Joan Lloyd & Associates, Inc. - Tips for When, and How to Use an Executive Coach
Common reasons to use an Executive Coach . . .
When you have a talented executive/manager who makes a solid contribution to the business but who (examples):
- Has problems managing people
- Can’t communicate his/her ideas effectively
- Has problems making good presentations
- Is trying to change the culture and is meeting with resistance
- Has an ineffective personal style
- Has an image problem
- Needs feedback on a sensitive personal issue
When you have a new manager who (examples):
- Was promoted into a large stretch job
- Was promoted into a job with high risk/visibility
- Never managed a large group of people before
- Never managed multiple departments
- Never worked outside of his/her technical specialty
- Has a manager who can’t provide much coaching
When you have a valuable contributor who the company wants to save from outplacement / termination (examples):
- The employee hasn’t been told the truth by past managers and the company feels a sense of responsibility for the employee’s predicament
- There is a political time bomb ticking and the company is trying to avoid a lawsuit
- The person is connected politically in some way to the owner (friend, family member, protégé, etc.)
When you have a star employee who (examples):
- Needs to polish skills in communication to upper management
- Needs to become more politically astute
- Has to grow quickly to move into a bigger job fast, due to business changes, sudden death or retirement of key executive, etc.
Pitfalls to Avoid When Working with an Outside Executive Coach . . .
Before you hire an outside coach:
- Check references—speak to people the person has actually coached, as well as to their managers.
- Choose people who have executive experience, if he/she will be coaching executives.
- Choose a coach who has a successful track record of managing people, if he/she will be working with someone on employee issues.
- Beware of a coach who has had limited personal experience with organizational politics, especially if the issue at hand is political.
- Coaching certificates, from coaching “universities,” don’t guarantee the person will be a good fit, or have the necessary skills.
- Ask for all fees upfront, including potential charges for phone calls, in-office research and preparation, instruments, etc.
- Match the coach to the person. One size doesn’t not fit all.
- Set clear expectations about marketing other services while working with a client.
- Beware of the coach who overuses instruments because they lack the experience or skills themselves.
- Be cautious of a coach who doesn’t have a sense of urgency and professes the need to have a long, expensive relationship.
- Be careful of the coach who seems to be too eager to take any assignment, without thoroughly probing into the desired outcomes to see if he/she is a fit.
- Be wary of the person who may be acting as a “coach” between jobs.
- Be cautious about someone who doesn’t have any past success stories to share
- Avoid someone who can’t articulate his/her consulting philosophy and principles
- Others?
Beware of the coach who doesn’t do the following early in the process:
- Identify measurable outcomes in a three-way conversation between the manager/coach and person to be coached (and internal HR coach, if applicable)
- Set agreed upon ways to monitor progress
- Get agreement from all parties about how to handle confidentiality
- Set expectations about logistics of where and when.
- Clarify roles and responsibilities of all parties
- Establish rapport and trust quickly with the person to be coached
- Actively involves the person’s manager in the process
- Partners with HR in a respectful, collaborative way
- Others?
When to use an Internal Coach
- Performance problem is of a technical nature (not behavioral)
- Internal coach has necessary skills and is seen as objective
- Internal politics will not prohibit an open, honest coaching relationship
- The specific behavior change does not require extensive behavior modification
Before You Begin . . .
Regarding the “Client” requiring coaching:
- Does the person know there’s a problem / need for change?
- Has the person’s manager / others provided honest feedback and expectations? If not, who will do this and when?
- Have consequences been clearly spelled out?
Are you the best person to be the coach?
- Do you have good rapport and trust with this potential “client”?
- Are you removed enough from the issues to be seen as impartial and objective?
- Are you willing and able to be an honest mirror of the clients behavior and can you provide non-judgmental feedback?
Do you have a clear understanding of roles, responsibilities and philosophy?
- What will be confidential?
- What will go in the “record” and how will it be used?
- Who is your primary “client” – the individual, or the person’s manager?
- What role will your own manager / others play?
- Who will you need to keep updated?
- What is your real goal? (Are there any unstated, organizational goals?)