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  Grow With a Professional Coach, by Vivian V.
Eyre Professional coaches help career-oriented individuals develop a game plan and course of action to achieve goals and grow professionally Mary's boss told her she was an asset to the company but not director-level material. She wasn't sure what he meant. Ann got a call from a headhunter and discovered her salary was well below market value. She was ambivalent about asking for a raise. Randi appeared to have it all: a high-powered job, a great salary, and a wonderful family. Still, she had a nagging feeling that she could be more fulfilled. Three different women. Three different situations. Yet each woman chose to hire a professional coach to gain clarity, learn how to make more informed decisions, and improve her professional skills. Here's what happened: Mary and her coach role played a conversation between Mary and her boss about Mary's performance. They also worked together to build her assertiveness. She eventually got promoted. Under a coach's guidance, Ann conducted research and practiced skills that enabled her to make a persuasive case for a raise, which she received. Randi's coach helped Randi analyze what was happening in her life. She explored her values, expectations, and actions, and eventually re-prioritized her professional activities. In today's work world, an increasing number of individuals are doing what Mary, Ann and Randi did. They're hiring coaches to help them get what they want -- whether it's professional advancement, better compensation, or greater satisfaction. A professional coach is someone who can help you assess your career issues, decide on a course of action, develop a game plan, and strategize about implementing it, while simultaneously helping you cope with the stress of it all. The concept is working. In a recent survey conducted by the International Coach Federation, 98 percent of coaching clients described their investment in a coach as valuable. Partner in Goal Achievement Today, about 10,000 full- and part-time executive, business, and lifestyle coaches worldwide consult with approximately 200,000 individuals each year. The nation's most accomplished coaches have emerged from careers in counseling, education, human resources, business, and related fields. Executive coaches attract white-collar professionals between the ages of 25 and 65. According to a recent survey from The International Coach Federation, the majority (69%) of coaching clients are women, who typically want to earn more money, climb the corporate ladder, or change fields entirely. Business coaches work with clients who want to start or expand their own companies. And lifestyle coaches tend to focus on personal growth or spirituality, with their clients typically hoping to learn how to get more joy out of their lives or to achieve some long-standing personal goal, such as writing a book. "People hire a coach because they want a partner who can help them accomplish their goals," explains John Seiffer, president of the International Coach Federation. "Regardless of the goal the person wants to attain, there are three basic elements: performance enhancement, personal fulfillment, and increased learning." People often consider coaching when they've been unable to get something they want. Inevitably, they're frustrated, upset, or just plain stuck because they have been unable to attain their goals themselves, even with the help of friends, family members, and other well-intentioned individuals. A coach helps in a variety of ways. First, a coach assesses a person's goals within the context of her life plan. Then, a coach challenges assumptions, asks questions, analyzes, helps brainstorm, strategizes, and keeps the client focused and moving. The client, however, must invariably do the real work that leads to learning. In other words, growth takes grit. The single greatest ingredient for making coaching successful is a burning desire for change. Wayne Dyer, author of Wisdom of the Ages says: "There are four R's of success: You have to really really, really, really want it." This strong desire of the client, coupled with the skillfulness of the coach, is what ultimately makes a coaching relationship successful and transforming. Skillful coaches are able to shift your perspective away from the actual details of your particular situation toward consideration of broader and more fulfilling possibilities. Before deciding whether a coach can help you, spend some time exploring your own desires and expectations. Answering the following questions can help you prepare for a first interview with a prospective coach. 1. What do I want? Allow yourself to think boldly and to be brave in defining your goals. Don't refine or qualify them simply because you think you can't reach them. You probably don't have enough data to make that assessment yet. 2. Why do I want it? Be honest about your motivation. For example, do you want to change your career because of your goals or because you recently received a disappointing performance review? 3. How will I know when I have it? Visualize how you will feel and act after you've reached your goal. Imagine viewing a videotape that documents you attaining your goals. Where are you and what are you doing? 4. How hard am I willing to work? Accomplishing goals takes time and effort. There are choices and trade-offs. Consider all that is happening in your life today and whether you have this time to devote to coaching. 