Coaching can be an invaluable resource to help leaders overcome challenges or fix any problems that may come their way. But what happens when the coaching needs fixing, asks Anne Bennett?

David was a few months into his new leadership role – chief officer in a high profile public service organisation. Working in a highly risk-averse culture, some very risky actions were required of him. Such high profile roles are often lonely experiences. Even with a strong team, peers and mentors, there is a sense of isolation. In these situations, a helping hand – in the form of a working relationship with a trusted professional coach who's part-collaborator, part-adviser, part-expert, part-confessor, as well as a ‘critical friend’ – can be invaluable.

Luckily, for David, all peers at his grade were offered coaching to help support them in a high-pressure service delivery role. Early coaching sessions established that the rapport and combination of insights and ideas between coach and David would provide valuable support when all eyes seemed to be on him. The stress of avoiding mistakes was managed well through coaching exercises, and enabled David to make difficult public decisions and challenge situations that could not be allowed to go on. His peers were variously admiring, threatened, supportive or hostile. New challenges were coming thick and fast, and the focus of coaching shifted into being a vital sanctuary, as well as a chance to learn from successes and failures. David learned ways of checking his own reading of things and of ensuring he had support systems in place to act with integrity and not suffer the consequences of inaction. For David, these bi-monthly 2-3 hour coaching sessions were a vital part of his support system, which were unmoveable from
his diary.

Coaching home truths
It is more common today for leaders like David to make use of coaching. You may currently be working with someone, or have a coach you could call on if the need arose. Some coaching relationships run on quite an open contract, some are specific to situations – such as part of a leadership programme, a career management process or a major change in your organisation. You may ‘own’­­ that contract, or the resource has been made available as part of good practise on your employer's part.

Whatever the reason, coaching is invaluable when it works. It can help you get back on track when you fall off. A coach can help when you lose sight of your goals or face an impossible challenge. In short, coaching is a process of identifying challenges that need to be tackled, development needs or opportunities to be taken, finding fixes, getting time to think things through and plan actions, and get feedback on how well something went or how to do things differently next time. It is, more importantly, investing in your needs, particularly in terms of leadership.

Fixing the coach

But there will usually come a time to take stock, i.e. is it working? Is there more that could be happening? Or is it time for a break? That’s what happened to David. If we continue with David’s story: Over time his coach became concerned that new habits were forming where David was relying a bit too much on her input. After all, a safe space can be difficult to leave. But his coach managed this well, ensuring a minimal level of assurance and checking was given, and pointed out the new levels of leadership competence that David was unconsciously using – as he should be. As a result, he became a more reflective leader, and coaching sessions ceased for an agreed period. When they met to review progress after 6 months, David had quite different ideas about his leadership development needs. He re-evaluated his needs with his coach and a new round of work began.

It's often quoted that “a goal is nothing more than a dream with a deadline”. And in pursuit of such a goal, leaders often feel they have to perform like they are a human sample of their entire organisation. This can sometimes demand you look and sound healthy, upbeat and resilient when feeling anything but. The dream of the organisation – its mission and
vision – must be real to you if you are to make this performance stick.

“A helping hand –  in the form of a working relationship with a trusted professional coach who’s part-collaborator, part-adviser, part-expert, part-confessor, as well as a ‘critical friend’ – can be invaluable”

Anna's story

Take Anna. She has ‘made it’ by becoming the head of a successful housing organisation. She is personally identified with its image and confident future. She has long term coaching support, usually focusing on how to do things her way rather than what others expect or think of her. This pattern of 'fix' was pretty set, but was later forced to change when the nature of the primary problems changed.

Being on a Thai beach at Christmas was the goal that got her through a tough series of boardroom changes in 2004. Luckily, she was visiting friends on Boxing Day that year, so she was in a safe place when the Tsunami struck. Although her material possessions were lost, she described the gift of surviving and having skills as a counsellor as something that was brought to her attention all too powerfully. It is early days to say how this story turns out – but basically it took this life-changing event to make Anna realise that choices are relative. As a result of that, she revisited her goals, and decided to take a sabbatical to coach and support people working in aid agencies. Over the next few months, her coach will help her to realise her new dream.

As David’s and Anna’s experiences reveal, healthy coaching works on timing, readiness and judging the moment to overrule any reluctance to make a change. Here are a few tips on how to get the coaching relationship back on track and work for you.

TIPS:

• Coach yourself into reawakening that dream. -A good leadership coach will spend time asking “why not?” so that any self-limiting thoughts can be confronted.

• Have you tailored the coaching to suit you the way you are? Are you expecting the coach to change or you? Does your coach have more than one answer, and can they comfortably admit to having none? Can they suggest the break/the alternatives/another coach? Even secure professionals may need help to do this properly, so be prepared to help your coach to help you.
• Whatever your ‘presenting problem’ or starting point for a coaching conversation, it is good practice to look behind and around the issue to see if the cause of a problem is a better focus for discussion than (just) addressing its symptoms.
• When you explored the wider context and underlying personal issues, did the original need get lost? Go back and check – spend time in any coaching session checking this, but also take more time after a few sessions to review the kinds of things being done and not done.
• Do you and your coach collaborate, collude or clash? Different ways of seeing things can be very fruitful – over time any relationship can create its own story about what is material. Be prepared to look at what is going on between you. Pick apart the story or narrative you are using to talk about what is going on and who you are.
• Revisit any diagnostics you have been using – personality instruments, models that describe your style or terminology that labels behaviour or skills. Have they become over-used? Do you feel fixed by them, or do they help explain what is taking place, in coaching as well as outside?

Coaching Health Check
Here are some questions to ask yourself and possibly discuss with your coach:

• Have my original needs been addressed? Did I understand them? Am I clear why the agenda changed or did it just drift?
• Is there a danger of ‘over talking’ and under acting on some things? Has the coaching session become a parking place for problems? If so, does this serve a practical purpose?
• Have my coach and I begun to see things so similarly that we are just affirming each other? Is that what I needed?
• Am I resistant to some suggestions, and only selecting the ones I am comfortable with? Should my coach pick this up, or am I clearly responsible for what I do?
• Is there too much or too little ‘distance’ in the relationship? What are the risks?
• Are we meeting for the sake of it? How could we manage a break and retain the value for future working together? How does this question make me feel?

All of these are key to open a conversation about how your coaching is working. Think first about coaching both as a process to be managed, with proper thought, planning and maintenance checks. Then think about it as a relationship with different individual and shared needs. Putting these sides of the equation together can help you evaluate and decide what, if anything, to fix.