Coaching can be one of the most powerful investments an organization can make for developing its leadership, especially at higher levels of the talent pipeline where a personalized approach generates greater results. At MDA, we believe coaching should address two needs: an individual’s need for insight, behavior change, and personal development, and the organization’s need to have the right people with the right skills necessary to achieve the desired performance. Individual development should be aligned with the needs of the organization and not a randomly occurring event. To that end, MDA offers a continuum of coaching programs for mid-level managers to CEOs including our LeaderBuilder™ program and the High Performance Coaching™ program. Specifically designed for enterprise and function leaders, the High Performance Coaching program features MDA’s 13 Roles of a High Performance Leader™ model.
We partner with our coaching clients—whether they are managers/directors, business unit leaders, senior function leaders, or C-level executives—to address a wide variety of issues, including:
Regardless of the program, all of our coaching engagements feature three similar phases that we believe are critical to the best individual and organizational outcomes:
Return to Leadership DevelopmentCoaching Discovery & Feedback
MDA coaching engagements begin with an in-depth discovery process to help individuals gain insight and self-understanding. Using a series of processes and tools, we assess an individual's values, impact, leadership style, strengths, and development needs. This process may include interviews with several key individuals, our 360° Observations® survey tool, personality and motives testing, self reflection exercises, work simulations, performance data, and manager input. In addition, MDA coaches review the organizational context, including culture, business strategy, and team and divisional goals. We then review all of the findings with the individual in a coaching feedback meeting. We’re committed to helping individuals understand their true impact on others and gain deep self-insight to make real growth and change possible.
Action Planning & Alignment
Using the information gathered in the discovery phase, the individual and the MDA coach will create a formalized leadership development action plan that includes specific strategies to deliver results and desired behavior changes. In most coaching programs, the individual and MDA coach will meet with the individual’s manager for an alignment meeting where the action plan is reviewed and agreed upon by all parties. The individual is encouraged to close the loop with people who provided feedback so respondents know that their feedback was considered. Involving those people in the process is considered a best practice and helps create a heightened sense of accountability for change. Following the alignment meeting and coinciding with the ongoing coaching phase, the DevelopmentEngine™ follow-through management system begins, featuring periodic e-mail reminders to the leader, progress reporting for the coach and manager, and planning and tracking to ensure action plan accountability.
Active Coaching
While the activities in this phase vary depending on the coaching program, they typically involve regular, ongoing coaching meetings between the individual and MDA coach to review progress against plan; experiment with new behaviors; provide a safe sounding board for ideas and issues; and, address challenges being encountered by the individual.
