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| Home - Industry Article - Jun 05 Issue |
Coaching Can Work, But Doesn’t Always
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Experimenting with a New Roger Selden
Scott suggested that maybe the workplace was not the best setting to experiment with the change. He suggested that the church congregation Roger often talked about might be a better place. Roger leaned back in his chair and his face lit up. He had not thought of starting outside the organization, but the perfect opportunity to try a new leadership style was being planned. A small group of people in his congregation were going to go to Samoa to build a schoolhouse for a village. Roger could see himself getting into his natural command control mode and taking over the leadership for the project. He decided instead to set up a plan to be like his ideal leader. “These members don’t know what I am like, they don’t know I am a CEO of a company; they have not experienced my command style. This is a clean slate,” They crafted a specific Learning Agenda. Although it might sound like a semantic quibble, a Learning Plan documents experimenting and trying things. This feels different than a Performance Improvement Plan- the former aroused the PEA and the latter arouses the NEA.
After the trip to Samoa, Roger could not wait to tell Scott that the project was a tremendous success. They worked as a team and he was not carrying the load. When he was called on to lead a piece of the work, he asked questions and listened to others before solving the problem and laying out the solution. He was amazed at the capability of the others. He said he did catch himself once or twice when he was on the verge of interrupting someone or arguing about a choice someone else had made.
Roger felt transformed. For the first time he had experienced himself influencing others in a way that strengthened others but still brought out tremendous results. Even at home, Roger focused on “being patient and listening completely to family members.” His son told Scott a few weeks later that he saw a difference in his Father, “He seems quieter; you can tell he is really trying to listen.”
Now it was time to take it back to the workplace. Roger had enough “small wins” outside of work. He was excited about the challenge, realized it would not be easy and that he would have setbacks, but he was eager to try. A month later in a coaching session with the head of sales, Scott asked the sales VP how Roger seemed to be doing. The VP asked, “What have you done to him. He is not interrupting me as much. He has a few times but catches himself and apologizes. He is really trying and, amazingly, making a little progress. People can’t believe it. It’s nice.” Roger was becoming the kind of person that had eluded him for years. Roger was becoming his ideal leader.
The Intentional Change Process That Works
To complete the picture, the process adults go through when they sustain improvements in their habits is described in Figure 1. As Roger Selden did, people go through five discoveries, or epiphanies. The first, as described, is the development of your Ideal Self- your image of your desired future and the person you want to be. The second discovery is the assessment of your strengths and weaknesses which emerge when comparing how you appear to others (i.e., the Real Self) to your Ideal Self. The third discovery is the development of a Learning Agenda and Plan. How will you get closer to your Ideal Self, building on strengths and working a few weaknesses? The fourth discovery is the experimentation and practice with the new behavior. The fifth discovery could be the first, the establishment of a trusting relationship with someone who can help you through each of the steps in the process. This is where the coach of today becomes an essential element in the growth process by helping people, like Roger, capture and become their dreams.
Reflection
Think about the people in your life who helped you the most. Think of the people who helped you achieve what you have in life and work and become the person you are. Write their names on a sheet of paper. Next to each name, describe moments you remember with them that had a lasting impact on you. What did they say or do? Thinking back about those moments, what did you learn or take away from them? Now think of the people who tried to help, manage, or coach you over the last two years. Think of the moments with them. What did they say or do?
Go back to each of the moments remembered from the first list and ask yourself which stage of the Intentional Change Model was involved.
Richard E. Boyatzis, PhD. is Professor and Chair of the Department of Organizational Behavior, Case Western Reserve University. Richard can be for article feedback at richard.boyatzis@case.edu.
Anita Howard and Scott Taylor are advanced doctoral students in that department.
Brigette Rapisarda, EDM, is Director of Training for Star Alliance.
 
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