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Archive for the ‘coaching skills’ Category
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
Over the past few years, I’ve had the opportunity to participate in several comprehensive sales-leadership assessments. During this time, there have also been a number of widely published research papers regarding “best-in-class” sales-coaching practices. The data from these two efforts send some important messages regarding where sales managers should be spending their precious time on their coaching efforts.
The first has to do with the type of sales coaching that is being conducted. Two specific areas stood out
- Skills Coaching
- Strategy Coaching
 And which one do you think gets the most attention? You guessed it: Strategy Coaching. It’s all about getting “the deal,” and because Strategy Coaching feels more urgent and the results of it are more tangible, Skills Coaching tends to get neglected.
Data from the assessments show that sales managers spend up to 70% of their coaching time and effort on deals. In contrast, best-in-class managers spend more like 55% of their time in this area and place almost equal importance on Skills Coaching, which means that it also gets more of their attention.
The best sales managers determine early on which skills are most needed, and they hold off on Strategy Coaching until the deal is better understood. They focus on building qualifying and discovery skills in their reps, saving Strategy Coaching until “the deal” is more developed and the insights they had gained could be leveraged to greater advantage.
Recent assessments and best-in-class research also show that other critical sales-coaching practices need more attention:
- Focus on a small number of performance issues: Covering fewer topics actually results in more positive behavioral change.
- Provide concrete examples of what kinds of changes need to be made: Fuzzy coaching topics don’t help much and lead to both parties becoming frustrated.
- Coach the middle performers: When coached, low performers stay longer and still don’t improve much, while average performers lose out on professional-development opportunities. And yet, these middle performers have the most potential to positively affect business results.
- Prepare for coaching conversations and allocate enough time for them: Coaching takes time, energy, and creativity. Preparing for these conversations beforehand makes a big difference in how your time is used.
- Engage the person in the coaching conversation: Sales coaching is a “contact sport”—it takes good, two-way communication to work the way it should.
- Commit to following through: Sales manager’s following through was the most-forgotten step in the process. If you’re going to make the effort to coach, you really need to see it all the way through.
Lastly, best-in-class sales organizations have agreed-upon performance standards that they share and use to gauge the areas in which to coach their sales reps, taking all of the guesswork out of the process.
Tags: sales coaching, sales coaching practices, strategy coaching
Posted in coaching skills, sales coaching, strategy | No Comments »
Monday, May 7th, 2012
 One key attribute of an effective leader is being an effective coach. When leaders are effective at coaching and offering feedback they can influence and develop skills, attitude, success, motivation, ability to perform, and a willingness to contribute to the goals of an organization in others.
As important as coaching is in a conventional environment, it becomes even more important in the virtual world. During an in-person coaching session you have the luxury of seeing body language, facial expressions, and attitude, all of these help you understand the coachee, their feelings and perspective better. In the world of virtual coaching, you will have to learn how to read through the lines in an email, watch for small subtle clues like email or voicemail response time, and learn each individual’s voice and tone in order to gather how they are feeling.
Many aspects of coaching will remain the same whether it is done in person or virtually. These aspects require:
- On-going coaching and feedback.
- Gaining the respect and trust of the team members.
- Taking time to listen to the coach.
- Using both formal and informal coaching opportunities.
- Coaching for both performance and development.
- Accepting that coaching may be uncomfortable.
When you add the dynamic of virtual leadership, the following are some keys to remember:
- Virtual coaching can be done via phone, email, video conference, instant messages, project management software, and a myriad of other virtual mediums. Don’t limit yourself.
- You may need to spend extra time working on building a good relationship with the coachee before diving into difficult coaching conversations.
- Virtual coaching is a two-way conversation, not a one-way email.
- Make time to coach regularly. You may want to consider creating a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule.
- Make sure you allow ample time to discuss how the coachee views the situation.
- Create an environment void of background noise so they know they have your attention.
- Even though they can’t see you, do not multi-task during the coaching session.
- Schedule a specific check-in date and time for follow up.
As more and more organizations move to virtual teams, being able to be an effective virtual coach is going to become a topic for much discussion. A virtual leader is going to have to rely on different tactics in order to be effective at coaching. They will have some unique obstacles and challenges but the level of coaching can mean the difference between failure and success. As you plan work on becoming a world class virtual coach, keep these tips in mind to help you become an even more effective and efficient coach.
Tags: Effective Coaching, virtual coaching, virtual leadership
Posted in coaching skills, leadership, virtual leadership | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 10th, 2012
How to coach the Coach
Introduction
 In our work with organizations to train leaders to be effective coaches, we are almost always targeted to the first line supervision up through middle management and at best senior managers. Typically, we have to address the issue of “rolling up” this training to the executive and senior management levels. There are some noteworthy exceptions, but many of our client’s training departments are not focusing on the senior levels for this type of training and support.
What can be done to get more mentoring and coaching for executives and senior management? First, let’s look at the barriers.
Barriers
A survey of consultants and upper-level executives reported in Training and Development magazine, found that 90% of executives resist coaching. The reasons why fell into three categories:
- They did not feel comfortable with their skills.
- They have too many demands on their time and felt development was a low priority, or not even their job.
- They did not value the development of others – “They should be able to figure things out for themselves.”
Our own experience, and the experience of clients we interviewed, supports and amplifies these findings. Here is a more detailed list of those findings:
Strategies
Here are some strategies to address these concerns:
Executives and senior managers are just too busy to spend time on development and coaching skills.
