What are you waiting for?

Big fat, juicy cherries. Whether from Washington state or Provence in France, this year cherry season is wonderful.

When is the best time to plant a cherry tree? Twenty years ago. And the second best time? Today.

Like a cherry tree, leadership coaching delivers sweet cherries. The references on my LinkedIn profile offer a small sample. A special shout out of thanks for each of you who helped me evolve into a bold "No Growth, No Pay" coach. Sadly many are waiting to start the leadership growth journey.

More and more organizations, constrained by current year budgets, are engaging in coaching in a pay for results approach which incurs no costs until the co-workers around the leader have confirmed measurable improvement in most important behavioral goal. This often means no out of pocket costs in the current budget year.

Is this a promotional gimmick or is there some hidden value in this approach? Why do companies choose "no growth, no pay?"

Certain and Measurable Results

As a beginning coach I contracted a Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching assignment for 3 Founders for a yearlong "no growth, no pay" engagement. Eight months into a yearlong engagement, 2 of the 3 Founders dropped out. For these 2 leaders, I received no fees. The lesson learned? My oversized ego as a coach caused my financial loss. Ouch.

What do you mean Bill, you ask?

My ego was the problem. Because I believed that I could change other people. Impossible. A coach can only accompany and accelerate growth for those who want to change. A valuable lesson.

Today our team uses a rigorous and thorough 7 step assessment and 10 point contract in the 45 minute "discovery" session with the leader. Only leaders who "pass" this assessment and contracting are offered results-based guaranteed coaching. The results are still not perfect. The data shows that based on over 10,000 leaders, a 95% success rate provides the kind of odds our team can accept.

And if you prefer to pay upfront instead, take the prepay discount. Your benefit? You proceed in the confidence of knowing that your coach is willing to bet his paycheck on the success of your leader to achieve measurable leadership growth on their most important behavioral growth.

Engage your leadership team to develop internal coaching skills

Often coaching takes place behind closed doors, without objectives which are transparent to the organization. I must admit, I have done some of this "horse whisperer" coaching, serving as a sparring partner for a leader. There are times when this is needed and appreciated. Based on my small sample of 145 leaders coached over 2,500 hours, the results are consistently better when the co-workers around the leader provide regular monthly "FeedForward" (outside-in) suggestions to the leader. Who knows the day to day challenges of the business better than those who work with the leader? Who can better guide the leader in improving collaboration? And best of all, by engaging co-workers, the long term capability of the organization to grow leaders is improved. And results are more sustainable with internal follow-up long after the coach is gone.

Avoid Loss Opportunity Costs

Sadly, I have witnessed many a business where a struggling leader is not provided in time with the support to improve. Issues fester like an infected wound, spreading misery to the leader, the leader's boss/board, direct reports and even partners and customers. Any leadership transition, especially CEO's are challenging. And leadership change takes time; that is why our team does not offer a results-based guarantee for any period less than one year.

Results-based guaranteed coaching is like buying insurance and only paying at the end of the term.

Long Term Partnership

The results-based guaranteed coaching requires a partnership of trust between the leader, the leader's organizationand the coach. Unsurprisingly, this level of trust often results in repeat business. As demonstrated by my friends and Leadership Circle Co-Founders Robert (Bob) J. Anderson and William A. (Bill) Adams in their research building on 470,000 Leadership Circle Assessment profiles and mentioned in their book Mastering Leadership, Leadership Effectiveness shows a wonderful relationship with business performance. Leadership Effectiveness is a muscle which longs to be trained.

What are you waiting for?