Ignorance   is   bliss,   right?   Yes,   but   not   if  you   are   truly   invested   in   your   own  professional  development.    

People   o=en   shy   away   from   coaching  because   it   can   hurt.   A   coach   asks   you  quesAons  that  you  may  not  ask  yourself,  and   gets   you   to   consider   different  perspecAves   that  may   pose   a   threat   to  your  ego  and  core  beliefs.  A  coach  may  make  you  feel  vulnerable  and  may  bring  to   life   some   aspects   of   yourself   that  could   use   improvement,   even   aspects  that   you   thought   you   had   together   for  all   these   years.   How   dare   this   person  come   into   your   life   and   slowly   and  painfully   scrub   off   all   that   shiny   gliDer  and  wax.  

The   truth   is   that,   the   truth   maDers.  Research  shows  Ame  and  Ame  again  the  value  of  authenAc  leadership;  being  true  to   your   va lues   and   open   and  transparent   in   your   leadership   style.   To  be  authenAc  though,  you  need  to  come  clean  with  yourself.  While  this   is  not  an  easy  process,  having  a  coach  to  help  you  along  the  way  adds  tremendous  value.  

But   who   am   I   to   tell   you   this?   At  Connectwell,   we   pracAce   what   we  preach,   and   we   see   the   effect   in   the  impact  of  our  work  with  our  clients.  Our  company  values  are  reflected  in  part  by  the  commitment  we  make  to  conAnued  p r o f e s s i o n a l   d e v e l o pmen t ;   A  Connectwell   Career   =   ConAnuing  Professional  Development  and  our  own  coach!  We  don’t  need   to  believe   in   the  very   real   power   of   coaching   –   we  benefit  from  it  every  day.  We  only  ask  of  our  clients  along  their  journey  the  same  that  we  would   be  willing   to   commit   to  on  our  own.  

So  what’s  the  big  deal  then?  

A  mirror.  Imagine  if  someone  read  out  loud  the  script  that  plays   inside   your   head   about   yourself   -­‐   the   one   that  doubts   you   and   makes   you   second-­‐guess.   Imagine  someone   replaying   the   unhelpful   and   destrucAve   views  and   opinions   you   have   about   your   team   or   the  department   in   the   other   room.   Go   on,   listen!   Does   it  sound  absurd?  A  coach  can  bring  to  life  these  maladapAve  thoughts   that   influence   your   daily   thinking   and  performance  -­‐  bringing  them  to  the  forefront  so  that  their  validity   and   accuracy   can   be   tested.   ReflecAve  wriAng   is  another   technique   that   allows   you   to   document   your  thoughts,   feelings,  experiences  and  beliefs  and  helps  you  recognise  the  impact  that  they  have  on  your  work.  This  is  especially   important   during   transiAons,   when   your  thoughts,  feelings  and  beliefs  are  especially  malleable  and  influenced  by  your  early  experiences  within  a  company.    

A   perspec+ve-­‐taker.   On   the   same   idea   of   collusion,  learning  through  perspecAve-­‐taking  is  especially  powerful.  It   shows   us   that   we   are   not   the   center   of   the   universe  (gasp!),  and  how  other  people,  policies,  and  outcomes  are  inevitably  affected  by  the  decisions  you  make  and  the  way  you   see   the  world.   One   effecAve   and   common   tool   that  companies   are   using   to   help   people   learn   and   develop  through   perspecAve-­‐taking   is   a   360°   feedback   review.  These  are  especially  powerful  because  they  allow  leaders  to   gain   a   breadth   of   insight   into   their   relaAonships  with  people   at   work   and   the   impact   that   they   have   on  organisaAonal   performance,   from   mulAple   voices   and  lenses.    

A  sounding  board.   Support   vs.  Challenge.   SomeAmes  we  collude  with  ourselves,  or  we  get  trapped   in  our  habitual  way   of   thinking.   This   can   be   dangerous   because   of   its  limiAng   effects   on   possibiliAes   and   its   blinding   effects   to  missed   opportuniAes   and   soluAons   when   making  decisions.   A   coach   can   offer   the   right   balance   between  support  and  challenge,  and  can  act  as  a  compass   to  help  you  idenAfy  and  focus  on  your  goals  and  aspiraAons.    

