Executive Coaching - A Guide For The HR Professional.pdf

What Is the Boss’s Role? 91
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belief that coaching is the appropriate way to go forward. You must
hope that the boss also has a strong desire to see this improvement
spread and have a positive effect on the functioning of a larger
team, whether it is the client’s direct reports, the client’s peer group,
or the boss’s team as a whole.
Identifying Performance Expectations
From his or her position in the organization, the boss’s perspective
and insights are very valuable in providing the client with an understanding
of what is required to be successful. The boss may have had
discussions with the client that have led up to the decision to seek
coaching. Certainly, at the point at which the client is ready to
begin the coaching engagement, the boss’s role in helping to define
the standards for good performance is critical.
The boss can help to identify the client’s performance expectations
both for near- and long-term success. Using his or her knowledge
of the strategic short-term and long-term goals of the business
unit, the boss can engage in discussions with the client and coach
to assist them in understanding these goals at a variety of levels.
• First, merely knowing and being able to define the business
unit goals improves clarity of mission.
• At a second level, the client can obtain a view of how
his or her role fits into the overall mission of the organization.
• Third, the client and the coach can define the behaviors
needed for the successful attainment of the
business goals. In light of the client’s pattern of
strengths and challenge areas and the strategic goals
required by the organization, the coach and the client
can focus on those behaviors that will have the greatest
impact on success. This process occurs more easily if