Executive Coaching Practices(I)

I have worked years to open corporate channels to provide executive coaching in the business world where I have worked for 35 years. In these articles I will share some common practices applied worldwide. Let’s start giving a general overview of an executive coaching process.

Usually, executive coaching starts with a corporate talent need, or a business challenge, problem, or lack of result attributable to someone’s behavior, action, relationship, or performance.  Some basic frames to consider:

1)   ENTERPRISES DEMAND RESULTS:

Companies manage their talent and human capital through talent management practices. These include development actions to be addressed through three main efforts:

·     Experiential learning actions such as projects, task forces, increasing strategic content, expanding responsibilities, focus groups, start-ups, fix-it, turnaround, and so on.

·     Assisted one-on-one development actions such as mentoring, coaching, tutoring or consultancy.

·     Training and development actions such as workshops and trainings.

Talent managers and supervisors usually observe and measure executive’s impact to business results by relating that impact to the executive’s behaviors and actions through different means, such as performance management, talent and career management and succession processes. Coaching demands come out of these processes, thus coaches must understand and dominate them to provide congruent coaching services.

Very frequently, as coach I assess the executives with leadership assessments, 360º degree assessments and other support tools. This way I strengthen the coaching plan based on more objective information, offer the correspondent feedback, and build up the coaching plan with its KPI’s. This practice brings objectivity and formality beyond subjective observations and perceptions. 

2)   BUSINESS LANGUAGE:

Executive coaches must understand business language. As coaches, we should gain business’s experiences that allow us to connect with customer’s needs regarding executive development, business impact, performance, leadership, relationships, cultural navigation, seniority, career development, executive de-railers, promotions, transfers, compensation, bonuses, career plans, network building and a whole menu of needs, practices, processes, platforms, and tools.

3)   ALIGNMENT AND PRE-WORK:

To fully understand the executive or coachee stand in his/her performance,  I run an alignment process. That means an interview with Human Resource’s executives, the actual coachee’s supervisor, and sometimes other audiences such as the client’s internal and/or external customers. In these interviews I explore the executive’s behavior’s impact to his/her performance, to the business and to others.  I extract “observable behaviors” that impact positively and negatively and thus, I build the “executive case” that will then be discussed with Human Resources, the direct supervisor, and the executive, to agree on the coaching specific plan and KPI’s to pursue in the process. Expectations are spoken, settled, and agreed.  I leave open the possibility of interacting with the executive’s supervisor, ask his/her collaboration and feedback through the process.

4)   BEST FIT INTERVIEW:

If the plan and KPI’s are clear I run “best fit” interviews with at least two coaches, so the executive can sense and experience two different coaches’ styles and decides who to work with as coach. This practice gives the customer confidence, full engagement and optimism, as well a sense of professionalism and formality from the coaching service.  

5)   COACHING CONTRACT:

After this choice is made, I sign a verbal or written contract with the coachee where we agree on both side’s responsibilities. We discuss the complete process and make sure the executive is clear on every step, the plan, the KPI’s, the session scheduling, cancellations, the reports that will be sent to their boss and Human Resources and how to deal and trouble-shoot any problem that may arise from the parties.

6)   ASSIGNMENTS AND TAKSING:

Assignments or tasking between sessions allows us to connect previous session with the following one. Thus, between one session and the next one, we agree on an assignment or task for the executive to do and accomplish. This way we make sure the executive remains in contact with the KPI’s. agreed. So, the first subject we discuss in the following session is precisely how he/she did on the assignment, learnings achieved and experiences gained. Both parties experience a sense of continuity and formality

7)   ACCOUNTABILITY:

I offer since the beginning of the process a written agreed plan with specific plan and KPI’s. This document will be used along the coaching process until the end. In the middle of the process, we build a “middle term report” where the coach describes  advancement in agreement with the executive. Thus, we hold a meeting with the executive’s boss and Human Resources to review and discuss next steps on the rest of the sessions. At the end of the process a similar report is handed to all parties to formally close the process.

8)   “COACHING” VS “EXECUTIVE ASSISTED DEVELOPMENT”

What an executive coach does in the process is a combination of Meta-Coaching, mentoring, training, tutoring and consultancy. Some challenges need to be trained beyond self-awareness, meta-states, meta-model distinctions or well-formed outcomes. One example is giving and receiving feedback, employee recognition, direct report development, acquiring a specific executive competency, such as influence, communication, political savy, strategic planning, learning agility, change acceptance, confronting others, delegating, engagement, initiative, innovation, interpersonal savvy, relationship management, resilience, risk taking, trust, team leadership, among others.

In my coaching practice I call this process “assisted executive development” instead of coaching. I find my customers much more comfortable, confident and trusted; this new concept gives them a more accurate understanding of what we are dealing with, and all parties end up willing to engage and follow up trustfully.

The purpose, at last is demonstrate professionalism, formality, skill, knowledge, a clear process that addresses the challenge, the plan, the KPI’s, the work to do and the expected results. Transparency, the participation of Human Resources, the supervisor, colleagues, direct reports, and the executive him/herself. 

Executive coaching is a growing field that seeks measurable results and professionalism.