Myths of Executive Coaching II
Continuing with the idea of “debunking” myths about executive coaching that we started in the previous post , I would like to continue clarifying some false ideas and misconceptions regarding the myths of executive coaching.
On this occasion, I once again have the collaboration of great professionals in the exercise of executive coaching. I would like to thank all of them again for their generous participation in helping to clarify concepts around this profession that unites us.
Myths of Executive Coaching: Part Two
Myth 1: Coaching is the solution before firing someone
Marta Williams
Marta Williams, (CEO and founder of Williams and Associates and Accredited Master Coach of Marshall Goldsmith), shares the following reflection:
I confess that I learned my lesson about this the hard way. A company asked me to be someone’s coach, and I accepted. The case was not easy, but we were doing well, very well. Until one day I showed up for my session with him, and they told me at the reception: “You don’t work here since Monday.”
I realized that I had been chosen so that I could say that they had “done everything – even paying for a Coach!” But the decision to fire him had been made long before the coaching process began.
From then on, I learned to openly ask the company, “Are you thinking about firing you?” before making my decision. If they answered yes, she could be pretty sure that coaching was an alibi and an excuse to eventually fire the coachee.
Juan Carlos Jiménez Remedios
Juan Carlos Jiménez Remedios, (Psychologist, Coach and member of the Executive Committee of Aecop Catalonia and Certifier in the Professional Accreditation Commission of Aecop), tells us: When a conflict, for whatever reasons, has evolved to the point of proposing the dismissal of an employee, it is difficult for coaching to be the solution.
It is in the interest of the “dismissing” party in these cases to be very honest with itself and to be very clear that this so-called “solution” can be bread for today and hunger for tomorrow. Are you resorting to coaching like a hot cloth because you don’t dare to take more drastic or traumatic measures if they are really necessary?
And the coach who is faced with a demand of this nature (which is often masked), should be very careful and focus more on helping the “hiring” client in his discernment, than falling into the immediate approach of sitting down with the coachee: is it being done unintentionally, complicit in a maneuver of dubious ethics, risking putting coaching at the service of interests that are not its own?
Myth 2: I have to be clear about hiring a coach
Nevena Vujosevic
Nevena Vujosevic, (Executive Coach, Business Strategist + Speaker), believes that since coaching processes are still quite unknown in the general market, many people and organizations feel pressured to have their ideas, goals, and needs clear before starting a coaching process.
But this should be quite the opposite, because any coaching process, even sometimes before it begins, should clarify and confirm the circumstances, objectives and other important factors to ensure that the program that is launched, both with an individual and a team or an organization as a whole, is really suitable to achieve correct and desired results.
In fact, this is a key first value and benefit of an effective coaching process.
Unexpected factors
Also, even if a person or organization thinks they have everything clear, unexpected factors will inevitably arise and there are many simple and well-designed ways, qualitative and quantitative, that will offer us important insights and clarifications to ensure that the proposed coaching program will be truly designed to achieve the success that is sought.
A fundamental characteristic of a wise professional, both in coaching and in any profession, is to have the security, ability and commitment to seek and find out the real needs and therefore, to be able to offer truly effective and positive solutions.
Myth 3: The Coach is an expert who advises you and trains you on what you need to improve
Enrique Fuentes
Enrique Fuentes, (expert in leadership and talent management), tells us the following: Many people believe that the coach is an expert in certain areas and come to a coaching process looking for solutions, tools and information that help them solve the challenges and problems of their contexts without knowing that this process has nothing to do with the transfer of knowledge or learning from the coach to the coachee (coach’s client).
In reality, coaching is a process of accompaniment where the coach, through questions, challenges and makes the coachee reflect so that he is the one who becomes aware of some aspects of his reality and connects with the responsibility of doing everything he is not doing to achieve his goals and objectives.
If you are looking for solutions or tools, it is better to take specific training courses or in any case go through a mentoring process where training, advice and reflections are combined with coaching tools.
Jesús Martínez Bustos
For his part, Jesús Martínez Bustos, (Director Focus Inside and President of Aecop Catalonia), thinks the following: perhaps it has to do with the possible translation from English of the term “Coach” as “coach” or with the apparently urgent need that our society seems to have to find simple, fast and effective recipes for any type of problem, or with some other aspect, But the truth is that from my perception, one of the most misguided myths about the figure of the coach is that he is an expert who advises and trains you in those aspects that you need to improve.
In my professional experience in the practice of coaching , which is approximately 15 years, I have observed that paradoxically, those processes that have provided more value for the person who has received them, have been those in which I had less knowledge of their field of activity.
Coach look
Having a high level of expertise in the field of coachee can make us fall into the temptation of trying to interpret what the coachee tells us, propose solutions from our paradigm and suggest what they should do from our experience, aspects that would clearly distance us from the “coach gaze“.
A very different aspect is the importance that some managers may attribute to their Executive Coach having had managerial experience, but that is a different aspect.
Myth 4: It is interesting to give feedback to the company on the evolution of the person who is carrying out the coaching process
Marta Williams
Marta Williams, (CEO and founder of Williams and Associates and Marshall Goldsmith Accredited Master Coach) comments that many companies ask for something in writing during or at the end of a coaching process.
In my opinion, delivering something written or verbal about the process is clearly against coaching ethics in almost all cases. If you work as a professional coach you have to follow important codes of behavior.
One of the most important is the confidentiality of the process. The relationship between Coach and Coachee is complex and sometimes very deep. Confidentiality is the foundation, as every individual has the right to privacy. Such confidentiality is also the basis of trust between the two. Trust is fragile, and once broken it is difficult, or even impossible, to rebuild.
If they ask me for something in writing or verbally about the coachee, I answer that it is not possible. If they want to know something about the development of the coaching process, they should ask the coachee, not the coach.
Executive Coaching Myths II Conclusion
And you, what comments or reflections would you like to send us in relation to these ideas?
