COACHING!

CoachingFORTUNE, 2/21/00

Coaching is “one of the hottest things in human resources.”

Coach – part personal consultant, part sounding board, part manager. The coach functions as a therapist too (they deny it).

Coaching began in the 1980s in the financial planning industry. The advisor asked clients if “they wanted to talk more broadly about life issues, and they jumped at it!”

Who can be a coach? – “pretty much anybody.”

“In the age of Every Man for Himself, every man can have a coach - and, in an ever more commonly held view, needs one.”

CoachingFORTUNE, 2/21/00

Coaching taught a Met Life manager “people have to take more responsibility for their own growth and development”

In a Coaching class, one of the things they teach is “…the most basic of coach skills – listening.”

CoachingFORTUNE, 2/21/00

“Corporate America had better heed the phenomenon, even if it falls outside the traditional corporate organizational chart.”

An Ernst & Young partner found a coach to be a valuable sounding board. He made a call and found himself on the phone with a strange woman. She didn’t know much about his area of work, “but within 20 minutes he decided she could be both trusted and helpful.

CoachingFORTUNE, 2/21/00

“Why do I need a coach? Perhaps it’s for the same reason that Tiger Woods needs a coach. Tiger would say ‘I know how to play golf.’ But his coach is probably the most important person in his life.”

A coach pushed Met Life mgr. to reexamine goals and values. Ultimately, the mgr. organized retreats (w/ tai chi, massages) and encouraged employees to keep journals. By year end, sales were up 60%.

CoachingFORTUNE, 2/21/00

Working with Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman, 1998

Goleman asks, “What’s the key to success as a coach?”

“The best coaches show a genuine personal interest in those they guide, and have empathy for and an understanding for their employees.”

Good coaches: are trustworthy, show respect, and display empathy

Poor coaches: are impersonal and cold, and the relationship seems one-sided or self-serving

In the Art of Listening section, Goleman says:

“A finely tuned ear is at the heart of empathy.”

“Listening well and deeply means going beyond what is said by asking questions, restating in one’s own words what you hear to be sure you understand. This is ‘active’ listening.”

Working with Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman, 1998

Active listening characteristics:

Intensity Empathy (put yourself in speaker’s shoes) Acceptance (listen objectively without judging

content) Willingness to take responsibility for

completeness (ask questions, probing, paraphrasing)

Working with Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman, 1998

Characteristics of effective listeners:

Motivated Make eye contact Are interested and focused Are fully present Are empathic Ask questions to clarify, paraphrase, confront

biases

Working with Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman, 1998

Expand your coachingExecutive Excellence, October, 2004

“The key variable in successful coaching is not the coach – it is the person being coached….”

It’s not about the coachFast Company, October, 2004

We focus too much on the salesperson rather than the customer.

There is a tendency to think that everything grows out of the leader/coach.

Alternatively, I don't hold myself up as "coach as expert." I'm much more a "coach as facilitator."

Coaching ClassesEmployee Benefit News, November, 2004

“Coaching is about developing a relationship with employees that lasts and will change their behavior.” (Financial Finesse CEO Liz Davidson

CEO CoachesBusiness Week, November 11, 2002

“..it always bleeds into the interpersonal….My responsibility is to help them look inside themselves as much as outside.” Coach Ciampa

“This is enforced reflection” McKee said about a Unilever coaching program that kicked off in Costa Rica. The senior team talked openly about themselves, each other, and the company’s “unspeakables.”

The ingredients of good coachingWorks Management, June, 2000

Most definitions of what constitutes coaching revolve around the aim of empowering people to make their own decisions, and unleashing their potential.

The key skills of coaching sound simple enough -- asking rather than telling, listening more than talking -- but is what makes a successful coach innate, or can the skills be learned?

The answer, say many experts, is that they can be learned.

In addition to questioning and listening, you need to follow the coachee's thought processes and respond spontaneously.

The ingredients of good coachingWorks Management, June, 2000

You must also be able to withhold your own opinions and solutions, recognizing that the best solution will come from the coachee.

"Your questions should aim to raise their awareness and generate responsibility in them as to what action to take," she says.

The ingredients of good coachingWorks Management, June, 2000

The GROW Model

G

Goals – What do you want to achieve and when? Is it within your personal control? Is it realistic? Is it measurable? How much do you have/want?

R

Reality – What have you done so far? What were the

effects? Who is involved? What is happening around /inside you? What are the constraints to progress? When do you notice this happening? How confident are you on 1-10 scale?

O

Options – What options do you have? What other options do you have? What else could you do? What would you do if you were boss? Would you like another suggestion?

W

Will – What are you personally going to do? When are you going to do it? Actions/Obstacles? How will you overcome them? What support do you need? Are you committed? How clear are you? How enthusiastic are you?

Guidelines for Applying Goals

To apply goals effectively, it is important that EACH goal is SMART:

Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Trackable

S-Specific: You should state exactly what you are responsible for. Research has shown that a person who says he wants to do one thing or another - giving himself an alternative - seldom gets beyond the “or.” He does neither. This does not imply inflexibility. Flexibility in action implies an ability to be able to make a judgment that some action you are involved in is either inappropriate, unnecessary or the result of a bad decision. Even though you may set out for one goal, you can stop at any time and drop it for a new one. But when you change, you again state your goal without an alternative.

M-Measurable: Your goal must be stated so that it is measurable in time and quantity. For example, suppose your goal was to finish a proposal this week. You would specify your goal by saying, “I am going to complete the end of the year report, with final revisions by Friday, June 30th.” That way, the goal can be measured; when Friday comes, you know whether or not you have achieved it. Ideally, you also want to be able to measure such variables as cost and quality. From the manager’s viewpoint, this is important because when you observe someone’s behavior, you want to be able to determine whether it is contributing toward the accomplishment of the goal or taking away from goal achievement.

A-Achievable: The goals you sent must be accomplishable or reasonable with your given strengths and abilities. Too many companies set impossible goals that are simply not realistic. While you want to stretch yourself, you do not want to set goals that are so difficult that they’re unattainable, thus, serving to be demotivating. For example, if you were a rather obese 45 year-old, it would be foolish to set a goal running the four minute mile in the next six months-that simply would not be achievable.

R-Relevant: About 80% or the performances you want from people comes from 20% of their activities. Therefore, a goal is relevant if it addresses an activity that makes a positive difference in overall performance. (Clearly, your goal should never be destructive to yourself or to others. Destructive goals should not be supported. If someone is seeking potentially destructive goals, an effort to encourage him/her to consider different goals should be made.)

T-Trackable: Ideally, you want to be able to monitor progress. In order to do that you’ve got to be able to measure or count performance frequently, which means you need to put a record-keeping system in place to tract performance. Monthly reports or time sheets are examples of systems that allow you to easily track performance.