on Fri, 12/26/2014 - 14:57 by Anonymous (not verified)
An intriguing but not uncommon situation for a business-experienced coach, Brian. In our work with senior leaders, we are faced with a wide range of issues, from highly personal matters to hard-nosed business questions. Our global coaching team of former CEOs resists the temptation to direct clients towards what experience tells us is ‘the right answer’. Our modus operandi, in sequential order, is: 1. Don’t assume, as coaches, that we do know the answer – experience is useful in knowing good questions to ask, but it is not a panacea. Every situation has its nuances.2. Use dialogue to clarify the issue for the client and coach, then discuss our way to the solution, or (even better) a choice of solutions.3. If the client is really not ‘getting it’, guide him or her towards resolution with discussion on ‘loaded’ questions based on our own experience of business and of leading in corporations. 4. In the last resort, suggest the possible answer by asking, for example, “What would happen if you did …..?” or “When I faced a similar issue as a business executive, I did the following… How would something like that work in your situation?” In seventeen years of coaching global leaders, I don’t think that we have ever had to go beyond this stage, which is at the boundary of coaching and consulting. In authoritarian cultures such as (if you will excuse the stereotyping) Germany and Confucian Asian countries, our clients may naturally expect more direction, but one of our coaching objectives with them is to help them think independently and ‘lead from within’. Does this last statement invite another debating point about ‘Is coaching different in Asia from Western cultures
Giving Advice
An intriguing but not uncommon situation for a business-experienced coach, Brian. In our work with senior leaders, we are faced with a wide range of issues, from highly personal matters to hard-nosed business questions. Our global coaching team of former CEOs resists the temptation to direct clients towards what experience tells us is ‘the right answer’. Our modus operandi, in sequential order, is: 1. Don’t assume, as coaches, that we do know the answer – experience is useful in knowing good questions to ask, but it is not a panacea. Every situation has its nuances.2. Use dialogue to clarify the issue for the client and coach, then discuss our way to the solution, or (even better) a choice of solutions.3. If the client is really not ‘getting it’, guide him or her towards resolution with discussion on ‘loaded’ questions based on our own experience of business and of leading in corporations. 4. In the last resort, suggest the possible answer by asking, for example, “What would happen if you did …..?” or “When I faced a similar issue as a business executive, I did the following… How would something like that work in your situation?” In seventeen years of coaching global leaders, I don’t think that we have ever had to go beyond this stage, which is at the boundary of coaching and consulting. In authoritarian cultures such as (if you will excuse the stereotyping) Germany and Confucian Asian countries, our clients may naturally expect more direction, but one of our coaching objectives with them is to help them think independently and ‘lead from within’. Does this last statement invite another debating point about ‘Is coaching different in Asia from Western cultures