Innovation Junkies Podcast

2.40 When to Look for an Executive Coach

The Jeffs talk about executive coaching and the benefits, strategies, and expectations surrounding it.

Jeff Standridge:

Hey guys, Jeff Standridge here. Welcome to another episode of the Innovation Junkies Podcast.

Jeff Amerine:

And this is Jeff Amerine. Glad to be back with you today.

Jeff Standridge:

Hey, yes, sir. Yes, sir. Got a lot of good stuff we’ve been talking about over the last several weeks. Give us the lead-in for today.

Jeff Amerine:

Well, you know, even the best A-players and the most talented executives at times need a coach; they need somebody that can take them aside, that can see the things that they can’t see, that can help them work through difficult issues. And as we’ve talked about before, with the strength of the peer-to-peer network and what that can bring. Sometimes you need to go a step beyond that and have a dedicated coach for a period of time. To sort of illuminate that pathway towards success that you may not be able to see yourself. I know you’ve done a lot of that. What do you think about it? What should our listeners think about and look for if they’re considering engaging an executive coach?

Jeff Standridge:

No, I think, I think that’s a great question. And I do spend a fair amount of time doing that today. And I will go ahead and just start by saying there are some purists in the coaching world that have a very limited definition of what a coach is and what a coach, more importantly, is not. They draw big black lines between coaches and consultants, uh, that, that, and, you know, and, and to, at the, at the risk of perhaps oversimplifying, you know, They will say that a coach is meant to draw out something that someone already knows but to help them clarify it and figure out steps for moving forward. Yet a consultant is someone who probably gives advice. And I’ll just be the first to say I’m not so rigid in that regard. Anytime I’m involved in an engagement, they know it most as a coach in terms of how they refer to it. And I say they as my clients, but I don’t tiptoe back and forth between the concept. I used to try to do that to serve the needs of the coaching was to say, well, may I take my coaching hat off and give you some advice? Um, and there are some times that I still do that, but I think that it can be a waste of time. And by the way, I’m flying in the face of some of my colleagues out there, perhaps in terms of conventional wisdom, but, um, but understanding that, um, that you may run into folks who are only coach or only consultant, and they don’t blur the lines between the two. And I’m not that guy. And I don’t think you are either, Jeff.

Jeff Amerine:

No, I’m not either. I don’t get too caught up on the definitions. I do like, especially, beginning the process with a very Socratic process where I’m asking questions rather than saying, well, this is my playbook that’s worked for a number of years. But, there are points when you say, well, where you go a little bit farther, and you say, well, here are some things that think about X, Y, and Z. These are some outcomes that I’ve seen happen. You got to, you got to prove. You’ve got to validate some of that for yourself. But I think where you can go a step beyond that classic coach definition is by leveraging all the experience we have had in running organizations and seeing lots of situations and saving them time by saying, these are three or four things you need to think about and pursue. And here’s why.

Jeff Standridge:

Well, and where you can also use some of the coaching disciplines is toward the end of that conversation to say, okay, let’s summarize, and let’s talk about what you’re going to do when you walk out of here. You know, and, and, uh, and, and let’s, let’s help them crystallize. What are those key actions that they’re going to deploy or they’re going to take over the course of the next days or weeks, or what have you moving forward? But back to your original question, I felt it was important to kind of get that out there, but back to your, your, your first question. or your original question around when to seek an executive coach or consultant or some combination of the two. And I would say, you know, if you’ve inherited a new organization, if you’re embarking on a new planning regimen and strategic plan, maybe you have a new board if you’re a large for-profit or nonprofit, or you’re just facing uncertainty in the marketplace. Uh, anyone, let me rephrase it this way. If someone thinks they can’t benefit from having an advisor or an executive coach, that’s probably an indication that they need one.

Jeff Amerine:

Right, right, right, right. Yeah, that’s a good point.

Jeff Standridge:

You know, uh, none of us, none of us can ever see around every corner. Uh, and Oh, by the way, many times lurking around the next corner are blind spots about my style, blind spots about my biases, blind spots about the way I interact with certain people on my team that I don’t even realize. And I need someone to give me that feedback. I need someone to hold me accountable for a plan, to help me move beyond the whirlwind that we often refer to and help me think about, okay, what are my next steps here and what are the things that I need to look out for?

Jeff Amerine:

Well, in addition, that sounding board, that trusted sounding board. So if you think about it, within an organization, within a larger organization, you might have mentors, even if you’re a senior level person, you might have 360 reviews, you might be able to talk to family members, but all of those come with an element of awareness or confirmation bias that is different than having someone that is kind of completely yours as an executive level coach where you can tell them anything and not worry about how you spun a particular comment or statement because of any organizational repercussion. You can be your real self with that coach and have extremely candid conversations. And I think that’s hugely valuable because there’s, particularly in large organizations, there’s so many organizational norms. A lot of times there’s politics, there’s conversations you don’t want to have for a variety of reasons with other peers that are in the organization. Even if you’re VP level, senior levels of management, it can be super helpful to have a confidential coach that can be a sounding board and can shoot you straight.

