Many companies pay lip service to the importance of aligning coaching with business goals. This is not so at US based investment bank Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers is no ordinary global organisation when it comes to its coaching strategy. Few others use it to drive business strategy, tracking trends that emerge across multiple assignments and developing business responses accordingly.
Chief learning officer Hope Greenfield explains: “We do things differently from a lot of companies. We seriously take on the idea that coaching is an organisational responsibility and use it to drive strategy. This is not what most coaching does. It is not usually done systematically in the UK and other parts of Europe where it’s more psychologically driven,” she says.
Greenfield gives the following example of when she and her team spotted a number of potential problems in one of Lehman’s new businesses: “What we saw was a big push for results and getting the job done, and low scores on teamwork. So we went back to the senior manager and said: ‘You’ve hired all these great people who are independent agents, which is appropriate when you are starting up a business, but there could be problems further down the road’.”
Greenfield’s team also picked up on very low client focus across the firm. “These people were very internally focused, very good at building products but not on focusing on the client. We kept seeing that so we talked to the senior management.
“They weren’t just looking at the data from the coaching but this was one of the pieces and we wouldn’t let it go. There were big organisational red flags flying for me that came out of the data we had from individuals, then further collectively about the organisation. Lots of things came out.” The company acted quickly to address these issues. “We were able to put together some major strategic initiatives in terms of pay systems, account management, training and philanthropy. It was a very robust organisational response to increasing client focus,” says Greenfield. “There has now been a big shift and client focus is one of the top competencies. And we can now see it in the data.”
Sharing information
There has also been a shift in how the manager rewards employees. The secret lies in sharing information. Much of this happens naturally because coaches work together.
“They report any problems to me or my staff. If someone is blowing up or is an unbelievable star, we want to know that.”
At the end of the year, Greenfield’s team also carries out a statistical and systematic analysis.
“We then give a snapshot of the year based on what we have seen from the managers from across each business. So we are able to give the business relevant data that usually helps make a decision not only on how to manage talent but also around business issues,” says Greenfield.
Lehman Brothers’ company culture is one in which teamwork and customer focus is deemed to be crucial. “We have a strong culture. It’s a little aggressive and American in style and is very much one of working together to serve the customer.
“Our priority is driving this culture and what has affected the culture is that everyone sees they have the opportunity to improve. We ask people to look at their strengths and capitalise on them.”
Coach selection
To ensure they are making the right choices when selecting coaches, Greenfield’s team spends a lot of time with potential coaches.
“At first we spend at least two or three sessions a month getting to know one another, talking to them about their coaching approach,” said Greenfield. Then there are ongoing discussions during the coaching cycle. She believes there is a shelf-life to coaching.
“Not in all cases but in many, an outside coach ends up getting to know an organisation so well that they lose their objectivity. They start acting as if they were internal, which is not appropriate, so we pull the plug. My belief is that someone can be a successful coach for a couple of years then it’s often time to move on.”
Organisation-centred coaching
In keeping with its emphasis on organisation centred coaching, Lehman Brothers asks its coaches not to get into overly deep relationships with their clients.
“What we want is for them to understand what to do with the information thematically and how to drive behaviour differently.” She says that it proves dif. cult to find suitable coaches from the UK.
“The UK’s approach to coaching is very different. Coaching has been done longer in Europe, but it’s much more psychologically based and client-centred rather than organisation-centred, historically coming out of people getting degrees in psychology.
“We have the opposite problem: people who are leaders who want to be a coach, don’t know how to influence people in coaching.”
There has been a marked shift within the company away from remedial coaching.
“Five years ago, coaching was used to get people ‘fixed’ in a scenario where you knew you would have a problem with someone.”
Now, if someone is difficult to work with or there is a serious issue, the company works very closely with the coach and manager rather than handing the problem to the coach to fix.
Starting at the top
When Greenfield joined the company five years ago, she linked coaching into a development programme for managing directors, using a customised 360-degree appraisal tool.
This feedback process is separate from the performance process, and the only copies of 360s are kept in Greenfield’s office.
“We tell them they are going to get the gift of feedback and that’s how we frame it. We say this feedback will be the basis to work with the coach, with the opportunity to work through feedback on what this means to you, and then work on a development plan.
We started at the top of the house. I am a big believer that you don’t make change happen from the bottom and certainly not in the middle that just frustrates everyone.
We do this understanding that the manager is continuing to grow, and in this environment, if they don’t continue to grow, they are not going to stick around.”
So Greenfield started at the top. “We included the chairman, who sees it as a great opportunity. He has done this three times and shares his entire report with his board and all his staff.
“It’s up to them whether they share their reports, but they do have to put together an action plan and review it with their manager.”
Feedback process
- Feedback data is collected during two or three interviews
- The managing director sits down with the coach three times: first, to go through the data, second, to draw up an action plan and third, to help them work on their plan
- Sometimes a fourth session is held, going through the plan with the manager
- Coaching is available to ‘check in’.
Follow-up
Two years later, participants are asked to meet with the same coach and look at whether they have achieved what they set out to do in their development or action plans. They are then given a ‘720’ a second 360-degree appraisal.
Around 300 managing directors have been through the 720 degree process.
“We’ve seen about a 48 per cent improvement, which is a big number,” says Greenfield. “We look at what people are saying two years later about how the coaching has worked and where it has made a difference. It is an extraordinary process to give people an opportunity to gauge for themselves and very interesting, because you can see that people have really tried.”
Lehman Brothers: fact file
A global institutional investment bank with a workforce of 24,000
Defines coaching as- a developmental opportunity for people to examine how to improve on their capabilities.
Coaching is used for:
Enhancing performance by helping people play to their strengths (98 per cent of cases)
Remedial purposes through HR function (2 per cent of cases)
Executives
Is coaching linked to business goals?
Yes
Evaluation:
A random sample of clients is surveyed at the end of each year, looking at coaches’ effectiveness and style.
Telephone coaching?
No, coaching is always done face-to-face.
Mentoring?
As part of its diversity network and through MDs teaching on leadership development programme.
Learning points
- Change external coaches every few years to maintain objectivity
- Start with the top management layer
- Work closely with coaches to track common themes and identify hot talent
- Don’t do external coaching at lower levels: that is the manager’s job