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Perpetual Coaching

Kiahnna D. PattonWhere would Serena Williams, Tiger Woods, LeBron James or the National Debate Tournament champions be without coaches? And, what if they were limited to three-to-six-month coaching contracts? I seriously doubt we’d know any of their names had they not been consistently coached since they were children. So, when we implement coaching in the corporate world, why do we typically wait until a person has reached a certain salary grade level to become inclined to support their continued development through coaching? And why do we limit the amount of coaching they receive? We all know that money is a significant factor, but what else?

I’m sure there are arguments to be made, but I find coaching more effective than formal performance reviews because you get real-time introspection on existing issues and explore strategies to correct course when needed. I’m a proponent of abolishing performance reviews, and perhaps I’ll dive deeper into that in a future column. My argument here is that “the what level” and “how long” should not be limiting factors in a person’s ability to access coaching.

What Coaching Is and Is Not

We shower employees with training and then say they should know how to do XYZ because we exposed them to it. But where was the follow-through and support to push them to be all-stars? Where was the accountability, and I’m not referring to discipline? I believe that employees at every level deserve to be coached and groomed and not evaluated once a year using recycled and useless feedback and metrics.

I like the International Coaching Federation’s definition of coaching. ICF is a reputable organization that credentials professional coaches. Their distinction between different types of coaching is helpful to frame what coaching is and is not. Coaching often gets confused with being primarily a performance feedback mechanism. In the world of human resources and leadership, we often include it as a step in the disciplinary action process, further conflating what coaching is meant to accomplish in a more formal context. Coaching requires a high level of curiosity, guidance and contracting with the coachee around what they want to address or achieve. Rarely is that the goal in the disciplinary process. I argue that it should be, but many of us know that in reality, it is not. Here are a few helpful defining snippets from the ICF website (https://coachingfederation.org/faqs) that distinguish coaching from other forms of support:

Therapy versus Coaching

  • Therapy: Healing pain, dysfunction and conflict within individuals or relationships and resolving difficulties arising from the past.
  • Coaching: Self-initiated change in pursuit of specific, actionable outcomes linked to personal or professional success. Future-focused. Emphases are on action, accountability and follow-through.

Consulting versus Coaching

  • Consulting: Consultants are retained for their expertise. The assumption is that they will diagnose problems and prescribe and, sometimes, implement solutions.
  • Coaching: The assumption is that individuals or teams can generate their own solutions, with the coach supplying supportive, discovery-based approaches and frameworks.

Mentoring versus Coaching

  • Mentoring: Expert who provides wisdom and guidance based on their own experience. May include advising, counseling and coaching.
  • Coaching: This does not include advising or counseling and focuses instead on individual or group settings and reaching their own objectives.

Training versus Coaching

  • Training: Based on objectives set out by the trainer or instructor. Assumes a linear learning path that coincides with an established curriculum.
  • Coaching: Objectives are set by the individual or team being coached, with guidance provided by the coach. Less linear without a set curriculum.

Sports Coaching versus Professional Coaching

  • Sports Coaching: The athletic coach is often seen as an expert who guides and directs the behavior of individuals or teams based on their greater experience and knowledge.
  • Professional Coaching: Their experience and knowledge of the individual or team determine the direction. It does not focus on behaviors that are being executed poorly or incorrectly. Instead, the focus is on identifying opportunities for development based on individual strengths and capabilities.

Personal Coaching Experience

I currently receive coaching on two levels – individual and group. One is peer coaching, through which anyone in our small group can bring topics into a safe space and work through them with a group of trustworthy and exceptional colleagues. And it’s online, so please do not let anyone make you believe that it’s not possible to build genuine connections with people using video conferencing. They provide a mirror. They embody compassion; they operate with a level of curiosity that inspires each week’s coachee to dig deep. They provide a level of support I didn’t realize I needed, and I hope it’s reciprocal. We meet weekly to focus on the person with the greatest need. What I’ve found most important and that you can incorporate into your culture right now are these three things based on Jennifer Currence, CPC’s advice:

Asking open-ended questions: What assumptions or beliefs are you holding on to that affect how you view and react to this situation? What would it look and feel like to have the outcome you want?

Being curious without judgment: Asking “and what else?” is an excellent way to dig deeper.

Acknowledge and validate: I see that your body language has changed. What’s coming up for you?

In this small group of peer coaches, we challenge each other to think deeply and critically so that we all walk away feeling fulfilled, whether our issue is resolved at that moment or we felt seen and heard. Disciplinary action-related coaching doesn’t do that. It likely leaves the recipient feeling empty and defeated and negatively impacts engagement.

I also have individual coaching through Desmond Blackburn, IGNITEU Peak Performance Coaching CEO (www.coachdesmond.com). He provides the clarity, purpose and accountability that I need to stay actively engaged and fired up about who I am and what I have to offer this world. Desmond says that “humans simply do better when they have help.”

Per Desmond, “Coaching can help professionals to gain greater clarity so that they can become lighter, stronger and faster. We all have plans along with the talent to follow through on them, but far too often, we get stuck. We are stuck in our past and, at times, overwhelmed at what the future may hold. We all have a story (often negative) that we keep telling ourselves. Sometimes that story is stuck on repeat, and it isn’t easy to make it stop. Getting coached by a certified professional has proven to be an effective strategy in helping people create a new story by divorcing the lies they tell themselves and marrying the truth so that they can be the best version of themselves.” I agree.

With the extraordinary value I’ve received in my own life, coupled with the feedback from those who have had great coaching, I believe in coaching into perpetuity. Granted, it can be expensive unless you get creative as we did by forming our peer coaching group, or you find a coaching student who needs hours toward their credential and is willing to coach you for free. I experienced the latter, and she was pretty good. My point is that people of all levels should receive coaching if they want it.

When it comes to how long a coaching engagement should last, I’m opposed to limits. I like to think of approaching it the way Employee Assistance Programs administer services. Many offer services by the problem rather than being time-bound. I can have eight different issues in one year that require separate support engagements and I won’t be turned away because I didn’t have all of my issues addressed within three to six months.

The last thing I’ll leave you with is that I look forward to the day when professional coaching is accepted as perpetual, open to employees at all levels of an organization, and similar to EAP, leveraged by the issue and not by time-limitation. That’s my opinion, and I’m sticking to it for now.

– Kiahnna D. Patton is senior human resources business partner at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and a nonprofit founder.

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