Following on from Key Coaching Skills in the Introduction to Business Coaching series is the GROW model. Devised by Sir John Whitmore and described in his book Coaching For Performance, it is probably the most common coaching model used in business, at least in the UK. It offers a way of structuring coaching sessions to facilitate a balanced discussion:

• GOAL - defining what you want to achieve
• REALITY - exploring the current situation, relevant history and future trends
• OPTIONS - coming up with new ideas for reaching the goal
• WHAT/WHO/WHEN - deciding on a concrete plan of action

In practice, since most coaching is driven by questions, this means that different types of question are used at each stage:

• GOAL - questions to define the goal as clearly as possible and also to evoke an emotional response
  [What do you want to achieve? What will be different when you achieve it? What's important about this for you?]
• REALITY - questions to elicit specific details of the situation and context
  [What is happening now? Who is involved? What is their outcome? What is likely to happen in future?]
• OPTIONS - open-ended questions to facilitate creative thinking
  [What could you do? What ideas can you bring in from past successes? What haven't you tried yet?]
• WHAT - focused questions to get an agreement to specific actions and criteria for success
  [What will you do? When will you do it? Who do you need to involve? When should you see results?]

Used judiciously, the GROW model offers an excellent framework for structuring a coaching session. It is particularly useful for beginners, helping them to see the wood for the trees and keep the session on track. However, Whitmore is at pains to emphasise that models and structures are not the heart of coaching:

GROW, without the context of AWARENESS and RESPONSIBILITY, and the skill of questioning to generate them, has little value.

I prefer to think of the GROW model as a compass for orientation rather than a rigid sequence of steps to be followed. I don’t think I’ve ever taken part in a coaching session that began with Goals, then progressed smoothly through an analysis of Reality, then brainstormed Options before settling on the What?/When?/Who? and How? of an action plan.

Coaching can begin at any of the four stages of the GROW model. A coachee might begin by telling you about something she wants to achieve (Goal), a current problem (Reality), a new idea for improving things (Options) or by outlining an action plan (What). As a coach, it’s usually a good idea to follow the coachee’s lead initially by asking a few questions to elicit more detail, then move onto the other steps.

Personally, I always start a coaching conversation by asking a goal-focused question (e.g. “So what do you want to achieve?”) as a way of setting the tone for the discussion. Sometimes the coachee replies with a description of a problem (Reality) which is fine - I’ll listen, probe for a few details then as soon as possible return to Goals, to keep the conversation focused. On the other hand, if someone comes to me full of ideas and enthusiasm (Goals, Options), I’ll do my best to help them maintain this while taking account of hard facts (Reality) and getting a commitment to specific action (What). As so often with coaching, the important principle is balance.

Next in this series - Formal and Informal Coaching.

Excellent piece by the experienced creative director Gary Sharpen in this week’s Campaign, on the issue of hiring and developing young creative talent. He relates how a creative director at a top direct agency told him “We don’t do placements and we don’t hire juniors - we don’t have the time to develop them”. Sharpen then goes on to describe the business case for investing (not spending) time developing junior people:

Time is, of course, money. When we invest time, we invest money. We may have to spend that little bit extra time with juniors, but the return on that investment is substantial. They will give you a fresh angle on an old problem. They will suggest media that you didn’t even know existed. They will enthuse the senior members of the creative department (and give them some healthy competition). They will bring an excitement to a project because it isn’t the umpteenth car insurance or charity brief they have worked on, it’s the first. All of these things, and more, create an energy that is infectious and which will be felt throughout the agency. They will deliver great work and, after all, its great work that our clients are paying us to come up with. It isn’t just altruism we are talking here, it’s business. This use of your time will deliver a very healthy return on investment for your company.

“I don’t have the time” is probably the single most common reason I hear from managers and directors for not coaching their teams. And it doesn’t just apply to graduates - people at all levels can benefit from being challenged and supported by a manager with good coaching skills. But as Sharpen points out, it’s not just the recipients of the time and attention who benefit - there is also a lot in it for the company.

