forty things every manager should know about coaching

Journal ofManagementDevelopment17,2

142

Forty things every managershould know about coaching

John O. BurdettOrxestra Consulting, Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada

Pele, Gretzky, Nicklaus, Graf, Coe: the names fall easily from the tongue, theirsuccess gained in the cauldron of competition on a world stage. Some, like Pele,come to the fore as the jewel in a magnificent team. Others such as Nicklaus andGraf climb the champion’s platform as solo performers.

Apart from sheer talent, all share common elements of success: a desire to bethe best, a belief in their own ability and, of course, hard work. They all shareyet one more characteristic regardless of their sport: none of them did it on theirown.

Sports, at the highest level, offers a comparison from which those in businesshave been slow to learn. Look behind any successful athlete and you will findthe quality of performance is matched by excellence of the system thatproduced the results. In today’s competitive world of sports, no athlete couldexpect to make it to the top without a world-class coach supported, in turn, bya world-class organization.

If this seems to be far detached from the world of commerce, think again.Today’s business is played on an international stage; it is unbelievablycompetitive, and victory is garnered by those with the courage to pushthemselves to the very edge of their capability. And like world-class sports thewafer thin difference between winning and losing has far more to do with theheart than it does the head.

Coaching remains the secret weapon of many outstanding organizations.There is only so much that a business can productively do by way of down-sizing, restructuring, focusing on the core business and the like. Ultimately, itcomes down to people – building winning teams.

It is difficult even for those on the cutting edge of technology to appreciatehow quickly the world is changing. As a species we are oriented andprogrammed to respond to major shifts or life-threatening events.Discontinuities, however, when masked by rapid-fire incremental changesoccurring over a long period of time, lose much of their emotional impact. Fewof us, for example, become aware that our skills have become redundant untilwe are forced to test the currency of our capabilities in the job market.Organizations, similarly, often ill appreciate how tentative their hold on amarket is, until, that is, a competitor changes the value-creation equation.

The four-minute mile provides evidence of one of the important differencesan outstanding coach can make to performance. When Roger Bannister ranthree minutes 59.4 seconds on a blustery day at Oxford in 1954 he was doingmore than breaking records: he was redefining what was believed to be

Journal of ManagementDevelopment, Vol. 17 No. 2, 1998,pp. 142-152, © MCB UniversityPress, 0262-1711

Forty thingsevery manager

should knowabout coaching

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possible. Breaking four minutes was perceived, by not a few medical experts,as beyond human capability. What is informative about Bannister’s feat isthat following his breaking through the emotional barrier of four minutes,the sub-four minute mile was to become commonplace. Even the mostpessimistic suggestions of that post-Second World War era as to how fastman could run, however, were a far cry from a statement made in 1903 byHarry Andrews, the British Olympic coach. Accepted as dogma at the time,Andrews said that, “The mile record is four minutes 12.75 seconds. Thisrecord will never be broken.” For those that listened, his words were, ofcourse, prophetically true.

Like Bannister, the successful organizations of tomorrow will be those thatdescribe what is possible, not on presumptions drawn out of past practice, butas being limited only by the reach of their own imagination.

Underlying this heightened level of self-confidence is an opportunity to pushdecision making as close to the customer as possible. This can only be achievedif the organization is prepared to disassemble unnecessary hierarchy andredefine the role fulfilled by managers at every level in the business. The role ofCOP (coerce, organize, punish) must give way to one best defined asCHEERleader (challenge, empower, encourage, reinforce), a transition that isultimately dependent upon the ability of those in key leadership roles to coach(see Figure 1).

There is something else to consider. The traditional hierarchical organizationwas built around the assumption that the employee was secondary to thetechnology – he/she was, at best, an extension to the machine. Investment in

Figure 1.The evolving role of

the team leader

BOSS FACILITATOR

ADVISOR COACH

employee works effectivelywithin defined guidelines

employee has to bepushed to act

Employee/teammakes wide

sweeping decisionsand ask for adviceand guidance when

needed

employee/teamdecision makingwidens and the

issues can impactthe total business

employee makesdecisions that

impact the naturalwork team

employee expectsothers to make the

decision but isprepared to give input

into the decision


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people was, as a result, factored in as a means to optimize output. When ideasdominate and where knowledge is the point of differentiation, human capitalbecomes not only an organization’s most valuable resource, but, in manyrespects, its only resource. Failure to grow that resource, failure to invest inprocesses such as coaching, is no less damaging than a traditional assemblyplant habitually leaving its tooling open to the elements.

