Coaching Leaders Guiding People Who Guide Others pdf

Chapter 8 Steps in the Coaching Process 130Chapter 9 Coaching Skills and Techniques 154 Chapter 11 Forces That Interfere with Growth 201 Chapter 12 The Timing of Learning and Change 217

Coaching Leaders

Coaching Leaders

G u i d i n g P e o p l e

W h o G u i d e O t h e r s

Daniel White

f o r e w o r d b y M a r s h a l l G o l d s m i t h

Coaching Leaders

Coaching Leaders

G u i d i n g P e o p l e

W h o G u i d e O t h e r s

Daniel White

f o r e w o r d b y M a r s h a l l G o l d s m i t h

Copyright © 2006 by Daniel White.

Published by Jossey-Bass

A Wiley Imprint

989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741 www.josseybass.com

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

White, Daniel, Coaching leaders: guiding people who guide others / by Daniel White; foreword by Marshall Goldsmith.—1st ed.

1947-p cm.— (The Jossey-Bass business & management series) Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7879-7714-6 ISBN-10: 0-7879-7714-4 (alk paper)

1 Employees— Coaching of 2 Leadership I Title II Series

The Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series

Foreword by Marshall Goldsmith vii

Chapter 4 The Process of Behavioral Change 75

v

Chapter 8 Steps in the Coaching Process 130

Chapter 9 Coaching Skills and Techniques 154

Chapter 11 Forces That Interfere with Growth 201

Chapter 12 The Timing of Learning and Change 217

Chapter 13 Distinctive Approaches to Coaching 225

Chapter 14 Coaching Themes Familiar and Unique 240

vi | Contents

Time passes—I am now considered a “pioneer” in theworld of coaching leaders What does “pioneer” mean? I amgetting old! Another sure sign of getting old came when Irecently received the Academy of Management’s “DistinguishedSpeaker” award At least I have not received the “LifetimeAchievement Award” (which means “near dead”) or the dreaded

“Memorial Award” (which means you are dead)!

The world of leadership coaching has been growing nentially in the past few years The huge majority of people

expo-who refer to themselves as “executive coaches” are relativelynew to this field It is hard to get a feel for coaching by reading

textbooks Coaching Leaders does a wonderful job of giving you,

the reader, an ongoing series of real-world experiences throughthoughtful case studies Take your time to read—and hopefully,reread—these case studies Imagine that you are the coach ineach case What are you feeling? What are you learning? Howwould you help this client?

Good advice needs to be based on sound theory Coaching

Leaders uses several well-established theoretical models as

springboards that lead to application in cases This approach

helps make the translation between a theory of how behavioral change might happen—and a practice of coaching that can help

behavioral change become a reality

Coaching Leaders spends equal time on the two words of the

title—“coaching” and “leaders.” Some texts on coaching get so

preoccupied with the coaching process that they seem to forget

why the coaching is occurring—to help leaders become more

effective! It is hard to help leaders become more effective out having a good grasp of what effective leadership is

with-Ultimately coaching is about change Over time leadersneed to change and coaches need to change We live in a world

of rapidly increasing global competition As Peter Drucker has

said, “The leader of the past knew how to tell, the leader of the future will know how to ask.” Leaders and coaches are going to

have to continually ask, listen, and learn Without continuouslearning, both leaders and coaches can quickly become obsolete.When Dan talks about the dangers of coaching—to thecoach, he makes a profound point He notes, “A risk for coaches

is developing an inflated ego, thinking that they are too

impor-viii | Foreword

tant.” I could not agree more! The client I coached who hadthe greatest improvement—and made the greatest positive

impact on others—was the client with whom I spent the least

amount of time! After discussing his remarkable achievements,

I laughed and asked, “You have gotten more out of my ing process than anyone I have ever coached Yet I spent theleast amount of time with you What should I learn from you?”

coach-He smiled and replied, “This process was never about your life

It was about my life and the lives of the great people on myteam It was not about the coach It was about the people beingcoached!”

