Coaching for high flying corporates
Avinash Kirpal, International Management Institute, New Delhi
"In every field of human endeavour in which performance is
key, coaching is integral to helping shift an individual's mindset, approaches,
and behaviour to ensure more effective action and greater business success.”
National Aeronautics and Space Administration -Report. 24. Dec 2002. -E.
Saxinger (NASA Work/Life Program Manager)
Many Indian corporate leaders and senior executives are aware that in
these times of rapid change what is required from them has less to do
with their skills in the techno-commercial strategic areas and more to
do with their skills in encouraging creativity, innovation and team-building.
Often corporate leaders know what needs to be done to adapt to changing
business environments and this is not their main challenge. Their main
challenge is to get their teams, and themselves, to do what needs to be
done. This involves working on their own mindsets as well as the mindsets
of their teams through leadership and motivation. Yet few have received
guidance on how to improve their skills in this area.
Like other skills these too can be developed through learning. However
this learning cannot be acquired from short-term training programmes or
from attending lectures, or even from reading books. Studies have revealed
that any benefit from this type of training does not last. It lacks follow-up,
direct application and continued guidance. The learning that is required
needs to be focused on specific needs, followed up over a period of time
and based on actual experiences. It is a learning which perpetuates itself
on feedback. It needs to be on the job and experiential. This is where
corporate coaching comes into the picture.
The Public Personnel Management Association Journal (Winter 97, Vol.
26 Issue 4,) quotes a study which showed that training alone increased
productivity by about 22% while training plus coaching increased productivity
by 88%.
Executive coaching as a specialised discipline has been flourishing in
the United States for over twenty years. “For years, CEOs of some
of the most successful and largest companies have relied on executive
coaches. Henry McKinnell, CEO of Pfizer, Meg Whitman, CEO of eBay, and
David Pottruck, CEO of Charles Schwab & Co., are a few who rely on
a trusted adviser." (The Business Journal. Nov. 2002.) Coaching is
gaining popularity in the UK and other mature market economies where corporations
face the full blast of international competition. Research studies in
these countries show spectacular improvements in performance after executive
coaching.
In India corporate leaders had been slow in taking to coaching, probably
because it was (mistakenly) viewed as an admission that the management
is lacking in some attributes. However it is now being appreciated that
in fact coaching provides an opportunity to strengthen developmental attributes
and hence performance. It is noted, for instance, that all top sports
people use coaches to improve their performance, though they already perform
very well. In fact where talent already exists the benefits from coaching
are multiplied. With this realisation dawning in the corporate world here
the use of coaching is catching on in India as well. Management training
institutions and consultancy firms are now offering executive coaching.
They have the expertise in different functional and behavioural areas;
also through national and international networks they access the most
relevant talent for the coaching exercise.
What is Corporate Coaching?
Corporate
coaching, as opposed to executive
coaching, is undertaken within the context of the mission and goals
of the corporation, though it works through individuals. It involves one-to-one
coaching of executives over an extended period. By working within an organisation
and with individuals (or teams) corporate coaching creates the synergy
required for improving performance; through leveraging strengths and strengthening
weaknesses.
The coaching is done by trained and experienced experts who have intimate
knowledge of business and appropriate skills in communication and understanding.
The coach is a trusted, impartial and confidential friend as well as a
sounding board. High personal and professional ethical standards are expected
from the coach. The coach understands the business world and the needs
of the corporation as well as the psychological, sociological, political
and cultural needs of the individuals comprising the corporation. The
coach asks pointed questions, challenges opinions and gives honest feedback
on sensitive issues, which executives may be unwilling to discuss with
colleagues.
A recent publication by McKinsey & Company consultants, published
by the Harvard Business School, based upon five years of in-depth research
and analysis, including case studies from 27 leading companies and surveys
from 3,000 executives, concludes that “the vehicle for propelling
a talented person to greater heights and greater performance, in much
less time, is coaching – which enables people to stretch and grow
in ways that hold them to the company.”
Coaching is most effective if it starts at senior levels in the corporate
hierarchy because it then acts where it can generate change in mind-sets
and influence behaviour throughout the corporation – leaders do
often serve as role models for subordinates. The coaching is directed
toward improving performance and effectiveness through introducing new
mindsets and bringing about behavioral change.
How is it done?
