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As a leader in your organization, what’s your role when it comes to coaching—General Patton or Mr. Rogers? Have you made a conscious decision to incorporate coaching as part of your leadership skillset? Although writers featured in popular management literature reinforce the idea that one of the primary responsibilities of a manager is inspiring more from subordinates, and that the ability to coach and develop talent is fundamental to the success of an organization, (Burch, 2000; Goleman, 2000), many executives undervalue their ability to coach, underestimate the amount of time they spend coaching others, and unwittingly spend a disproportionate amount of time on reactive coaching.
As an executive coach, I’ve encountered a wide variety of coaching issues in organizations. They tend to sort into one of three types of coaching situations distinguished by the purpose of the coaching intervention. In this article we will examine these different types of coaching, determine where you spend the majority of your coaching efforts. Let’s start by describing each type and discuss the implications for managers who value a coaching role.
Remedial Coaching
The first type of coaching situation is called
remedial. As the name implies, this reactive form of
coaching addresses problems after they have already developed.
Typically, a significant enough problem has surfaced and has now
begun to interfere with important goals. It then comes to the
attention of the manager or a senior Human Resources leader. They
confront the individual about the need to change the behavior in
order to remedy the problem. The purpose of
remedial coaching is to restore the situation to normal.
Here’s an example.
Case One: A senior manager who has been with the organization for a long time, and has a wealth of experience and knowledge about the organization. S/he is technically proficient and is an important contributor to the overall success of the organization. However, s/he is abrasive, abrupt, and intimidating. People have requested to transfer out of his/her area. Morale has suffered over a period of time. The manager has perhaps received little or no feedback about the impact of this behavior on the organization. Some reports are on the verge of initiating a lawsuit claiming that the organization has done nothing to respond to complaints regarding a hostile work environment.
The need for coaching is urgent because it’s an active problem. This type of case can be challenging because the offending senior manager may not be motivated to take an honest look at his/her behavior. If s/he has received little or confusing feedback from others then s/he is likely to question the truthfulness of the current feedback in this crisis. From the offending manager’s perspective s/he has not received feedback of this nature before, therefore the motives or perceptions of the current feedback giver are called into question. This becomes an obstacle to change because the defensiveness of the offending manager may make it difficult for them to understand how they are impacting others.
If the predominant view of leadership coaching in the organization is remedial, over time people will see coaching as associated with significant problems. They will not want to be associated with coaching for fear of being viewed negatively by others. “I don’t want to be viewed as someone who needs coaching.” This is unfortunate because those who could learn something from coaching will not avail themselves of the opportunity. The manager who spends a good majority of his/her time coaching in remedial situations is contributing to that perception. This can become a trap with the most difficult situations taking the most time. Unwittingly, the coaching manager who spends too much time doing remedial coaching is working against the development of a learning culture.
Preventative Coaching
The second type of coaching case is preventative. In
this case a problem has not yet developed, and the purpose is to
prevent the development of a problem. Coaching
assists a new manager who has taken on a new assignment or an
expanded role. The coaching manager can assist the new
manager to examine his/her strengths and weaknesses to determine
what is likely to emerge in the new situation. Here is a case
example of a preventative coaching situation.
Case Two: A manager has been successful in leading his/her team to develop a new process that has saved time and improved quality. Senior managers wish to see how this manager will perform with a new challenge. This is driven by an immediate need and the interest to test the new manager’s potential. S/he is given a trouble shooting assignment in another region of the country. The new manager is expected to diagnose the reasons for production under-performance in his/her new region and correct these problems within a year. The manager’s past success was the result of teambuilding and consensus-reaching skills. S/he realizes going into this project, that those skills may not as useful in this situation and s/he wants perspective in what skills might be needed and how s/he needs to adapt in an effort to succeed.
In this situation, no problem has developed and coaching can reduce the likelihood of any problems emerging. It’s common for a person to rely on the skills and behaviors that contributed to previous successes, yet good leaders recognize that those same approaches may not be appropriate for the new challenge. Coaching can help the new manager evaluate what strengths to leverage and what skills need to be developed in response to the new situation. This is an effective way for the coaching manager to leverage his/her experience. It is easier for the new manager to view the coach as a constructive force. The coach is actively supporting success by investing time, advice, and perspective. Preventative coaching can help the new manager to anticipate issues and be prepared to deal with them. A preventative approach is a more cost-effective approach as well. The cost of preventing problems is far less than responding to problems once they have blossomed.