Fair enough, you might think, I can see the benefit for the team members and the company, but if I’m the manager I’m the one who’s got to find the time and I’ve got plenty of other things on my plate. What’s in it for me? Here are some of my usual answers:

• Better performance from your team - as a manager, your job is to get the best out of the team, it’s hard to do that without investing time and energy in helping them improve.
• More commitment- think of the boss who was most interested in and supportive of your professional development vs the one who took the least interest. Who did you work hardest for?
• Knowing what you need to know - it sounds obvious, but if you don’t stop to listen to people, you could miss valuable information about the people, situations and problems you are working with.
• More and better ideas - people notice what you are interested in and respond to it. If you show that you value their ideas they will bring you more of them. If you take the time to help them understand why some ideas work better than others, they will start bringing you better ones.
• More capable people to delegate to - you can’t do everything, so the more people you can trust with important tasks, the better. The more time you invest in development, the more of these people you will see when you’re looking around the office.

None of this is rocket science. Listed like this, it looks like common sense. But it can be hard to keep it at the front of your mind when you’re under pressure.

Yet it needn’t take all that much time. More often than not it’s a change of mindset and behaviour that’s required, rather than freeing up a whole day for ‘training’. Like stopping and asking a question to unlock someone’s thinking. Or taking five minutes to listen to that ‘half-baked’ idea to see whether something can be done with it. Or making the effort to find out about someone’s ambitions and interests and how they relate to what they are doing in your agency right now.

You probably do some of this already - when you feel you have the time. You might not realise how much time, energy, enthusiasm and creativity you could create by doing it a bit more.

I was delighted to receive an e-mail from David Parrish this week, telling me he’s releasing his book T-Shirts and Suits as a free e-book.

T-Shirts and Suits is a ‘guide to the business of creativity’ and does an excellent job of making business advice ‘user-friendly’ for creative entrepreneurs. For a start, the eye-catching design means it doesn’t look like a business book. Inside, David addresses the basic subjects at the core of any creative business - marketing, intellectual property, accounting, business feasibility, leadership and management - in a way that makes them accessible and relevant to people who are creatives by choice and business people by necessity. It’s also one of the very few books on creative business to use the word ‘coaching’ in a management context - for which it receives an honourable mention in my forthcoming research paper.

I asked David what had prompted him to write the book:

“I’ve been designing and delivering training workshops for creative entrepreneurs for some years now and the book grew out of my training material. T-Shirts and Suits is a condensation of what I’ve picked up from my own experience, great ideas from creative enterprises I have worked with, combined with some business techniques I learnt at business school and from other research. I want to share my experience and knowledge with creative people who want to learn more about business to make their creative enterprises even more successful. The book has proved to be a great way to do this.”

Having gone to all the trouble of writing the book and getting it published, I wondered why he was prepared to give it away for free?

“There has been an interesting debate in the publisher’s offices about releasing a free e-book version. Some people believe that giving away a free e-book could kill book sales, whereas others see the e-book as a way to actually increase sales of the paperback. My own view is that it will help sales, but even if it doesn’t, it’s not my main concern. The bottom line for me is to share what I’ve experienced and learnt with as many creative people as possible - and to continue to learn from successful creative enterprises and feed it back into the world-wide network through my website, training, consultancy, and further publishing projects.”

As Seth Godin puts it, “ideas that spread, win”. And Seth has done a pretty good job of spreading ideas and selling books by giving them away for free. I hope it works for David as his ideas are much-needed for anyone trying to run a business fuelled by creativity. So if that’s you, I would download the e-book for free before you get stuck into today’s spreadsheets.

More good news - David is also sharing his ideas on his excellent blog.

Having looked at the big picture of Coaching and Leadership, I’m now going to focus on the small picture of the key skills involved in coaching.

Most of these appear on any standard list of coaching skills, with one or two additions of my own. Some of them, such as goal-setting or giving feedback, are to some extent susceptible to being broken down into discrete steps and taught; others, such as empathising and intuiting, are abilities that a coach naturally possesses, or which emerge over time as a result of practising the other skills.

