To be an executive coach, it is necessary to know that clients are the first and best experts capable of solving their own problems and achieving their own ambitions; that is precisely the main reason why clients are motivated to call on a coach. When clients bring important issues to a coach, often they already made a complete inventory of their personal or professional issues and identified all possible (known) options. Clients have already tried working out their issues alone, and have not succeeded.
How do coaches help? After reflecting on the statement above, I realize that coaches help others help themselves. Ralph Stayer, the owner of Johnsonville Sausage transformed his organization by learning to be a better coach. He described the art of coaching as communicating a vision and then getting people to see their own behavior, harness their own frustrations, and own their own problems (Stayer, 1990). Coaching is also a way of empowering followers to take initiative. "Coaching is a good technique to...move an individual towards level 5 followership" (Obolensky, p. 179). If leaders continue to take the lead and/or give followers answers to every question, followers will never grow. The leadership charade will continue. Therefore, leaders must encourage followership maturity through coaching and effective questioning
Coaching and effective questioning can help followers help themselves. When clients (or followers) bring important issues to a coach, often they already identified possible solutions. However, they may not have the skill or will to lead themselves. "So how a leader behaves will dictate to some degree the level of followership maturity" (Obolensky, p. 161). One way to guide the follower to find a way through the problem is using the GROW questioning technique. "GROW stands for the questions asked" Goal, Reality, Options, Will" (Obolensky, p. 179). The GROW model uses open-ended questions to 'pull' the follower into solving their own problems. It is important to keep in mind for followership maturity to become sustainable, the leader (coach) should start where the observed behavior is and go step by step level 5 followership (Obolesnky, 2014). Similarly, questioning followers using the GROW technique should flow from Goal to Reality to Options to Will.
For example, I have a follower who has been struggling with the decision whether to separate from the military or reenlist. Rather than let my biased opinion of wanting him to stay in the military influence his decision, I decided to coach him. To guide him, I have asked several questions about his life goals and what he would like to achieve. He explained he wanted to earn his degree and eventually work in a field dedicated to disaster aid. We discussed how close he was to completing the degree and the realities of earning it while still serving in the Air Force versus if he were to separate. I asked about other options of what he would do for work if he separated before earning his degree. Other options were discussed as well about serving another 4-years and how that would impact his overall goal. Lastly, I asked what the steps were to completing his goal and if he really wanted to do that. After weighing all his options, he came to his own conclusion that he wanted to extend his enlistment rather than reenlist in order to complete his degree and see begin looking in to employment options soon.
Though my follower in the example above had already tried working out their issue alone, he seemed reluctant to make his own decision. As a leader, your job is to mentor, coach and develop people so they learn to do the work and make decisions on their own (Musselwhite, 2007). I supported my follower through this process and truly believe he came to the same realization he had already (subconsciously) decided and wanted. I helped him help himself.
Employees are capable of solving their problems although they sometimes need help from a coach to make that realization. Often, followers have identified potential solutions to their problems but are not able to clearly see a way forward possibly due to lack of skill or will. Coaches might empower followers to take initiative by utilizing level 5 followership maturity steps and the GROW questioning technique. In this way, coaches can help follower help themselves discover the solution to their problems.
Mussellwhite, C. (2007, August 1). Motivation = Empowerment. Retrieved April 3, 2018, from www.inc.com/resources/leadership/articles/20070801/musselwhite.html
Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex Adaptive
Leadership. Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
Stayer, R. (1990). How I Learned to Let My
Workers Lead. Harvard Business Review, 68(6), 66-83.
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