An   enabler.  Whether  we   admit   it   or   not,   someAmes  we  simply  need  validaAon.   Someone   to   say   that  our  dreams  or   ideas   are   brilliant   and   that   we   have   the   potenAal   to  bring   them   to   life.   It   is   someAmes   hard   to   get   past   our  own   limiAng,  self-­‐defeaAng  beliefs,   the  social  norms,  and  the  negaAve  self-­‐talk.  A  coach  can  help  us  challenge  these  thoughts   and   come   up   with   evidence   to   discount   them  and  to  show  otherwise;  to  show  us  that  we  are  capable.    

Tangible  vs.  Intangible  Values  

At   the   end   of   the   day   the   quesAon  always  comes  down  to  whether  or  not  there   is   a   return   on   investment   with  coaching  iniAaAves.  There  is  plenty  of  quanAtaAve   research   that   supports  the  benefits  of  coaching  in  relaAon  to  v a r i o u s   p e r f o r m a n c e   a n d  development   indicators.   Yes,   the  numbers   are   appealing   and   there   is  something   about   the   percentage  symbol,   %,   that   makes   something  seem  more  valid  than  without  it.    But  as   an   experienced   researcher,   I   feel  tempted   to   draw   aDenAon   to   the  flaws  in  research.  Without  boring  you  with   the   details,   I  will   give   you   some  food   for   thought:   publicaAon   bias,  confirmaAon   bias,   and   confounding  variables.   While   I   do   not   at   all  discount   the   research   that   has   been  done,   I   am   simply   drawing   aDenAon  to   the   truth   that   research   has   its  flaws,   and   focusing   exclusively   on  numbers   is   easy   but   inconclusive.   I’ll  leave   it   at   that,   and   challenge  you   to  appreciate   the   real   value   in   the  immeasurable  and  intangible.    

Therese  Joyce  reflects  on  her  +me  as  Director  at  an  interna+onally  opera+ng  Educa+on  company,  and  the  value  that  working  with  a  coach  had  on  her  leadership  impact:    “I  remember  a  par*cularly  challenging  performance  review  was  coming  up  and  I  was  struggling  with  

how  to  be  clear  and  direct  without  crushing  the  spirits  of  my  employee.    As  the  Director  on  site,  this  was  not  a  conversa*on  I  could  have  with  anyone  internal  to  the  organisa*on  and  having  a  coach  allowed  me  to  think  aloud,  and  to  explain  my  concerns.    The  exper*se  with  which  the  coach  encouraged  me  to  speak  my  mind,  and  then  reflected  my  statements,  enabled  me  to  see  that  the  solu*on  was  already  there  in  front  of  me.      The  opportunity  to  clearly  ar*culate  what  I  wanted,  and  needed,  to  say,  along  with  my  reasons  for  the  decision  (this  employee  was  not  receiving  the  promo*on  they  so  dearly  

wanted),  helped  me  to  become  more  precise  in  my  message,  and  to  see  that  this  “bad”  news,  was  also  important,  honest,  and  fair.”  

How   do   you  measure   the   impact   of   someone’s   first  100   days   on   the   job   who   has   been   coached,   and  compare   it   to   if   he/she   hadn’t   been   coached?  Well,  you  can’t.  However,  as  a  mirror,  a  perspecAve-­‐taker,  a  sounding  board,  and  an  enabler,  (at  the  very  least),  it   is   easy   to   argue   that   coaching   would   have  empowered   and   maximised   the   output   of   potenAal  during  this  transiAon.  Similarly,  how  do  you  measure  the   impact  that  an  enhanced   leadership  style  has  on  its  people?  Maybe  it  is  faith,  a  gut  feeling,  or  insAncts.  Whatever   it   is,   leaders   and   stakeholders   are   o=en  reluctant   to   buying   it.   Maybe   it   is   worth   taking   a  chance  or  believing  in  the  power  of  the  human  spirit  that   is  more  powerful   than  a  staAsAcal  package.  The  ROI  of  coaching  is  far  greater  than  what  the  numbers  tell  us.    

Tiffany  Missiha  July  2013