To address any of the above issues, you must first get development, coaching and mentoring positioned as an important, if not critical leadership responsibility that has been formally part of their own performance assessment.
Performance feedback is not wanted or needed by senior managers, so it is not critical to spend time on it.
Almost every executive and senior manager we have interviewed said that they did want to know if what they were doing was working. Again, these are competitive and successful people and they want to know that they are on the right track. Of course, self-serving bias says we want to know when we are doing a good job, but don’t like it when we hear we are not doing so hot.
So, the feedback must clearly be seen as an asset to the executive so they can make their own self-corrections to move toward success. Too often performance feedback is seen as a club to knock people back into line, or as a validation to justify some unpleasant action.
Executives and senior management have blind spots concerning their ability to coach/mentor others, or find it too revealing to admit to a need in this area.
You must find an objective, non-threatening way to assess their effectiveness.
Surveying their current and past direct reports, and current and past supervisors about their development contribution is the most likely method. To be successful, these need to be objective and candid. Often they are most valuable when supported by a skilled developmental resource person (coach-consultant) who can also interview the respondents, then coach the executive in evaluating, interpreting and responding to the information.
Another method would be critical incident analysis by a skilled interviewer, but this depends upon a worthy incident existing that would be meaningful to re-visit and highlight success / non-success factors.
Leadership assessments instruments are another method to assess their interpersonal dynamics. These show a connection between their “style” and real-world results and often need a resource person to help interpret the results into actionable feedback.
Leadership assessment centers and scenarios are another approach. Again, the key is to produce insights that clearly translate to success in their real world environment.
Executives and senior managers don’t want to attend formal training on coaching.
One strategy for addressing this is to gird up and do battle on the issue of leadership responsibility; of “walk-the-talk”, “leading the way”, and “it’s got to start at the top!”. Buenos Sortie, Don Quixote. Sometimes it works, but usually the windmills win. They really are busy after all.
Here is another approach. The senior levels need to experience this process because: (1.) they need to know what to expect from the people who report to them (the ones they think really need this training); (2.) it will also help lead the way if they role modeled the process themselves; (3.) and, they may find it helps them be personally more successful in certain leadership areas.
For executives and senior managers, formal group training is too uncomfortable, perhaps unsafe, and takes too big a chunk of time.
Many of their concerns can be dispelled by giving them a pre-training briefing on the workshop process and content. By discussing what the training does and does-not do and answering their questions so they feel informed (senior levels hate feeling “unknowing”), you increase the chances of them actively enrolling.
An alternative to formal workshop training is assigning them a resource person for one-on-one coaching and support to learn this process. We, and some of our clients, have had good success with this option – especially where the senior person is not likely to attend formal training.
A lot of what senior managers do (use of intuition, dealing with ambiguity, etc.) is hard to capture via formal performance appraisals so developmental coaching doesn’t happen.
The production and financial records information systems usually generate adequate “bottom line” information to assess the actual results. The nature of their work, (often unstructured, uncertain, and ill-defined) means they can usually benefit most from feedback and coaching on their leadership process and behaviors they use to produce those results.
In a classic study by the Center for Creative Leadership, four enduring themes for why executives derail reoccurred over time and across countries: (1.) They have problems with interpersonal relationship
(2.) They fail to meet business objectives
(3.) They fail to build and lead a team
(4.) Their inability to change or adapt during a transition.
Three out of four of these reasons for derailment deal with leadership style and personal behavior, not with making their numbers.
Three out of four of these reasons for derailment deal with leadership style and personal behavior, not with making their numbers.
Okay, making the numbers is a critical priority in any organization. But relying solely on these numbers to evaluate executive success is ignoring the rich developmental opportunities for communicating, team building, mentoring, coaching, visioning and leading change. As one of our executive clients said, “results evaluation is easy; it’s also a cop-out”.
Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric, perhaps one of the most numbers driven CEOs of the decade, is quoted in Built to Last as recognizing the need for balance between numbers and values. “People who make the numbers and share our values go onward and upward. People who miss the numbers and share our values get a second chance. People with no values and no numbers – easy call. The problem is with those who make the numbers but don’t share the values . . . we agonize over these people.”
Coaching is a critical processes to address this need for balance.
Summary
Development and coaching are critical leadership skills that can easily take a back seat to “making the numbers” unless a conscious effort is made to position them as a priority. It is needed and beneficial and achievable if you will adjust your strategy to address the particular barriers at the senior levels.
There are several key factors that need to be addressed to get more coaching at the senior levels. The strategy and approaches for making this happen must be adjusted to their specific concerns.
The approach taken must use a proven, successful process that focuses real-world results.
One-on-one coaching and support is a valuable alternative to formal training at the senior levels if you have skilled, experienced, resource people.
If you have any questions about executive coaching or coaching in general please contact us at:
Tags: coaching at the executive level, coaching executives, executive leadership coaching
Posted in Leadership Development, coaching skills, leadership | No Comments »
Thursday, April 5th, 2012
 The coaching process is communication between two people to enhance ones’ skills, motivation, attitude, or performance. It is a two-way conversation that requires intelligence gathering, active listening, and flexible objectives. Coaching is an ongoing process, which over time, will lead to permanent improvement of processes and performance. There are many skills that need to be utilized in order to be a good coach. One of the most important coaching skills is the ability to ask good questions.
