“We talk a lot about our leadership competencies and we may say that how you achieve results is just as important as achieving them, but my boss certainly doesn’t model that and you couldn’t tell it by who we reward and promote.”
A precursor of failed coaching interventions is often weak or non-existent links between the individual being coached, the boss, and the business. Evidence of these missing linkages can be found in three ways. The first signal flare is when the executive coaching effort does not include direct involvement of the leader’s boss. Leaving the boss out of the coaching work removes a central aspect of the executive’s reality and cuts off a vital lever for leader transformation. Leader transformation is better supported if the boss also learns how they must coach differently and where they can help their subordinate behave differently to achieve better results.
Second, coaching that does not sufficiently leverage the leader’s day-to-day work as a primary source for learning and skill acquisition risks coming unmoored from the business context. Too much time and focus spent inside an artificial “coaching bubble” risks the leader being unable to apply the learning. Most of what the coach and executive need to work on is already in the room. Third, the positive impact of the coaching should closely reflect the business goals for which the leader is accountable. Executive coaching work tethered to business outcomes (metrics and consequences) is more likely to contribute to leadership transformation.
Lastly, if executive coaching is largely a “stand-alone” offering provided to an inidividual vs. part of a larger systemic leadership capability-building effort across the organization, then dramatic leadership transformation is much less likely.
The best executive development results come through collaboration with line leaders, human resources, and the leadership and development communities of an organization. This is especially true when the executive coaching work is integrated into a larger organizational approach for developing leaders and built upon and connected to the drivers of growth for the business. This “one and done”, “fix-em up and leave them” approach, that relies on the coaching assignment alone, rarely leads to significant or sustained improvement in leadership effectiveness and performance. It is critical that the leader is supported from all sides – from a boss who knows how and is committed to both mentoring and holding the individual accountable, from work assignments that are aimed at stretching the individual in needed ways to build capability, and from aligned HR practices that reinforce desired leadership behaviors. As the saying goes – it takes a village. This is certainly true when it comes to true leadership transformation.