If standard ways of working aren't getting results, it could be time to call in a coach
You're a respected senior leader with years of experience and plenty of runs on the board, but the approaches that once propelled your career aren't producing the same results.
According to Dr Michael Cavanagh, the deputy director of the Coaching Psychology Unit at Sydney University, when standard ways of doing things are no longer working, it could be time to consider an executive coach.
“Often a lot of executives and HR professionals have got habitual ways of dealing with certain issues and often what happens then is that they'll have an issue or a person who doesn't fit that pattern very well and they'll have a less-than-optimal outcome" he said.
Executive coaching continues to grow. According to an International Coaching Federation (ICF) Global Coaching Study from 2023, the global number of coach practitioners increased by 54% between 2019 and 2022 - surpassing 100,000 for the first time.
Cavanagh says executive coaching can help people gain a bigger perspective and think about their purpose, deal with skills deficits and understand how to pursue development to "maximise the chances that I'll be seen by more senior management as this is someone we should be promoting".
He says purpose is not about a specific goal but thinking in a bigger way about a career.
“I think that when an HR professional starts to notice that there may be a bigger perspective available to them, that's a great time to get coaching.”
A good coach will provide both challenge and support, according to Cavanagh.
“I often like to say that counselling is about comforting the afflicted. Coaching is sometimes about afflicting the comfortable,” Cavanagh told HRD.
“If you come along to coaching and you expect just to have a supportive conversation then, if they're a good coach, you'll be a bit disappointed. And if they're a poor coach, they'll say I'm just going to challenge you.
“The challenge and support is really about helping the person to expand what they're able to do, while at the same time supporting them in that process of doing it”
Cavanagh likes to use the analogy of a cup to describe the four areas coaching typically covers - skills, performance, development and remedial coaching. He describes it like this:
“Skills coaching is like getting something into the cup so it can be used.”
“Performance coaching is using what's in the cup more effectively.
“Developmental coaching is you've got something in the cup. You can use it, but it's about growing the cup. You are getting a bigger perspective on who you are and what you are doing, and I think that is really important when it comes to career development.
“Remedial coaching is about fixing cracks in the cup. If there's something stopping you, then that's more a remedial issue.”
Cavanagh says the coach themselves can lack a bigger perspective, be too focused on “gap coaching” or be seen as the “expert” who has all the answers.
“That is a really bad place to coach from,” he said.
Another mistake is to engage a coach because they have similar experience in a job.
“That is really just a variation on the idea that ‘if they know my job they will be able to tell me what to do’ and I think that's a poor place to coach from as well," he said.
“Let's say I've been in HR professional for 30 years. I'll be giving people advice out of my experience rather than really focusing on what's going on for them and trying to understand the unique dynamics of what's happening for them.
“The best way to approach coaching is to see it as a dialogue or a conversation where solutions emerge from the conversation. The best coaching conversations are the conversations where neither person brought the solution into the room. It emerges through the conversation.”
“The ideal place to be coaching from where what you're doing is you're dealing with the individual in
“The real work of coaching doesn't happen in the coaching session. It happens between sessions," Cavanagh said.
“Any sort of development change or any significant change in person's behaviour takes time and there's an experimental component to it that people think, ‘OK, maybe I could try this’, and they try it and get feedback from that. I learn from that and then adapt so it's a process of adaptation and experimentation.”
Leadership coaching can be seen as a perk or a punishment depending on how it's used in an organisation.
“If it's used as a remedial thing or someone's got a problem and so we'll get them a coach, then it will be understood in that way,” Cavanagh said.
“If, however, it's also seen as a development opportunity for people who are high potentials, or even anyone who the organisation would like to take a bigger role or to be able to work more effectively, then presenting it as a developmental opportunity is useful.
“If I was an HR person wondering whether to get coaching for someone, I'd be asking myself what needs to change? Do they need to develop skills, do they need a bigger perspective, do they need to just use their skills more effectively or is there something actually blocking them.”
Cavanagh says it’s important for HR leaders to have an honest conversation with executives about why they are being offered coaching.
“It's not just about saying to the executive, ‘look, you're really great and we want you to get this development opportunity’ if there is a genuine problem going on that needs to be talked about,” he said.
