwritten list was seen in Andy Murray’s tennis bag when he was ranked no. 1.
Be good to yourself.
Try your best.
Be intense with your legs.
Be proactive during points.
Focus on each point and the process.
Try to be the one dictating.
Try to keep him at the base line inc. make him move.
Keep going for your serve.
Stick to the baseline as much as possible.
Stay low on passes and use your legs.
I love the fact that despite being the best tennis player in the world, he still had a visible list of actions to focus on, it wasn’t over engineered and he kept it right in front of him so that he was continually reminded how he wanted to behave.
10 Top Tips
Working with A Great Leadership Coach
Have a coach – for yourself and the team (collectively and individually).
Experience it, don’t interrogate them – when meeting for the first time, look to have a coaching conversation not an intellectual debate. You will be able to tell if they add value.
Engage fully – be open and share what you are thinking.
Trust the process – sometimes it’s good just to talk, leadership rarely happens in straight lines.
Seek their views – but do not defer to them.
Get rid of them – if they are not working.
Set the conversation up for success – when appointing new coaches.
Build them into your Leadership Process – it means the Leadership Narrative and Team will get serious attention.
Share openly and listen to the coaches that work with your team – they are often an underutilised resource.
Think long term – they will add more value over time.
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