1.
Coaching your
Photo by Ashraful Kadir [link]
employees
Ed Batista
March 20, 2014
An HBR Exchange Webinar

2.
Photo:SethAnderson
Who am I?
Executive coach
Instructor @ Stanford GSB
www.edbatista.com
HBR Guide to Coaching Your Employees

3.
Photo:SethAnderson
Why coaching
matters to me
Started as a client
Changed my view of leadership
Impact on my clients & MBA students

4.
Agenda
The headline
Leadership roles
When coaching works (& when it doesn’t)
Coaching tools
Coaching traps
Putting it into practice
Photo by Theresa Thompson [link]

5.
The headline
Coaching is an essential leadership role…
…that can result in huge benefits
…but it’s not an all-purpose tool
…& it requires specific skills
Photo by Garry Knight [link]

6.
Leadership roles
Photo by Keoni Cabral [link]

7.
Leadership roles
Heroic leader
Expert
Trainer
Evangelist
Post-heroic
Coach
Mentor
Motivator

8.
Leadership roles
Expert
Provides answers
Domain knowledge is basis for authority

9.
Leadership roles
Expert
Trainer
Focused on the task at hand
Shows what is to be done (& how to do it better)

10.
Leadership roles
Expert
Trainer
Evangelist
Spreads a message
Rallys others to the cause

11.
Leadership roles
Heroic leader
Expert
Trainer
Evangelist
Post-heroic
Coach
Mentor
Motivator

12.
Leadership roles
Coach
Offers questions
Helps others discover their own answers

13.
Leadership roles
Coach
Mentor
Focused on others’ development
Long-term growth > immediate performance

14.
Leadership roles
Coach
Mentor
Motivator
Message-agnostic
Helps others’ identify their goals

15.
Leadership roles
Increasing emphasis on post-heroic
But highly contextual
Coaching ≠ all-purpose tool
Must fit your needs as a leader

16.
When does
Photo by Antony Stanley [link]
coaching work?

17.
When does
coaching work?
High-potentials
(Long-term development)

18.
When does
coaching work?
High-potentials
Knowledge workers
(They’re the experts, not you)

19.
When does
coaching work?
High-potentials
Knowledge workers
Commitment > control
(Intrinsic motivation is key)

20.
When does
Photo by Ed Yourdon [link]
coaching not work?

21.
When does
coaching not work?
Serious underperformers
(Coaching ≠ a performance plan)

22.
When does
coaching not work?
Serious underperformers
When you have the answers
(Asking leading questions ≠ coaching)

23.
When does
coaching not work?
Serious underperformers
When you have the answers
Control > commitment
(Heroic leadership isn’t obsolete)

24.
But ask yourself…
Are they really underperformers?
It may be an attribution error

25.
But ask yourself…
Are they really underperformers?
Do I really have the answers?
It may be comforting to think so

26.
But ask yourself…
Are they really underperformers?
Do I really have the answers?
Is control really more important?
Perhaps I need to let go

27.
But ask yourself…
Are they really underperformers?
Do I really have the answers?
Is control really more important?
If the answer is No, coaching may work

28.
Coaching tools
Photo by zzpza [link]

29.
Coaching tools
Coaching mindset
Listening skills
Powerful questions
Modes of inquiry
Emotion management
Effective feedback

30.
Carol Dweck
Perceptions shape reality
How do we perceive our abilities?
How do we perceive our mistakes?
Mindset
Photo by Mike Disharoon [link]

31.
Talent & intelligence
are inherent traits
Mistakes are failures or
character flaws
Negative emotional
response to mistakes
Talent & intelligence
can be developed
Mistakes are learning
opportunities
Pay close attention to
mistakes & learn
more
Fixed Growth
Mindset
Adapted from Carol Dweck [link]

32.
A coaching
mindset
Photo by Andrew Yee [link]

33.
A coaching
mindset
Growth mindset applied to employees
Emphasis on learning
Support + challenge
Empathy + accountability
Not trying to “fix”
Adapted from Hunt & Weintraub [link]

34.
Listening skills
Photo by Ed Yourdon [link]

35.
Listening skills
Focused attention > time
Make the other feel heard
How they feel > what you hear
Eliminate distractions
Cultivate presence

36.
Powerful
Photo by Erik Charlton [link]
questions

37.
Powerful
Getting beyond Yes or No
What…? & How…? > Why…?
Maximize openness & reflection
Minimize defensiveness
Ask once & stop
questions