His next comment helped me understand why he is one ofthe greatest leaders that I have ever met He modestly chuck-led and said, “I have been given the honor of leading 40,000people Every day when I come to work I tell myself, ‘This is

not about me, it is all about them.’”

Coaching Leaders can do a great job of helping you learn to

coach leaders My final advice is simple As you read the book,keep the focus on the clients—the leaders that you are serv-ing—not on the coach, not on yourself

Rancho Santa Fe, California

Foreword | ix

Preface

Coaching can be seen as a drama replete with possibility, danger, courage, success, and disappointment In this drama,every client becomes a complex hero facing unique challenges.Every coach-client relationship presents real uncertainties andopportunities Will clients be able to understand themselves andthe situation well enough to accomplish real change? Will they

be able to master new skills quickly enough to save the day?Will the coach be able to focus on the client’s real needs ratherthan the coach’s own assumptions?

Why I Wrote This Book

As I’ve worked with clients on the interplay between their sonalities and their leadership challenges, I have wanted to tellothers (and not just my wife) about the interesting and movingthings that my clients were doing These stories need to be told

per-To Share the Excitement

Initially, I wanted to share the human dramas that my clientsand I were living They were doing courageous and fascinating

things in order to grow as leaders They were challenging long habits and learning new ways of thinking and acting To

life-me these becalife-me more intriguing and exciting stories thanthose appearing on television

To Tie the Cases to Theories

Another reason for writing was to explain how these clientschanged by relating their developmental dramas to usable the-ories Theories enable practitioners to read situations, label theforces at work, and consciously intervene Interventions that arebased on good theories are likely to be effective because theyrelate to the dynamics of the particular client and because they rely on approaches that have worked in hundreds of simi-lar situations Because the coaching profession is so new, littlehas been written to apply existing theories or generate newones This book attempts to give coaches the benefits of somegood, pragmatic theories

To Train Coaches

This book is meant to serve as a training tool for coaches Mostcoaches I know followed a circuitous path into coaching Unlikedoctors, lawyers, and chemists, coaches cannot enter a postcol-lege program or embark on a predictable apprenticeship plan

My own path into coaching was fortuitous My training, thoughrelevant, was eclectic and haphazard This book is intended tostreamline the training for the next generation of coaches, aswell as to share some of my insights and experiences with mypeers

xii | Preface

Who Becomes a Coach?

Because coaching is growing rapidly, it is attracting many newand aspiring practitioners from several related professions Inparticular, coaches tend to come from the ranks of four majorfields, which include the following categories:

• Human resource (HR) and organization development(OD) professionals

• Career counselors have counseling skills and understandorganizational politics but may be missing a solid under-standing of leadership

• Executives know leadership and politics but may be light

Preface | xiii

How I Wrote the Book

By 1997, I was becoming a journeyman coach I had workedsuccessfully with more than twenty clients and was beginning

to understand both what I did and didn’t know about coachingleaders I wanted to share what I was learning and create aforum for furthering this knowledge Since there were no grad-uate courses in coaching at that time, I formed my own learn-ing and teaching group, the Coaching Learning Group,through the New York Association of Career Management Pro-fessionals This group met monthly, addressing one coachingtopic at each session In the first year, we explored such topics

as coaching for emotional intelligence, coaching introvertedleaders and narcissistic leaders, and delivering 360° feedback

In the program, I tried to combine theory with practice ories helped members label and make sense of what theyobserved, and cases enabled them practice their skills in a chal-lenging yet safe setting Over the years, the program grew insize and reputation I suggested to Karen Metzger, my cofacil-itator, that these theories and cases were so compelling that Iwanted to write a book She supported me in this idea and con-tinued to act as an encouraging and guiding colleague through-out the writing process Many of the chapters in the book arederived from my work with Karen and the Coaching LearningGroup

