Prescription Before Diagnosis Is Malpractice

There is a saying in executive coaching that prescription before diagnosis is malpractice. In other words, it would be a breach of duty to treat the symptoms without doing tests to understand the root cause of the troubles.

There has been a great deal of media coverage in the last few years about the subject of malpractice. The most publicized forms of malpractice are medical malpractice by physicians and legal malpractice by attorneys, although malpractice suits against accountants (Arthur Andersen) and investment advisors (Merrill Lynch) have also been featured in the news.

How does this apply to coaching derailed life sciences executives? Without a clear idea of the person’s strengths and weaknesses, you are only guessing what is needed. This is no time to guess. Take the time to assess the true situation before you recommend a fix.

In my book The Prodigal Executive I included a lesson I learned from a derailed executive named John (real case, but not his real name). The telephone call from John’s manager was intense and anxious. The manager described John’s behavior as being hostile.

John would speak to people in critical ways. He would call people “stupid” and raise his voice when speaking with a peer on the phone in another part of the country. When I met John, he was somewhat distant, intense, and had that “big city” pushiness. John could not understand why he was being asked to work with a coach.

Furthermore, John could not understand why the others had so much of a problem with him. After a few coaching sessions, John seemed to become more positive. Suddenly he refused to have me interview his peers. John could not handle the truth. He did not want to know what others really thought of him and it was in fact difficult to make a diagnosis and develop a coaching plan.

His opposition regarding the 360 degree feedback assessment continued. This passive aggressive style defended against truly making a diagnosis and engaging him to make meaningful change. Not only was John derailing, he made sure he derailed the coaching during the assessment phase.