5. What obstacles do I face and how can I overcome them? There are always hurdles to jump. Know your capacity for ambiguity, persistence, and stress. Make a list of the resources that will support and facilitate your change. Establishing a Program Whatever the coaching need, the length of a coaching program will depend on whether a client's goal is situational or developmental. For example, if preparing to ask for a raise, a client will usually need to work with a coach for only two to three sessions. A client who needs to learn how to build critical networks or to alter her influence style -- both issues that involve behavioral change -- will require a coach for six months to a full year. Coaching by phone has become a popular method for working with clients who travel or whose busy schedules prevent face-to-face interaction. Linda Hall, a New Jersey-based executive coach, says she conducts 80 to 85 percent of her coaching by phone. "Clients say that phone coaching helps them keep their commitment to the coaching process because it's brief, highly focused, and there's no lost time in commuting," says Hall. Some coaches now do their work exclusively via the World Wide Web or e-mail. These cybercoaches typically provide short-term consulting on career skills, reviewing business memos or advising on interview techniques. Recently, even the Wall Street Journal added a career development aspect to its Web site. The site, www.careers.wsj.com offers a phone coaching service that provides one-on-one advice on such topics as negotiating compensation, job search advice, resume critiques, and retirement planning. Depending on topic, length of appointment, and number of assessments, the fee for these services ranges from $79 to $279. Mentoring and Therapy Mentoring and coaching are both viable ways to shape leadership. Yet they're actually quite different with regard to both objectives and results. For example: Andrea, a marketing director, was nervous about making a high-stakes presentation to senior management. Feeling enormous pressure to do well, she went to a mentor for advice. After sharing some war stories, he told her to be prepared and not worry so much. Andrea received comforting advice, but it may not have been very instructive. She came away from that conversation feeling better, but not knowing anything more than she had before about how to control her anxiety. Mentors typically provide seasoned insights from their own professional experience. These insights can be quite helpful in decoding the aspects of an organization's culture that can frequently blind side executives, but they aren't always specific enough to change behavior for the long-term. In comparison, a coach's role is entirely developmental. Andrea sought guidance from a coach, developed a specific plan for handling her anxiety, and learned specific techniques for delivering effective presentations. In the end, she had a better-written, better-rehearsed speech than ever before. After the presentation, senior management began calling on her as a resource more frequently. In addition, she acquired tools that she could use when making formal or informal presentations in other situations. Therapy and coaching also differ. Although therapists and coaches use the same techniques -- analyzing, probing, listening, eliciting, building trust, and keeping confidences -- their goals are different. Executive coaching aims to change work behavior. Therapy's primary goal is to heal the mind by addressing one's beliefs or previous life history. Of course, people sometimes go to therapists with what they believe are career issues. A therapist usually views these as symptoms of more potent, underlying psychological problems that can take years to resolve. "If a lawyer comes to me with the complaint that he doesn't like being a lawyer, he sees it as a career issue," says Dr. Arthur Rudy, former chief psychologist at Roosevelt Hospital who is now in private practice in New York City. "But a therapist will look beyond the obvious to the patient's reactions about his own competitiveness and anger, his fears about not measuring up as a worthy adversary, or his concerns about being too aggressive." People who initially choose a coach may also need a therapist. For example, if an executive coach observes a pattern of self-sabotaging work behavior on the part of a client over a long period of time, that coach will recognize that the client needs therapy, not coaching, and will refer the client to a therapist to get at root causes. Making it work Successful coaching isn't gender specific, but it is attitude specific. Whether the client is mail or female, and assuming the issue that needs work is a coachable one, each person must enter coaching with an openness and a desire to experiment with new ways of behaving. Three recurring roadblocks tend to deter professional women seeking coaching: the inability to read organizational culture, take strategic action, and/or build critical alliances. Consider the case of Carol, a senior investment banking executive. Carol's success was based on being extroverted, competitive, and direct. She says what's on her mind. But when Carol left her firm to become a director of corporate finance, she entered an organization with heroes who were analytical and introverted. Conscious or not, Carol didn't tamper with her own success. She continued to act as she always had and got a reputation for being brash and arrogant. Some might have suggested that Carol cut her losses and return to the investment banking world, but Carol felt her reputation was at stake and decided not to go anywhere until it was repaired. She sought out a coach, who helped her assess other people's perceptions of her in the workplace. From there, Carol and her coach were able to define the challenge: Carol had come from an organization that valued individual contributions. She was now in an organization that valued affiliations as well. Carol had to learn a different influence style to rebuild burned bridges with colleagues. Over time, she did. How could such a smart, talented person so misread organizational culture? It's easy. Organizational culture, defined simply as "the way we do things around here," is tenacious and has its biases, but it's not always obvious. Yet it always sets the context for how executives must lead, manage, use power and succeed. Understanding organizational culture is one of the pivotal seasoning lessons for every professional, and it often requires the aid of a professional coach. For Carol, as for many other female and male executives, coaching continues to be an effective tool for accomplishing specific career goals. Financial Woman Today, Vol 9, No1, Fall, 1998. Return to Articles |
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