Executive Coaching - A Guide For The HR Professional.pdf

100 EXECUTIVE COACHING
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then a second round of assessment may be used for comparison
between Time 1 and Time 2. This is recommended only if there has
been sufficient time between the first and second data-collection
efforts. Generally, a minimum of a six-month timeframe is needed
to lapse between the first and second data collection in order for the
client to initiate new behaviors and for those behaviors to actually
be noticed by others.
Sometimes, qualitative methods, such as interviews, are sufficient
to measure changes. These are especially effective if the interviews
were also completed initially, so comparisons could be made
between the themes emerging at Time 1 and Time 2.
Another source of evaluation of the impact of coaching is the
action plan. If an action plan had been created as one of the steps
in the coaching process, then the evaluation could center on how
the goals in the action plan were completed.
What Coaches Don’t Do
This next section really shouldn’t be necessary, but unfortunately
once in a while coaches are asked—explicitly or covertly—to take
actions that are out of their proper domain. Sometimes the organization
has a strong need for related services. Since the coach is
already familiar with the issues in the organization and has established
a level of comfort with others, there may be the tendency to
ask the coach to do other work that is not appropriate to the coach’s
role or area of expertise. Some of this other work may involve the
areas of supervision and employee selection.
Supervision
As we explained in Chapter 7, one of the most important roles of a
boss is to create the case for behavior change. It is the task of the boss
to tell the client what he or she needs to do differently in order to
meet expectations. This is a supervisory task. The coach has no legitimacy
on this matter, except as a messenger, which is an awkward role
to be in. It is the boss who creates the case for change. The coach