Questions can be used in a variety of ways and achieve multiple results. Questions are the best way to open up a dialogue and encourage active participation from another person. They are used to gather information and to clarify understanding. Questions can help you propose new ideas and strategies and they can raise the constructive tension between people. There are two types of coaching questions, open and closed ended.
Open-Ended Questions
Open-ended questions promote interaction by drawing out responses, information and ideas. These questions begin with, who, what, where, when, why, or how, and cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. Open-ended questions bring out feelings and opinions, which adds depth to the information that you receive.
Closed-Ended Questions
Closed-ended questions seek specific, brief responses. They are fact finding questions used to gain commitment and to confirm what has been said. They get right to the point and save time in a conversation.
Navigate the Coaching Process
It is important to build rapport and give support while coaching. Questions are the best way to find out what the person being coached thinks and feels about the issue at hand. A good starter question might be, “What are some of the challenges you have encountered?” or “What are your reactions to this issue?” Let them know that you would like to understand their perspective. Create an environment that is relaxed and emotionally safe for open and constructive dialogue. Provide non-verbal support by maintaining eye contact and not multi-tasking during the conversation. Remember to give positive feedback about the person’s successes.
It is also possible to transfer ownership of a situation to the person being coached. Simply asking questions such as, “Do you think your current strategy is giving you the results you need?” or “What is it we are trying to accomplish as a team?” can establish the importance of the topic. Specific impact questions can help eliminate any perceptual blind spots the person being coached might have. They also add relevance to the subject at hand and provide motivation to seek new alternatives.
Use open-ended questions to gain pertinent responses and ideas, as well as the feelings and motivations driving them. Use closed-ended questions to solidify what you have been discussing and confirm your important objectives. Utilizing questions in coaching situations is the most effective way to understand where the other person is coming from, the specifics surrounding the topic at hand, and how to build cooperation and prepare to move on to a plan of action. The best way to navigate through the coaching process is to understand as much as you can about the other person and their situation. Questions provide the road map that will lead you to the end results.
Tags: coaching conversations, coaching process, coaching with questions
Posted in coaching skills, communication | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 4th, 2012
Continued from The Three Whats of Coaching, Part 1
 What Two
After the employee has explained the situation, the coach moves to the second “What” question. The purpose of the second “What” is to clarify for the employee the impact of his/her behavior. A person’s behavior can make an impact in a number of different ways and affect many different individuals or groups of people: the employee personally, another employee, a group of employees, a customer, or the entire organization. Both the coach and the employee must be clear on the breadth and width of the impact. Until the employee clearly understands the impact of his/her behavior, changing that behavior will be difficult.
Examples of the second “What” question include those like the following:
- “So after that happened, what reaction did you see from other employees?”
- “What did the customer’s face tell you about your actions?”
- “If several of our employees did the same thing, what impact would it have on our customers?”
- “How long do you think we could we stay in business if many of our employees acted that way?”
- “So, what do you think happens to your standing in the company when you do things like this?”
- “When I hear things like this, what do you think goes through my mind?”
Answers to the second “What” question(s) can be slow to emerge from an employee. This is easy to explain: if the employee had had a clear understanding of the impact or consequences of his/her behavior before taking action, the outcome would likely have been very different. People often act without first considering the outcomes, consequences, or impact. Because the employee may not fully grasp the impact of his/her behavior, it’s important for the coach to proceed slowly through both the first and second “What” questions. Ineffective coaches practice “speed coaching,” while effective coaches practice “slow coaching.”
What Three
The third “What” question should progress naturally from the first two questions. After the situation and its impact have been clearly defined and understood by the employee, the next logical step for the coach to take is to ask questions like those below:
- “So, what do you need to do next?”
- “Now that you have described what happened and the impact of your behavior, what would you like to do next?”
- “I appreciate your honesty in describing the situation. With equal honesty, could you please tell me what you think would make this situation better?”
If the plan to resolve the situation is merely created and explained by the coach, then the coach owns the plan. The best employees (the top 20 percent) can hear their coach’s plan and adopt it as their own, thus creating psychological ownership of the plan. The other 80 percent–the clear majority of employees–will not. A plan owned only by the coach is unlikely to work. However, if the employee contributes significantly to the plan, he or she will be invested in the plan (psychological ownership) and far more likely to implement the plan and resolve the problem.
When an employee has psychological ownership of both the problem and its solution, there are clear, immediate benefits: not only will the employee work hard to fix the problem, but he or she is also far less likely to cause a similar problem in the future. In other words, resolving problems correctly with the Three Whats of Coaching not only solves today’s problems, but it also helps prevent tomorrow’s problems from happening at all–something that is of particular importance to busy managers.
Thus far, we have spent most of our time discussing corrective coaching, but coaching is not merely a corrective technique, it is also a method that can be used to support or reinforce desirable behaviors. Indeed, world-class coaches use coaching to reinforce behaviors they want repeated far more frequently than they use coaching to correct problems. In fact the ratio is at least 5:1, meaning that world-class coaches use coaching to support positive behaviors five times more often than it is used to correct unwanted behavior.
The good news is that the Three Whats of Coaching works equally well to reinforce positive behavior as it does to correct poor behavior. The same sequence applies, as do many of the same questions. Rather than saying to an employee, “Way to go!” or “Good job!”, an effective coach takes a couple extra minutes and asks the three “What” questions. And by doing so, the discussion is much more powerful, resulting in far better results for the coach (and the employee).