The greatest challenge in preventative coaching is
assessing strengths and weaknesses in sufficient depth to know the
appropriate focus for preventing problems. The new manager
provides some of that data in the form of their self-perception
about strengths and weaknesses. However, the new manager may
not know what s/he doesn’t know.
Objective feedback, such as others’
perceptions, 360 data, observation or formal assessment center
approaches can provide a more accurate picture.
Developmental Coaching
The third type of coaching is called developmental.
Here the purpose is to maximize the learning and
development of high-potential individuals. No
problem is active. No problem is imminent. Truly
developmental coaching is about enhancing
development. This suggests that there is a natural
developmental path for leaders as they progress in the
organization. An example would be that as high potential
individuals make the transition from individual contributor to
manager, the most important developmental task is to learn to
accomplish work through others: motivating, monitoring, delegating,
and supporting. Similarly, some of the most critical
developmental tasks in the transition from manager to executive are
the ability to evaluate, motivate, attract, and retain talented
individuals. Here is an example of a developmental coaching
situation.
Case Three: A successful senior manager has been given a task for overseeing the development and commercialization of a innovative technology process that could create a considerable competitive advantage for his/her organization. In addition to accomplishing this task s/he is charged with refining the capability of the organization to develop future new technology.
This case illustrates another important development task for executives: making the transition from a tactical to a strategic orientation. Developmental coaching requires that the coach understand the experience of senior leaders. The goals of developmental coaching are determined by the competencies required to accomplish the appropriate developmental task. In this case, the relevant competencies might include creating a learning organization, building innovative capacity, or helping others to increase speed to market. This is quite different compared to remedial or preventative coaching.
Research has identified that the most effective managers are able to function in a variety of roles: motivating by seeking consensus; being directive; setting and demanding high standards; and formulating a vision. However, an important role in that mix is coaching for development. In his numerous speeches, interviews, and writings, Jack Welch, former GE CEO, contends that he spends the largest proportion of his time coaching and developing the talent within the organization, (Slater 1999). And look at the result. He is universally admired for creating a training ground and laboratory for developing senior executive talent. Many high potential senior leaders who have left GE have gone on to lead a wide range of organizations and businesses.
The greatest challenge to developmental coaching is identifying the desired competencies for future leadership that can become the focus of coaching interactions. It’s also sometimes difficult to get the new executive to focus on the future; often they want to take action on the most pressing immediate challenges.
Where do you spend your time?
Frequently, coaching managers report that one of the most rewarding
aspects of their work is playing a role in the development of
others—although they may not consider
it
“coaching.”
Most senior leaders value coaching and developing others.
However, those same leaders often complain that they wish they had
more time to devote to preventative and developmental coaching
activities. Too much of their time is taken up responding to
crises created by the remedial situations.
Types of Coaching
| Remedial | Preventative | Developmental | |
| Actual | |||
| Desired |
Consider the proportion of the coaching activity that you do. What proportion would you characterize as remedial, preventative and developmental? What proportion do you desire? How great is the gap between these two? What contributes to the difference between what you actually do and what you desire?
If your analysis shows that you are out of balance—too much remedial coaching and not enough time in preventative or developmental coaching—then consider the following suggestions:
If you have questions about this article, or would like some advice
from an experienced coach, call Joe Volker at jvolker@mdaconsultinggroup.com
or 612.332.8182. Joe is collecting case studies for a
handbook he’s writing and is
interested in talking with executives who have encountered
challenges associated with coaching staff.
Resources for Article
Axelrod, B., Handfield-Jones, H., & Michaels, ED, A New Game
Plan for C Players, Harvard Business Review, January 2002, pp
80-88.
Bruch, Heike, Beware the Busy Manager, Harvard Business Review, February 2002.
Goleman, Daniel, Leadership That Gets Results, Harvard Business Review, March-April 2000, pp78-90.
Slater, R., Jack Welch and the GE Way: Management Insights and
Leadership Secrets of the Legendary CEO, McGraw-Hill, New York,
1999.