Executive Coaching - A Guide For The HR Professional.pdf

138 EXECUTIVE COACHING
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Before I started the coaching I was not sure what to expect.
Would a coach see things I did not see? How would he advise me
on what I should do to be more effective? Would he know enough
about the issues I faced to help guide me in making things better?
I began our relationship by using my coach as a sounding board
for everything I had questions about: issues I was having with my
peers on the executive committee, issues with people who worked
for me, issues with building or revamping parts of my organization,
et cetera. During our first few meetings my coach asked me many
questions so he could learn about my history, my style, my issues,
my responsibilities, and me.
Over time, my coach came to understand my company’s organizational
issues and politics. This was critical, as the organization
seemed to be in a constant state of flux. For our first three years
together, I had a new set of responsibilities each year, and the
makeup of the senior management team, of which I was a member,
had about 30 percent turnover. It was a very volatile environment
internally. This made it difficult to focus on my core responsibilities,
which included being responsible for sales as well as new product
development in certain market segments. There always seemed to
be major organizational issues to contend with, and having a coach
at my side was invaluable in dealing with them.
One of the first things I realized about a coaching relationship was
that a coach helps people with similar issues no matter what job they
might have. Coaching is not about helping with the “results” aspects
of a job; it is about the “management” aspects of a job. A coach can
help anyone with being a better manager, learning to communicate
more effectively, or dealing with difficult situations. My coach helped
me with various parts of my job as it related to leading, organizing,
and managing a business unit. He did not help me with my role of
generating revenue, new products, et cetera.
In retrospect, one of the most interesting aspects of our relationship
is that the focus of my coach was not about helping me with
what decisions I made; it was about the process of getting to the