Executive Coaching: One Important Thing to Remember

“I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But, this wasn’t it.”

                                                                        —Groucho Marx

Groucho fans found this famous wisecracker amusing, partly because he spoke so frankly.

Does your company have a “truth speaker”—someone who is trusted enough to provide your present or up-and-coming managers and executives with candid and constructive feedback? If not, a Harvard business professor suggests that an executive coach may be the only one who can serve as a “truth speaker.”

Although professional executive coaches usually refrain from making wisecracks to their clients, they strive to develop rapport in a non-threatening manner.

If you are considering the role of executive coaching and what the practice can do for your organization, and your present and future executives, you will want to remember one very important thing.

First and foremost, the executive coach should have no ties to the company.

Here’s why.

A Harvard Business School—Working Knowledge for Business Leaders article titled, “What an Executive Coach Can Do for You,” gave researched reasons for coming to this conclusion, which are summarized below: 

• The executive coach should be interested only in the individual he or she is coaching.
• The executive coach should be completely unbiased and there should be no conflict of interest.
• The executive coach should remain neutral and objective and completely focused on what is best for the coached individual.
• The executive coach should have no hidden agenda, and the perspectives provided should serve only to support the coached individual.

Needless to say, it’s also critical to find the right fit between the coach and the coached individual.

The executive coaching industry is growing, and some are calling it a trend. 

More and more U.S. companies are turning to executive coaches to support their top producers.

A Sherpa Executive Coaching Survey report, published in Feb. 2009, confirms this trend. The report, based on a study conducted by Texas Christian University and the University of Georgia, states as one of its conclusions: “The value of executive coaching is seen as increasingly high.”

An earlier report, published by Right Management Consultants, found that 86 percent of companies surveyed said coaching is used as a means to sharpen skills of those individuals identified as future organizational leaders.

When executive coaching is implemented as a performance improvement tool, many participating companies are reaping positive results and measurable gains. This is why executive coaching is gaining in popularity with HR strategists and management consultants.

Does a “no-ties-to-the-company” approach pose risks for the client company?

As stated earlier, effective executive coaches should have no ties to the company that they are serving.  

Even so, the company usually foots the coaching bill, so it is also accepting some risks. This is why it’s very important to vet the executive coach to make sure he or she is reputable, competent and experienced.

The company should also understand that an executive coach is walking a tightrope. 

Executive coaches balance two powerful professional objectives: (1) They must remain committed to focusing time and attention to the coached employee, in order to develop rapport and trust; at the same time (2) they must keep in mind the client-company goals.

And, in order to manage the risks, all concerned parties—the company, the executive coach and the coached employee—must understand and agree to a number of tenets. 

Among them:

1. Organizational buy-in.  Although the company is paying the bills, there must be an understanding that the organization will honor the confidential relationship between the executive coach and the coached employee.
2. Time commitment—coaching is not intended to be a quick, one-day seminar type of fix.
3. Emotional intelligence required.  Coaching only works if the coached employee is open to accepting feedback.

In closing, there is one other possible eventuality to consider. 

At the end of the day, as the Harvard article points out: If the coaching experience reveals that the coached individual is not well-suited for a particular leadership position—everyone stands to gain if/when performance improvement and reorganizational restructuring measures are identified and implemented.

Does your organization have a truth-speaker?