Goal-setting

Coaching is a goal-focused (or solution-focused) approach, so the ability to elicit clear, well-defined and emotionally engaging goals from a coachee is one of the most important skills for a coach to possess. Like many aspects of coaching, there are both formal and informal aspects of this ability. On the formal side, a coach needs to know how and when to introduce goal-setting into the coaching process, and will usually be familiar with models such as SMART goals (a SMART goal is Specific, Measurable, Attractive, Realistic and Timed). On the informal side, a coach will typically have the habit of thinking and asking questions from a goal-focused mindset. For example, “How does doing x help you reach your goal?” helps the coachee to evaluate whether what she is doing will help or hinder her.

Another common habit of a good coach is reframing problems as goals - e.g. if a coachee talks about the problems he his having with a ‘difficult’ colleague, the coach might ask “What needs to be happening for you to have a workable relationship with this person?”.

Looking

A good deal is rightly written about the importance of listening in coaching, but looking is often (ahem) overlooked. When running coaching skills seminars, I often say to the trainee coaches “The answer is right in front of you”. Meaning that the person’s body language tells you a huge amount about her emotional state and level of commitment, yet it’s so easy to ignore that if we are too focused on our own ideas about what needs to happen next. Read the rest of this entry »

Apologies for the interruption to my Introduction to Business Coaching series, it was one of the things that got put on hold as a result of moving house. Here goes for the second half of the series, beginning with a look at coaching and leadership.

If you’ve been following the series, particularly the post about The Manager as Coach, you won’t be surprised to hear me advocate coaching as an effective approach to leadership. But there’s there’s no one-size-fits-all approach when dealing with people, so it’s important to see coaching in context, to understand where, when and how it can be effective for leaders - and what the alternatives are.

In their well-known book Leadership and the One Minute Manager Ken Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi and Drea Zigarmi present coaching as one of four basic leadership styles - Directing, Coaching Supporting and Delegating. They argue that managers need to be flexible in adopting the most effective style for any given situation. In a similar spirit, Daniel Goleman wrote an article for the Harvard Business Review called Leadership that Gets Results, in which he argued that managers should utilise “a collection of distinct leadership styles - each in the right measure, at just the right time”. The analogy he used (no doubt familiar to corporate executives) was of a bag of golf clubs:

Over the course of a game, the pro picks and chooses clubs based on the demands of tbe shot. Sometimes he has to ponder his selection, but usually it is automatic. The pro senses the challenge ahead, swiftly pulls out the right tool, and elegantly puts it to work. That’s how high-impact leaders operate, too.

What makes Goleman’s article really interesting is his presentation of a research project carried out by the consulting firm Hay/McBer, into the relative effectiveness of different leadership styles. He begins by identifying six basic leadership styles:

1. Coercive - demanding compliance
2. Authoritative - mobilizing people towards a vision
3. Affiliative - building relationships and promoting harmony
4. Democratic - promoting consensus through participation
5. Pacesetting - setting high standards by example and demanding the same of others
6. Coaching - delegating responsibility and developing people for success

Here’s Goleman’s characterization of the coaching style of leadership:

Coaching leaders help employees identify their unique strengths and weaknesses and tie them to their personal and career aspirations. They encourage employees to establish long-term development goals and help them conceptualize a plan for attaining them. They make agreements with their employees about their role and responsibilities in enacting development plans, and they give plentiful instruction and feedback

Read the rest of this entry »

Following on from my post about the External Coach or Coaching Consultant, this one looks at the the role a manager can play as a coach for her team.

Most people, when they hear the phrase ‘business coach’ think of an external consultant. Yet managers can have a powerful influence on their teams and the organisation as a whole when they adopt a coaching style of management. As a way of managing people, coaching differs from the traditional corporate ‘command and control’ approach in the following ways:

• collaborating instead of controlling
• delegating more responsibility
• talking less, listening more
• giving fewer orders, asking more questions
• giving specific feedback instead of making judgements

This is not simply a case of ‘being nicer’ to people - delegated responsibility brings pressure to perform and coaching managers maintain a rigorous focus on goals and results.

The role of the manager-coach is very different to that of an external coach. Whereas an external coach has the luxury of a laser-like focus on the coachee and his development and performance, the manager-coach needs to balance the needs of the coachee, other team members and the organisation as a whole.