Tags: Coaching for Positive Purposes, Corrective Coaching, Effective Coach, Effective Coaches, Effective Coaching
Posted in coaching skills, sales coaching | No Comments »
Monday, January 2nd, 2012
 Being a new manager can be exciting, confusing, and sometimes even a frightening experience, especially if the person hasn’t been adequately trained in management and leadership principles. One of the most common mistakes a new manager can make is the practice of being too much of a “teller,” “commander,” and “controller,” and not enough of a “listener,” “learner,” and “asker.”
On the surface, it may sound reasonable to expect a manager to demonstrate control by telling people what to do. And if the people don’t comply well enough, or fast enough, it’s equally reasonable to expect that a manager would show who is in charge by exercising some form of sanction or discipline. In days long past, this philosophy was quite common, and to some extent, it worked.
Today, however, workers simply won’t tolerate what they believe to be unfair management practices, especially when the unfairness comes in the form of a manager who is overly bossy, unreasonably unfair, or inappropriately controlling. Workers today have grown up in a different world, one that expects managers to be efficient and leaders to be effective.
When a manager would like to influence the behavior of a worker (either reinforcing a desirable behavior or discouraging a negative one), the best method that leaders can use is coaching. Effective coaching has the power to either reinforce or correct behavior without the manager being perceived as bossy, unfair, or controlling. Coaching works, and there is the research to prove it. There is so much research on the power of coaching that it is amazing more managers haven’t learned how to coach. Those that do know how to coach don’t often practice the time-tested techniques, missing out on the many benefits of coaching for no real reason.
Coaching models range from simple to complex. The simple models work in most situations with most people, and complex models work in almost all situations with almost everyone. Although there are many coaching models that have been developed, most of them focus on a couple of basic principles. The most basic model involves a simple process called “The Three Whats.” This simple process is so easy to learn that virtually any manager can memorize what each what means and how to apply it in a coaching situation.
“What” One
The first “What”of coaching is to find out more about the situation by asking questions and making statements like the ones seen below:
- “What happened?”
- “What is going on?”
- “Describe for me what happened.”
- “Tell me what you see.”
The purpose of the first “What” is to define the situation, clarify the details, and discuss the facts of what happened from the employee’s point of view. A controlling manager might begin a coaching conversation by saying, “This is what you did and I’m upset!” By contrast, effective coaches would begin the conversation with a neutral demeanor and an open-ended “What” question. The difference between the two approaches is quite striking. Beginning a coaching session with an accusatory statement and a demeanor that immediately challenges the employee will typically cause the employee to become defensive. Once the employee is defensive it is difficult to move the coaching session forward, if it moves at all. This explains why so many new managers (and sometimes experienced, too) have problems changing employee behavior.
Learn about the other two Whats in The Three Whats of Coaching, Part 2
Tags: Coaching for Positive Purposes, Corrective Coaching, Effective Coach, Effective Coaches, Effective Coaching
Posted in coaching skills, sales coaching | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
 Many people believe that coaching is solely a management technique. While it is an effective means of achieving business results through others, peer coaching is often overlooked. Peer coaching requires many of the same coaching skills that managers utilize. However, coaching your peers requires a special sensitivity for each situation and a less direct approach. Unfortunately, when peers coach others, they tend to come across very in-direct and sometimes the other person misses the message entirely. In CMOE’s coaching Models, establishing impact is key to helping others see the full picture and gain new awareness or insight about the topic or situation. When a peer has effectively established impact with another, it is because they created what Dr. Steven J. Stowell calls “a felt need for action”.
I believe the best example of establishing impact with peers comes from the time-old nursery tale, The Little Red Hen. In this story, a hen discovers some grain of corn. She has a vision for turning this grain into loaf of bread, but recognizes all the work that must first take place. She asks her neighbors, the duck, the cat, and the pig for help all along the way. They declined helping her first with the planting of the corn, and then again when she cut the stalks, took the corn to the mill, and then finally when she baked the bread. When she asked, “who will help me eat this bread?” the duck, cat, and pig all jumped at the chance and said “I will.” Now the hen could have handled this situation in a variety of ways, but the power of her response is what has made this nursery tale so well-known for so long. The hen responded frankly: “Oh no, you won’t. I planted the seed, I cut the corn, I took it to the mill to be made into flour, and I made the bread, all by myself. I shall now eat the loaf all by myself.” This hen was effective at helping her lazy peers see the “big picture” by coaching them. She skillfully created an impact by sharing her perspective and observations with candor and honesty and making it easy for her peers to see the consequences of their behaviors.
Quick Tip
Remember, the overarching goal of peer coaching involves identifying and communicating to others how the combined efforts of team members can provide the most beneficial results. Keep the example of The Little Red Hen in mind and help take your team to the next level of performance.
Tags: Coaching with Impact, Coaching Your Peers, Peer Coaching
Posted in coaching skills, motivation | No Comments »
Monday, November 21st, 2011
Earlier, I described two people whom I have coached in the past year. Both of these individuals have responsible jobs with excellent compensation. The first is a store manager of a large supermarket, and the second is a manager in a large multi-national manufacturing company. They both have the education, experience and opportunity to be successful in their careers. In fact, both of these people have the ability to move up in their respective organizations. The problem is that both of them are about to be terminated due to their failure to perform up to expectations.