For most managers coaching is either something they do well or an activityto be avoided at all cost. Even for the former, however, the basis of theircoaching success is difficult, and often impossible, to explain to a third party.What follows are 40 critical issues – both philosophical and practical – that,from the author’s observations, define that elusive, subtle, yet all-so-importantcharacteristic of tomorrow’s leadership: coaching.

(1) Coaching is, exclusively, a process focusing on enhanced performance.Coaching should not be confused with counselling or mentoring. Theformer addresses the employee’s emotional state. The latter is a meanswhereby a seasoned colleague – often at a more senior level – shareshis/her experience with a view to “fast track” the career growth of a highperformance employee.

(2) The emotional genesis of the coaching process must be the employee’sneeds – not those of the coach. To be a master coach demands a level ofmaturity, and a willingness to submerge ego, which few managersattain. Those who enjoy the greatest degree of success as a coach seecoaching as a privilege and not an onerous task.

(3) Coaching is a deep-rooted managerial philosophy, not a periodicactivity. As such, coaching is a more evolved form of leadership thanfacilitation. The difference, in turn, is most easily understood byobserving the employee’s willingness, capability, and opportunity tomake decisions.

(4) Any coaching agenda must reflect a robust appreciation of the context,including: the organization’s mission, strategic intent, beliefs, andvalues. Strategic intent means knowing where and how the enterprisecreates value for its customers – both now and in the future.

(5) The (essential) tools the coach has to work with are: trust, mutualrespect, a sense of common purpose, integrity, openness, and honesty.

(6) Meaningful coaching and focus are synonymous. Successful outcomesfrom the coaching discussion increase where the agenda for change islimited to one aspect of behaviour at a time.

(7) Any durable coaching process must contain three elements: managingexpectations (the game plan), monitoring performance (watching theplay), and giving feedback (time out). Expectations must be agreedupon both in output terms and in terms of the behaviours demanded.



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The criteria for success must be specific, measurable, attainable,realistic, and time bounded (see Figure 2).

(8) The first step in the coaching relationship is for the coach to sharehis/her vision of what future success looks like. Before the coach canbuild commitment and enthusiasm around the vision, however, fourfundamental building blocks must be in place:

• The coach has to have a fully formed future picture of successfulperformance.

• The picture must be specific enough for the coach to be able tocompare real-time behaviour with his/her vision and from thecomparison orchestrate insightful and appropriate interventions.

• The coach must through his/her overt behaviour present anemotional commitment to the enunciated vision.

• The coach must present the vision using language, example andmetaphor drawn from, and congruent with, the employee’s back-ground, knowledge, and experience.

(9) If the coach lacks a clear picture of future success, or if the coach doesnot buy into the defined agenda, these issues must be resolved beforeany meaningful coaching can take place.

Figure 2

CONTEXT1.GAMEPLAN

SHARED VISIONVALUES

COMPETENCIESAGREED

STRETCH GOALS

DECISION MAKINGTACTICS AGREED

OUTPUTS DEFINED INS.M.A.R.T. TERMS

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS

3.TIMEOUT

FEEDBACK

REFLECTIVE OFINDIVIDUAL’SLEARNING STYLE

TIMELYAFFIRMING

HONEST

SPECIFIC

MULTIPLE INPUT

S.T.R.E.T.C.H.

A FOCUS ON THESPECIFIC BEHAVIOURWHERE THE EMPLOYEECAN MAKE THEGREATEST DIFFERENCE

UNFORESEENSITUATIONS,

EVENTS

CUSTOMER

COACH

MONITORING PERFORMANCEINDIVIDUAL TEAM

2.FOLLOWINGTHE PLAY

COACHING

ORXESTRA © 1995 JOHN O. BURDETT


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(10) Unless the coach and the employee can define specifically whatbehaviour should change, nothing changes. Similarly, unless the coachknows what the behaviour he/she is looking for actually looks like, it ishighly unlikely she/he will recognize it or, more to the point, be aware ofits absence. A process to define the behaviours that the coach andemployee should focus on encompasses:

• Identifying those parts of the role where the employee makes thegreatest contribution (key results areas).

