|
When
Should You Hire a Coach?
Athletes
have known this for years—having a coach on their side helps them
perform their best and move through fear to success. Today’s executives,
managers and business owners are under pressure to perform at higher levels
with fewer resources. Perhaps it’s time you hired a coach to help
you reach your professional and personal potential. Here are some questions
to help you decide:
1.
Do you know what you don’t know?
Good leaders and managers value continuous learning. Those who recognize
that there are things they don’t know and are willing to examine
those areas, benefit from coaching. A coach can help you identify what
it is you don’t know and guide you in attaining the needed skills
and knowledge.
A client in transition decided to start a new company with several other
co-founders. All of them had been employed or worked as contract employees
before. My client had run a business in a very different industry some
years earlier. During the coaching process, he realized they needed to
investigate intellectual property and licensing before incorporating.
As a result of sorting things out with me beforehand, they were able to
focus on the critical issues with their lawyer.
2. Can you see a gap between
how you want to lead and how you lead now?
A coach can help you clarify your desired leadership style, create an
action plan and help you develop an effective style.
An executive loved her job and wanted to develop her leadership skills.
She had been trying to copy someone else’s management style without
success. She hired me to help her be more authentic and inspiring. We
clarified her values, defined her operating principles, and focused on
three main areas – interpersonal communications, employee career
development, and defining leadership for herself within the context of
her organization. She learned to share authentic stories and visionary
strategies that inspired her staff to perform better and have fun at work.
3. Are you experiencing
challenges with diversity?
The executive of a large organization felt challenged by the low morale
among the diverse staff, who represented many cultural backgrounds, different
generations, management and union. Work wasn’t getting done efficiently,
people felt frustrated and there was a lot of finger pointing. The "we
versus them" atmosphere was beginning to take on cultural and racial
overtones.
Our Awareness into Action seminar followed by coaching for intercultural
competency, conflict resolution and effective communications diffused
what could have become a hot situation. Through facilitated discussions,
executives, managers and employees shared their cultural, generational
and functional work perspectives. Learning to observe their own and other’s
behavior and respond non-judgmentally while staying focused on the business,
led to deeper understanding and appreciation of the diversity in each
other’s behavioral styles, values and attitudes.
4. Have people been telling
you to make some changes, but you’re clueless about how to do that?
While you may hear such comments as criticism, you can turn them into
your advantage by working with a coach.
One of my clients was told he was a harsh micro manager. People on his
staff came from different cultural backgrounds; many felt intimidated
and refused to participate in staff meetings. Some were often absent and
one had filed a labor grievance. The manager felt upset by other people’s
reactions to him and attributed it to their cultural differences. During
our engagement, I observed his behavior at work and gave him balanced
feedback. He learned to observe his own attitudes and behaviors and see
his impact on others. He worked hard to get in touch with his emotions,
discern his priorities as director of his unit and articulate them constructively
in the workplace. Through facilitated staff sessions, he and his employees
came to understand and appreciate their different styles and ways of communicating.
Within a short time, the coaching benefits were noticeable. His staff
participated in meetings, he stopped blowing up at them, and he delegated
appropriately and acknowledged their contributions. As a result, morale
and performance improved considerably.
5. Do you have clear professional
or business goals?
If you don’t have clear professional goals or are unhappy in your
profession, consider working with a coach or career counselor to uncover
your life purpose, passion and competencies, and re-purpose them for a
new, fulfilling career path.
An executive in a high tech organization loved her work and was frustrated
by her relationship with the executive director, to whom she reported
directly. Despite her ability to learn new ways to manage up, her boss
was extremely resistant to any efforts to improve their working relationship
and sabotaged many organizational goals. She saw that she could not affect
change and it was best to make plans to exit to another company. In the
coaching process we focused on her life purpose, the skills and knowledge
she wanted to contribute to a workplace, and made a list of industries,
companies and types of managers she would target for her job search.
6. Will you commit to focus on the present?
Are you willing to examine your present life or do issues from the past
continue to surface? If you’re struggling with past issues, trauma
or loss, it’s best to work with a therapist to complete those issues.
This way you’ll get the most value from working toward the future,
which is what coaching is about.
A senior VP in a dot.com was struggling with the founding CEO who micro-managed
her management team and made major decisions without their input. He felt
angry about this and focused on things that happened in the past during
our coaching sessions. I recommended that he work with a qualified therapist
while proceeding with coaching.
7. Are you committed to
developing yourself?
If so, then coaching may be right for you.
Recently, a Human Resources manager hired me to coach an executive whose
performance last year was inconsistent, at best. He had been with the
firm for many years and was an enthusiastic, knowledgeable contributor
who had had some significant emotional stresses. The company had a culture
of impeccable respect and support for its people; HR had prepared the
executive for coaching by letting him know it was a professional development
benefit, not a punishment. This executive welcomed the coaching. He committed
himself to taking care of his spiritual, mental and physical health, shifting
his thinking, debunking some of the myths he was operating under and practicing
different ways of thinking and acting. Within 3 months he had restored
his emotional resilience, reconnected with his values and was performing
at near top level.
8. Are you about to make a critical decision that will impact your
life or career?
When you’re at a crossroads and unsure which direction to take, working
with a coach can help you set priorities in alignment with your values
and stage in life.
A former corporate executive thought of moving every time he paid the
huge mortgage bill for a large house that he no longer needed. Secretly
he had an image of himself living in the mountains, writing, teaching
and consulting occasionally. In coaching, we articulated the full extent
of his hidden dreams, set a goal and developed an action plan. Within
a few months he placed his house on the market, sold it and bought a new
one in the mountains.
9. Are you committed to
doing the work?
A coach will not do the work for you. A coach will get you to think deeply
about your choices, challenge you and help you be accountable and champion
you. When you have a hard time following through, a coach will offer evocative
inquiries designed to help you explore your resistance and brainstorm
ways to move forward. A coach on your side helps you keep your commitment
even when the road is rough.
10. Will you invest time and resources in coaching for your success?
If you’ve answered "yes" to some of the questions, it may
be time to hire a professional coach.
Studies of Fortune 1000 executives and senior managers who engaged in
coaching for 6 to 12 months show that they got six times their return
on investment. They reported they were able to boost job performance significantly,
through higher productivity, sales, or profits. They reported better relationships
with direct reports (77 percent), bosses (71 percent), peers (63 percent),
and customers (37 percent), and cited a marked increase in job satisfaction
(61 percent) and "organizational commitment" (44 percent), meaning
they are less likely to quit than they were before.
Imagine how good you will feel knowing that the contributions you’re
making to your organization are better when you’re working with a
coach. If your company won’t pay for a coach, consider hiring one
on a private basis to take yourself to the next level. After all, it’s
your life too!
If
you want to know how to bring coaching and better performance into your
life or organization, send mailto:coaching@barbarachan.com
|
