Creating Coaching Cultures

The Atlas Complex

2010-01-21T12:30:42-06:00

One of the first lessons that coaches need to learn is that they can’t carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. Often, with their deep desire to make a difference, coaches will take on responsibilities that rightfully belong to their clients. When clients don’t take the actions they committed to take, coaches may feel like their coaching “weren’t good enough.” Rather than calling the client on the broken commitment, they may feel guilty or inadequate as a coach. And then they try even harder. This doesn’t serve the client or the coach.

The same dynamic shows up for imaginal cells -- people who are guiding organizations to evolve to coaching cultures. (See the 09.09.09 blog entry, Invitation for more information on imaginal cells.) People who are guiding these large change efforts can burn out quickly if they are not effectively engaging their organizations in the transformation process.

Here are some signs that you may have an “Atlas complex” – the desire to carry the weight of the entire change effort on your back:

You find yourself cajoling people to take any kind of action – and then picking up the pieces when they don’t, rather than having a deeper conversation about their commitment to create meaningful change
You feel overwhelmed by all of the activities you’ve got going and underwhelmed by the response from the organization
You seem to care about creating change a whole lot more than almost anyone else, and at times, this may make you feel upset, misunderstood and / or unappreciated

If any of these descriptors is close to the mark, it may be time for some personal reflection. What will it take for you to let go of being the “Atlas” of the change effort and embrace the role of being more of a compassionate catalyst?

A compassionate catalyst sees what’s going on in the organization, and without judgment, looks for leverage points to make meaningful change. You can’t change everything at once, nor is it wise to try to do so. Work with the willing, the people who either get what you’re proposing, or are more likely to open to the new possibilities you’re introducing. They tend to be individuals or groups who embrace change, value development and are genuinely curious. Invite them to join you as imaginal cells – the next wave of people who will actively participate in transforming the culture.

Bottom-line, the job of an imaginal cell is to awaken more imaginal cells in the organization, not do to everything by yourself. Atlas didn’t get too far, and neither will you if you insist of carrying the full weight of transforming an organization on your shoulder.

Linking Coaching-Based Leadership to the Business

2010-01-01T15:20:00-06:00

When I am in initial conversations with an organization about starting an initiative to integrate coaching-based leadership into the DNA of the organization, one of the first questions I ask is “How do you envision coaching-based leadership adding value to the business?” If the answer sounds something like “Well, we just need coaching skills” that’s a huge red flag for me.

In my experience, if the people spearheading a coaching initiative can’t articulate the value to the business one of two outcomes is likely:

The initiative won’t get off the ground, usually because there’s insufficient support (read, insufficient budget.)

The initiative will be sputter out under its own weight, since no one is quite sure why they are investing in something with no clear expected return.

“Just because” isn’t a good enough reason to engage in coaching-based leadership.

When Cylient and the Center for Creative Leadership surveyed 350 senior business leaders earlier this year to get their thoughts on creating coaching cultures (download the white paper here ), the number one challenge for creating a coaching culture the leaders identified was, “The purpose and expectations regarding a coaching culture are unclear,” sited by 60% of respondents. Clearly linking the benefits of engaging in coaching-based leadership to what matters most to the company matters – a lot!

At Cylient, we have worked with our clients to articulate some compelling business reasons for making coaching-based leadership an integral part of how business gets done:

The pace of change continues to accelerate. Leaders need to use coaching approaches to create more agile and innovative cultures that can more easily respond to opportunities and threats in this ever-changing environment.
The business is transitioning from a siloed / product focused sales model to a more collaborative and consultative approach. This requires coaching skills both to make the transition and successfully execute this new relationship-based approach.
Attracting and retaining young, talented works is essential for the lifeblood of the organization. These new workers resonate with coaching-based leadership and have little tolerance for the old command and control regime.
In the emotional aftermath of a merger or acquisition leaders need the capability to engage in more meaningful conversations in order to engage the new organization in creating a unified culture.
Fostering engagement at all levels in the organization to make learning and development a natural part of everyone’s day-to-day interactions, and not an expensive and time consuming event.

If you aren’t clear on the compelling business reasons for your organization to embrace coaching, well, you need to discover what they are. That means engaging in conversation with a cross section of leaders. I offer this piece of advice:

Don’t ask, “So how do you think coaching will benefit the business?” There’s a good chance they won’t have any idea.

Do ask questions such as “What are the three greatest business challenges that you face?” and “What do you feel leaders need to do differently to address these challenges successfully?”

Listen for both the literal answer and the underlying themes that emerge regarding how to attain the desired outcomes. When you listen carefully, you will hear how coaching-based leadership can turn the wheel of change in meaningful ways for your business.

Show and Tell To Create Engagement in Coaching-Based Leadership

2009-11-07T17:20:08-06:00

I recently took a writing class called “Show and Tell” where we explored the differences between “showing” the reader how something was happening – through dialogue and description – versus “telling," which entails simply explaining what happened. Both are valuable ways of sharing a story. It’s how and when you choose to do one versus another that shapes how the story evolves.