Some people argue that it is impossible for a manager to act as a coach, given her position of authority over her team. While authority is an important issue, it need not be an insurmountable obstacle - as long as there is genuine trust and respect in the working relationship. It is also a fact that coaching frequently takes place between peers and even upwards on occasion, with some enlightened bosses happy to be coached by their team members.

In his book Coaching for Performance John Whitmore raises the issue of managerial responsibility and authority, and asks ‘Can the manager, therefore, be a coach at all?’:

Yes, but it demands the highest qualities of that manager: empathy, integrity and detachment, as well as a willingness, in most cases, to adopt a fundamentally different approach to his staff… he may even have to cope with initial resistance from some of his staff, suspicious of any departure from traditional management. (p.16)

Advantages of manager-coaches

In-depth knowledge of people and organisation
However well an external coach listens and observes, she does not have the same level of exposure to the organisation and its people as a manager, so will never have the same depth of knowledge about them. Read the rest of this entry »

Chris Ritke of 49Sparks has just posted an interview with me we recorded last week. We talked about Wishful Thinking, coaching, people and creativity - including the use of online tools to facilitate co-creation.

Chris is developing some very interesting tools for project collaboration at 49Sparks - you can sign up for free to check them out - and has a great series of audio and video podcasts. I originally noticed Chris’s site when he posted an interview with Neil Tortorella of Business of Design Online (where I’m a guest author).

As well as project tools 49Sparks offers social networking for creative professionals - Chris explains it better than I can, have a look at this video to see what it’s all about.

Having looked at Different Types of Coaching, in this post and the next in the series I will outline the two basic roles for coaches in business: the external coach (or coaching consultant); and the internal coach (usually a line manager).

The external coach

An external coach is a consultant brought into the organisation to work with individuals and/or teams, usually in sessions lasting 1-2 hours. Ideally the coaching conversation is a face-to-face meeting, at least for the first few sessions, although the phone and now webcam are increasingly used, as they allow for greater flexibility in scheduling appointments. Coaching sessions are often interspersed with e-mail reports on agreed action items.

Below are some of the advantages of using an external coach. It is important to remember that these advantages do not make external coaches intrinsically ‘better’ than internal (manager) coaches - just different. Ideally the two roles should complement each other.

In many respects, the position of an external coach is a privileged one, since she is free from many of the restrictions that apply to managers - so there is a responsibility to use these advantages wisely, for the benefit of the individuals being coached and also the organisation as a whole.

Advantages of using an external coach

A fresh perspective
An external coach brings a fresh perspective on people and events in the organisation. This means she can notice patterns and make connections that are not apparent to those on the inside. So she can act as a valuable ’sounding board’ for people’s thinking - by asking questions, listening and giving feedback from her perspective as an outsider.

A strong focus on the client’s needs
Because the external coach does not have the direct responsibilities of a manager, it is relatively easy to devote her entire attention to the client’s needs during the session. This can lead to an intensive, high-energy form of coaching that can produce significant results in a short time. In longer term coaching, it can provide a very strong foundation for an individual’s development.

A confidential forum for discussion
Because the coaching session is confidential between coach and coachee, people sometimes feel more comfortable discussing sensitive information or personal concerns with an external coach than with their line manager. This can lead to resolution of ‘unspoken’ problems that have been interfering with critical business processes.

Highly developed coaching skills
External coaches have typically received a more extensive coaching training than managers, and have spent more time coaching people. This means the organisation benefits from highly developed coaching skills and a wealth of coaching experience.

Specialist expertise
In addition to their core coaching skills, many external coaches have specialist expertise that makes them particularly suited to certain coaching assignments. Specialisms can include leadership, sales, negotiation, mediation, presentation skills, creativity, psychology and emotional intelligence.

Next in this series - ‘The Manager as Coach’

Following on from the differences between Coaching, Training, Mentoring and Counselling, this post will look at different types of coaching. These should not be seen as rigid categories but areas of specialisation, and many coaches work in more than one of these areas.

