Notes on Executive Coaching II

The first part of this series of notes on executive coaching was to provide an overview of the executive coaching market in India. You can read it here. https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/executive-coaching-india-primer-bimal-rath/

This (second) note is a deeper look at the dynamics and issues associated with the "readiness for coaching" of individual leaders. Or Coachability, as some say. The purpose of these notes from many years of practice and experience, is to generate some more ideas and debates. And hopefully contribute to the further evolution and overall maturing of the coaching market.

1. The coach mindset : What mindsets do coaches adopt, when the question pops up - is this person really coachable? . While it is easy to say that coaches must have an open mind about any individual they are working with, it is not always straightforward. Before, during or sometimes after the coaching process--the question can still be about the 'Coachability' of the individual in question.

• Difficulty: Coaches sometimes measure such cases by the levels of difficulty they may encounter in going through the process. Some coaches love the challenge such 'difficult' cases pose, others may not see a good return on their time and effort. Some may even shy away from such cases.

Even if it is a 'tough' case and there is no immediate result visible or likely from coaching, there is always a positive rub off if one genuinely believes in the process and respects the person--that has been my personal belief as a a coach.

• Results: Other coaches judge the Coachability by results. At the end of an engagement, one could hear a comment that 'the individual leader was not really coachable'. Sure, but should that assessment not have been made earlier, maybe right at the beginning of the assignment?

It may be useful to discuss and agree between stakeholders that coaching is not a magic formula to solve all issues for an individual. Personal development and maturing is a process and a time bound coaching assignment is one step in that journey, so results should be looked at in such light.

• Engagement skills: Sometimes, if there is a lack of experience, or ones own lack of skills in dealing with difficult conversations, coaches may tend to sidestep tough cases (as against someone who is truly not coachable).

As a coach, it is useful to reflect on one's own preferences, style and drivers. It is ok to say no to a specific coaching case because of one's own reasons. But to label the leader or other person 'un-coachable' may not be warranted. They may well be in the coachable list for some other coach.

There is no magic formula for a coach to assess 'Coachability' of any leader But gathering data early enough and having conversations with the coachee and other stakeholders is usually enough. It could even be the coaches own biases or skill gaps which lead to the judgment of "un coachable". A chemistry meeting before the actual engagement, and a open frank talk after 1 or 2 sessions if 'it's not working' usually work in most cases.

The key for the coach is to be willing and able to disengage from a coaching assignment if they are clear on further engagement not being useful to both parties.

2. The company/ manager mindset-- When a company is proposing a 'tough' case for coaching, it may be useful to evaluate that it is not falling into some of these categories below.

• Outsourcing the problem: The manager is not wanting to take up a problem employee case head on and confront. They may sometimes see coaching as a way to provide feedback to this 'difficult' individual or defer the confrontation.

While coaching may help in some difficult cases, the manager's role of providing feedback or managing performance or behaviour cannot be outsourced to a coach. This is a big watch out for both coaches and those owning the coaching process within the organisation.

• Last step: 'We have tried everything else with this individual, and we are now trying coaching as a last resort.' Having heard this from some HR leaders and organisations, I can say that it would be prudent for both organisations and coaches to evaluate upfront whether such investment and strategy are best for the individual and the organisation, when such instances occur.

Coaching as a last resort for behaviour correction rarely works in isolation and may well be a wasted effort.

• Derailer management: Companies sometimes use coaching as a process for managing significant behavioural derailers in leaders. Coaching certainly works, but only if there is an early assessment, acceptance and supportive environment in dealing with the derailer. Otherwise, coaching may well remain a tool that is trying a quick-fix for a deep problem.

For the coach to work with a strongly embedded leadership derailer, it needs a partnership between the coachee's manager, the organisation and the coach.

Organisations are becoming better organised and more thoughtful in terms of investing in coaching. Coaches need to continuously educate buyers and users of coaching, to be able to make better judgments in initiating coaching cases.

There are many aspects that impact any individual's performance and effectiveness, e.g, role design, quality of internal processes, structural or reporting issues etc. The lack of solutions to these aspects sometimes may leave a role holder at a disadvantage. In many cases, the individual leader is made the scapegoat, when the problem is somewhere else. Many such cases end up in the bucket of "let's get her a coach to improve effectiveness". And then a person is labeled as uncoachable in case of no visible signs of performance improvement.

Readiness of any leader for coaching is not an issue dependent only on the individual. The coach and the organisation both play a major role, and are as much a part of the problem, as the solution.

Apart from the coach and the organisation mindset, there is the most critical player in this game, the individual coachee or leader herself. We'll speak about that in the next blog.

**Bimal Rath is an author and entrepreneur. He is interested in and supports the coming alive of human potential in all his pursuits. To get a hint of his professional work in "helping organisations leverage their talent better" visit thinktalent.co and leaderbuild.co