News & Views

 By Mohan Sikka - The recent Daring to Lead survey of non-profit leadership reveals some interesting facts about the use and efficacy of coaching as a professional development strategy. While Executive Coaching has the highest effectiveness rating amongst a range of strategies, it also appears to be underutilized -- only 10% percent of national leaders were currently working with an executive coach. In the New York region the utilization was even lower, compared to, say, workshops and conferences, which were attended by almost 90% of leaders.

We at CRE have had a robust coaching practice for a number of years. While the aggregate number of non-profit executives in coaching may be small at any time, the demand for our coaching services is growing. Executives come to us for assistance with everything from selling their vision internally to getting better alignment within their program team, from dealing with a challenging board chair to creating an organizational culture of results and accountability.

Sometimes, however, executives ask for coaching not for themselves, but to "fix" problem staff. That is, they come with the expectation that we can coach away an intractable supervision or performance situation. Such requests have helped us clarify for ourselves, and for the groups we work with, what coaching can and can't accomplish:

• In our experience, coaching is a great way to have hands-on trusted support while you, the leader, try new behaviors and practices
• A coach can provide valuable, candid reflection about your strengths and challenges as a leader, and most importantly, create a space for self-reflection
• A coach can be a partner in dealing with complex situations and in thinking through strategy -- as long as you, the leader, are clear that you still are the "mover" and implementer

Sadly,

• Coaching seldom works as a substitute for supervision. We can coach your direct report around trying new skills and behaviors, but ultimate support and accountability rests with you as the supervisor. This is why we do not take coaching assignments without the intensive involvement of the supervisor.
• Coaching doesn't work if you're afraid of eating humble pie. To extend the culinary metaphor, if you want to learn to cook Thai food, you can read books, go to a class, and talk to a master chef, but you'll never make progress on your masalman curry until you actually try to make it and fail a few times. Sharing best practices, or talking through situations with your coach -- these are necessary, but ultimately the easy parts. Real change comes from experimentation, from trying something new at the workplace, even if modest; and learning often comes from failure.
• Coaching requires real-time data, which involves risk. The risk to ask other people for feedback. The risk of asking other people for feedback. The risk of frankly assessing how much time and energy you spend on things that really don't affect your mission or impact.

The good news is that coaching can be a powerful intervention if you are ready -- ready to face your own strengths as a leader, ready to acknowledge your challenges, and ready to work through and understand what's getting in the way of your organization being as powerful as it could be. Coaching can be a mirror to help you see if you yourself are part of that hindrance.

Visit the Leadership Offerings section of our website for more information on CRE's Coaching services.

Links to previous posts in the Daring to Lead series:
Succession Planning and Performance Evaluations: Two Sides of the Same Coin
What's An ED to Do?
What Works in Leadership Development
Three Key Issues in Succession Planning
One Size Does Not Fit All Boards
A Bone To Pick About Government Contracting
Daring To Lead: A National Study on Executive Leadership

Read the Daring to Lead main report, Brief 1: Leading Through a Recession, Brief 2: Inside the Executive Director Job and Brief 3: The Board Paradox.

Click here for more information about the New York City respondents and interesting facts about their Daring to Lead responses.