Encyclopedia of Leadership

13.1

COACHING AND SUPPORTING

THE SUCCESS OF OTHERS

Inspired by Shaun Murphy and Robert Lucas.

“The hottest thing in management is the executive coach,” trumpets Fortune magazine. Hype

aside, recent organizational emphasis on coaching makes explicit what was often only infor-

mally expected of leaders—to develop others. This tool:

• Describes the conditions necessary to a successful coaching relationship.


• Explains the seven elements of the coaching process.


• Provides a comprehensive discussion guideline for coaching others.

CONDITIONS FOR A SUCCESSFUL COACHING RELATIONSHIP

An enduring and successful coaching partnership is:

✔ Voluntary—Many mentoring programs failed when pairings were not voluntary.

✔ Based upon growth, not on creating dependencies. (Ironically, the ultimate success of

a coaching relationship is achieved when the coachee doesn’t need you as a coach!)

✔ Directed at improving the coachee’s job performance and career potential (not at pleas-

ing or appeasing).

THE ELEMENTS OF COACHING

Each of these seven elements is essential to coaching success. These are not stages, since most

are iterative and ongoing and provide a range of strategies for the coach and coachee to work

on simultaneously.

SECTION 13 TOOLS FORLEADINGPERFORMANCE 391



Assessing and

benchmarking

Benchmarking provides a foundation and direction for coaching:

❑ the coachee’s frank personal assessment of his or her strengths and development needs;

❑ the coach’s observations of the coachee’s performance; and

❑ third-party hard data (e.g., 360°survey feedback, performance appraisals, interviews).

➟



Establishing a

trusting

relationship

❑ Develop a caring and trusting foundation to carry the coaching relationship forward through

good and bad times.

❑ A relationship chemistry needs to be present. If it does not exist, the most useful thing to do

is to acknowledge that it is missing. Paradoxically, a level of trust sometimes emerges from

such an acknowledgment, making a more productive coaching relationship possible.

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Contracting

for success

Clarify and agree on a range of coaching start-up issues.

❑ Review background, coaching start-up concerns, and issues precipitating coaching.

❑ Conduct a first pass at setting mutual goals for coaching.

❑ Discuss coaching process and roles—maximizing choice, minimizing coachee dependence.

❑ Identify confidentiality concerns and agree on guidelines for handling these concerns.

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