Executive Coaching - A Guide For The HR Professional.pdf

144 EXECUTIVE COACHING
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a coach and a hirer of coaches. Early on, I was an advocate
for coaching in several environments and quite successfully used
coaching to help individuals work through developmental moments.
Sometimes the coaching was created by a crisis . . . sometimes the
coaching was to prepare someone for greater responsibility.
As a result, I came to know more than one hundred executive
coaches in the U.S. and Europe . . . understanding their differing
philosophies, approaches, tools, and relationship management skills.
In my senior HR role, it was often my task to play “matchmaker”
between coach and coachee, making my best judgment about best
fit vis-à-vis temperament, style, skills, and desired outcomes. As with
all human ventures, I experienced both success and failure in those
matches. I generally have become quite cynical about the world of
coaches. Virtually anyone can and is hanging out a shingle as some
kind of coach.
How was the decision made to use a particular coach?
Throughout my professional life, I have always maintained a personal
board of directors. This is a small group of very smart and effective
people to whom I turn for a sanity check on my life plans. The coach
I selected has been on my personal board for twenty years. He is
organizationally savvy, knows me well, has high standards, insists on
intellectual integrity, and is not afraid to push me into uncomfortable/
developmental spaces.
What feelings were most clear to you as you started the
coaching process and as time went on?
I knew that I was going to have to temper my need for quick analysis
and a life-long habit of being so goal-directed that I would race to
find the problem to be fixed. I know that I had to become comfortable
with the ambiguity of the journey. My coach helped me do that
by keeping me focused on the goals of coaching, not the specific
outcomes.