How Do Coaches Help?
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.
When I first read the prompt for this blog, I thought it was a
fair enough requirement to be an executive coach…along with other qualifications
and skill sets of course. The second time
I read it, I thought executive coaches should know that, absolutely. But, not as a requirement to be a coach, they
should have learned to expect that from their experience in coaching executives.
I would expect no less than that from
the Chief Executive Officer of a company.
In 2014, CEOs at the top 350 firms made, on average, $16,316,000 annually
(Hodgson, 2015). My next thought was, “Coach! Really?!”
I realize not all executives make that much money, but I think
most would agree, they are well compensated for their contributions to the
company. I do not understand how one
gets to that level, then needs someone else (coach) to help them do what they
are already being paid to do. And, there
is no guarantee that their coach knows what they are doing.
Executive coaching is a booming industry. To be an executive coach apparently does not
require much at all. And, based on the
reading they do not have to provide much, other than a winning personality that
matches well with their coachee, to stay on the pay roll for a significant
amount of time. Coaches definitely do
not have to know or believe the words in the prompt. They are generally hired to help develop the
capabilities of an identified high potential performer (Coutu & Kauffman,
2009).
Executive coaching as an industry is riddled with issues. The survey analysis that made up our reading
was conducted on the coaching industry, the responses came from executive
coaches themselves. Some of the issues
had to do with cost, maintaining confidentiality, conflicts of interest,
dependency, methodology, and certification (Coutu & Kauffman, 2009). This is largely due to the fact that there is
no professional body that governs executive coaching.
If I was an executive in an organization, my first question
would be why isn’t the coach an
executive with a company and if the coach isn’t an executive, why would I
listen to them? I realize it is not that
simple and I may be a bit cynical, but people making as much as $7844 per hour,
should know the answer or get the answer from a peer…or something. The authors state that there is no stigma
attached to being coached, but I see it as a sign of admitted incompetence from
someone being paid to be competent.
Regardless of my opinion, it looks as though executive
coaching is here to stay. If that is true,
then I agree with Ram Charan, “The industry badly needs a leader who can define
the profession, the way that Marvin Bower did for management consulting” (Coutu
& Kauffman, 2009, p. 93). To be a profession,
there are certain requirements that must be met. I do not believe executive coaching meets the
requirements or the definition of a profession. The two
definitions below and the survey completed by 140 of the “industry
professionals” clearly do not line up.
Coaching is not new, but still has a long way to go. Until it gets there companies will have to
depend on word of mouth referrals or the luck of the draw to acquire effective
coaching for their executives.
A profession is a vocation founded upon specialized educational
training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested objective counsel and
service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from
expectation of other business gain (Wikipedia, 2017).
A profession is an occupation, practice, or vocation requiring mastery of a
complex set of knowledge and skills through formal education and/or practical
experience. Every organized profession (accounting, law, medicine, etc.) is
governed by its respective professional body (businessdictionary.com, 2017).
After reading everything, including the prompt, again, I
believe the prompt should be reality. If
an executive has exhausted all of the resources available, and still cannot resolve
the issue, give them a coach. But,
everything should be completely transparent.
If I was paying those rates I would want to know exactly what I was getting
for my money. If anyone else ever needed
help in that area again, Mr., Ms., or Mrs. previous coachee would become the newest
company coach.
~Pete
References:
Coutu, D.,
& Kauffman, C. (2009). What can Coaches Do for You?. Harvard
Business Review, 87(1),91-97
Hodgson, P., (2015, June 22). Top CEOs
make more than 300 times the average worker. Fortune. Retrieved from: http://fortune.com/2015/06/22/ceo-vs-worker-pay/
profession. BusinessDictionary.com. Retrieved December 04,
2017, from BusinessDictionary.com website: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/profession.html
Profession. (2017,
December 1). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:30, December 4, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Profession&oldid=813126911
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