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50 TOP EXECUTIVE COACHES
When will our approach work? If the issue is behavioral, the person is
given a fair chance and is motivated to try to get better, the process that I am
going to describe will almost always succeed.
Involving Key Stakeholders
In my own development as a behavioral coach, I have gone through three distinct
phases.
In phase one, I believed that my clients would become better because of me.
I thought the coach was the key variable in behavioral change. I was wrong.
Since then, we have done research with over 86,000 participants on changing
leadership behavior. We have learned that the key variable for change is not
the
coach, teacher or advisor—it is the people being coached and their
coworkers.
In phase two, I spent most of my time focusing on my coaching clients. This
was much better. I slowly learned that hardworking clients were more
important than a brilliant coach! I learned that their ongoing efforts meant
more than my clever ideas.
In phase three (where I am now), I spend most of my time not with my
coaching client but with the key stakeholders around my client. My results are
dramatically better.
How do I involve key stakeholders? I ask them
to help the person that I am
coaching in four critically important ways:
1. Let go of the past. When we continually bring up the past, we demor-
alize people who are trying to change. Whatever happened in the
past happened. It cannot be changed. By focusing on a future that
can get better (as opposed to a past that cannot), the key stakeholders
can help my clients improve. (We call this process feedforward, in-
stead of feedback.)²
2. Be helpful and supportive, not cynical, sarcastic, or judgmental. If my
clients reach out to key stakeholders and feel punished for trying to im-
prove, they will generally quit trying. I don’t blame them! Why should
any of us work hard to build relationships with people who won’t give us
a chance?
3. Tell the truth. I do not want to work with a client, have her get a glow-
ing report from key stakeholders and later hear that one of the stake-
holders said, “She didn’t really get better, we just said that.” This is not
fair to my client, to the company, or to me.
4. Pick something to improve yourself.
My clients are very open with key
stakeholders about what they are going to change. As part of the process,
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