EXECUTIVE COACHING

Executive coaching mentoring programmes

Executive coaching involves two people having an interactive conversation between them, to generate shifts in the consciousness or perspective of the coachee/client, which hopefully leaves the client individual confident, empowered and inspired to make positive changes.

To achieve this overall outcome or result, there are three main approaches that can be taken:

One to One Coaching: Most companies tend to ask most for one-to-one coaching for their management employees. This is typically a highly tailored approach in which the personal, team and organisation goals of a given individual are discussed and a forward action plan developed. Coaching is usually provided “in-the-moment” and will slowly “unfold” as issues and challenges emerge as part of the forward action strategy develops.

Team Coaching: Team Coaching helps a group of individuals to perform more effectively in their work as a group. Although often provided via one person who is “in-charge” of the team, Team coaching aims to discover major values and expectations, agree common goals and targets and helps improve communications/lessen disharmony/conflict between team members.

Mentoring: both internal and external Mentoring is often an excellent method of assistance and help with overall career development, assisting to improve individual self-confidence, engagement and organisational knowledge over the medium to longer term.

All three of these methods can be used individually or in combination and are all potentially complimentary for different individuals in different circumstances.

Executive coaching models

In broad terms, coaching models can be split into 2 halves. The first can be called “input-based coaching” and the second can be called “output-based coaching”. Not only are these two types of approach very different, but the models that are often used in each of them are quite distinct.

Input-based coaching models, as the name suggests, is primarily concerned with soliciting and processing feedback. Apart from the coach, this will come from the individual being coached, the boss, colleagues within the organisation, and, in some cases, from the people reporting to the person being coached.  The simple goal here is to gather a considerable amount of data or opinion about the person who is receiving the coaching so as to ensure that there is as rich an understanding as possible about strengths, development needs, positive and negative behaviours and other factors which may affect job (or overall) performance. 

Because the input-based coaching model is essentially focused on reflection, the tools and systems for helping individuals here are either mechanisms which help to structure or make sense of the feedback (such as psychometric profiling tools or pre-designed 360°feedback assessments), or well-established models which help to give a coach and the person being coached “permission” to talk about what might otherwise be a difficult or sensitive issues. As often as not, these latter models are 4 quadrant grids, which intersect two scales to help cluster behaviour in general ways. This thereby allows for further discussion about behaviour in particular quadrants in the grid.

The Output-based coaching model, once again as the name suggests, is primarily concerned with what the individual being coached actually does or achieves in tangible terms. This may be to effect some level of personal change (which may be known only to the individual and his or her coach). However, if it is to be classified as truly output-based, the change should be visible to others and/or be observable in measurable ways in the workplace.

Because output-based coaching is concerned with what changes in the individual or in the workplace in visible terms, it is essentially an action-centred approach more concerned with the attainment of real solutions and what are deemed to be valuable results or solutions. The tools and models which are therefore most often applied here are process type approaches. This includes progressive process step type models and formula-based models (some of which we will be looking at shortly).

The reason for splitting the coaching intervention process into these two categories of input and output-based is not just to create a convenient cluster heading for all that might be done in each, but to make the point that modern coaching tends to be extremely biased towards the former. In other words, the amount of effort and time invested in input-based coaching is often 2-3 times greater than outcome-based coaching and we are therefore wise to question whether or not this is appropriate.

Leadership programmes

A leadership coaching programme should typically follow the 6-step path described below:

• The coach and person being coached will discuss the current situation and reflect on personal, as well as team or organisational goals for the future.
• Feedback on current behaviour and issues is gathered in formal and informal ways (often including 360-degree feedback)
• The coach collates feedback data and offers  a collated summary to the person being coached (adding his or her own perspective (to a minor or major extent)
• The person being coaching sets personal and team/organisation goals for change or adjustment
• The coach and the person being coached work together towards clearly identified targets
• The process continues until the targets have been substantially achieved. At this point, the relationship may end or it may be decided that the cycle is worthy of repeating with new reflection and goal setting.

Why professional coaching works?

Here are four reasons why professional coaching really works:

1. Coaching helps to clarify where the coachee or client wants to go or wants to achieve. Coaching helps to identify at a very early stage where the real starting point may be (individually and in terms of the team when it is a manager’s goals) so that a forward path can be plotted (and one that gets you there in the most efficient and effective manner possible).

2. Each coaching engagement is usually specifically tailored for a coachee/client based on his or her needs and goals at the time. This tailored coaching approach aims to provide “just-in-time support at all stages of the journey (especially when developing new skills, behaviours  and approaches are involved).

3. Coaching is a focused on real “action” in the workplace so as to move the coachee towards a particular target.

4. Coaching aims to directly facilitate the growth and development of the coachee/client. This is where coaching is very different from consulting.

Trends in executive coaching

Although trends change quickly from year to year, there are several which seem to be relatively robust in the executive coaching space:

• Companies are giving more attention than ever to the coach-coachee matching process (in order to have both coach and coachee get the most from the relationship).
• There is evidence of much greater direct qualifications and professionalism amongst executive coaches. Many coaches are now qualified to masters degree level and/or have professional coaching qualifications
• Conflict handling (and even Anger management) has become one of fastest-growing disciplines in executive coaching.
• As companies increasingly recognise the benefit of coaching, they are pushing it downward in the organisation. More and more of our clients are now offering coaching to high-potentials at junior, as well as executive, levels.
• There is a significant trend towards training internal staff to become internal coaches
  
  

Tools for executive coaching

In every executive coaching assignment, a well-researched or well-proven tool or methodology can provide new insights to a difficult issue or challenge. An effective coach  therefore uses a wide range of different tools that are appropriate for each circumstance. This includes psychometric assessments, 360° feedback tools, performance models, business effectiveness surveys, management development templates and business frameworks of all kinds.

Structured tools are often necessary to use in combination at times to help give a coachee/client manager new perspectives that he or she might not otherwise see. This includes a wide variety of:

• Survey tools
• Assessment instruments
• Performance matrices
• Management checklists

Such tools and methods are typically shared with client managers as the need arises and deploy them when there is a clear opportunity to add value in doing so.

The stages involved

Most typically, there are 6 stages of the coaching process as follows:

• The coach and person being coached will discuss the current situation and reflect on personal, as well as team or organisational goals for the future.
• Feedback on current behaviour and issues is gathered in formal and informal ways (often including 360-degree feedback)
• The coach collates feedback data and offers  a collated summary to the person being coached (adding his or her own perspective (to a minor or major extent)
• The person being coaching sets personal and team/organisation goals for change or adjustment
• The coach and the person being coached work together towards clearly identified targets
• The process continues until the targets have been substantially achieved. At this point, the relationship may end or it may be decided that the cycle is worthy of repeating with new reflection and goal setting.

What ROI (return on investment) is common?

One large-scale US study in 2007 suggested that Coaching produced a 529% return on investment (ROI) and significant intangible benefits to the business.

A professional coaching firm should talk directly about ROI (return on investment) and should be prepared to state that they commonly achieve at least 150% ROI from their efforts on a client’s behalf.