The reason I have chosen to discuss these two people is that I come across similar situations fairly regularly where people have everything it ought to take in order to be successful. But for some reason they make a decision to commit “career suicide.” I have every reason to believe that within a year both of these managers could be reading the want ads looking for a new position wondering what went wrong with their last job. They will wonder this in spite of the fact that for over six months I met with, coached, counseled, prodded and even warned them that behavior change was needed immediately. But for the reasons I would like to discuss, these people have decided, “good enough is good enough.” As Larry Hodges, the former President of Mrs. Field’s Cookies, has said, “Good enough is not good enough.”
The reason I selected these people and this topic is that in both of these cases termination does not need to happen. With a little effort and behavior change both of these people could have long and productive careers in their companies. But unfortunately, that may not happen: I think we can learn from their mistakes not only for ourselves, but also for those people who report to us.
Jack Welch, the former Chairman of General Electric Company, once said, “Face reality as it is, not as you think it is, or as you wish it was. Face it head-on as it really is.” That advice is clearly what both of these people need to do, because in both cases they have constructed their perception of reality as they “wish it was,” not, “as it really is.”
First, let me update you on the situation with the store manager. Although his district manager has several complaints, his primary complaint is that the manager is indecisive and procrastinates. This is even true on time-sensitive problems where immediate action is critical. Nonetheless, when given a directive, this store manager nods his head as if he hears what is being said, seems to understand what needs to be done, and even has the ability to do what is needed. However, in too many cases he either can’t make a decision, or waits too long before beginning. Have you ever seen someone like this? These behaviors can drive people crazy!
Procrastination is a complex psychological behavior that affects everyone to some degree or another. With some people it can be a minor problem; with others it can be a source of considerable stress and anxiety. Procrastination is only remotely related to time management, (procrastinators often know exactly what they should do, even if they don’t it), which is why very detailed action plans usually don’t help.
As in the case with the store manager, the procrastinator is often amazingly optimistic about his or her ability to complete a task on a tight deadline. It’s common to hear expressions of reassurance that everything is on schedule. For example, he or she may estimate that a project will take two days to complete. That sounds like a lot of time, so the person delays getting started because there appears to be an abundance of time available.
At some point, the person crosses a point in time where he or she suddenly realizes, “Oh no! I’m not in control. This isn’t working.” And as a result, waits even longer because being out of control is so uncomfortable. Even though it may appear that procrastinators are lazy, actually, one of the most common root causes is a fear of being out of control.
There is no simple solution to procrastination. Improvement takes not only a personal commitment followed by discipline, but it also requires the person realize that the best way to maintain control of situations is through preparation and on-time performance. This isn’t easy, but it can be done.
The second manager has a much different problem. After considerable discussion, she finally admitted to me, “I am a sarcastic person.” Then she quickly added, “But I’m only sarcastic in order to get people to do what I need them to do.” She believes that sarcasm is a valuable motivator and is appropriate in the workplace.
The problem with sarcasm is that it is so potentially dangerous that practically nothing else can destroy a relationship faster. People have long memories and most people don’t soon forget when they are the victim of sarcasm. So this manager has systematically damaged almost every peer relationship she has in her company. In an assessment I conducted asking her peers to rate her effectiveness in interpersonal communications; almost every person gave her the lowest possible rating. Most of them apparently, had been the victim of her sarcasm.
Research indicates that the quickest way to improve organizational effectiveness is to improve interpersonal relationships. And conversely, the quickest way to fail is to erode interpersonal relationships.
This manager’s second problem is arrogance. In the business world arrogance tends to be associated with a person in a position of power. Without organizational power, arrogance can appear misguided or even humorous. When a manager is in a position of power, he or she can be the victim of an over inflated perception of self that results in demonstrated arrogance. That seems to be the problem with this manager. She actually believes that she is indispensable in the organization and couldn’t be reassigned or terminated under any circumstance. She has created in her mind such a false sense of reality that she is unable or unwilling to accept the advice of others, even her boss.
So what’s going to happen to these two managers? Time will tell, but unless they begin to face reality as it is, very fast, they may be on the outside looking in, rather than on the inside watching their careers blossom. These are sad stories that, unfortunately, are repeated all too often.
Tags: business coaching, confessions, ife business coaching, personal commitment, professional business coaching
Posted in coaching skills, communication, leadership, mentoring | No Comments »
Monday, October 31st, 2011
While there are plenty of skeptics out, Coaching does get results. Documented research and the hands-on application of coaching, has proven this. If the coaching process is done properly and effectively coaching can yield a return on investment far greater than most people realize. What does successful coaching that gets results look like? Consider this rare inside look at how a Coach took an outside-in approach to helping an employee increase and maximize performance, not to mention saving his job.
Dear ________
I wanted to take an opportunity to thank you [again] for the workshops a few years back that have proven to be extremely valuable to me as a manager, mentor and coach and would like to share a recent success story with you if that’s OK?
We had an employee who has been with the company for many years – in fact he celebrated his 12th anniversary w/the Company on July 6th. He had slipped into a ‘rut’ over time and in coaching sessions had revealed to me that while he was “happy and content” with his current position and responsibilities, he felt he had been overlooked in compensation and promotion opportunities over time. (My perception based on his behavior and demeanor was quite the opposite – that of unhappiness and discontent.) I committed to him 2 years ago that I would personally do what I could to move him up, but that he had to “buy in” and take greater initiative before I could advocate any advancement.