The-Theories and Research

Because of its newness, a comprehensive theoretical foundationfor the profession has not fully evolved Furthermore, littlequantitative research has been conducted on coaching To fillxiv | Preface

this gap, I looked to our more mature sister professions for evant theories and research One of the goals of this book is tobring some of this theoretical knowledge together in a singlevolume These theories are first steps toward the creation of abody of knowledge about coaching The theories and research

rel-in this book reflect my own rel-interests and proclivities and ument approaches that have worked for me They are notintended to be comprehensive or to form or even approach aunified theory of coaching They are meant as a start

doc-Coaching Cases

The book is built around cases Cases are important becausethey demonstrate how each theory or concept can work in thereal world If a concept or theory holds any water, it should beable to be demonstrated and shown to be useful in practice.Cases contribute to learning by serving as vicarious experiencesthat readers can draw on when facing similar situations, like thecases used in law school and business school

The cases are also meant to entertain and dramatize I hopethat as you read, you will develop some of the same fascination,respect, empathy, and even suspense that I felt while workingwith these clients Each case is based on a real client I tried tokeep the details of the individuals and situations accurate whiledisguising their identity enough to protect their privacy

My Background and Influences

My path to coaching began in college, where as a curious andavid psychology student, I wanted to learn why people acted asthey did I was particularly fascinated with cognitive psychology

Preface | xv

because it explained how people developed the patterns ofthinking, behavior, and emotion that form their unique per-sonalities (I later came to rely on cognitive psychology in mycoaching approach because it provides a framework for learn-ing about how clients organize and act on their experiences.)Another influence from my college years came from myinvolvement with the social movements and humanistic psy-chologies of the late 1960s They fostered in me a sense of hopeand possibility for creating a society that is fulfilling to its mem-bers Facilitating fulfilling workplaces and helping people self-actualize remain among the motivators of my coaching work.

My early career plans of becoming a psychotherapist andpsychology professor changed after two early experiences in theworld of business The first was a summer job in the HRdepartment at Xerox Corporation, and the second was a job inthe budding training and development consulting industry Indesigning and teaching interpersonal skills training programs,

I learned how to teach managers how to have conversations thatled to success and at the same time became motivated by themission of facilitating constructive behavioral and attitudinalchange Another influence came from the managers of my con-sulting firm They were applied behavioral scientists who taught

me the value and discipline of focusing on behaviors in theworkplace I gained an appreciation of the central importance

of the impact of behavior at work, an orientation that has stayedwith me throughout my career

I eventually became first a director of training and later adirector of organizational and executive development atCitibank, managing groups of up to forty people I learned atfirst hand how to manage people and how to use interpersonalxvi | Preface

and political skills to operate in an organizational culture I alsolearned the importance of contributing to business results,becoming a little less idealistic and a bit more realistic aboutwhat was possible in organizational life I learned, mostlythrough trial and error, how to effect change in organizations.

In 1980, I experienced coaching for the first time whileconducting follow-up sessions for participants in our manage-ment training programs During one of these sessions, some-thing interesting happened A manager started explaining what

he felt he could and could not do as a manager At thatmoment, I recognized that leadership was tied more to the per-sonality and self-concept of an individual than it was to any set

of generic leadership skills Leadership seemed more like riage and less like changing spark plugs Because I was still atraining director, I filed that thought away and returned to myjob of training a thousand people But the thought stayed with

mar-me, and over the ensuing years, it guided my evolution into aleadership coach

A few years later, I was offered an opportunity to providecareer counseling to people about to be laid off by my company.Against the advice of my more ambitious friends, I took theassignment The experience became one of the most importantand fascinating stages in my career For the next several years, Iworked one on one, coaching outplaced managers I studiedcareer counseling and adult development in an innovative grad-uate program I learned the art of individual coaching, includ-ing how to understand what made each client tick, when andhow to ask questions, how to draw out the clients’ hopes andfears, and how to help them take practical steps to fulfill theirhopes and overcome their fears

