182 50 TOPEXECUTIVECOACHES

Together, we determine where the manager shines and how they can gravi-
tate toward doing more of that. We also look at mitigating their deficiencies
by finding other people to buttress those weak points or at shifting to roles
where the manager will be judged less on what they can’t deliver.
During the process, I help the people around the manager come to under-
stand what is happening. Through the conversations I have with those indi-
viduals I develop a level of trust that allows me to become a spokesperson or
salesman for the person being coached. The very fact that I am coaching
someone ends up heightening people’s awareness of that person’s need for
change. In the case of a manager, this puts them in an extremely vulnerable
position. My job is to avert the inclination to take pot shots at the one in
charge by convincing people that their manager is someone who deserves re-
spect for seeing change as a positive.
When I work with several people at the same time, it’s easier because the
manager ’s own changes end up being less emphasized in the context of wide-
spread change among other managers. I realize that it’s rare for a coach to
choose to work so intensely, one on one, with a number of senior people in the
same organization, but it’s a style and approach that makes the most of my
own skills and abilities. I have become confident in my coaching style over
the years. I choose not to do shorter interventions, finding that quick fixes
don’t have the kind of impact I like to deliver. I am after profound, lasting
change, preferably by a critical mass of change agents within an organization.
Working among many different leaders allows me to coach to the organi-
zation’s culture in a way that maximizes my impact. Although I remain an
outsider, I become trusted to the point where my ideas about what the cul-
ture can be are valued and embraced. As my usefulness to the organization
spreads, I end up working with all the senior people and affecting that orga-
nizational change, one manager at a time. Eventually, a critical mass
emerges, and the organization’s change in culture and typical behavior is
strong enough that even others notice. I feel profoundly fortunate to work as
a change agent coach—the role pulls together the best of what I have to offer
for my clients.