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An Introduction to Executive Coaching
by Mary Kralj, Ph.D.
Learning Objectives
- Learn how Executive Coaching was derived, whom it’s designed for, and its relevance.
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Learn the importance of the four primary goals addressed by Executive Coaches.
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Learn what characteristics an effective Executive Coach possesses.
Executive coaching is a rapidly growing,
increasingly complex area of practice. Trying to summarize the field
brings to mind the metaphor of five blind men describing an elephant
in mutually contradictory ways depending on which part of the elephant
they could grasp. In the same way, practitioners define executive coaching
in different ways depending on their background and experience in the
field. In this article I will summarize some of the most commonly accepted
points in the field and share a variety of resources for further investigation.
LET’S DEFINE TERMS
First, definitions are important. Coaching
generally refers to a helping relationship (usually one to one) with
an individual, designed to support that individual’s pursuit of specific
goals. Executive refers to a high level within an organization where
the responsibilities involve significant decision-making and the supervision/oversight
of managers. This level typically includes Chief Executive Officers,
Chief Operating Officers, Vice-Presidents and, perhaps, Directors.
While the strict definition of Executive
Coaching implies a helping relationship with an officer of an organization
designed to assist him/her in achieving specific personal and organizational
goals, this definition has blurred in common usage. As more entrepreneurial
and networked organizations have developed and formal bureaucracies
have shrunk, organizational levels are less clear, and Executive Coaching
can often mean any coaching that occurs in an organizational context.
This looser definition still distinguishes Executive Coaching from more
generic coaching on either lifestyles or personal issues outside an
organization (e.g., coaching for personal sports performance, divorce,
weight loss, personal improvement, personal finances, etc).
WHERE DID EXECUTIVE COACHING COME
FROM?
Some form of Executive Coaching has always
occurred within organizations. Originally insiders provided coaching
to insiders. Traditionally, experienced senior leaders were expected
to “bring along” their successors by advising, mentoring, and developing
more junior executives and managers. This was an implicit part of the
role of senior leadership.
Over time, senior leaders have devoted
less and less time to this activity as business has changed in two critical
ways. First, executive life has become faster paced and less personal
in response to global and technological changes that make face to face
developmental conversations with subordinates less feasible. Second,
the relationship between organizations and employees changed after the
introduction of downsizing as a business tool during the 1980s. After
all, how much time should a time-stressed executive spend developing
employees if they are unlikely to stay with the organization long enough
to show a return on the investment?
The same business changes (increased
globalization, technology, speed, and complexity) that reduced the ability
of leaders inside the organization to provide coaching simultaneously
increased employees’ need for external coaching. Employees faced a rapidly
changing and more complex work environment and looked for ways to meet
the challenges and develop skills more rapidly. The need for coaching
from professional sources outside the organization–today’s Executive
Coaching.
WHAT NEEDS DO EXECUTIVE COACHES MOST
OFTEN ADDRESS?
Executive Coaching is a collaborative
partnership among an executive, the Executive Coach, and the executive’s
organization (the executive’s boss, Human Resources representative,
or others as appropriate) designed to achieve specified, mutually agreed-upon
goals. The most common types of goals include (The Executive Coaching
Forum, 20011; Witherspoon & White, 19972):
- Skill building;
- Performance improvement;
- Development for future assignments;
- Definition and implementation of the
executive’s leadership and the organization’s business objectives.
Skill building goals are areas of new
learning that address a task, project or accountability the executive
faces in the current job. They can include basic ideas, strategies,
methods, behaviors, and attitudes. The work is relatively short-term,
ending as soon as the skill-based learning goals have been achieved
to the satisfaction of the executive, the organization and the coach.
Examples might include coaching in presentation skills, delegation skills,
performance review management, etc.
Performance improvement goals address
learning on the broader aspects of the present job, not just a particular
project or task. This category can include coaching for an executive
who is “at risk” for being terminated or demoted if the goals are not
met. Examples might include increasing collaborative behavior with peers,
reducing abrasive behaviors, or meeting key job accountabilities or
sales quotas.
Development for future assignments includes
coaching to prepare an executive for a future job move and is often
part of succession planning in the organization. It may involve preparation
for overseas work, for a larger scope of responsibility, for work in
highly political arenas, etc. This process may involve unlearning past
behaviors as well as learning new ones and can take a bit longer, perhaps
a year or more. Organizations typically invest in this form of coaching
only for those employees deemed to have “high potential” for future
success in the organization.
The most amorphous form of coaching involves
definition and implementation of the executive’s leadership and the
organization’s business objectives. Because these objectives are often
very general, abstract, and evolving within the business context, this
is learning in the broadest sense. The coach often serves as a mirror
or sounding board over an ongoing period of time, providing feedback,
perspective, insight, and networking as well as coaching.