Preface | xvii

As a career counselor, I came to recognize the tremendouspotential for change inherent in a coaching relationship I imag-ined using this power not just to aid a single person’s career but

to help leaders build successful, fulfilling organizations To pare for this next challenge, I chose to learn more about theestablished theories of leadership, group behavior, and organi-zational change by completing a master’s degree in organiza-tional psychology When it came time for my next challenge,the answer felt obvious Executive coaching would combine theintensive and personal aspects of individual coaching with theskills and knowledge of developing leaders I could help lead-ers become more effective and enable them to create organiza-tions that were both successful and fulfilling places in which towork I started telling people that I was an executive coach andwithin a year received my first paid coaching assignment.Another influence on my coaching has been my experience

pre-as a psychotherapy client Through my own therapy, I enced several important changes in my thinking patterns, emo-tions, and behavior Being a coach as well as a client, I observedand remembered the approaches that my therapist employed tohelp me change and grow I also developed a grounded opti-mism in the ability of people to change As I evolved as a coach,

experi-I came to recognize the practice and theories of psychotherapy

as important sources of ideas for the nascent profession ofcoaching

Coaching turned out to be as thrilling as I had expected.Along with the excitement of helping leaders change, coachingrequired every bit of skill, empathy, and insight I could muster

I recognized how very much one needed to know to become anexcellent coach I decided to pursue it for the rest of my work-ing life

xviii | Preface

My Own Growth as a Coach

Before I began coaching, I believed that my ideas and valueswere correct, and those of people who disagreed with me wereincorrect I would even argue with others in an attempt toprove that my way was right Coaching taught me the futilityand arrogance of that stance I learned to respect and appreciatethe people whose worldviews and mind-sets were radically dif-ferent from my own

Along with that relativistic view of my own ideas, I alsolearned the art of empathy I tried to feel what clients might befeeling and to think what they might be thinking Learning toempathize literally changed the way I related to everyone Itenabled me to understand clients more fully and for them tobecome more open to me In the final analysis, empathic coach-ing has allowed me to become more connected to all people,not just my clients My hope is that all who read this book maygain not only skills in coaching but also better relationshipswith everyone around them

New York, New York

Preface | xix

Acknowledgments

This book was created with the help of others First, there areseveral people who helped me learn the art and science ofcoaching They include David Rottman of JPMorgan Chase,Sandy Bowers of Citibank, and the members of the SeniorCoach Group: Steve Axelrod, Bruce Hammer, Peggy McMa-hon, Karen Metzger, Linda Smith, Bob Swanton, and Chris-tine Wilson

Next are the people who helped by believing in me and ing me to coach leaders in their organizations or their clientorganizations They are Amy Friedman and Yolanda Jackson ofPartners in Human Resources International; Kym Goddu, Eliz-abeth Sorensen, Polly Kipp, Ellen Buller, and Sheila Cooper of

hir-Pfizer; Susan Preli of RR Donnelley; Gayle Irvin of the New

York Times; Allison Weir of JetBlue Airways; Colleen Crooker

of Columbia University; Gail Blanke of Lifedesigns; Bill man of EmployeeROI; and Kay Monroe of Lundbeck

Shul-I am especially grateful to Karen Metzger, my coleader inthe New York Coaching Learning Group Karen collaboratedwith me on developing the content for our learning group,much of which formed the foundation for the book Karen also

encouraged me to write the book as we observed the asm that the group members had toward the content.

enthusi-A special acknowledgment goes to Neil Baldwin, whocoached me through the proposal and book-writing process,allowing me to learn from his experience as a professionalwriter Neil checked in every month or two to ask me about myprogress, acting as a skilled mentor with a light yet persistenttouch Neil also introduced me to Deborah E Wiley, who wasvery helpful in geting this book published

Kathryn Kaplan and Lilian Abrams provided ment and suggestions for both the book and the proposal JaneHamingson, my private editor, helped me clean up the manu-script and keep it true to my intended message

encourage-Neal Maillet, Mary Garrett, and Elizabeth Forsaith, editors

at Jossey-Bass, helped move the book from idea to manuscript

to finished product Louise Sommers, my attorney, calmly andskillfully negotiated the contract with Jossey-Bass

