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Article from Human Resources, Hong Kong, May 2006
External EXECUTIVE Coaching
for
TALENT DEVELOPMENT
CEO John Chung has a dilemma – should he fire his CFO and hire a replacement, or should he acknowledge her strong contributions and live with the fact that he will continue to have frequent changes in his top management team. His key people were leaving because they could not work with the CFO, who was perceived to be John’s right hand person.
Patsy, the CFO has been working closely with John on pre and post-merger activities and to all intents and purposes, strategic integration is now completed, and John can now settle down to building his ‘new’ team.
Patsy is an experienced finance professional with an impressive background and track record. There was just one challenge, and a major one at that. She is not too good when it comes to working with people. Throughout the integration project, Patsy had demonstrated strong technical competence, especially a keen eye for details and the ability to see beyond numbers. She is what we call, a business-focused, finance professional – the ideal profile for any CEO.
Fortunately for John, and the company, they also had a strong HR director, who was able to offer beyond the usual initiatives of a professional HR department. The idea of using an external executive coach was broached.
A coach’s primary role is to bring to the table his expertise in supporting the coachee move from where she is currently, to where she wants to go. In other words, the coach will work on the coachee’s agenda. This is the key difference in approach between that of a coach and a consultant/trainer. The latter will usually determine the objectives/outcomes of the intervention.
John, having understood better the potential of using an external coach, arranged to meet with Patsy. In the meeting, John shared with Patsy his appreciation of her contributions to the team, and also took the opportunity to articulate that he saw potential in Patsy that could be developed, empowering her to be an even more effective leader. He reiterated one key point – that Patsy must also believe in this potential and are willing to accept external intervention i.e to be coached. This, he said, was the 1st step towards coaching success.
It was at this point of the conversation that Patsy lost control over her emotions and started tearing. She was quick to explain that they were tears of relief – and John was then able to himself heave a sigh of relief! He was wondering whether he had said something wrong.
Patsy then shared with John that she had realized that, somehow, she does not relate well to people and also acknowledged that she was aware that the company was losing key talent, sometimes primarily because of her. However, she was at her wits end as to what she could do about it, or who can help. The possibility of working with a coach was something she had been waiting for. At a follow-up meeting, John and Patsy were able to come to an agreement on the key areas for Patsy to be developing during the coaching program. They agreed that it would be wise to start with a manageable number (to Patsy, given the fact that she has heavy regional business responsibilities) of areas, amongst which was the all-important, people-relations and enhancing of her emotional quotient.
Within the course of the next two weeks, the HR director was able to line up two experienced and qualified executive coach that he had interviewed and shortlisted. He then arranged for them to meet with Patsy, separately. It was important, he knew, that both the coach and the coachee be comfortable and at ease with each other – the 2nd key point for effective coaching.
Having met and understood the approaches to be taken by both coaches, Patsy was able to make a well-considered decision on hiring one of them.
A meeting between John (sponsor), the coach, Patsy (coachee) and the HR director was arranged. During this meeting, John articulated on the pre-agreed (with Patsy) key areas for the coaching program to be focused on, and also how he would define “success’ at the end of the program. These key points were minuted and a copy was given to all parties involved. The coach then explained briefly his methodology again and reinforced to John and HR director that the content of each coaching session will be strictly confidential between him and Patsy. It would be the latter’s prerogative should she choose to share with others what transpires during the coaching sessions. At the mid-point of the program, which is usually a pre-agreed number of coaching hours to be delivered within a pre-determine time frame (usually a few months), the coachee will be prompted to share with the sponsor what has worked for her, what has not, and how she would like to see the rest of the program being delivered. This will serve as a good check-point for all parties involved.
The use of executive coaches is a relatively new concept here in Asia. The encouraging thing to note is that more companies and CEOs are now more aware of its existence, and have begun to start asking more questions on how the use of coaching interventions can potentially play a key role in talent development.
What I have observed so far is that there are two key areas for companies’ demand on using external coaches. One, to equip hi-potential talent with the right mix and competency level of soft skills to maximize their chances of continued success as they move higher up the management ladder – pro-active approach. On the other side of the coin, there is the use of coaches on a reactive basis – when high performing executives falter and have gaps to close in so far as their soft and people skills are concerned. If not remedied, it could potentially lead to career derailment.
On the supply side, the pool of coaches in Asia is growing. Not unlike the human resources profession, there is no known legislation and formal training that is required for someone to practice, and earn a living as a coach. As what the lawyers would like to say” “Caveat emptor” – let the buyers beware.
If you are considering the use of external coaches for your management team, or even for yourself, here are some key areas of consideration.
- Have you or anyone else heard of the coach’s name? Just because a coach is employed (either as a salaried employee or a freelancer) by a well-known company, it does not mean that the coach is a qualified one – check out the potential coach’s credentials.
- On the point of credentialing, there are two schools of thought. One that formal training and professional accreditation are not necessary, and the other school that says they are a ‘must’. You decide which school you want to belong to.
- What is the professional experience of the coach, before he became a coach? Having a coach with the same industry and/or functional experience is not a 100% must. Reason – you are looking for an executive coach, not a business coach. Ideally, a coach will have a varied working experience, multi-industries, multi-functions, multi-cultural, multi-locations, that sort of stuff.
- Do reference checks. Most coaches will tell you that the identity of their coachees are highly confidential – which is the truth. However, do not give up so easily, make it a mandatory step of your coach selection exercise. You will not regret it. If you feel strongly that you have found the ‘right’ coach but can not get past the referencing stage – well, trust your instinct, but insist on a ‘trial’ number of sessions (bill-able). Once you feel more confident that you have found your coach – you can then progress to a formal contract for professional services.
- Pricing – ah, the ever important perennial issue. I believe the range can be quite wide, from say US$100 to over US$800 per hour. Well, again, caveat emptor – you decide what the coach’s expertise is worth viz a viz the potential benefits of his expertise.
Paul Heng, CMF
Managing Director
NeXT Corporate Coaching Services
(A member of the NeXT Career Consulting Group, Asia)
Founding President of the Asian Association of Career Management Professionals
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