As he continued to make some improvement, I recommended him for an officer promotion (with no additional compensation) a year ago, but was denied by leadership since they hadn’t observed the initiative necessary for advancement. I felt this would compel him to accelerate his efforts, but realized then and especially now that “rewarding” with an expected improvement isn’t likely to have the same impact as “rewarding” for observed improvement.
In the meantime, he continued to do just enough to get by and with a change in leadership, it was suggested that we let him go (outright w/no relocation or reassignment to another department). While this might have been justified at the time, I felt 11 years tenure w/the Company had some value and that he had untapped talent and skill that would undoubtedly add value to our department and to the company as a whole. I appealed for one last chance to coach him up, we put him under a stringent “performance plan” with required dates to reach expected competency in various areas.
The short story is that we are meeting at 3pm today to review his progress. As a result of his efforts, I have recommended and gained support from 3 levels of management (up to the Chief Credit Officer) to not only promote him from_______ to ______ but to promote his functional title resulting in a pay grade advancement in addition to a slightly more aggressive incentive plan – conditional upon a 9-12month timeline with increased responsibilities and expected competency in specific areas every 90 days. (This is an “open-end” comp change plan that may be extended if thresholds are not met as timely as expected.)
The end result will be that his salary will increase over time by ____ potentially within a 12 month period… Beats the heck out of 2.5% per year in my book! We now have a committed associate who is punctual, smiling when he reports to work and smiling when he leaves. Where he was once very stand-offish and unapproachable, he now exhibits a sense of humor and positive banter among his fellow associates.
In my opinion, today’s environment is much different than that of ______. No longer (at least for now) do our associates “choose” to work for us due to plentiful opportunities elsewhere. Unemployment is at unexpected levels so if we lose them today, they could potentially be unemployed for quite some time.
The outcome could have been quite different had this associate not accepted accountability and made sure that he reached deep within himself to make some personal changes. I am proud of the progress he has made and will be delegating and depending on him much more heavily in the months and years to come. His peers within the department and across the company have noticed, commented and documented the positive changes they have observed, up to and including the same leaders that advocated his termination only 5 months ago.
My intent w/this email is NOT to boast (for in fact I am humbled), but to testify to the effectiveness of the “Coach Approach” rather than dictatorial management style. What a great tool to bring out the best in others, and what personal satisfaction comes from it as a result.
I sincerely hope that all is well with you and yours. THANKS again! I APPRECIATE YOU!!
Respectfully,
_____________________
The testimonial above clearly shows that coaching does get results. Factor in the value of not having to hire, train, and develop a new employee, that you didn’t lose an employee with 11 years of experience, and that the person is an “officer level” candidate, you can see a cost savings of six figures — potentially getting close to seven figures by the time everything is said and done. Coaching can directly and indirectly affect the bottom line. Take the time to coach and get the results you need.
While there are plenty of skeptics out, Coaching does get results. Documented research and the hands-on application of coaching, has proven this. If the coaching process is done properly and effectively coaching can yield a return on investment far greater than most people realize. What does successful coaching that gets results look like? Consider this rare inside look at how a Coach took an outside-in approach to helping an employee increase and maximize performance, not to mention saving his job.
Dear ________
I wanted to take an opportunity to thank you [again] for the workshops a few years back that have proven to be extremely valuable to me as a manager, mentor and coach and would like to share a recent success story with you if that’s OK?
We had an employee who has been with the company for many years – in fact he celebrated his 12th anniversary w/the Company on July 6th. He had slipped into a ‘rut’ over time and in coaching sessions had revealed to me that while he was “happy and content” with his current position and responsibilities, he felt he had been overlooked in compensation and promotion opportunities over time. (My perception based on his behavior and demeanor was quite the opposite – that of unhappiness and discontent.) I committed to him 2 years ago that I would personally do what I could to move him up, but that he had to “buy in” and take greater initiative before I could advocate any advancement.
As he continued to make some improvement, I recommended him for an officer promotion (with no additional compensation) a year ago, but was denied by leadership since they hadn’t observed the initiative necessary for advancement. I felt this would compel him to accelerate his efforts, but realized then and especially now that “rewarding” with an expected improvement isn’t likely to have the same impact as “rewarding” for observed improvement.
In the meantime, he continued to do just enough to get by and with a change in leadership, it was suggested that we let him go (outright w/no relocation or reassignment to another department). While this might have been justified at the time, I felt 11 years tenure w/the Company had some value and that he had untapped talent and skill that would undoubtedly add value to our department and to the company as a whole. I appealed for one last chance to coach him up, we put him under a stringent “performance plan” with required dates to reach expected competency in various areas.
The short story is that we are meeting at 3pm today to review his progress. As a result of his efforts, I have recommended and gained support from 3 levels of management (up to the Chief Credit Officer) to not only promote him from_______ to ______ but to promote his functional title resulting in a pay grade advancement in addition to a slightly more aggressive incentive plan – conditional upon a 9-12month timeline with increased responsibilities and expected competency in specific areas every 90 days. (This is an “open-end” comp change plan that may be extended if thresholds are not met as timely as expected.)
The end result will be that his salary will increase over time by ____ potentially within a 12 month period… Beats the heck out of 2.5% per year in my book! We now have a committed associate who is punctual, smiling when he reports to work and smiling when he leaves. Where he was once very stand-offish and unapproachable, he now exhibits a sense of humor and positive banter among his fellow associates.