I am also grateful to my son, Ben White, who compiled theBibliography and used his college study of self-psychology andphilosophy to support some of the key ideas And special thanks

go to my wife, Maxine Davidowitz, who gave me space andemotional support and also put some of my ideas to the test inher leadership role in the publishing industry She also helpedkeep my writing accessible

The greatest thanks goes to the clients who let me intotheir professional lives and allowed me to work with them Eachworked hard on examining their leadership style and learningnew skills Their experiences enabled me to create the cases thatare so vital to this book

—D W.xxii | Acknowledgments

The Author

Daniel White began his career as a human resource intern atXerox Corporation, where he learned about the importance oflearning and leader-employee relationships He next worked as

a consultant at Praxis Corporation and then at his own firm,designing leadership and interpersonal skills training programs

In these roles, he deepened his knowledge of interpersonalbehavior and became adept at teaching these skills in a way thatresulted in behavior change White then returned to the cor-porate world to serve first as a training director and later asdirector of executive and organization development at Citibank

In 1990, he founded his own consulting practice, DiscoveryConsulting, focusing on developing leaders through coachingand team learning As a coach, he has worked with more thanfour hundred managers in a wide range of organizations in thefinancial, pharmaceutical, consulting, insurance, entertainment,education, and publishing industries

White earned his bachelor of arts degree in psychology atthe University of Rochester, his master of arts degree in orga-nizational psychology at Columbia University, and a postgrad-uate certificate in adult career development at the CityUniversity of New York He is co-chair of the New York Lead-ership Coaching Learning Group His publications include

xxiii

“Repairing Damaged Work Relationships,” Research-Technology

Management, May 2003; “Stimulating Innovative Thinking,” Research-Technology Management, October 1996; and “Career

Development of Scientists and Technologists,” in Special

Chal-lenges in Career Management: Counselor Perspectives, ed Alan J.

Pickman (Erlbaum, 1997)

xxiv | The Author

On Leaders and Leadership

P a r t O n e

P a r t O n e

C h a p t e r 1

Why Coach Leaders?

Leaders have powerful impacts on their organizations Theirwords and deeds affect all the people around them The powerimplicit in their role causes people to look to them for direc-tion Everything they say becomes amplified as if spokenthrough a microphone Their accomplishments as well as theirmissteps are exaggerated in the eyes of others

Their actions affect people and the organization in a ety of ways They provide vision and strategic direction, whichcan lead the organization down successful or ruinous paths.They maintain important relationships with members, which

vari-3

To the Reader: Addressing the Personal Pronoun Problem

Since the 1970s, when our society embraced feminism, writers have grappled with the dilemma of the third-person pronoun None of the choices are ideal Using “he” is the old-fashioned, but sexist choice Using “she” alone is progressive, but misleading and self-conscious Using “he or she” or “he/she” is more gender neutral, but awkward I have settled on “they” or “their” throughout the text to refer to indi- viduals This breaks the grammatical rule requiring consistency between singular and plural subjects But it seems like the least of three evils Although it may sound awkward at first, I expect the reader will become used to it.

can be inspiring, neutral, or demoralizing They can stimulatelearning and innovation or foster stagnant adherence to the sta-tus quo They serve as moral exemplars who encourage eitherethical or corrupt business practices They serve as role mod-els for many people who emulate their actions and attitudes,whatever they may be Because of the tremendous impactinherent in leadership roles, investing in the development ofleaders has a significant effect on an organization, its members,and the leaders themselves.

