LEADERS IN EXECUTIVE COACHING

Trevor Childs, who leads Praesta in Benelux, talks about developments in his marketplace.

Can you point to any significant developments in coaching and mentoring in recent years?

There’s definitely a growing sophistication amongst clients – both individual coachees and their sponsors – with regard to the purchase of coaching services. They’ve become more knowledgeable about the coaching process and they have a better understanding of the outcome. It’s no longer a question of simply buying the coaching ‘package’: clients are using coaches in order to achieve specific objectives.

What do clients see as the key benefits of coaching?

Clearly coaching can have a remedial element; the need for a senior manager to resolve a particular problem. But, in my experience, clients usually want to address ‘cultural change’ issues and associated leadership development needs. Ideally leaders should be rounded individuals with strong interpersonal skills; they should inspire the people who work with them. That, in essence, is what coaching is all about.

Moreover, one of the key attributes of a leader should be his or her ability to coach their team members. Once they’ve gone through the coaching experience they, in their turn, will be in a better position to make a greater contribution to development of their junior colleagues, particularly with regard to performance management issues.

Coaching is usually strictly one-to-one, but you’ve recently experienced an interesting variation on the theme. What was involved?

The assignment began in the traditional way, but I was also asked to observe the coachee ‘in action’; i.e. seeing how the knowledge and awareness he had gained in the coaching sessions was being used in his normal working environment.

It was a case of ‘access all areas’ over four-and-a-half days. I accompanied him to board meetings and team presentations, and sat in on telephone conferences and one-to-one meetings with colleagues. I was also able to get immediate feedback from the coachee’s direct reports. In short, it was very powerful intervention. The coachee ended the week with greater insight on the issues examined during his coaching initial sessions and with a renewed commitment to change aspects of his behaviour. Understandably this form of ‘open systems’ coaching is very unusual: clients rarely have the time or the inclination to submit themselves to this level of scrutiny. However, the intensity of this approach is particularly effective when there is a clear need for rapid and dramatic improvement in managerial skills.

Coaches work in different ways, but what are the common factors in achieving a successful outcome?

We must, of course, know about the pressures and demands on senior management; the best coaches are the ones who’ve experienced life ‘on the shop floor’. We also need to be very good listeners. That sounds easy, but it’s not; hearing and listening are as distinct as looking and seeing. Finally, keep it simple, and that doesn’t mean simplistic. I’m often working with people for whom English is a second language and this potential barrier to understanding requires me to use the most straightforward language. But that should be the approach for all coaching. Clients are often confronting complex problems; it’s the coach’s job to help clients address their concerns in the most effective and immediate way and that starts with how the coach talks to the client.