Coaching Through the Leader’s Journey (Part 2)

From Able to Effective

Much guidance has been written advising the Leader about their first 100 days in office. “Seek first to Understand, then be understood” (Covey) is the broad outline of most of it, and quite rightly so. Some of the big questions that need detailed answers are:

• What are the biggest challenges facing the organisation?
• Where is the organisation and its products and services positioned?
• Does the organisation, its people, plant and processes make sense?
• What is expected of me by the stakeholders?
• Do I have a capable management team?

There are many more such questions that require answers before the Leader is fully Able, able to begin to lead the organisation through its next phase and beyond. I suspect we have all experienced a leader who has tried to be efficient before being Able. At the end of the abling phase, a leader worth their salt, or worth their wages in modern parlance, should have carried out a detailed situational diagnosis, be clear about their agenda and have a team in place to deliver it.

Enter the Coach

In this next phase of striving for efficiency, leaders choose to have coaching support for much the same reasons. Often, they wish a sparring partner to get immersed in the issues with them, they wish to share and explore ideas, they seek honest feedback and expect you to have a good understanding of their business and have experienced their issues. You can’t ride shotgun if you don’t know the terrain. Also, being the Leader can be a lonely pursuit. The most critical issue for the coach is to develop a relationship with the leader that is mutually respectful and trusting. This will set the platform that allows the coach to challenge the rigour of the leader’s thinking.

Contracting is critical

Quite often, the leader will have clear thoughts as to the coaching objectives. The process may start with identifying the client’s needs, exploring the situation fully and clarifying the goals. Coaching manuals will suggest that the agenda belongs to the client. Well, only so far. The coach needs to assess the leader’s ability to execute some of their primary functions as Leader such as:

• Can they communicate clearly the purpose, strategy and tactics of the organisation including the opportunities and challenges? Because if they can’t explain this to the coach, there is a fair chance that they cannot to other stakeholders, suppliers or front-line workers.
• Can they articulate how they will build commitment and relationships that will result in effective team performance? Again, if they cannot explain it to the coach, it’s unlikely that they will have thought it through in detail.
• Do they have clarity around bringing their own strengths to play and therefore how best they should invest their time and focus? Do they actually know their own strengths and the individual strengths of their team?

Attaining perspective on these issues will help to broaden the contract discussion and create a greater focus on personal and business effectiveness. As the coach encourages the Leader to explore the “how” on these issues, themes will emerge as to the values, behaviours and disciplines that the Leader holds for themselves and expects of their followers. This will add further richness to the coaching objectives and consequently, coaching sessions. The coach must hold the Leader to their articulated commitments.

In this development phase from being ‘able to carry out the Leaders role’ to being ‘effective in the role’, the coach must pay attention that the leader is executing strategy with a solid knowledge of the operational and cultural status of the organisation.