• Defining specifically the behaviour that differentiates theoutstanding employee from middle-of-the-road performers(competencies).

• Dialogue, enhanced self-awareness, and agreement with theemployee regarding the behaviour involved (see Figure 3).

(11) In a world marked by speed of action, ambiguity, and a need forinnovation, what guides acceptable behaviour is a shared set of values,both personal and organizational. If the coach’s own behaviour is notcongruent with the espoused values coaching becomes a manipulativeprocess, dependent ultimately upon coercion.

(12) The single most important question the coach can ask (and must act on)is: What can I do differently? When the coach poses this question to the

Figure 3.Establishing thecoaching agenda

(DEFINE A DIMENSION OF JOBPERFORMANCE THAT THE EMPLOYEE

CAN GET HIS/HER ARMS AROUND.DON’T BE TOO AMBITIOUS.)

(MOVE AWAY FROM THEPROBLEM, OR

OPPORTUNITY. MOVE THEEMPLOYEE TO A

SUCCESSFUL OUTCOME.ENCOURAGE THE

EMPLOYEE TO EXPLOREAND “LIVE” THE SUCCESS)

2. THROUGH DIALOGUE,AGREE ON THE SINGLE

MOST IMPORTANT ASPECTOF THE EMPLOYEE’S

OVERALL CONTRIBUTIONWHERE SOME DEGREE OFCHANGE WOULD HAVE THEGREATEST IMPACT ON THE

AGREED TARGETS.

3. HAVE THE EMPLOYEECREATE A VISUAL

SCENARIO OF WHATFUTURE SUCCESS LOOKS,AND FEELS, LIKE. HELP THEEMPLOYEE TO MAKE THE

IMAGERY AS VIVID ASPOSSIBLE.

4. THROUGH DIALOGUE HAVETHE EMPLOYEE OUTLINE WHATSTANDS IN THE WAY OF HIM/HER

ACHIEVING THAT SUCCESS.EXPLORE TWO KEY QUESTIONS:

(1) HOW DO WE REMOVE THEBARRIERS THAT STAND IN THEWAY OF SUCCESS? (2) IF YOUWERE OBSERVING YOURSELF

WHAT YOU ADVISE “YOURSELF”TO DO DIFFERENTLY?

5. AGREE ON A COACHINGAGENDA. DEFINE AS

SPECIFICALLY AS POSSIBLETHE BEHAVIOR INVOLVED.AGREE ON HOW SUCCESS

WILL BE MEASURED.

1. DRAWING ON AGREEMENTREGARDING THE OVERALL VISION.KEY RESULT AREAS, GOALS, AND

THE COMPETENCIES FOR THEROLE, IDENTIFY, JOINTLY, AREAS

OF PERFORMANCE OPPORTUNITY.

(BY LOOKING FROM THE OUTSIDE-INTHE EMPLOYEE SHEDS MANY OF

HIS/HER SELF-LIMITINGASSUMPTIONS.)

ORXESTRA JOHN O. BURDETT



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employee the coaching experience becomes a shared journey of learningand self-discovery.

(13) Not all employees can be or want to be coached. The most successfulcoaching is experienced where the employee is already operating at anacceptable level of performance and where the coaching agenda aims todeliver 110 per cent. Coaching is about drawing out latent potential andexpanding/building on an employee’s sense of flow, not creating newpeople.

(14) An early question for the coach is to explore whether this is a “can’t doproblem” or a “won’t do” problem. Won’t do issues, in that theyinvariably reflect deep-rooted attitude problems, are best addressedthrough counselling.

(15) Time, place, and interpersonal rapport are variables that significantlyimpact the effectiveness of feedback. For example, where the coachingfocuses on an inappropriate emotional dimension of behaviour thecoaching intervention should aim to provide self-insight during orimmediately after the limiting behaviour occurs.

(16) In that an underlying theme of all successful coaching actions isheightened employee self-insight, many of the best opportunities forcoaching happen by accident. In such instances, because the interven-tion is unplanned and the coaching spontaneous, the feedback is oftenhighly impactful.

