September/October 2007

Performance
Are you ready for a coach?

The world of work is changing, and quickly. Being a successful manager means continually learning and adapting to rapidly evolving environments.

It’s your responsibility to manage and build on your department’s intellectual capital, and be able to adapt to new industry challenges. To successfully manage within this fast-paced environment, you will need to develop your capacity to honestly self-assess and be willing to learn new skills and concepts.

Most managers are not able to do this alone. Many may think they know what is required to hone their professional capabilities, but coaching one’s self is likely to end in frustration. Remember: You can’t know what you don’t know.

Coaching occurs all the time within an organization as a management or leadership style and can have dramatic impacts on performance, with results exceeding many lessons learned in training courses and leadership development seminars. Many leading companies have instituted executive coaching programs, including American Express, Corning and Hewlett-Packard to name just a few.

While coaches were originally assigned to those experiencing difficulties or in danger of derailment, there is now wider acceptance for even the most successful managers to use coaches. Today’s organizations recognize that people, especially managers need to adapt, grow and change. As such, having a coach assigned can often signal career advancement.

You may want a coach if:

• You are transitioning into a new department or are promoted to a management or leadership position that requires new skills.
  
  
• You lack a sense of fulfillment in your present management position and/or are considering a career change within the same company.
  
  
• You are experiencing stress and sense you may be on the verge of burnout.
  
  
• You want to improve your ability to manage, persuade and influence others by understanding how to better navigate office politics.
  
  
• Your relationship skills have become more pertinent as your responsibilities have increased.
  
  
• You want to improve your emotional intelligence and learn to better manage your inner experiences so you can lead others more effectively.
  
  
• You are experiencing diversity challenges that you’d like to handle better.
  
  
• The strengths and talents you brought to your job are not the ones that will guarantee future career success.

Some managers are more aware than others of their weaknesses. Overly ambitious and confident ones sometimes lack a core sense of true value: They overachieve to prove their self-worth. The best way to fortify genuine self-worth and self-esteem is to work with a coaching professional in order to examine one’s self-beliefs.

Unfortunately, some who desire a coach are unprepared or unwilling to do the work. Coaching requires tremendous courage to face what other people may be saying about you, as well as the ability to treat their perceptions as valuable feedback. A coach can help some managers overcome inherent defense mechanisms that keep them in denial about their shortcomings.

It is important to be able to trust the coaching process and your coach to achieve results. Be aware that in selecting a coach based on your personal feelings, you may not pick someone who best fits your needs. In other words, you run the risk of choosing someone you like, rather than someone you need.

If you feel that coaching is an option you would like to pursue, you can contact your local chapter of a national professional association, such as the American Society for Training and Development, International Coach Federation, or other coach and mentor groups. Be sure to specify that you want a business or executive coach, rather than a personal or life coach. You want someone with experience in organizations and with executives. Pick a coach who has formal education in psychology or organizational development, as well as experience in real-world business dynamics.

Ask for an upfront agreement about what your coach will tell your employer. It is appropriate for your coach to share with HR or your supervisor:

1. Information about goals.
2. Attendance at coaching meetings.
3. Alignment of company goals with development issues.
4. Achievement of milestones that indicate progress.
5. Timeline for the completion of coaching.