Jeff Standridge:

That’s right. And I will tell you some of the less constructive times to have a coach. Uh, at least in my experience, is when a CEO comes to me and says, I’ve got some real problems with Bill, he needs a coach. You know, or Bill is on the bubble, uh, of getting fired, and the CEO’s trying to, to salvage Bill and forces Bill to engage in coaching. That’s like, that’s like being forced to go to anger management classes or to go to defensive driving class. I’m not there because I want to be. And you know, and, and so I’m going to have a lot, I’m going to have a lot less productive outcomes because I’m being forced to be there. That’s not a very productive environment. So one of the first things that I do as a coach, when I’m asked to come in and coach with someone is, if they are not the CEO or a senior level executive, if they’re not the CEO, then I get buy-in from the individual, and I have them go back to their CEO or to their senior leader and get buy-in from them first if they wanna be there and what their objectives are for the coaching and then I have them go back to their leader and get validation of those objectives and or refinement of them based upon the feedback from their leader so that everyone’s on the same page with what the desired outcomes are of that engagement and we can report back on a regular basis how it’s actually going. But you got to make sure that the person that you’re coaching, the actual coaching client, is there because they want to be, not because they’re being forced to in lieu of, you know, progressive discipline, so to speak.

Jeff Amerine:

Yeah, it works a whole lot better when it’s, when it’s part of an overall people development, executive development, structure, and strategy, than if it’s like somebody needs to get fixed because that’s much harder. And, and, and you can kind of see the magic happen. Examples of that are when someone aspires to be at a higher echelon within an organization, and they’re not real sure what that pathway should look like and they need the sounding board, they need the coaching to understand what is that going to mean, what are the expectations going to be, and it’s something that may be difficult for them to get from that next person up, from the CEO level person in the organization.

Jeff Standridge:

That’s right. And, and, you know, or even as we said before, you’re the CEO, you’ve stepped into a new organization. The organization had a prior CEO for 35 years. Uh, and now you’re coming in as the second CEO of the organization. Uh, there are multiple hundreds of people there, uh, a culture that you didn’t help set, um, probably some resistance to the fact that the old person left and the new person’s coming in. A board who’s pressuring for a new strategy and a new era, so to speak, of the organization. So you’ve got all these areas of uncertainty and it just really helps to have someone come alongside you and help you, who’s been there perhaps, who can help you think through how to navigate all of those shifting sands, so to speak, in order to get the most productive outcomes.

Jeff Amerine:

Now, I think that’s great. It’s great advice. And, you know, another question is at what point in someone’s career should they think about an executive coach? Should they, if you think about a large organization, is that senior director, vice president level, what’s your experience be? What level does that begin to start to make sense?

Jeff Standridge:

Yeah, you know, um, my experience is that below, depending on how your nomenclature is, is an organ in an organization, you know, if in the organization I came from, it would have been the VP level, which is probably equivalent to a senior director or senior director level at a large Walmart type of organization. You probably start making some sense there below that, you know, there can be in-house coaches. in-house human performance specialists and/or frontline leaders that ought to have some basic coaching skills.

Jeff Amerine:

So about that time when you’ve got that profit and loss responsibility, maybe several direct senior level direct reports and, you know, budget authority, that kind of thing. That’s when it’s like being an internal CEO over a division or a group, and all those same issues that impact the CEO would impact you as an executive. And if it’s your first time through that, or if it’s a new organization to you, that can be a good point of intervention for the coach.

Jeff Standridge:

Absolutely. And some of the best CEOs I know who have been at the helm for years rely on an executive coach and or consultant to work with them on a retainer, uh, on a regular basis, because they, you never know when you need to call on that person. And so you take our clients, for instance, we have a regular regimented time to get together to talk through issues and they’re generally related to the execution of the strategic growth system, although not always directly related, there may be other issues that come up, but we provide unlimited phone email and text support so that at any time they say, Hey, send a text message and say, do you have time to talk? And I, I, I filled numerous of those throughout the week. And in my experience, that’s the best kind of coaching relationship to have. And so you talked about what are some things to look for. Look for someone who’s willing to give you their personal mobile number, their email address, and to write into the contract, the coaching agreement that you have access to them at any time of the day or week to discuss just-in-time issues, there’s a regularly scheduled meeting, yes, to cover normal items, but sometimes, just-in-time issues crop up that don’t follow the normal meeting schedule.

Jeff Amerine:

Yeah, they need to know you’re accessible, right?

Jeff Standridge:

They need to know you’re accessible.

Jeff Amerine:

I need to know you’re accessible as a coach. Exactly. That makes sense.

Jeff Standridge:

Lots of times, I have conversations driving home from work. I have them right before dinner. I have them after dinner. Occasionally I’ll have them on a Sunday afternoon getting ready for a Monday, but just willing to have those kinds of conversations and making sure that you’re accessible to your clients. And that’d be a big one as well. So.

Jeff Amerine:

How can our listeners find out more about what we do at Innovation Junkie in that regard?

Jeff Standridge:

innovationjunkie.com, or you can email jeffs or jeffa@innovationjunkie.com. So Jeff Amerine at innovationjunkie.com or Jeff Standridge, Jeff A, and Jeff S.

Jeff Amerine:

The importance of coaches. They make the world go round.

Jeff Standridge:

This has been another episode of the Innovation Junkies Podcast. See you next time. Thanks for joining.

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