Business Daily (Nairobi)
Mike Eldon
13 September 2007
opinion
Nairobi — An extraordinary phenomenon has been sweeping the Western world. It is the dramatic growth of "executive coaching".
In countries like the U.S. and the UK, and more recently as far afield as in Eastern Europe and India, more and more organisations have been bringing in outside coaches to help develop their people.
Leaders, in particular those lonely men (and women) at the top, are increasingly benefiting from a silent coach in the background. Now most multinationals worth their salt, from BP to BT to Unilever, hire coaches to boost the performance of their key people - as do government departments.
But is coaching really that new? Hasn't every great leader had a mentor or adviser or coach of some kind? Isn't it what elders have offered from time immemorial? Not to mention sports coaches.
A few years ago it was more a question of remedial medicine, but now it is becoming something high-flyers in some countries cannot afford to be without. Why the new emphasis?
First, the traditional approach to training has too often been shown not to deliver the learning and the change it was designed to. And anyway, busy senior executives can't afford to be away from their work place for extended periods of time.
Further, their challenges are situational, individual. In this world of rapid, unpredictable, disruptive change, it's not uncommon for executives (never mind business owners) to become bewildered, overwhelmed, overawed.
They may not be able to turn to their superior, and this for multiple reasons (including if they are the owner themselves). Their boss is too busy, they may be located half a world away, and, in this era of flattened pyramids they're likely to have too many people reporting to them to be able to look after any one of them properly.
Another challenge is staff turnover: when people get transferred, promoted or leave (all of which is happening at an ever increasing rate) the new person on the job needs help. But where can they turn?
At all levels, the brutally competitive environment is stretching and stressing people more than ever - whether they are in the private or the public sector, whether they're with the World Bank or the UN, a university or a school.
They're being asked to do more and more with less and less, to be proactive, innovative, decisive, flexible, and in all sorts of other ways to perform.
No wonder so many moan about their appalling work-life balance. (Indeed as I facilitate strategic retreats for senior groups this subject commonly occupies serious time).
And no wonder people are turning to coaches, among others, to help them do better.
So what is the role of a coach? In a corporate setting, the supervisor and the subordinate will have worked on performance targets; they will have carried out performance reviews; and they will have determined areas where performance can be improved.
Now how can they develop? How can weaknesses that risk holding the person back be overcome? The most far-sighted organisations not only want to develop their people in the context of their present jobs, but to prepare them for the next posting, and the next one after that.
(They certainly won't be happy if after all the coaching the subject decides to decamp, a fear that also exists in regard to "wasting" investment in training. But the good news is that in most cases coached employees become more loyal, more aligned.)
If the individual is footing the bill, then the coach's sole concern is with the person. Indeed, as often as not coaches help with career planning - including switching jobs.
In this context, coaches work on developing self-knowledge; defining competences and passions - and hence overall purpose in life. They work on CVs; explore options and converge on the preferred one; and come up with - and support implementation of - strategies.
How does a coach start? By questioning, and listening. By developing a relationship with the person so they feel comfortable with you, trust you, open up to you.
For there's no point taking on a coach if you hold back from revealing the inconvenient, the very things that most need attention.
Equally, it's up to the coach to create an atmosphere in which taboo subjects cease to be so. This involves coaches opening up too. And it also helps to introduce a light touch to help things along.
Then, specific goals need to be agreed. What skills, what attitudes, need strengthening? What challenges need managing?
Is it in leadership, in developing business plans, in communications (like running meetings, writing reports, making presentations), in decision making?
Is it in conflict management, in dealing with a difficult customer or supplier, a subordinate or boss? Is it more technical, to do with IT, or supply chain management, or finance? They talk. You listen.
You ask questions, challenge assumptions. You hold the mirror to them - supportive but unvarnished.
You help them with their self-esteem, their self-confidence, their boldness. You work with them to overcome barriers, take difficult decisions, resolve dilemmas.
You agree projects, tasks. And then you hear from them about how it all went. Maybe by phone. Maybe by e-mail. Maybe in person. You go through the post mortem.
Hopefully you celebrate; sometimes you mourn. Either way you squeeze whatever learning you can from what has happened.
Measuring impact is vital if everyone is to feel value is being delivered. That's not hard if it's you're working on a deal: either the contract is signed... or it is lost.
But if we're looking at softer, more subjective issues like behaviour change, it's not so easy. Not impossible, though, for here one seeks others' feedback.
As you engage you must also help the person to coach themselves, to offer feedback and input to themselves. For the last thing a responsible coach should do is to make the person being coached unduly or ongoingly dependent.
Where are we with coaching in Kenya? Barely in the foothills! For we're still too wedded to the parent-child management model, to the "pull-up-your-socks" school of motivation. And the very thought of paying someone to baby-sit their people is anathema to our cost-conscious bosses.
So it's not surprising that international organisations have been among the first to embrace this aid to developing their senior people.
For they have seen it become normal elsewhere (as they did before with IT, with balanced scorecards and other such tools). And it is not surprising that macho entrepreneurs, who are so proud of being completely self-reliant, will be among the last!
But undoubtedly, in Kenya as has happened elsewhere, the practice of executive coaching is poised to become a more normal feature of corporate life.
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