Benefits to the Leader

Most leaders have risen to their position through some nation of managerial, interpersonal, and technical skills As theymoved up, they successfully adapted to each new role by study-ing their environment and applying their repertoire of skills.Yet there comes a point in the careers of most leaders whentheir repertoire and powers of observation don’t quite fit theircurrent challenge Essentially, their old moves no longer work.The old patterns don’t work because the current challenge

combi-is significantly different from past challenges Some typical uations calling for coaching include moving from a supervisoryrole to an executive role, specifically moving from managingdoers to managing managers; moving into one’s first manage-ment role; moving from a staff to a line position or vice versa;getting a new boss; needing to implement a new business strat-egy or a significant cultural change; managing during an orga-nizational transition such as a merger or downsizing; and, moregenerally, whenever an old behavior pattern just isn’t working

sit-in the current environment Many leaders have tried to adapt

to these new situations on their own, often with limited

suc-4 | Coaching Leaders

cess, when they or their bosses recognize that they need tional help.

addi-The goal of coaching is to accelerate the leader’s ment In some situations, a leader may eventually developappropriate new behaviors through a combination of self-obser-vation and trial and error However, that might take years, yearsthat neither the leader nor the organization has to spare.Coaching speeds learning time, enabling leaders to make sig-nificant leaps in learning and behavior change in a matter ofmonths rather than years

develop-Coaching also gives clients experience in self-development

As clients progress through the phases of change, they learn how

to move from not recognizing the need for change plation)—to thinking about change (contemplation)—to prepa-ration—to action—and to consolidation (see Chapter Five) Theylearn how to observe their behavior, recognize their impact, andreflect on and alter their underlying mental models The self-development skills they learn through coaching become modelsfor their continuing development throughout their careers.Coaching brings hope and the possibility of change intopeople’s lives Clients recognize that significant change is pos-sible Engaging in personal change combats the routine andcynicism that can arise from working in a competitive, politicalworkplace It brings out the best in people by building a realis-tic optimism about what is possible

(precontem-Benefits to the Coach

Coaching can be a very rewarding profession It appeals to

peo-ple on at least four different fronts First, it is a peopeo-ple-oriented

profession that involves helping, teaching, and working closely

Why Coach Leaders? | 5

with others It is also an investigative profession, in which the coach learns, analyzes, and experiments It is a creative profes-

sion that involves seeing new connections and inventing things

to say and do that will facilitate change And it is an

enterpris-ing profession, in which the coach leads, influences, and

facili-tates clients’ success in the world of commerce

In the people-oriented sphere, the coach helps individualsgrow as human beings Like other helping professions, coach-ing requires a close involvement with people With each assign-ment, the coach embarks on an intimate adventure in whichthey explore their clients’ outer and inner worlds related towork The coach becomes immersed in the client’s world, get-ting to know the client well enough to form opinions abouthow they might navigate their way through their present chal-lenge The coach becomes a close adviser and professionalfriend, at an appropriate professional distance The coach helpsclients make significant changes at important moments in theirlives For people who are energized by helping, coaching can

be a thrilling profession

Coaches also help make the world a better place in which

to work People spend almost half their waking hours working

If they work with a wise and skillful leader in a supportive ronment, this time can be exciting and rewarding If they workfor a weak or abusive leader in a punishing environment, theworkday can be frustrating and painful A world full of compe-tent leaders would make for both more fulfilling lives and amore flourishing economy

envi-Coaching focuses on learning As a new profession, it has

roots in several of the social sciences, including organizational,clinical, and cognitive-behavioral psychology; learning theory;organizational management; social anthropology; and even neu-

6 | Coaching Leaders

roscience As an applied science, it offers opportunities toexperiment, analyze, and learn Coaches can draw on fittingtheoretical foundations in developing their own approaches.Coaches also learn about their clients’ business in order to formaccurate impressions of the business drivers and organizationalculture Because coaching requires continual learning in a vari-ety of disciplines, it is a very exciting profession for people wholike to learn.