In my opinion, today’s environment is much different than that of ______. No longer (at least for now) do our associates “choose” to work for us due to plentiful opportunities elsewhere. Unemployment is at unexpected levels so if we lose them today, they could potentially be unemployed for quite some time.
The outcome could have been quite different had this associate not accepted accountability and made sure that he reached deep within himself to make some personal changes. I am proud of the progress he has made and will be delegating and depending on him much more heavily in the months and years to come. His peers within the department and across the company have noticed, commented and documented the positive changes they have observed, up to and including the same leaders that advocated his termination only 5 months ago.
My intent w/this email is NOT to boast (for in fact I am humbled), but to testify to the effectiveness of the “Coach Approach” rather than dictatorial management style. What a great tool to bring out the best in others, and what personal satisfaction comes from it as a result.
I sincerely hope that all is well with you and yours. THANKS again! I APPRECIATE YOU!!
Respectfully,
_____________________
The testimonial above clearly shows that coaching does get results. Factor in the value of not having to hire, train, and develop a new employee, that you didn’t lose an employee with 11 years of experience, and that the person is an “officer level” candidate, you can see a cost savings of six figures — potentially getting close to seven figures by the time everything is said and done. Coaching can directly and indirectly affect the bottom line. Take the time to coach and get the results you need.
Tags: business coaching, Coaching, coaching results, corporate coaching, Employee Coaching, Performance Coaching
Posted in coaching skills, communication | No Comments »
Monday, October 24th, 2011
One of the services I frequently provide organizations is a process called “Executive Coaching.” The process consists of me working with, or coaching/counseling, usually a senior person in a company. Most commonly the person coached is perceived by his or her boss as needing to improve in some area of performance. Or, the person has demonstrated difficulty in being effective within the organization. I typically work with a person for six months, sometimes longer. During this time we meet at least monthly and discuss personal leadership/managerial effectiveness along with other issues that usually surface during the discussions.
I find executive coaching to be a challenge and an incredible training experience, not only for the person I’m coaching, but for me as well. Many techniques and principles I teach in workshops have been learned in coaching sessions. It’s interesting how the differences in people create such a wide variety of behaviors, feelings and attitudes. But I guess that’s what makes us human beings and not animals.
I would like to describe two people whom I have coached in recent months. Obviously, I must conceal their identities, but the people and their situations are real. There are leadership principles represented in these cases that are so compelling to me that I welcome this opportunity to share them in this article.
The first person is a store manager of a regional grocery chain. He has been a store manager for over 15 years and from a first impression a person could assume that he is effective. He has a public persona of charisma and up-tempo happiness. I’m sure that many customers know who he is and might even believe he is a good manager. The truth is, however, that his boss is very close to terminating him. Let me describe why termination is a near possibility, because after we understand why, we can learn from his mistakes.
The district manager and the store employees have a very different opinion of this manager. instead of a charismatic leader, they see a person who procrastinates, doesn’t follow-through on assignments, gets lost in the trees and can’t see the forest, is a poor delegator, and either avoids confrontation at all cost, or is overly dictatorial and sometimes even abusive.
Now remember; this store manager is clearly aware that his continued employment is in serious jeopardy; he has been told by his district manager that if specific issues don’t immediately improve that he could lose his job. So if you were in this manager’s position, what would you do? How would you behave? What would you do to save your job? Those are questions I think I would ask myself, if I were in that position. Wouldn’t you?
Nonetheless, in a recent coaching session I conducted with the district manager, I watched this store manager say anything he could to please his boss. Rather than taking notes on what he needs to do differently, he spent his time trying to say whatever he could to merely get through the meeting and leave the room. It seemed to me that the prudent thing for him to do would have been to make a list of specific action items that needed to be accomplished in order to improve his job situation; instead, he nodded agreement to everything he heard and did whatever he could to shorten the meeting. Although he had a note pad and pen in front of him, he didn’t use them. When asked for a deadline to complete an assignment, his response was, “I’ll have to get back to you on that.” His nervousness was apparent and lie was obviously uncomfortable with the two of us trying to pin him down on specifics. At one point I observed him rocking back and forth in his chair—a clear indication of profound agitation. After the manager left the room the district manager turned to me and said, “He doesn’t get it. And I didn’t get any impression that anything will be different tomorrow than it was yesterday. I’m locked into a course of action that I don’t want to do.”
Why? Why did the manager behave this way? What could be motivating him to be so self-destructive? Before I give my interpretation of the answer, let me describe the second person. She has 35 employees and is the manager of an important department in a manufacturing company. With a master’s degree in engineering and almost 27 years of experience, she commands an impressive salary and position in her company.
Her problem is that she behaves like she is seven feet tall and bulletproof! She is openly defiant of her boss’s instructions and on occasion says things that approach insubordination. For example, her boss told her a few months ago that she needed to attend an important planning meeting in Mexico. When she concocted an excuse why she couldn’t attend on a specific date, her boss changed the date of the meeting to be more convenient for her schedule. So out of a dozen people to attend the meeting eleven adjusted their calendars to agree with this woman’s wishes.
Then, believe it or not, a week before the meeting in Mexico this massager announced to her boss, “The Mexico meeting is unnecessary and stupid. I’m not going!” Let me repeat the same questions I asked about my first example: Why? Why did she behave this way? What could be motivating her to be so self-destructive?
After her announcement I had an unfortunate conversation with this second manager’s boss. He said that he is fed up with her lack of cooperation and unprofessional behavior. He concluded by adding, “If you can’t get her back on track, I only have one final option, and she’s not going to like it.”