(17) Beginnings start with endings. For that reason a successful coachingagenda should encompass what it is the employee will stop doing and/orwhat limiting mind sets or emotional behaviour the employee needs tolet go of or reframe.

(18) In that at least half of all communication is non-verbal, an importantdimension of coaching success is that which the coach believes, andnon-verbally communicates, is possible. Similarly, what the coach doesbefore, and after, the coaching discussion is far more important thananything he/she might say during it.

(19) For the inexperienced coach in particular, and especially where theemployee is experiencing performance difficulties, feedback is morelikely to have a positive outcome if the dialogue follows a simple butrobust (stretch) framework (see Figure 4).

(20) The coach should acknowledge that the feedback is – “as the coach seesit.” The coach should, in addition, give the employee permission todisagree. To support this, “You should” language is better framed as “Ithink” language.

(21) It is important that early on in the coaching relationship ownership ofthe problem or opportunity passes to the employee. For this reasonlanguage such as, “here is what I would like you to do,” should be


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Figure 4.The STRETCHdiscussion

et the context. Engage the employee in dialogueregarding the current situation. Question, to draw outunderstanding. Define the problem or opportunity.Where the employee is unaware of the difficulty outlineyour perception.

S

ransfer the problem/opportunity to the employee.Give evidence of the opportunity/problem. Be specific.Don’t dwell on the negative. Don’t, however, be afraidto make a recommendation. Draw out the employee’spoint of view. Avoid words such as “try”, and/or“attempt”.

T

evisit what outstanding performance looks like.Be future oriented. Have the employee paint a workpicture of a future based scenario where he/she isacting out the new behavior. Ask questions to completethe details in the picture. Help the employee experienceat an emotional level how he/she would feel if theywere operating at that level of performance.

R

stablish what’s in it for the employee.With some employees it is also important toemphasize the consequences of notchanging.

E

ake time to agree on specifically what willchange. Focus on manageable element ofbehavior. Check for overt and covert buy-in.Build on the employee’s strengths. Reflectlearning style.

T

atch ‘em doing it right.C

ave time set aside to celebrate success.H

ORXESTRA © 1995 JOHN O. BURDETT



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replaced by, “how would you like to address this?”. Assumptions ofdeeply committed self-management from an employee with low self-esteem, however, is akin to building a house on quicksand.

(22) Even where the focus is praise, one of the most performance limitingthings a coach can do is to use “meta language”: feedback lacking inspecificity.

(23) The coach should bear in mind that all learning starts with a question.One insightful question is worth many hours of telling the employeehow to! The coach, however, should avoid posing as a questionsomething that, it is apparent, he/she already has the answer to orknows how to address. Failure to stick to that simple rubric will makethe coach appear manipulative and lacking in integrity.

(24) The coach should not be reticent in giving what he/she believes to bepossible remedies to performance difficulties. Presenting possibleoptions should not be confused with, and is very different from, tellingthe employee how he/she should act. Equally important, suggestionsand input from the coach should complement, not become a substitutefor, posing insightful questions that extend the employee’s self-insight.

(25) The coach, in outlining why the employee needs to change, makes itmore likely that the employee will change if he/she does the following:

• Helps the employee build a picture of what future success looks like.• Encourages mental rehearsal on the part of the employee such that

the employee runs through a mental video of at least one successfulfuture scenario: imagery where the employee displays new andagreed behaviours as a central theme in the video.

• Helps the employee “feel” what future success feels like.• Accepts initial resistance to change as inevitable, normal, and a

natural part of our make-up. • Understands that moving ahead starts with letting go.• Recognizes that those who have the most to lose are those who will

work the hardest to retain the status quo.(26) Negative feedback is most valuable when delivered with honesty,

sensitivity and is reflective of more than one input. Input from thecustomer is especially impactful. Negative feedback should question theresult, process, tactics, or strategy – never the personal qualities of theindividual. Negative feedback should always be followed shortlythereafter by an opportunity to correct the behaviour in question.Allowing the employee to dwell on the criticism or problem has theeffect of imprinting failure in the mind of the employee and thus makesit more likely, not less, that the problem will reoccur.


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(27) Because we learn most at the edge of our comfort zone, behaviouralchange is best achieved where there is a sensitive balance betweenbuilding self-esteem, and introducing creative tension. Part of thedialogue between the coach and the employee should, therefore,encompass an honest appreciation of the consequences implicit in notadopting the agreed new behaviour.

