Why Coaching Programs Fail

 By Birgit Zacher Hanson, M.S.

You’ve seen it a hundred times:  One light touch to one domino starts a chain reaction that knocks down thousands more.  Executive coaches hope to create a similar effect with their coaching in organizations.  (And so do budget-conscious clients.) 

It's easy to imagine how this idea sounds good:.

We start at the top by coaching senior executives and while coaching them on their own issues we teach them coaching skills so that they can coach their direct reports.  Not only that, but leaders are also expected to teach their direct reports how to teach coaching skills to their subordinates. 

In theory this should work - coaching behavior cascading through the organization.  In practice, unfortunately, that is not so – not in most organizations anyway.

Somewhere along the line the coaching momentum weakens. 

This happens for many reasons, but the most obvious are that people don't have time or lack the ability or willingness to be a coach and teach coaching skills.  The quality of coaching given becomes diluted and the true potential coaching could have as a performance driver is compromised. 

Are Coaching Skills Transferable?

How can that quality dilution be avoided?  Can it be avoided?  Is it possible to cascade coaching or leadership skills throughout an organization by starting at the top and relying on the leaders, managers and supervisors to "pass them on"? 

We can attempt it, but there are no guarantees.  Too many variables can't be controlled.  The quality of the coaching will decline if leaders, managers or supervisors are left to their own devices for the following reasons: 

1. People can at best copy the behavior that their coach modeled, which may or may not work for their subordinates. 

2. Not every person is willing or able to coach someone who is different from themselves,

3. There is no “one-fits-all” approach that is easily duplicated and works for every individual.

4. It takes a long time to hone one's coaching skills and a relentless commitment to do one's inner work to avoid personal issues from transferring to the coachee.   For example, if a coach has a high need for approval and doesn't work through that issue first, he or she might unintentionally say or do things to get approval, which might not be in the best interest of the coachee. 

5. Some people are willing to embrace coaching, some are not.  Some think they already know how to coach when they don't.  Their coaching may consist of giving advice and solving their subordinates' problems, taking the power and responsibility away from their coachees and making them more dependent on their supervisors. 

The Organization’s Role in Promoting Coaching Skills

There is some hope that the cascading of coaching skills throughout an organization can be achieved.  The following conditions have to be met by the organization:

1. Recognize coaching as a core competency.  Break down the stigma some still associate with coaching.  Incentivize and reward people who are actively coaching and being coached.  Only when people see coaching as a major part of their job description and something that is valued by the organization will they feel comfortable enough to invest their time and energy in it. 

2. Create unconditional trust.  People must feel safe to be themselves, show weakness, admit to failure, ask questions and thereby demonstrate that they don't already have all the answers.  The organization must be willing to declare "learning" as one of their top priorities and back it up with action (Senge, Lencioni, ).

3. Be true to the principles that make coaching successful.  Coaching works because it is a personalized process.  It is completely tailored to meet the needs and achieve the potential of the coachee.  No software or off-the-shelf approach can achieve the depth and focus of a one-on-one coaching relationship. 

 

Recognizing and Honoring Individual Differences is the Basis of Any Coaching Relationship

The power of coaching lies in the relationship, not the coach or the coachee, as some might assume.  But it is the coachee who gives that power to the relationship.  The coachee decides if he or she feels safe to trust the coach and the process.  (Whitworth, Kimsey-House, Sandahl)

Diversity makes building powerful coaching relationships challenging.  A recent study presented at the 2006 International Coach Federation Research Symposium called "What People Want: Research Implications for Creating Cultures of Coaching within Organizations" by Dr. Terry Bacon, Ph.D., shows that the priority of interpersonal needs people have at work differ based on gender, age, spiritual beliefs and whether they are a supervisor or not.  They are even statistically significantly different for pet owners versus people without pets. 

For example the following priority of interpersonal needs were found amongst supervisors and non-supervisors:

When examining the data based on gender the author found that interpersonal needs differed based on gender:

Given these differences it becomes apparent that coaches need to help leaders develop higher-level inquiry and discovery skills so they can successfully coach a variety of people who are different from themselves.  Coaches also need to equip leaders with mental and behavior models that they can acquire and duplicate. 

Mental and Behavioral Models All Leaders Need to Demonstrate in Order to Create a Coaching Culture in Their Organizations

Here are some of the qualities and actions required for effective coaching:

1. Be a learner not a knower.  Empower others by listening and asking questions rather than stroking one’s own ego by solving our coachee’s problem.

2. Be other-focused.  Be curious about people and look for the greatness in them, rather then their flaws.  We all act consistent with how we see people so it is very important to see them as creative, resourceful and fully competent (not in need of fixing).

3. Enhance self-image.  A person will virtually always act consistent with his or her self -image. The overriding goal of coaching is to expand someone's self image to a level commensurate with the desired level of performance.

4. Focus their attention.  Peoples' performance follows their focus.  The challenge is to identify critical variables and help the coachee stay focused on them until they achieve their goals.

5. Hold them accountable - for their own good, not yours!  Hold them responsible; hold them to their promises not like a critical, scolding parent, but like a cheerleader.  As if their success was yours, help them create structures that will keep new behavior patterns in tact until they become a habit (Hanson & Zacher Hanson, 2007).

6. As Ghandi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”  Since others will model their behavior after their coach it is essential that the coach be authentic and transparent.  An organization’s performance is limited by the constraints of its leader.  That’s where the inner work comes in.

Toward a Successful Organizational Coaching Program

Since people in organizations are not a bunch of aligned, same-sized domino stones ready to tip over, the cascading domino effect might remain more of a dream then a reality for most organizations. 

I remain optimistic that it can be attained, but specific training well beyond what most leaders anticipate is required.

I recommend one of two things: Either be ready to lower your expectations (as far as the cascading effect is concerned) or hire a coach for each level of management in the organization to ensure the coaching momentum stays on track.  

What Senge (1990), Lencioni (2002) and I have in common is that we all believe that organizations have the capacity to transform – it just might take a little more effort and patience to achieve then simply tipping the first stone.

For feedback, comment or ideas please contact:

Birgit Zacher Hanson, President of Heads-Up Performance, Inc. and Co-Author of Who Will Do What by When: How to Improve Performance, Accountability and Trust with Integrity

www.HeadsUpPerformance.com

813-963-6224

References

Senge, Peter (1990). The Firth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization.  NY: Currency Doubleday

Bacon, Terry (2006). "What People Want: Research Implications for Creating Cultures of Coaching within Organizations" 

Hanson, Tom, and Zacher Hanson, Birgit (2005), “Who Will Do What by When: How to Improve Performance, Accountability and Trust with Integrity” (Orlando: Power Publications)

Lencioni, Patrick  (2002) "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable.  San Franscisco: Jossey-Bass.

Whitworth, Laura, Kimsey-House, Henry, and Sandahl, Phil (1998).  Co-Active Coaching: New Skills for Coaching People Toward Success in Work and Life.   Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black Publishing.