A Review of Executive Coaching – A Gamble or a Godsend? Event

By Lorna Reid

I was intrigued by the ‘edgy’ title Executive Coaching – a Gamble or a Godsend when CFM’s very own Peter Hill said he was going to Chair this event, at the end of last month. Then I signed up like a shot when I heard the diversity of eminent individuals that were to take the platform to share their wealth of coaching knowledge and experience.

The event was one of Edinburgh University Management School’s‘ ‘The Latest Thinking Series’. Hosted jointly with the Academy of Executive Coaching, this was an interactive style session that focused on the benefits that executive coaching offers an organisation, as well as identifying the pitfalls.

The stage was set in a ‘question time’ style format, at the Edinburgh offices of Baillie Gifford. Panel members included John Leary Joyce, CEO of the Academy of Executive Coaching; Stewart Struthers, Employee Development Manager, Martin Currie Ltd. Susan Myles, Director of HR and Facilities Management, Highland and Islands Enterprise, Brian Ret, Head of Strategy and Planning Real Estate Business, Bank of Scotland Corporate and Malcolm McGregor, Director of BroadReach and PhD student in leadership coaching.

Peter kicked off with an ice-breaker which got us to sit beside, and ultimately work with, people we didn’t know. A simple and very effective way of creating great energy in the room and heightening our ‘state’ of readiness for engaging with what was to follow.

We started off with a visualisation exercise led by John Leary Joyce, CEO of the Academy of Executive Coaching. He invited us to create a personal picture of what our coaching work would look like in two years time. In this image we were to suppose that we had overcome our anxieties, challenges, risks and milestones to arrive at where we wanted to be. We imagined the environment we worked in, the people we were working with and the kind of conversations we were holding. We then shared our personal insights and experiences (with our new friends).

From the feedback in our small group, it was interesting to learn how diverse our levels of understanding and involvement with coaching were. Also how unique our ideas were relating to our own life, experience and ambition for our career. Which of course is what makes coaching so rich and so relevant in today’s world.

From there the evening flowed with an interactive session of questions to the panel. Issues such as: how to define coaching; the benefits of internal and external coaches; evaluation; and can everyone be a good coachee? were explored, expressed from the varying perspectives of the panel. Although they were all from very different industries what struck me was not the differences but the similarities. As an independent coach this is a certainly a godsend. As my own belief is that effective coaching is less about what your position is in a company or what industry you operate in. Powerful coaching takes place when there is an openness and readiness on the part of the coachee matched with the skills of the coach to listen and engage.

In terms of ‘gamble’ Brian Ret of Bank of Scotland Corporate highlighted that confidentiality is one of the biggest barriers to effective coaching taking place with internal coaches. There are times where the non-judgemental support of an independent coach is key to the trust being built in the coaching relationship. There was universal agreement of the importance of investing time to ensure the right chemistry and fit between the coach and client, to enable positive change to take place.

Malcolm McGregor’s research into the retail sector resonated well with me. His findings are that primarily people just want to talk and to be listened to. Having spent time in counselling training my experience is that invariably minimum intervention from the coach is required and that many of the answers and strategic options are held within the head and heart of the coachee themselves.

Stewart Struthers of leading equity management company Martin Currie is working successfully to embed a coaching culture at Martin Currie. Stewart (who is currently participating on a CFM coaching programme) has found that the dynamics of his fast paced environment mean that coaching is not always required to take place in a formal meeting setting. It is about a way of working and empowering individuals that aims to make each and every interaction more effective. It means then that even the 5-minute ‘water cooler’ conversations can have a great impact.

One of the final topics was around return on investment. And to be honest this would really be an article in its own right. The key themes that emerged were how important it is to discuss expectations and measurement at the briefing and contracting stage. For example are you looking at hard financial measures or ‘softer’ behavioural change? Peter Hill of CFM Consulting raised the interesting question: How many appraisal forms include questions about how coaching has impacted on the role of the individual? This would be easy to do and be a good way to gather ongoing feedback.

Finally, what underpinned this fast-paced, fun and thought provoking evening was a quote from Susan Myles of Highland and Islands Enterprise when she shared her pearl of wisdom at the close of the session. And I paraphrase: ‘If you truly believe in others they will get something out of the coaching relationship’.

If you would like to find out more about The Latest Thinking Series visit
www.man.ed.ac.uk/blogs/business_school

About the author

Lorna Reid, Executive Coach
Web: www.lornareid.com
Email:lorna@lornareid.com
Mobile: 07876 356 073