Personal Coaching for Business Persons: A Plethora of Choices
Publication: Leadership and Management in Engineering
Volume 8, Issue 2
Abstract
Coaching is extremely popular in many organizations and among many executives, managers, and ambitious wannabes. The functions coaches perform are not new but the term is more marketable than were earlier names. Capitalistic motives have drawn service providers to assume the name “coach.” Various types of helpers and others have adopted the title for its cachet. Given that there are a myriad of coaching choices, this article covers some of the history, background, objectives, selection, and evaluation issues to consider. While there is no guarantee, informed buyers may make better purchasing decisions.
Coaching means many things. There is a virtual cornucopia of service providers that call themselves “coach.” Everything and anything that helps and enhances a businessperson’s image, performance, knowledge, or skills is con-sidered “coaching.” There are no limits on who can call himself or herself a coach. Schools and associations subscribe to various ideas of what is coaching. The field has not developed common definitions, education, experience, and core principles that categorize a “profession” in the usual sense of the word. That is okay, because coaches usually provide a personal service to sophisticated business people. The client needs to and should decide whether the service is worthwhile. There is no guarantee that codified coaching programs or workshops provide learning or development.
The Many Faces of Coaches
Coaching had developed so much popularity as a marketing tool that the term “coach” has become almost meaningless. As a result, finding the right business coach can be difficult. I am not referring to competence but to what they do. Business coaches provide many types of services under one name. This is not that strange. A Little League T-ball coach is different from an Olympic skating coach. Likewise, businesspersons have different needs.
It might be helpful to consider other names that were used by coaches in the past. The following lists contains three dozen alternative names, in twelve rough categories:The last groups in this list are very important because image is one end of the range of a manager’s needs. Looks count! The first groups of the range concern personal development. Temperament and behavior counts! In the middle are skills needed to lead or manage well. Friend, companion, and spouse are not included because coaching is usually considered a paid relationship. Nonetheless, nonprofessionals with our best interest at heart can help us to grow. Relationships count!
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Psychologist, psychiatrist, or psychoanalyst;
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Counselor, supporter, or therapist;
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Cheerleader, caretaker, or hand holder;
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Teacher, trainer, or tutor;
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Accountant, financial analyst, or planner;
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Consultant, advisor, or guide;
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Expert, problem solver, or sage;
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Supervisor, manager, or leader;
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Mentor, sponsor, or Dutch Uncle;
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Confessor, sounding board, or critic;
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Hairdresser, beautician, or cosmetologist; and
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Haberdasher, dressmaker, or tailor.
Coaching Milieu
There are many articles touting the benefits of coaching. The Internet has thousands of Web sites advertising various coaching services. There are schools for coaches and associations of coaches. Consulting psychologists have a professional journal where the process of coaching is analyzed. The common thread throughout these sources is the virtue and value of coaching.
In practice, many differences exist in the services offered by coaches and the methods they use. This article will give my impression of the popular and growing industry. The field is stratified and largely uncontrolled and I think it will remain that way despite the burgeoning of coach colleges and degrees, and coach associations and certificates.
Lack of Definition
I do not have a problem with the loose use of the term “coaching.” The clients of coaches are also varied, being business people in a variety of situations. While the media treats leadership, management, supervision, and other functions of executive jobs as the same across all organizations, the fact is situations, jobs, and missions vary, as do the persons successful in various positions.
Therefore, the selection of a coach needs to serve an individual’s need. It is logical that many types and styles of providers be included under the coaching umbrella. Nevertheless, let the buyer beware but not be discouraged,
Certification by coaching guilds may be considered desirable by some looking for a coach. I do not consider this sufficient for choosing personal help. It may serve to initially cull a very large number to a large number of prospects. It is a poor basis, however, for choosing someone to work with one-on-one (or with a small team).
Obviously, I am not against certification or associations per se. My licenses in engineering and psychology are worthwhile. Also, I am a life member of the NSPE. They assured formal education, training, and state testing and oversight to certify acceptance into traditional professions. I do not think coaching meets or requires the generally accepted principles, practices, and standards of presently licensed professions. In the final analysis, it is outcome, not process, that matters.
Choices
It is informative to consider a couple of very different types of useful helpers. Hairdressers and haberdashers have become image coaches. Hairstyle and apparel are important considerations for the upwardly mobile worker. Years ago a budding CEO told me he shopped at Brooks Brothers to assure proper attire for his job. This illustrates that many of the functions now provided by coaches are not new. They have just been repackaged into a more expensive offering.
When considering coaching, some soft skills might be farmed out to advisors. Someone who cannot coordinate a wardrobe on his or her own can be dressed. Coded outfits of shirt and tie, blouse and foulard, and suit and shoes are available. Just as being a frequent flyer does not require becoming a pilot, others can select dress. Focus on the skills readily and rapidly needed as a practicing leader or manager. Develop them in an appropriate way.
Fear of public speaking is one of our human fears that often needs to be addressed as one climbs the ladder of success. Personally, I overcame nervousness and became proficient with a standard Dale Carnegie group program. Coaching is not the only way to develop what one needs.
