Ask any football or basketball coach if he can treat every player the same, and he'd probably say yes, but he wouldn't expect success with every one of them. Each player needs to be coached differently, or as football legend Vince Lombardi once put it, "Coaches who can outline plays on a blackboard are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their players and motivate."
A good coach also knows that situations dictate how to coach. Sometimes it's tough love and other times it's understanding the underlying issues and helping players find the best within themselves. That's how winning seasons are put together.
The Leadership Coach
So it is with leadership coaching. Which is why a good leadership coach spends a good deal of time understanding the company, its culture, the individual and the particular challenge the executive faces.
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"Seeking coaching when the earth is trembling underneath you isn't a sign of weakness. A coach can help a leader focus on the key issues."
--Cathy Lange
HCA Dir. of Leadership Development & Executive Coaching
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Leadership coaching is a particular skill set developed over years. Coaches are credentialed and receive as much as 200 hours of training in the field. They work one-on-one with individuals confidentially over an extended time, usually six months, to help them change or acquire needed skills and behaviors.
The best coaches are the ones who've been there before. They have led companies or managed large departments. A good coach needs executive leadership experience to fully understand the challenges clients face. Coaching engagements sometimes entail more than the individual; they may include the executive's team to help ensure that new behaviors or skills developed during the assignment perfectly match the client's team or organization.
Over the next three issues of the HCA Advisor we'll discuss coaching, including how a coaching assignment should be structured and the particular needs of women executives. But first let's look at several common scenarios where a leadership coach can be valuable.
Common Coaching Situations
Cathy Lange, who leads HCA's leadership coaching practice, identifies five situations where an individual can find particular value in being coached.
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"Often top executives simply cannot get feedback or do not trust what they're hearing."
--Mary Helms
HCA Coach & Senior
Business Advisor
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1. Big things change. Even the most seasoned leaders can get rattled or lost when organizations undergo significant change.There may be a strategic change of direction. A new market might be targeted. A major reorganization disrupts the status quo. When that change is relatively quick, executives may find coaching helps them provide the steady leadership that's imperative. "Seeking coaching when the earth is trembling underneath you isn't a sign of weakness," Lange says. "A coach can help a leader focus on the key issues and address the most acute organizational vulnerabilities." One example Lange experienced first-hand was the executive who needed to develop new people for a fast growing organization. She was no longer able to micro-manage situations but instead had to learn how to communicate clearly her expectations to multiple tiers of managers. If that weren't enough, she also had to find an effective, face-saving exit strategy for a long-time and well-loved executive.
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2. High performers in specialized areas or individual contributors move to new leadership roles. Many businesses have elevated outstanding sales personnel, financial executives or technical personnel to broader managerial positions where they risk floundering. When an outstanding employee flies solo or within a small group successfully for so long, the transition to management, where delegation and motivational skills become more important, requires a new skill set. "The transition can be tough, but it isn't impossible," Lange says. "Many of the skills that individuals may have used with clients or specialized audiences simply need to be adapted to work within the organizational team. There is often also a need to learn how the politics of business is played."
3. Specific, required skills were never learned. Lange says a typical example is when executives with technical expertise who have related most of their career to machines and systems suddenly are required to speak publicly or interact with clients and partners. They may need to learn to listen effectively. In one engagement, Lange coached an executive who previously had development responsibilities but suddenly was tasked with thinking strategically and developing new people for the organization. "Much of the assignment involved helping him take risks and overcome confidence issues," Lange says.
4. Dysfunctional behaviors threaten to derail a career. Not everyone can be Steve Jobs, who may have succeeded despite certain leadership shortcomings. "If you treat people poorly, lack empathy or don't handle stress well, you may find yourself stuck with no place to go but sideways - or worse," Lange says. Often in this case, the organization sees the potential in the employee and believes the investment in coaching is worth it. But Lange says it never works unless the individual is willing to change.
5. Sounding board required. They say it's lonely at the top for a reason. "Often top executives simply cannot get feedback or don't trust what they're hearing," says HCA Coach Mary Helms. The isolation can cause inertia. A coach can not only listen effectively and provide feedback, but has tools, such as the 360, that encourage anonymous feedback.
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"If you treat people poorly, lack empathy or don't handle stress well, you may find yourself stuck with no place to go but sideways - or worse."
--Cathy Lange
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Leadership coaching is sometimes called executive coaching. What's key to remember is that it's not only for the C-level suite. Even mid-level managers, identified as "high potential," benefit from a coaching assignment. "When rising stars shine brightly, a smart organization will make the investment necessary to groom them for the future," Lange says.
How to choose a coach? How is the engagement structured? What tools can be leveraged in a coaching assignment? These are some of the questions we'll cover in our next HCA Advisor.
Click here to see previous newsletters in the HCA Archives.
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Meet An Associate
Cathy Lange
Cathy is Director of Leadership Development and Executive Coaching at HCA. She provides a range of coaching services for executives and leaders in emerging and Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and non-profits. Cathy is a 20-year veteran of the high technology industry and corporate America, having led sales and marketing, high level consulting, systems integration and information technology innovation initiatives. She was an executive with a regional leadership group and think tank. Cathy serves on the board of directors of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce and on the board of the Community Foundation of Northern Virginia. She is an appointed commissioner to the Fairfax Economic Development Authority. Cathy is a 2011 class of Washington Business Journal's Women Who Mean Business. She is a graduate of Corporate Coach University and is a member of the International Coach Federation. She has been providing leadership development services and executive coaching for over 15 years with training in Myers Briggs, DiSC, the Leadership Circle, NeuroLinguistic Programming and Gestalt Psychotherapy. Cathy is a magna cum laude graduate of Georgetown University.
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Meet An Associate
Mary Helms
Mary is a Senior Business Advisor and Coach with HCA. She has more than 25 years in management, executive search, consulting and leadership coaching in business, non-profit, and governmental organizations. She has coached individuals and teams at senior leadership and general management levels as they lead organizational change, develop leadership skills, and express their unique talents. Mary brings a broad perspective and practical approach to career, human capital and organizational issues. She is a certified coach through Coaching for Professional and Personal Mastery and the graduate program at Newfield Network. Mary is a graduate of George Mason University and holds a MS in human resource management from The American University.
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