The goal of coaching as an enterprising profession is itating behavior change that leads to both the client’s and thecoach’s success The practice involves a good deal of influenc-ing, both the coach influencing the client and the client influ-encing stakeholders Coaching also focuses on results, bothconcrete behavioral change by the client and the client’s dis-cernible impact on stakeholders Coaching can measure results

facil-to ascertain the client’s degree of change For people who areenergized by influencing people and achieving visible results,coaching can be a very satisfying profession

Dangers of Coaching—to the Coach

Facilitating change also has a dark side Coaches dig into theproblems that are challenging their clients, problems such asexperiencing the frustration of misunderstandings with higher-ups or tensions with employees who are angry with them or thedisappointment of not getting an expected promotion Thecoach is close enough to empathize with the client’s pain andremoved enough to view it from a different perspective and toturn problems into opportunities In many cases, the coachintensifies the client’s pain but then helps the client use it tomotivate change The coach guides the client in working

Why Coach Leaders? | 7

through the difficulty, and together they arrive at a new place.Crossing troubled waters can be both tense and interesting.Safely reaching the other shore can be exhilarating.

One risk for the coach is developing an inflated ego Thenature of the client’s change can be so enormous that peoplemay ascribe the success to the coach rather than the client.After all, the client acted one way before the coach arrived and

is now acting very differently Why, the coach must be a genius,right? Not at all—don’t forget, it’s the client who is doing thechanging Like an athletic coach, the leadership coach stays onthe sidelines making observations and offering suggestions Theclient is on the playing field, taking risks and managing theenterprise If the coach develops a self-perception more as asavior than as a skillful facilitator, bad can things happen Thecoach may become arrogant and focus less on the client or miss

or undervalue the client’s observations and ideas Clients can beput off by the arrogance and withdraw or may begin to feelalone in their struggle Worse, they can fall under the charis-matic spell of the coach and continue working together out of

a sense of obedience and admiration rather than out of theirown belief in themselves For these reasons, it is important forcoaches to keep their egos in check and keep their engagementsfocused on their clients

What Does It Take to Be a Good Coach?

First and foremost, good coaches are good listeners They ten with a curiosity about how their clients operate They areparticularly skillful at tuning in to people—at understandingwhat they do well and what they avoid or do not do well Theyalso listen closely to understand their clients’ thoughts, emo-

lis-8 | Coaching Leaders

tions, and values They use this information to forge a orative partnership with clients, and to build on these charac-teristics to facilitate the clients’ growth.

collab-Coaches are both focused and flexible They are able to ate a working relationship that is both structured enough tomaintain a focus on goals and flexible enough to invent newbehaviors They match their style and pace to their clients toachieve rapport They explore seeming tangents that mighthold clues to change And they stay attuned to the goals, alwaysready to bring the conversation back to the objectives

cre-Coaches ask good questions, questions that explore themost salient topics Their questions are rooted in an exploration

of the client’s psychology and a focus on the goals of theengagement The resulting questions yield information thatmoves the client forward

Coaches are also teachers, adult educators who expand theclient’s worldview by respectfully introducing new knowledge.They build a common language with the client by adapting

the psychology of leadership to this client and their ment They can translate broad goals into specific behaviorsand enlist the client in learning these behaviors Like an actor,they can model new behaviors and rehearse until the client hasmastered them

environ-Coaches know psychology They use this knowledge todetermine where and when to focus their efforts with eachclient—when to focus on behavior, when to focus on thinking,when to focus on emotion, and when to focus on impact Theycan move smoothly from one aspect to another as they guidethe client through behavior change

Coaches are relationship builders They earn trust and

Why Coach Leaders? | 9

credibility through their words and actions They build rapport

by tuning in to people and talking their language They age opening up by modeling openness themselves They inspirecourage by addressing difficult topics with tact and sensitivity.They challenge just enough for clients to leave their comfortzone and enter the flow of self-development but not so muchthat they become overwhelmed or shut down They use theirrelationship to foster their client’s growth

encour-Coaches also understand leadership and organizational itics They use this understanding to interpret the client’s situ-ation and to suggest development strategies They are familiarwith different approaches to managing people and leadingorganizations They compare the client’s actual practices toideal ones in order to identify learning opportunities Theyhave mental models for team behavior and for managing up,and they use these models to seek to learning opportunities.They understand the cultural and political norms in the client’sorganization, especially the ways that people seek to influenceand protect turf They use this understanding to help clientsbecome more effective leaders

pol-10 | Coaching Leaders

C h a p t e r 2

What Is Leadership?