(28) In that change is, in large measure, emotional, it makes it more likelythat the employee will adopt a new approach to problems, and/orchallenge, if he/she is given an opportunity to experience what it is liketo “live in the future.” For this reason, sharing best practice, role play,simulation, micro-experiences, and scenario building are invaluable“coaching tools.”

(29) Even where the tone of the feedback is critical the communicationshould avoid damaging the employee’s self-esteem. This is bestachieved by:

• making the feedback future focused;

• criticizing the performance and not the individual;

• building the coaching tactics such that they complement theemployee’s strengths;

• remaining open and honest throughout.

(30) The greatest limitation to coaching success lies with what theemployee believes is possible. To this end one of the challenges thecoach faces is employee negative self-talk – internal dialogue thatbecomes self-limiting. To build affirming self-talk the coach must beattentive to: self-fulfilling language; metaphors; positive reinforcementof even small, initial steps; repetition of the vision; opportunity tosurface limiting or dysfunctional mental models; work redesign thataffords opportunity for growth; and a personal example that projectsself-confidence.

(31) Where the focus of the coaching discussion is a problem to be resolvedthe coach is ill advised to start the coaching discussion with overt praiseor an outline of the employee’s strengths. The resulting “but” transitionwill not only negate the positive elements of the discussion but make ithighly unlikely that the employee will listen to future positivereinforcement without waiting for the other shoe to drop.

(32) The coach must understand that before the employee can change, threeconditions must be met: there must be the will to change, the employeemust have the capability to act in the way agreed, and the employeemust be given the opportunity to practise the new behaviour. In that itinvolves the coach “getting out of the way,” creating opportunity is oftenthe most difficult condition to engender.



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(33) Exploration and play are invariably far more meaningful, as learninginterventions, than instruction.

(34) The most powerful form of coaching is team members coaching eachother. Before this can happen, however, several factors need to bebrought together:

• team members need to be coached in how to coach;

• openness has to be a feature of team behaviour;

• the team needs to have reached a level of maturity such that sharedaccountability, mutuality of goals, trust, and high degree ofinterdependability are present.

(35) The coach must get the employee’s commitment – overt and covert – toany agreed change of behaviour. Ownership of the new behaviourshould, of necessity, reside with the employee. Ownership isdramatically increased where the employee defines both the problem(challenge) and the process to bring about change.

(36) Any agreement as to how the employee will act in future must bedefined in specific, unambiguous, behavioural terms. Future behaviourshould be described such that:

• the new behaviour creates optimum value for the customer –external or internal;

• the employee can exercise a significant degree of self-management;

• both the coach and the manager will be able to recognize the newbehaviour when they see it.

(37) Any agreed action steps should emphasize:

• The employee’s learning style. In broad terms an employee respondsbest where learning is initiated through one of the following:

– interaction and discussion;

– conceptual models;

– watching and modelling the success of others;

– through action, learning by doing.

• The reality that traditional classroom training is an inadequatesubstitute for situational learning focusing on a real problem.

• The means to measure the performance improvement.

(38) If there is no follow-up, little will change. A high value-added follow-uptactic is to “catch ‘em doing it right.”

(39) Building in time to celebrate success is integral to the coaching process.The celebration and/or ritual can be formal or informal, elaborate or


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simple. What is important is that there be time set aside to reinforcesuccess.

(40) When coaching has been carried through with purpose, subtlety, andcharacter, yet the behaviour has not changed, it would have to beconcluded that the employee is in the wrong role.

Organizations that survive and thrive in the years ahead are going to be, andlook entirely different from, those that made their name when the world wasstable and where the rate of change was, relatively speaking, manageable. Toadapt to an environment marked by turbulence means that organizations willhave to create value from, and through, all of their resources.

The middle manager who remained at the helm because he/she exercisedpower through a combination of access to information and functional positionis a thing of the past. For organizations and front-line leaders alike, thetransition from boss, to facilitator, to coach, and some instances to advisor, isalready well advanced. What is lacking, however, is invariably not the spirit ofcoaching, but the delivery skills to carry through on good intent. The 40elements of coaching excellence outlined may not be replete but they dorepresent a good place to start.

forty things every manager should know about coaching

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