So why? Why do some people choose to behave in such indescribable ways? What could cause a person with a great job, including future career possibilities, to either fail to act (as in my first example) or openly rebel against all reason (as in my second example)? What do you think? Have you experienced someone similar to either of these managers?
Put yourself in my position for a minute, what would you do if you were coaching either of these managers? How would you approach the situation to effect change? What techniques or tactics might work better than another? Or, what about this question: is either of these managers salvageable? Are they worth saving? Is it best for all parties to merely terminate the person and start over again with a replacement? Think about these answers and in Part No I’ll describe what actually happened.
One of the services I frequently provide organizations is a process called “Executive Coaching.” The process consists of me working with, or coaching/counseling, usually a senior person in a company. Most commonly the person coached is perceived by his or her boss as needing to improve in some area of performance. Or, the person has demonstrated difficulty in being effective within the organization. I typically work with a person for six months, sometimes longer. During this time we meet at least monthly and discuss personal leadership/managerial effectiveness along with other issues that usually surface during the discussions.
I find executive coaching to be a challenge and an incredible training experience, not only for the person I’m coaching, but for me as well. Many techniques and principles I teach in workshops have been learned in coaching sessions. It’s interesting how the differences in people create such a wide variety of behaviors, feelings and attitudes. But I guess that’s what makes us human beings and not animals.
I would like to describe two people whom I have coached in recent months. Obviously, I must conceal their identities, but the people and their situations are real. There are leadership principles represented in these cases that are so compelling to me that I welcome this opportunity to share them in this article.
The first person is a store manager of a regional grocery chain. He has been a store manager for over 15 years and from a first impression a person could assume that he is effective. He has a public persona of charisma and up-tempo happiness. I’m sure that many customers know who he is and might even believe he is a good manager. The truth is, however, that his boss is very close to terminating him. Let me describe why termination is a near possibility, because after we understand why, we can learn from his mistakes.
The district manager and the store employees have a very different opinion of this manager. instead of a charismatic leader, they see a person who procrastinates, doesn’t follow-through on assignments, gets lost in the trees and can’t see the forest, is a poor delegator, and either avoids confrontation at all cost, or is overly dictatorial and sometimes even abusive.
Now remember; this store manager is clearly aware that his continued employment is in serious jeopardy; he has been told by his district manager that if specific issues don’t immediately improve that he could lose his job. So if you were in this manager’s position, what would you do? How would you behave? What would you do to save your job? Those are questions I think I would ask myself, if I were in that position. Wouldn’t you?
Nonetheless, in a recent coaching session I conducted with the district manager, I watched this store manager say anything he could to please his boss. Rather than taking notes on what he needs to do differently, he spent his time trying to say whatever he could to merely get through the meeting and leave the room. It seemed to me that the prudent thing for him to do would have been to make a list of specific action items that needed to be accomplished in order to improve his job situation; instead, he nodded agreement to everything he heard and did whatever he could to shorten the meeting. Although he had a note pad and pen in front of him, he didn’t use them. When asked for a deadline to complete an assignment, his response was, “I’ll have to get back to you on that.” His nervousness was apparent and lie was obviously uncomfortable with the two of us trying to pin him down on specifics. At one point I observed him rocking back and forth in his chair—a clear indication of profound agitation. After the manager left the room the district manager turned to me and said, “He doesn’t get it. And I didn’t get any impression that anything will be different tomorrow than it was yesterday. I’m locked into a course of action that I don’t want to do.”
Why? Why did the manager behave this way? What could be motivating him to be so self-destructive? Before I give my interpretation of the answer, let me describe the second person. She has 35 employees and is the manager of an important department in a manufacturing company. With a master’s degree in engineering and almost 27 years of experience, she commands an impressive salary and position in her company.
Her problem is that she behaves like she is seven feet tall and bulletproof! She is openly defiant of her boss’s instructions and on occasion says things that approach insubordination. For example, her boss told her a few months ago that she needed to attend an important planning meeting in Mexico. When she concocted an excuse why she couldn’t attend on a specific date, her boss changed the date of the meeting to be more convenient for her schedule. So out of a dozen people to attend the meeting eleven adjusted their calendars to agree with this woman’s wishes.
Then, believe it or not, a week before the meeting in Mexico this massager announced to her boss, “The Mexico meeting is unnecessary and stupid. I’m not going!” Let me repeat the same questions I asked about my first example: Why? Why did she behave this way? What could be motivating her to be so self-destructive?
After her announcement I had an unfortunate conversation with this second manager’s boss. He said that he is fed up with her lack of cooperation and unprofessional behavior. He concluded by adding, “If you can’t get her back on track, I only have one final option, and she’s not going to like it.”
So why? Why do some people choose to behave in such indescribable ways? What could cause a person with a great job, including future career possibilities, to either fail to act (as in my first example) or openly rebel against all reason (as in my second example)? What do you think? Have you experienced someone similar to either of these managers?
Put yourself in my position for a minute, what would you do if you were coaching either of these managers? How would you approach the situation to effect change? What techniques or tactics might work better than another? Or, what about this question: is either of these managers salvageable? Are they worth saving? Is it best for all parties to merely terminate the person and start over again with a replacement? Think about these answers and in Part No I’ll describe what actually happened.
Read Part 2 >>
Tags: Coaching, performance, Performance Coaching
Posted in character, coaching skills | No Comments »
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