I think the same is true when you are trying to engage an organization to embrace a coaching-based approach to leadership. You are, in effect, weaving a story about a possibility. And in doing so, you need to both show people what coaching-based leadership is all about as well as telling them how this new style of leadership can make a positive difference for the organization.

I think we’re all pretty familiar with what telling looks like. We give presentations, we explain, we cajole, we lecture, we write emails, and more often than not, we discover that, despite our best efforts, people often don’t seem to fully grasp what we’re talking about.

That’s were showing comes in. There are several ways to “show” people what coaching-based leadership is all about. You can ask an influential leader to experience individual coaching and then ask him to share his experiences with others. Or you can ask a team or a group of people who are open and curious about coaching to take part in a pilot coaching skills training program and then engage them in enrolling others.

Most importantly, you have to show people what a coaching-based approach to leadership really looks like by role modeling a coaching approach in all that you do. People understand and feel the value of a coaching-based approach to leadership best when they experience it for themselves.

For example, rather than just telling a leader why coaching-based leadership is a good idea, use coaching approaches to explore where this person experiences limitations in her own leadership style and/or observes limitations in the preferred leadership styles of the organization. Try using coaching approaches to shift her perspective so she can see the possibilities that coaching-based leadership offers. In this way she will both “see” and “experience” what coaching is all about. She may not make the connection immediately, but it’s likely she will eventually do so if you use a consistent approach.

Like any good story, the more visceral the reader’s response the more engaged the reader becomes. Engage your organization in creating a culture of coaching by showing and telling them a story in which they want to play a part.

What’s Your Experience?

What has worked in your organization in terms of “showing” and “telling” others about the benefits of coaching-based leadership?

The Foundation of a Coaching Culture: Coaching-Based Leadership

2009-09-11T10:49:34-05:00

Recently I’ve been hearing more about coaching cultures and personally, I think many people are missing the point. There seems to be an assumption that creating a culture of coaching implies that all leaders and managers should essentially open up their own mini-coaching practices, conducting lengthy coaching sessions with all of their employees on a regular basis. This of course, on top of ALL the other things they have to do. It makes me tired just thinking about it!

It takes a lot of training and practice to be able to conduct successful ongoing coaching engagements. A well training professional coach will often have hundreds of hours of specific coach training, in addition to working with a mentor coach (or coaches).

I think we need to learn to walk before we run. To me that means helping leaders learn how to use basic coaching skills in day-to-day conversations. That’s what we call coaching-based leadership.

What is coaching-based leadership?

Coaching-based leadership occurs when people integrate basic coaching approaches into their day-to-day conversations. Coaching approaches such as asking questions to gain insight instead of just gathering information, listening to understand what’s stuck, and appreciating how the other person views the situation are a few of these approaches.

What are the benefits of coaching-based leadership?

Development in the moment – challenges are viewed as opportunities to learn
Agility – leaders who use coaching approaches are better able to adapt to a changing environment and help others do the same
Collaboration – coaching-based leadership creates the space for people to think and act together
Engagement – people are more fully engaged in moving the ball forward and enroll others to join them

I think that coaching-based leadership is the foundation that coaching cultures are built on, and as a result, it’s worth investing in doing this well.

I have a background in gymnastics – both as a competitor and as a coach -- and I understand the need to build solid capabilities over time. As a gymnastics coach, I insisted that kids who were learning basic skills pay attention to their form. A cartwheel may look like a simple thing, but it is the foundation for many other moves in gymnastics. If the cartwheel is sloppy it limits what can come next.

I believe that we will evolve to a place where managers will guide their employees’ development using structures and approaches that professional coaches commonly use. I just don’t think it’s a reasonable place to start. Let’s get the basics down first. That’s coaching-based leadership.

Invitation

2009-09-09T06:28:00-05:00

As the CEO of Cylient I often work with people who are keenly interested in evolving the cultures of their organizations to be more flexible, collaborative, responsive and vital. Places where people feel valued and inspired to contribute their creative energy towards achieving something that makes a difference.

I call these people who seek to create cultural change “imaginal cells.” Imaginal cells are the cells that begin the “rewiring” process that changes the DNA of the caterpillar to transform into a butterfly. The first imaginal cells begin to find each other and clump together, creating a threshold for change. See this link for a more detailed explanation of the role of the imaginal cell in the transformation process: http://www.cadi.ph/Editorials/Editorial_Butterfly_Effect.htm

Imaginal cells can reside in many different places in organizations. They are not necessarily the most senior people or the recognized thought leaders, although they may play those roles. They are the people who see that how we’re working isn’t always working. And they want to do something about it.

Imaginal cells see the possibilities lurking just under the surface of the most persistent problems – divisions that fight instead of cooperating; leaders who play politics instead of taking a stand; or people who just don’t listen to each other so they can’t hear that they’re actually saying the same thing – to name a few.

While others shrug their shoulders and say, “That’s just the way it is,” imaginal cells think, often to themselves, “But it doesn’t have to be that way.” They wonder how to create change.

My intention for this blog is to create a place where imaginal cells can be in dial ogue, so that we can learn from each other and support each other in evolving the cultures of organizations.

I’d love to hear your comments . . . What’s your experience of being an imaginal cell in an organization?