Paul, a high-achiever, is taking part in his firm’s leadership development programme. His coaching has faltered on the question of his future development. How can it get back on track?
The problem
An international business has started a nine-month leadership development programme for its European directors to help bring about a swift recovery following the economic downturn.
A key element of the programme is a 360-degree assessment based on the company’s leadership competencies. This will provide individual focus for the programme. Participants are supported by six coaching sessions by an external coach.
Paul is one of the participants. He has been with the business for five years, performs well and was promoted 18months ago. The coach matching process and the initial contracting meeting with Paul took place successfully. At the second session Paul’s feedback was consistently good –on a scale of zero (low) to five (high) he scored fours and fives – and his self-assessment is in line with that of others.
In terms of future development, however, the 360-degree feedback did not give Paul focus. As a result, the coaching session ended with no clear development plan for Paul. How can his coach prevent subsequent sessions slipping into ‘nice’ conversations without reaching any objective or clear outcome for Paul?
The solution
Carol Kauffman
Assistant clinical professor, Harvard Medical School
When coaching extraordinarily talented clients, it is normal to have temporary experiences of feeling lost. If there are no problems, it can create a moment of disorientation. However, if we switch our focus to asking how can Paul fully step into his highest vision of personal and professional excellence as an individual and team leader, the terrain quickly clears.
One of the theoretical bases of my work is positive psychology. What could that mean for Paul? Two streams of research can be applied to Paul’s situation. First, coaches need to find attention-catching ways to challenge Paul to higher excellence. The coach can work toward creating a stimulating environment for growth through warmth, regard and positive challenge.
Second, two of the key conditions for accessing and maintaining flow states are: ideal balance of client skills and challenge, and harnessing the benefits of intrinsic motivation. Operating under high-skill, high-challenge conditions is ideal for peak performers. Low challenge leads to boredom. This further supports the need for Paul to challenge himself in order to thrive.
Flow theory also speaks to the importance of autotelic experience: to be fully engaged, Paul’s work must for him be rewarding for its own sake.
Coaches have many tools to heighten Paul’s awareness of his core values and deeper purpose. Exploring how these are (or are not) aligned with his current career can open up more motivation for him to be his best. One would then extend this to developing a vision of what Paul would like to accomplish and who he truly wants to be. This can help Paul raise the stakes for himself, widen his scope of impact on his teams and the organisation. As a coach, one merely lights the spark.
Ian Day
Lead partner, 121 partners
The lack of focus for the coaching is a concern. The company has taken a risk investing in a large programme in the current economic climate and needs to see a return on investment.
Often development plans from 360s focus on plugging gaps where the feedback is low. This is narrow and negative, suggesting that the client is not good enough and misses the opportunity to explore strengths.
As Paul’s self-assessment is consistent with feedback from others, it seems that he is aware of his strengths. If he had scored lower, this may have indicated hidden strengths.
In this example, I think there is more the coach can do to stretch Paul. I remember watching athletics from the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Usain Bolt winning two gold medals and setting world records.
In August I watched the World Athletic Championships, and Usain winning three golds and setting two new records. Commentators were asking how good could he be; I wonder what Bolt’s coach said to him after Beijing?
I would challenge Paul to identify how great he could be. He may need pushing to visualise and achieve his ‘world record’, his ‘personal best’, his ‘gold medal’. Paul is a high achiever and could be stretched with statements like: “I believe you are capable of more…what more can you do?”.
Stories like that of Usain Bolt can be used, along with powerful silence and simple questions such as “What else?” to move Paul towards a concrete, motivational and stretching objective.
Push and challenge may not be words associated with a non-directive approach. However, I believe that in these challenging economic times, coaches have a responsibility to expect greatness from their clients.
Volume 4, Issue 6