Sports coaching

This is what many people think of when they hear the word ‘coach’. The term ’sports coach’ encompasses a wide range of roles and approaches, from the football manager on the touchline, through one-to-one coaches for athletes and players, to specialist coaches for fitness and health. There are also coaches who focus on the ‘mental game’, helping sports players fine-tune their psychological preparation for high-pressure events.

Several coaches have bridged the gap between sports and business coaching. Tennis pro Timothy Gallwey proposed a radical new approach to tennis coaching in his book The Inner Game of Tennis, which he later adapted for business in The Inner Game of Work. Another coaching classic is Coaching for Performance by John Whitmore, a former champion racing driver, which is chiefly concerned with coaching as an approach to management in business. Another example of a cross-over between sports and business coaching is The Little Book of Coaching by business author Ken Blanchard and the American football coach Don Shula.

Life coaching

A life coach works with clients to help them achieve their goals and reach fulfilment, in the personal and/or professional sphere. Finding a healthy balance and integration between work and personal life is often a key feature of life coaching. Coaching can encompass a wide range of issues, from inner work on thoughts and emotions through relationships with significant others, to very specific career goals and practical action plans.

The difference between life coaching and business coaching is often one of degree of emphasis, and will depend on the individual coach and client. Broadly speaking, in life coaching the main focus of attention is on the client’s life as a whole; while in business coaching, the main focus is on someone’s work, while recognising that truly effective professional development requires a healthy balance between work and other areas of life.

Another difference between life coaching and business coaching is that life coaching clients are more likely to be private individuals, whereas business coaches are more typically employed by organisations. There are exceptions - some companies engage life coaches to help their employees balance their personal and professional needs, and business coaches are also hired by individuals to help them achieve their career goals.

Business coaching

Business coaching is primarily concerned with improving performance at work and facilitating professional development. Formerly confined to senior management and known as ‘Executive coaching’, the more general term ‘Business coaching’ recognises the importance of coaching for people at all levels within an organisation.

Whereas coaching was formerly identified with external consultants brought in to provide a fresh perspective and specialist expertise, many companies now expect their managers to act as coaches for their teams. In my next two posts, I will look at the differences in the type of coaching provided by external consultants and managers.

My version of business coaching - ‘coaching creative professionals’

I’m a slightly unusual business coach in that I work mostly with creative professionals. I describe myself as a business coach rather than a life coach because the main focus of my coaching is on my clients’ work - their creative process, their working relationships and their professional goals.

Working within the creative industries however, the line between the personal and professional is often blurred, since most artists and creatives seek to make a career out of their passion rather than to keep the two separate. I describe my clients as ‘creative professionals’ to emphasise the importance of balancing creativity, authenticity, and a professional approach to high-level creative performance.

This may be a good place to point out that I do not believe the term ‘creative’ should be reserved for the ‘creative department’ - it includes everyone involved in the creative process, whether as writer, artist, designer, performer, programmer, director, manager, producer, editor, account handler, planner, marketer or client. And maybe even the artist formerly known as ‘the audience’.

Next in this series - ‘The External Coach’

I recently came across these notepads for creative meetings from Behance (via PSFK). They are designed to make creative people more productive by providing highlighted spaces for you to record agreed ‘next actions’ during meetings. There are also spaces for noting your ‘prep/focus’ for a meeting, as well as general notes.

So what? You might think. Do I really need a special notepad to do that for me? Well logically you probably don’t - but in the middle of a meeting/discussion/argument, when ideas are flying thick and fast, it’s easy for agreed actions to get lost in the thickets of scribbled notes. I’ve printed off the sampler and found that the highlighted ‘Action steps’ slots make it blatantly obvious afterwards what you’ve agreed to do. Let’s face it, creative projects can get pretty complicated, so I’m glad of anything that makes things a bit more obvious and easy.

Have a look at the pads for yourself - no, they’re not paying me to write this, and you can download a free PDF sample. The Behance site also includes an outline of their Action Method for processing action steps and meeting notes. If you’re a hardcore Getting Things Done fan, it should probably slot quite easily into your GTD system.

Behance also have a section featuring creative professionals who make ideas happen so if that’s you you might like to let them know.