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Coaches Do Not Play the Game

Why you need to understand what executive coaches do before engaging with one.

By John Baldoni

January 21, 2008 — CIO — College basketball is a coach's game. Coaches, together with their assistants, teach individual skills as well as team fundamentals. They can work with players to elevate for a jump shot, set feet for a screen, and determine finger placement for a free throw. College coaches teach players to create a zone defense, set up a back-door play, and establish offensive presence. What coaches cannot do is teach a player to have the game come to him: to read a defense so the player can exploit the weakness and score a basket. Taking over a game, that is, imposing your will on a team, is even more advanced; such ability emerges from physical presence as well as from experience. In short, players play, but coaches watch.

This analogy can be applied to behavior-based executive coaching. Like a basketball coach, the executive coach can teach facets of leadership and management, and even make suggestions for action steps related to communication, delegation, conflict management, and decision-making. But the coach cannot play "the game." The flow of work comes to the individual and it is up to him to make the right decisions.

The coach works with the individual to help her discover her strengths so she can apply her talent and skills to perform more effectively. Sometimes the coaching is developmental, helping an executive get ready for the next level of leadership. Other times the coaching is corrective, working to help the individual drop bad habits and leverage good ones. Behavior-based coaching is not skill acquisition; it is a developmental process that seeks to leverage self-awareness in order to improve performance. The individual makes the choice about what to do or not do.

These distinctions are vital, especially as demand rises for executive coaching. According to research conducted jointly by the Institute for Executive Development and RHR International, 63 percent of companies surveyed use executive coaching to develop their high potential talent.

It's important to understand what a coach can do before engaging with one. What an executive coach does, as a basketball coach may do, is create structure where learning and self-discovery can occur. The individual plays the game. Within that framework, here's what a coach can do.

Assess. Coaching must be grounded in reality. Assessment includes interviews with the individual as well as with his boss. Sometimes you can shadow and employee to see him in action. Personality assessments are useful for explaining behavior types; multi-rater evaluations are good for judging behavior in the workplace. When using assessments, use care and caution. I consider such assessments as snapshots in time; they are one perspective, not the entire picture. The assessment process, including interviews, sets up the individual for where he is now.

 

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