Executive Coaching - A Guide For The HR Professional.pdf

206 EXECUTIVE COACHING
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you accept the ownership and responsibility for making a success of
the coaching effort. The coach can only be a catalyst—you have to
make it happen.
This is obvious, but not easy. Why is it difficult? For the same
kinds of reasons that diets, good health habits, and New Year’s resolutions
are difficult. Just because it makes sense doesn’t mean we’ll
do things that way. We’re accustomed to putting blame on other
people, procrastinating, expecting others to change first, even being
lazy. Recall the corny old joke that goes “How many people does it
take to change a light bulb? Only one, but the bulb really has to
want to change.” It’s really not so funny when we think about all
the good intentions we’ve had that went nowhere, and not for good
reasons at all.
So what can you do to overcome this tendency? A few hints: Go
public with your planned changes—it makes it harder to backslide.
Enlist the support of others; ask for their active support. Keep a log
or diary of efforts and successes. Reward yourself when things go
according to plan.
The Business Relationship
The relationship between you and your coach is a business relationship:
you and/or your organization purchases professional services
from the coach to help both you and the sponsoring
organization. There are likely to be both short- and long-term business
benefits.
The outcome of the coaching benefits many others beyond the
individual who receives the coaching, including direct reports,
peers, supervisors, and anyone else who may be affected by a
strengthening of leadership in one part of the organization. A ripple
effect of good things can be created when the changes in behavior
of one individual are perceived by others in the organization.
Executive Coaching. Copyright © 2005 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Reproduced by
permission of Pfeiffer, an Imprint of Wiley. www.pfeiffer.com