If they are to help leaders become more effective, coachesneed to understand how leaders guide their organizations.Coaches formulate their own models of leadership and theirown inventories of good leadership practices At some point inthis process, coaches compare what they learn about theirclients to their own internalized leadership models They usethese models to assess their clients’ talents, identify opportuni-ties for improvement, and keep their coaching efforts focused

on real organizational needs

People have written and talked about leadership since thebeginning of recorded history Because of the central role thatleaders play, researchers, business writers, consultants, and edu-cators have invested a lot in understanding and teaching about

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In this chapter, we introduce real case histories in which we use

fiction-al character names to refer to the cases Because these case names appear

in numerous places throughout the book, we have numbered the instances of each case consecutively for the reader’s reference and placed them in an Index of Cases at the back of the book for convenience.

leadership In the 1970s, the “experts” defined management (a

vogue word at that time) as “getting work done through ers.” Since then, the view of leadership has expanded in bothscope and content Researchers defined the broader role ofleadership as something different from management AbrahamZaleznik (1977) clarified the distinction by noting that man-agers focus on how things get done, while leaders give mean-ing to what is happening Today’s definition has evolved from

oth-a somewhoth-at mechoth-anicoth-al one to something more psychologicoth-al:

“the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared rations” (Kouzes and Posner, 1995, p 30)

aspi-If we subscribe to Kouzes and Posner’s definition, the goal

of leadership is to inspire and guide the efforts of others by ating an environment in which they can become motivated.From this perspective, the foundation of good leadership lies

cre-in understandcre-ing what motivates people and appealcre-ing to thesemotivators Paul Lawrence and Nitin Nohria (2002), of theHarvard Business School, describe a unified theory of humanmotivation that has the potential to revolutionize the field

of motivation and leadership Their book, Driven, identifies

four primary drives that motivate all human behavior:

1 The drive to acquire—to obtain objects and experiences, to

successfully compete with others, to secure status

2 The drive to bond—to build trusting relationships, to

belong to partnerships and groups

3 The drive to learn—to make sense of things, to satisfy our

curiosity, to find consistent patterns that enable standing of our environment and ourselves

under-4 The drive to defend—to protect our possessions,

relation-ships, beliefs, and self-esteem

12 | Coaching Leaders

Lawrence and Nohria’s four-drive theory uses knowledgeand research in evolutionary biology, neuroscience, psychology,anthropology, linguistics, archaeology, sociology, and econom-ics to demonstrate that most human activities are motivated byone or more of these drives, alone or in combination Theirtheory is compelling because it unifies many other theories ofhuman motivation and explains so much of human behavior Itwill likely spawn much research and learning in the comingyears.

The four-drive theory can be valuable to leaders because somuch of their activity is focused on motivating and guiding oth-ers For starters, the theory can explain common leadershippractices For example, when they set goals and set incentivesfor accomplishment, leaders are appealing to the acquisitiondrive When they build teams or create an organizational iden-tity, they are appealing to the bonding drive When they spon-sor research, training, and knowledge management, they areappealing to the learning drive And when they justify theirdepartment’s budget, get or give credit for an idea, protect mar-ket share, fight a hostile takeover, or invest in insurance, theyare expressing the drive to defend

Moreover, the four-drive theory can provide a frameworkthat enables leaders to discover new practices It can help themmove beyond cookbook motivational approaches to developpractices that truly fit their style, values, and organizational con-text Most traditional leadership training outlines a series oftasks that a leader needs to perform to be successful—skills such

as creating a vision, setting goals, giving feedback, delegating,and empowerment The more sophisticated models useresearch to identify the competencies critical to their job andthen teach leaders to follow this set of success factors and to

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