Person and people skills are harder to develop and needed in real time. A crisis situation is no time to contact an advisor. Those who wrote articles saying they cell-phoned their coach when the going got rough do not impress me. Some abilities have to be developed and incorporated into oneself. To do so, a well-selected executive developmental coach is another way to enhance personal and interpersonal abilities.
Executives and Executive Coaches
Over the past decade more and more executives have employed coaches to help them adjust to the needs of their high-level jobs. To meet this need or want, there are tens of thousands of business coaches plying their wares today. Thousands are joining the counseling service each year. An estimated 10 percent of these are billed as executive coaches. It is a lucrative market.
Someone who has meritoriously reached a high level of authority and responsibility does not usually need much basic job-related training. Fundamental business abilities have usually been learned and mastered on the way to the top. A gap in some concrete knowledge and skill can be provided by an expert.
Executives coordinate a “big picture” and the methods are hard to perfect on the job if there is no one to talk to. There is the old cliché, “It’s lonely at the top.” Leadership and management in high places is not just a continuation of jobs done at lower levels, at least emotionally.
Some executives are becoming coaches after they retire or otherwise leave employment. They transmit the knowledge they acquired while doing their jobs over the years. This usually provides “how I did it” knowledge that may help similar types if nothing changes in the environment.
Senior corporate officers have long selected subordinates for special consideration and mentoring within their organization. Some companies have formally identified “fast trackers” to be guided by sponsors and other within-company advisors on career development. This also helps protégés conform to the party line, which can be a good thing.
One can debate whether conformity is leadership or management. Proceed with caution, however, because in a changing world there may be a need to personally function on one’s own.
Another group of executive coaches developed when, in the 1980s, some psychologists that consulted to organizations began working one-on-one with executives. Knowledge of business and the human change process combined into a core offering of this small group. Latter-day coaches do not necessarily have a combination of related business and psychological experience.
Theory-Based Coaching
The original executive coaching model was modeled on psychotherapeutic practice. Allowing that the clienteles are often well-functioning persons, and not distressed patients, some modifications were made to the basic therapy models. Parts of the process, however, are sacrosanct, such as personal commitment to the coached, not their employer.
In practice, many executives speak and write openly about their coaches. They may frequent the same places and business meetings. Therefore, anonymity and lack of therapist self-disclosure may not be as critical an issue as it is in psychotherapy.
Nevertheless, the basic issues of safety, security, dependability, and confidentiality cannot be sacrificed. Mutual trust, candidness, and assurances that disruptive tales will not be told out of sessions are necessary for the honest and open communication necessary for human development and change.
Nonperformance Evaluations
It concerns me that many businesses are leaning toward reports on leadership potential and post-event explanations rather than actual job performance. Coaches are frequently hired by companies to work with new and derailed executives. Too often coach’s reports are relied upon to evaluate the process, not the outcome.
Evaluations need to be independent of those providing the service. In the final analysis, it is job performance that should determine if a person is doing a good, bad, or indifferent job.
Reasons to Work with a Coach
Following is a list of thirty-six possible reasons that a coach may be sought out. It is useful to consider what is wanted before looking for someone that can help in our individual pursuit of personal growth. Do not limit yourself to the list.
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Formulation and classification of goals;
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Improving ability to do a new job;
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Understanding of self;
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Understanding of others;
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Organization and structuring of business;
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Getting particular knowledge or skills;
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Supportive encouragement;
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Inspiration and motivation;
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Creating a comfortable work environment;
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Help in developing an idea;
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Organizing self and time to pursue personal interest;
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Learning the ropes (e.g., politics) of a new job;
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Prioritizing items to make better use of time;
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Help with solving a business issue;
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Help in solving a personal issue;
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Choosing among courses of action;
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Help in changing idea into a plan of action;
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Unbiased feedback;
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Directions and critical evaluation;
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Neutral outsider’s perspective;
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Partner to help develop creative ideas;
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Confidant committed to client;
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Honest feedback;
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Improving public speaking and presentation skills;
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Developing a plan for success;
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Staying on track by meeting regularly;
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Preparing a personal financial and retirement plan;
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Finding more pleasure in life;
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Developing a useful outside network;
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Recasting image for success;
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Developing interpersonal skills;
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Improving personal relationships;
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Improving business relationships;
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Combating the loneliness of being on top;
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Developing a business and personal plan; and
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Dealing with personal demons.
After deciding the benefits desired from coaching, it might be useful to return to the previous list of alternate names to gain a more focused perspective on what one wants. In the final analysis, it is the customer that decides what he or she needs, can work with, and who helps.
Biographies
Carl V. Rabstejnek, a psychologist-doctorate, is principal consultant and executive coach at Human & Organizational Understanding and Development in Essex Junction, Vermont, and New York City. He can be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Leadership and Management in Engineering
Volume 8 • Issue 2 • April 2008
Pages: 54 - 56
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Published online: Apr 1, 2008
Published in print: Apr 2008
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