This article was written by LRI Principal,Dennis Volpe, a certified professional coach, retired military officer, and author who specializes in supporting proven mid-level leaders, small business owners, and entrepreneurs to create the clarity, alignment, and structure necessary to thrive in new and challenging environments.
Coaching is about unlocking human performance – nothing more, nothing less.Coaching can take place anywhere - on a baseball field, in a board room, on a rugby pitch, on a manufacturing floor, at a kitchen table, in a Zoom room, or on a phone call.The key to any effective coaching engagement is the emphasis on and need for behavior change and increased human performance.
There is both an art and science to coaching and it is important to understand the difference between effective and ineffective coaching.Let’s face it, there are a lot of coaches out there – some are good at what they do and how they do it . . . and some are not.How can one know the difference between effective and ineffective coaching?The intent of this article is to describe the basic parts of any coaching engagement and provide some examples of what ineffective coaching looks like.
There are three basic parts to any coaching engagement – Context (What is Happening), Content (What Really Matters), and Conduct (What Needs to Happen).As a result, there are three basic outcomes one can expect from an effective coaching engagement – clarity, alignment, and performance.Clarity provides the opportunity for increased Focus.Alignment provides the opportunity for increased Engagement.Performance provides the opportunity for Progress toward defined goals and objectives.
So, what does ineffective coaching look like in action?
1.Undefined Destinations:Defining success is the most important step in the coaching process.A lack of defined success makes it tough to see and appreciate the coaching space, “the gap”, between one’s current reality and one’s desired end state.Defining success provides direction and dictates the playing field as well as the obstacles and challenges that may exist.Defining an objective establishes the roadmap for us to keep track of our progress and provides the space for us to grow, develop, and perform.
2.Unfocused Effort:Even with defined success, performance related goals need clarity, alignment, and structure.As much as we hate to admit it, we have a finite amount of energy, effort, attention, and time.Ineffective coaching fails to align those finite resources with one’s definition of success, values, and current priorities.In Marshall Goldsmith’s new book,The Earned Life,he talks about the “Triple A’s”- Action (what we do), Ambition (what we want to achieve), and Aspiration (what we want to be become).He further describes Ambition as the “greatest common denominator among successful people.”The key components of that common denominator of success - defined, timebound, and measurable goals.
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3.Problem Focused:Problem solving is what consultants do – I know because I am one and I have also confused it with coaching at times.Problem solving has its place but when someone is looking for coaching there is a need for greater awareness and exploration.The International Coaching Federation (ICF)defines coaching “as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”When we are in the leadership arena, we often need support to take a step (or two) back to gain perspective so we can make better, more informed decisions.That is what effective coaches do . . . they empower us to create the time and space necessary to see the bigger picture – to see the levers that need to be pulled and the areas of improvement.
4.Level One Listening:Listening, truly listening to what is said and what is not being said, is one of the basic competencies of effective coaching.Ineffective coaching starts with the inability to listen at a level two or above.In a recent Forbes article,Leveling Up Your Listening: Whole-Body Listening, the author discusses the three levels of listening and the positive impact active listening and exploration can have on client engagement and trust.Level One or Internal Listening is when our awareness is focused inward and is filled with our own thoughts, feelings, assumptions, judgments, and conclusions.Level Two or Focused Listening is when all of our awareness is intently on the other person, our self-talk disappears, and we are able see and hear what is both said and unsaid.Level Three or Global Listening is when we can engage all of our senses and our intuition to receive information from our environment as well as our interactions to positively influence others.Listening can be a lost art when it is not practiced, appreciated, and understood.
5.One-Sided Accountability:Leadership coaches cannot expect others to lead well when they are unable to effectively lead themselves.A Mental Toughness coach cannot expect others to be mentally tough when they lack grit and perseverance.An EQ coach cannot expect others to expand their emotional intelligence when they lack self-awareness and self-management skills.In his book,Unleashed:The Leader as Coach, Gregg Thompson expands the definition of accountability to include “the authority to act” as well as discusses the two key roles coaches have regarding accountability - the need to model it in one’s life and the need to expect it from others.As professional coaches, we have an obligation, to our profession and to those we serve, to demonstrate a high level of accountability in our own lives if we expect the same from those we work with.
Coaching is both an art and a science.Coaching is about creating time and space to incorporate a sense of purpose, defined and measurable goal setting, and accountability in those we serve.The best place to start is to listen and to be people focused.
Dennis Volpeis a Principal Leadership Consultant and Executive Performance Coach with theLeadership Research Institute.He specializes in Emotional Intelligence, Resilience, Team Effectiveness, and Decision-Making.He supports proven mid-level Executives, small business owners, and entrepreneurs.He guides them to the clarity, alignment, and structure necessary to thrive in newand challenging environments.
