Developing the Internal Coach
At PSA we have been asked to develop the coaching abilities amongst the managers and leaders for a number of our clients. Often this is because the organisation is undergoing, or is about to undergo, a period of change where managers will need to act as coaches to assist their staff through the impending changes or because the managers have traditionally relied on a 'command and control' approach and now need a less directive style of managing.
Coaching and the Management of Change
At the centre of coaching is the raising of awareness within the coachee whilst simultaneously ensuring that the manager does not acquire responsibility for something that lies within the coachees domain. Typically in an organisational change individuals will pass through a number of states as they come to terms with the change. This can start with a period of 'denial' where people discount what they see and or hear. 'Blame' of others, the system, management etc can often form the next phase and following this may be a time of 'self recrimination' which is full of "If only....." statements. Eventually individuals will begin to accept the changes and will start to test out how they can adapt and work with them in future. This sequence of human reactions is widely documented for many different types of change. Where all too many managers go wrong is their efforts to "manage" others through the change(s). People will only pass through the stages at their own speed, and to be urged to rush straight to the acceptance stage without first passing through "denial, blame" etc will only hold back the pace of the change.
What is needed is not the traditional "command and control" management approach. Instead managers who can adopt a coaching style that will help individuals come to terms with the change and help them work through the various stages without dwelling in the 'denial' phase will have the greatest impact on their organisations.
This might appear top be a 'soft' approach especially in comparison to the rational style of management. At PSA we disagree that this is a soft option and it is most definitely not the 'easy' option. It is very easy (and most likely unproductive) to give orders during times of change. A very small minority may well follow these orders / instructions; however, those people who have moved to the 'denial' phase do not need instructions, they need to be able to talk through their thoughts and feeling in order that they can get things straight in their mind and be able to move on. A manager who can act as a coach and help people reach their own conclusions (rather than the ones the manager would necessarily like them to reach) will be the more effective manager.
Coaching as a Management Style
If we look at what has made a manager successful in the past it has often been their ability to solve problems and get out of crises expediently. Often this has meant being technically competent in the area they are managing (if not being an acknowledged expert). In these situations the manager would often take on responsibility for solving the problem from their team member and, once they had personally identified the best way forwards, would issue instructions for what they wanted people to do. In modern organisations which have fewer layers of management (and those that do exist will often be responsible for multi-function teams), it is not possible for a manager to take on responsibility for solving the whole teams problems. This responsibility must be shared with the team members who, in many cases, are more technically capable of solving the problem themselves. Coaching as a management style helps to engage the talents of the whole team by developing self awareness and critical thinking skills. Team members will become more self reliant and will no longer look to the "boss" to solve the problem. This in turn allows the manager to concentrate on the higher value strategic parts of their job rather than becoming merely a firefighter. The payback from this for many managers is enormous with knock on reductions in stress and time pressures. There are similar benefits for the team members; they can use to the full their technical skills without having to refer to a higher level of authority. It is often the first step to successfully developing an empowered culture within an organisation.
Our Approach to Developing Coaches
Perhaps not surprisingly we use a coaching style for these programmes. As this for many people is a significant change, we often talk through with managers the series of reactions to change (denial, blame etc). For many managers this is where the "penny drops" as they recognise in themselves the reactions that are being discussed and how fruitless it is to give instructions to people who are having these thoughts. A coaching conversation often revolves around overcoming a specific issue or blockage that is holding the individual back. It is of course entirely possible to simulate these situations with role plays as part of the programme but all too often these are more a test of peoples "acting" skills than their ability as a coach. As an alternative we typically ask participants to work on live issues (something that the coachee feels that will gain benefit from talking through with a coach). This way both learner coach and their coachee gain benefit from the conversation. Because it is a real issue and thus important to the coachee we are always pleasantly surprised at the level of care and concern the learner coaches show for their coachees. Indeed, it is not unheard of for coach and coachee to reconvene at a later date to continue the discussion and relationship developed during the practice sessions.
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