World Cup Musings on Executive Coaching

Many life sciences executives have made turnarounds thanks to executive coaches. But not every one likes to take advice from a coach.

Coaches have been in the headlines during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. British newspapers have savaged England's World Cup squad and called upon coach Fabio Capello to quit after elimination by a humiliating 4-1 defeat to Germany.

The loss in South Africa was marked by a refereeing mistake that denied England's Frank Lampard a goal, sparking fresh calls for goal-line technology or video replays. But the papers' anger was mainly directed at the coach, Capello.

Meanwhile France, a world soccer powerhouse, was eliminated from the World Cup this year in the first round, scoring only one goal in three games. The French ejection from a tournament they won in 1998 followed an apparent collapse in relations between coach Raymond Domenech and his players. Domenech left team captain Patrice Evra out of the final match and the team refused to practice just days before it.

Like the French players, some derailed executives, reject coaching. But why?

In my book, The Prodigal Executive, I tackle that word can’t. To my thinking here’s no such thing as “can’t.” There’s either “I won’t do it” or “I don’t know how to do it.”

In my experience as an executive coach, “can’t” means the person is afraid and just doesn’t know how to change. But even if somebody knows how to change, for them to self-develop and make the change on their own is very difficult. We all need feedback, and we all need support and encouragement. Unless we know what we did and what we need to do and somebody teaches us how to do it, we can’t improve.

People don’t really self-develop. To illustrate, every World Cup soccer team practices. At every practice there are four cameras set up on stilts that are recording the action. The players are improving by constantly looking at film afterwards with the coaches. Together they look at what they did in a situation and discuss what they should have done differently. In addition there are also coaches at the practice giving the players ongoing feedback on how to improve. If the team doesn’t provide that kind of coaching, players won’t know what to change, and they won’t be inspired to do it.

Teams like Brazil and Germany have won many World Cups. So the question is: “Why are they practicing? They know how to play soccer.” The answer of course is that there is so much at stake they want to rehearse and go over the plays. Likewise, there is so much at stake for these derailed executives. They need to run the plays when it’s not in a game situation. Where else can they do that but with a coach who can give them feedback?

How is your management bedside manner?

In coaching a derailing manager, before you can prescribe exercises to change behaviors, you need to make a diagnosis identifying the nature or cause of the real malady. Here the term truly means “knowledge through and through.” The more information you get the better.

But don’t think that taking time to do the important work of assessing does not mean you are not doing the urgent work of coaching. Even when you are making the assessment, you are beginning the coaching process. This is much like when you go to the doctor you feel better even before a prescribe treatment. Why? Because you know you are doing something to solve the problem.

One part of the assessment is to determine if the person is actually coachable. That requires some coaching to begin with. So give them something to work on and see if you get some traction on positive change. This will provide another data point. Typically a lack of traction means the person may not want to change.

So how is your bedside manner? Like a physician, one aspect of being a coach is to provide the results of the lab work (assessments) in a way that is motivating to the derailed executive. Giving feedback is both an art and science. The art is that the style, tone, and personality of the words need to fit the personality of the person. If not, the information can be experienced as harsh and hurtful. Instead, you want to present the information in a way that will engage the person you are coaching.

Another aspect is that when the facts are stated in a way that is not acceptable, the derailed executive is apt to become defensive and has a greater chance of rationalizing the information away. When you give feedback, remember the derailed executive needs to feel supported and not attacked. This will also be important so the information will help the person see their behavior from a different perspective.