The methods adopted for coaching are customised and tailor-made to suit
the specific requirements of the client. So there is no generic method
which will work in all cases. However there is an approach which would
apply to most cases. This approach involves the following steps:
- Discussions with the Chief Executive Officer about goals and strategies.
The coach is expected to raise issues and give frank feedback which
would help the CEO crystalise ideas about realistic goals and better
strategic decisions.
- Discussions with the CEO together with the HRD chief and key executives
to check on the acceptance of the goals and strategies as well as identify
areas where performance needs to be improved. These discussions will
throw up ideas about what needs to be done at various points in the
organisation for cultivating the appropriate behavioral culture –
an analysis of coaching needs and coaching opportunities.
- Further discussions with the CEO, and perhaps the HRD chief, about
alternative plans of action for the corporate coaching exercise. These
discussions should result in securing the CEO’s approval as well
as the support of HRD regarding what needs to be done.
- The coach presents an action plan and a quotation indicating costs
and the timetable.
- One-to-one meetings with key executives to identify ways of improving
performance and overcoming obstacles. These meetings are the heart of
the coaching exercise and would continue over a period. They would be
interspersed with meetings with the CEO and the HRD chief to ensure
that the coaching is on track and to enable mid-course corrections.
- Creating a monitoring mechanism to periodically check that progress
is being made in relation to functional as well as behavioral performance.
- Creating an evaluation template which can be used at the end of the
project to check if the whole exercise was worthwhile and what lessons
could be learnt for improving future efforts.
Coaches have tools for their work in both functional and behavioral applications.
In the functional areas these deal with the mindsets required to promote
profitability, quality, sales, productivity, etc and in the behavioral
areas they deal with the mindsets required to promote innovation, creativity,
leadership, working relationships, team spirit and organisational commitment.
These tools assist in providing knowledge, building skills and, to some
extent, in changing attitudes.
To determine the current inventory of relevant knowledge, skills and
aptitudes certain profiling methods are used. For example, some of these
profiling methods check how executives would act, or react, in various
circumstances, how they perceive their own and other’s attributes,
which types get on better with other types, the different styles adopted
in risk-taking and decision-making, as well as effectiveness in delivering
and using feedback. These profiles, together with information from the
company’s executive performance evaluation reviews, provide the
platform from which development is expected. This platform would later
be used for monitoring and evaluating the contribution of the coaching
exercise to improving performance.
The one-to-one discussions may, or may not, be structured. A number of
proven and validated models are used in these discussions. A popular model
often used by coaches is the GROW model involving Goal
setting, Reality checking, Options analysis
and Willingness to action. Other models are available
for various circumstances.
An interesting outcome of a successful corporate coaching exercise is
that the coach eventually becomes superfluous. A successful coaching programme
should turn managers into coaches so that the whole organisation gets
a learning orientation. The corporation’s HRD department takes on
the role of encouraging the transition to make bosses take to coaching.
And the external coach succeeds by becoming redundant.
What about the cost?
The cost of a corporate coaching programme varies with what is required
to be done. The cost is generally indicated after the initial three rounds
of discussions mentioned above. It will generally be found that the expense
is recouped in a fairly short period. The expenditure on a corporate coaching
exercise will result in a better return on investment then many of the
other developmental programmes of the corporation.
According to an article in Asia News, Alastair Robertson, partner of Accenture
– the worldwide leadership development consultancy firm - says “employers
are shocked at how high their ROI numbers are for coaching”. He
recalls a large employer in the hospitality industry saved between $30
million and $60 million by coaching its top 200 executives.
Apart from the benefits of coaching to the corporation as a whole, individual
executives derive substantial benefit. The coaching process enables executives
to reorient their perspectives and become more aware of their own potential
as well as the potential of others and encourages them to realise this
potential. It creates an understanding of hidden motivations and needs
as well as of conscious and unconscious barriers to achievement. It enables
executives to handle the giving and receiving of feedback. It enables
them to manage conflict, reduce personal stress and improve time management.
They then focus energies on things that are significant. All this leads
to a more meaningful, successful and happier working life.
More intensive use of coaching is bound to improve the performance of
Indian corporates and their competitiveness in global markets; high-flying
Indian and multinational corporates are already showing the way.
The author is Advisor: SME Development Programs at the International
Management Institute, New Delhi.
Email: akirpal@imi.edu
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