WHAT IS THE FUTURE FOR EXECUTIVE COACHING?
No matter how trendy the magazine and
newspapers make Executive Coaching sound, it is not a fad. Executives
and organizations face needs grounded in very real changes that are
here to stay. Organizational life will continue to become more complex,
more time pressured, and more ill-defined for the foreseeable future.
At the same time, traditional managed
health care has proven unrewarding for many psychologists. As a result,
increasing numbers of psychologists are exploring coaching (both executive
and lifestyle coaching) as a practice option. Both demand and supply
are increasing in this marketplace.
WHAT ARE THE TRAINING, EDUCATIONAL
OPPORTUNITIES AND RESOURCES AVAILABLE IN THE AREA OF EXECUTIVE COACHING?
Because this marketplace is expanding,
many different sources of training, education, and resources are available,
but the quality is mixed. There is simply no best source of education
and training in the field at this time. Instead, the field resembles
a large normal distribution-- a few sources are quite excellent, most
are adequate in some manner, and a very few are not valuable at all
(but will still take your money). My best advice is buyer beware: check
references and be an informed consumer.
For those of you who would like to investigate
this area further, I offer my “Baker’s One Dozen Sources on Executive
Coaching” as an (incomplete but manageable) introduction:
- The Annual APA Convention. Various
continuing education workshops for credit and program presentation
related to the area of Executive Coaching are provided each year.
- Division 13 of APA. Division of Consulting
Psychology Midwinter Meetings. Each February Division 13 holds a meeting
that always features some offerings on Executive Coaching. The Midwinter
Meeting also provides continuing education credit for selected activities.
- The Journal of Consulting Psychology:
Practice and Research. The official journal of Division 13, it regularly
carries articles and research on Executive Coaching. The Spring 1996
edition (volume 48, Number 2) was totally devoted to executive coaching,
and the journal plans another dedicated edition in the near future.
- The Executive Coaching Forum. Source
of best practices, education, professional development and networking
for executive coaches. The forum serves primarily practicing business
people rather than psychologists. Its handbook is available free of
charge
at www.theexecutivecoachingforum.com.
- The Center for Creative Leadership.
Located in Greensboro, NC, with branches worldwide, the Center offers
books, certification workshops and educational events related to leadership
more broadly, but also incorporating Executive Coaching and certification
in the Center’s feedback tools.
- Linkages, Inc. holds an annual Coaching
Conference each spring. www.linkageinc.com.
- The Executive Coaching Forum (2001).
The Executive Coaching Handbook. Second Edition. Available from www.theexecutivecoachingforum.com.
- McCall, M., Lombardo, M., Morrison,
A. (1988). The Lessons of Experience: How Successful Executives Develop
on the Job. NY: Free Press.
- Witherspoon, Robert and White, Randall
P. (1997). Four Essential Ways that Coaching Can Help Executives.
Greensboro, NC: The Center for Creative Leadership.
- Goldsmith, M., Lyons, L., Freas, A.
(2000). Coaching for Leadership. Jossey-Bass Pfeiffer.
- Hargrove, Robert. (1995). Masterful
Coaching. Pfeiffer & Company.
- Fitzgerald, Catherine (2002). Executive
Coaching: Practices and Perspectives. Palo Alto, CA: Davies- Black
Publishing.
That makes twelve sources, and a Baker’s
Dozen always includes a “lagniappe ” of one extra. My lagniappe of one
extra source for both aspiring and practicing Executive Coaches is simply
to learn together. The very best executive coaches that I have encountered
in my career have one thing in common–they were all exceptionally gracious
and voracious collaborative learners. They were gracious in terms of
sharing their knowledge with trusted peers and voracious in their hunger
for new ideas, new perspectives, and critiques of their work that could
help them expand their skills. If you are seeking to begin or continue
a career as an Executive Coach, please don’t go it alone. Make the effort
to find peers to work with along the way and expand knowledge for you
and others in the field.
REFERENCES:
1) Executive Coaching Forum (2001). The
executive coaching handbook (2nd ed.). Available from www.theexecutivecoachingforum.com.
2) Witherspoon, R. & White, R. P. (1997).
Four essential ways that coaching can help executives. Greensboro, NC:
Center for Creative Leadership.
Lagniappe (LAN’ yap). Something given
with a purchase to a customer by way of a compliment or for good measure.
AUTHOR
Private practice specializing in Corporate
Psychology; Registrant since 1986; National Register Credential Review
Committee; Resides in Silver Spring, MD.
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