In Part One, which you can read here, I describe what I consider to be a coaching culture and how it differs from traditional management and HR practice. Part Two contains my recommendations for how to achieve and sustain a coaching culture. Here are the steps.
Define and articulate a compelling “Why”
This is “why” as in “why we exist.” It’s what we’re about, what we aspire to and what our character is. In a coaching culture, leadership gets clear on the “why” and continually communicates it.
A great example of a why-driven for-profit company is The Father’s Table, a food manufacturer based in Sanford, Florida. TFT contributes half of its annual profits to The Father’s Table Foundation, which has distributed millions of dollars to support impoverished women and children around the globe. TFT regularly measures revenue, expenses, and other business metrics typically measured by corporations. It prioritizes product quality, safety, customer service, and employee engagement. All of this adds up to a compelling “Why.”
From Telling to Listening
As I mention in Part One, every leader can improve as a listener. I don’t think an organization can reach its full potential as a coaching culture without its leaders developing strong listening skills. Here are two techniques.
The first technique is called the “Period-Pause-Question-Ratio.” When I work with leaders and observe them in action, invariably, the ratio is heavily weighted toward periods. This means that with the sentences they utter, the overwhelming and sometimes even unanimous number are declarative sentences ending in periods. I strive to change this ratio dramatically. I tell leaders, “If you catch yourselves in a pattern of declarative statements, stop! Next, do one of two things: ask a question or simply pause. In other words, create an opportunity for the other person to speak.”
The second technique is a specific process for active listening. It’s called the “E-A-R.” When you use your E-A-R, you begin with Explore – curiosity-based, open-ended questions about what the other persons thinks: “What is your view? How do you see things?”
After Explore comes Acknowledge. This happens when the listener asks the other person to acknowledge that the listener understands him or her: “Do I understand you correctly that…?”
Lastly, the listener Responds. The key to making the E-A-R work is understanding that it’s a sequence. When your R follows the E and A, it’s invariably smarter, more informed, and well-received than if you began with it.
As a coach, I can tell you that although the E-A-R technique is simple, it doesn’t mean it’s easy. It goes against our natural wiring, which is R-R-R. However, if you work at it along with the Period-Pause-Question-Ratio technique, it will transform your interactions with others. On the leadership spectrum, it will transform you from boss to coach.
Focus on and celebrate strengths
In my experience, many if not most managers see their job as giving instructions and correcting errors. In my view, this approach deprives everyone of a great development opportunity.
By contrast, when the leader actively seeks to find their employees’ strengths – what they can bring of value – good follows. You identify the things that can be built on and shared and grow.
This doesn’t mean you overlook weaknesses or problems. Quite the contrary. A strength-based paradigm enables you as a leader to address, mistakes, or weaknesses from a growth perspective versus a punishment perspective. “What do we need for the team to succeed?” is the necessary question.
Another key feature of taking a strengths-based approach is the concept of “feedforward.” Developed by preeminent CEO coach and best-selling author Marshall Goldsmith, feedforward is substituted for feedback wherever possible.
What’s the difference? Feedback tends to be negative – what the person did wrong, mistakes made, errors, etc. Feedforward consists of practical suggestions that will result in future improvement. Here’s an example of the difference: “Your report was deficient for the following reasons….” Versus: “Here are some ways I believe you can improve the quality and effectiveness of your reports going forward.”
Essentially, feedback tends to be stuck on the rearview mirror whereas feedforward focuses on the road ahead.
When Doug Conant became CEO of Campbell Soup Co., the company was in bad shape financially and had pathetically low employee engagement. In his ten-year tenure, he led a fundamental turnaround on both fronts. One of the key steps Conant took was to make strength recognition a leadership priority. This included handwritten thank-you notes. He sent over 30,000 of these. They were simple. They pointed out what an employee had done that was helpful and expressed thanks. For example, Maria in Mexico City might get a note saying, “I heard you worked an extra shift to make sure the product got to the customer on time. Thank you! Doug.”
Great leaders continually look for strengths and positive actions to reinforce and celebrate. Moreover, they don’t tolerate anyone in a leadership position who maintains that positive recognition or employee praise isn’t necessary “because that’s what their paycheck is for.”
Constructive Accountability
As I described in Part One, healthy coaching cultures have accountability at three levels: (1) the individual level; (2) peer-to-peer; and (3) the authority/leadership level.
Have you noticed that when something doesn’t go well on successful sports teams, the coach and the stars take ownership. Instead of blaming others, they ask, “What could I have done differently?” On healthy teams, players are willing to call each other out. They don’t wait for the coach. Their proactive approach to accountability makes the coach’s work that much more effective. The other thing about successful sports teams – they don’t let things fester.
It should be the same in the workplace. As I’ve written elsewhere, healthy workplaces avoid avoidance. They replace conventional employee disciplinary with a combination of the No-FEAR conversation and the Same Day Summary. I recommend that everyone in the organization be taught and coached on the No-FEAR technique. It’s the best approach I know to having challenging or sensitive conversations, which are necessary to have in a healthy, high-accountability culture.
Align Your Systems
If you’re serious about creating a coaching culture, every policy, procedure, and process should be scrutinized. Do they encourage trust, collaboration, strength development and constructive accountability? Or do they pull in a different direction? There can be no sacred cows. Culture-oriented HR professionals and in-house or outside attorneys can play a helpful role in combining legal compliance with support for the desired culture.
Creating a coaching culture should be taken every bit as seriously as any other vital business or organization function. I highly recommend strategic planning and execution along these lines.
Conclusion
A coaching culture is achievable, but with anything that’s important, it takes effort. When coaching individual leaders, Marshall Goldsmith counts three traits as essential to success: humility, courage, and discipline. Humility is the willingness to look in the mirror and acknowledge that you’re not perfect; that there’s room to grow. Courage is the willingness to try things you haven’t tried before and are not (yet) in your comfort zone. Discipline entails the necessary follow up and follow through so that the change eventually becomes part of yours and your organization’s DNA.
It’s an enormous investment with an even more enormous return.