38.
Modes of inquiry
Photo by Garry Knight [link]

39.
Leadership roles
Expert
Trainer
Evangelist
Coach
Mentor
Motivator

40.
Leadership roles
Advocacy Inquiry

41.
Leadership roles
Coaching is inquiry
Leadership also requires advocacy
Finding the right balance is the key

42.
Modes of inquiry
Pure inquiry
Starts with receptivity (even silence)
Key is avoiding presumptive questions
Adapted from Edgar Schein [link]

43.
Modes of inquiry
Pure inquiry
Diagnostic inquiry
Focus & redirect
Feelings, motives, actions
Adapted from Edgar Schein [link]

44.
Modes of inquiry
Pure inquiry
Diagnostic inquiry
Confrontational inquiry
Introduces new ideas & hypotheses
Substitutes the coach’s narrative
Adapted from Edgar Schein [link]

45.
Modes of inquiry
Pure inquiry
Diagnostic inquiry
Confrontational inquiry
Process inquiry
Focus on the coaching relationship
Infrequent but essential
Adapted from Edgar Schein [link]

46.
Emotion
Photo by Ed Yourdon [link]
management

47.
Emotion
management
Emotion awareness
Sensing
Understanding
Emotion regulation
Verbalizing
Expressing

48.
Emotion
management
Reasoning = just the tip of the iceberg
Emotions = vaster, faster, more powerful
Work in concert, not in opposition
(Not always)
Photo by NOAA [link]

49.
Emotion
management
Regulation ≠ suppression
Emotions convey emphasis
Emotional experiences stick
Photo by NOAA [link]

50.
Emotion
management
Critical for coaching managers
You will have strong feelings
And we’re leaky
Investment > attachment

51.
Effective
feedback
Photo by Ana Karenina [link]

52.
Effective
Essential to managerial coaching
(But it is a form of advocacy)
feedback

53.
Effective
Social threat
Feedback is stressful
Minimize threat response
feedback

54.
Effective
Social threat
Cultivate the relationship
Make the other feel known
Respond to bids
Regularly express appreciation
feedback

55.
Effective
Social threat
Cultivate the relationship
Avoid defensive triggers
The net (David Bradford)
feedback

56.
My behavior…
Actions
Statements
Non-Verbals
Needs
Motives
Intentions
Feelings
Reactions
Responses
The net
Me and my… You and your…
Photo by The Mighty Tim Inconnu [link]

57.
The net
Stay on our side of the net
Focus on observed behavior
Disclose our response
When you do [X], I feel [Y].
Minimize defensive triggers
Photo by The Mighty Tim Inconnu [link]

58.
Traps for the
coaching manager
Photo by Casey Fleser [link]

59.
Traps for the
coaching manager
Giving advice prematurely
Overpowering resistance
Creating dependence
Excessive support
Insufficient support
Adapted from Edgar Schein [link]

60.
Putting it into
practice
Photo by Erich Ferdinand [link]

61.
Putting it into
practice
Coaching moments (Attention > time)
But gauge readiness
Make coaching normal
Not a “performance review”
Celebrate small victories

62.
Experiential
learningAct
Reflect
Conceptualize
Apply
What will I do
more of, less of, start or
stop the next time?
What do these results imply?
What conclusions can I draw?
What happened?
What resulted
from my actions?

63.
Experiential
learningAct
What?
So What?
Now What?

64.
Experiential
learning
Wash, rinse, repeat
(Over and over again)

65.
Resources
Photo by See-ming Lee [link]

66.
Resources
For more on post-heroic leadership…
David Bradford & Allen Cohen,
Power Up

67.
Resources
For more on leadership roles…
Pierluigi Pugliese, Scrum Master as Team Coach
& Ed Batista, Leading in Four Dimensions

68.
Resources
For more on mindset in general…
Carol Dweck, Mindset
& Ed Batista,
The Meaning of Mindset

69.
Resources
For more on a coaching mindset…
James Hunt & Joseph Weintraub,
The Coaching Manager

70.
Resources
For more on inquiry & coaching traps…
Edgar Schein, Helping

71.
Resources
For more on inquiry…
Edgar Schein, Humble Inquiry

72.
Resources
For more on emotion…
Antonio Damasio, Descartes’ Error

73.
Resources
For more on emotion in organizations…
Vanessa Druskat & Steven Wolff,
Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups

74.
Resources
For more on feedback & all of the above…
HBR Guide to Coaching Your Employees

75.
Thank you
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Follow me @edbatista
Read more at www.edbatista.com