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EXECUTIVE
COACHING SERVICES
Drake Inglesi
Milardo offers professional coaching services designed to
target areas of difficulty and to then fully leverage psychological
change techniques towards successful outcomes. Our approach includes
the following components:
- Full assessment
of cognitive abilities, motivational and attitudinal factors,
psychological/emotional competencies and leadership style
- Facilitation
of management clarity and support for desired changes
- Maximization
of candidate motivations through feedback, education and tailored
approaches that match candidates’ stage of change readiness
- Clear,
behaviorally based goals and objectives
- Use of
experiential exercises to match the learning style of the adult
candidate
- Use of
homework assignments, including active practice and solicitation
of feedback to maximize learning
- Use of
relapse prevention strategies to head-off backsliding and resumption
of old behaviors
- Development
of a maintenance plan to support long-term change
PRE-COACHING ASSESSMENT PROCESS
Overview
Our basic assessment process involves a number of components.
The candidate will complete a battery of self-report personality
and interest measures, a 360° leadership assessment,
as well as cognitive ability measures. There is an interview with
the human resources and key management personnel to assess target
areas for coaching. There is also an in-depth interview of the
candidate.
Basic Assessment Process
Our psychological tools assess four major areas:
- Cognitive
Abilities - The cognitive ability tests determine where
a candidate stands relative to other upper management candidates
on analytical thinking, verbal and numerical comprehension.
- Personality
Measures - Looks at where a candidate falls on major dimensions
of personality; for instance, introversion-extroversion, openness
to experience, emotional stability.
- Interests/Motivation
- These instruments assess the candidate’s principal interest
patterns, as well as their energy level and motivation to achieve.
- 360°
Leadership Assessment - The employee completes a leadership
questionnaire. Five other individuals who work with the employee,
usually a manager, direct report(s), and co-worker(s) also complete
the same questionnaire. One of the interesting uses of the results
is to compare the employee’s perception of his/her leadership
style with those of others he/she has contacted within the workplace.
The overall purpose of the assessment is to identify strengths
and areas for development within the leadership domain.
Initial Meeting with the Candidate and
Manager
In this meeting the manager explains the observations and concerns
that have led up to a request for assessment and coaching. It
is important that the manager be direct in highlighting areas
of concern and expected changes. The consultant will facilitate
this meeting as well as explain the assessment process.
Interview of the Candidate
This 1 to 2 hour interview seeks an overview of the candidate’s
general functioning and work history, as well as observations
regarding areas such as leadership style, interpersonal skills,
energy, stress tolerance, conceptual breadth and creativity. Specific
areas of concern and the possible attitudinal, psychological,
and motivational factors underlying these issues are carefully
explored.
Psychometric Assessment
The candidate completes the psychometric instruments described
above. Human resources distributes leadership questionnaires to
appropriate individuals for the 360° Leadership Assessment.
Feedback and Assessment
After the candidate’s test results and interview behavior
have been interpreted, an initial summary of findings is prepared.
A meeting is then arranged with the candidate and the results
are reviewed. This meeting often results in discussion with the
candidate and a richer understanding of the results. These insights
are incorporated into a final report.
Final Report
A pre-coaching assessment summary with recommendations will be
sent to the company (usually to the Human Resource Department).
The report covers all major areas of the assessment including
cognitive abilities, influencing ability, personality characteristics,
motivation/needs, leadership profile and an analysis of the problem
area(s). The report also includes a summary of the employee’s
work history and a page outlining strengths and limitations. The
report concludes with developmental/coaching recommendations.
Planning Meeting
After the principal parties have had an opportunity to review
the pre-coaching assessment, a meeting is arranged to discuss
the major findings and to develop a coaching plan. This meeting
generally starts with a review of the candidate’s strengths
and contributions to the organization. This is followed by a presentation
by the consultant integrating the assessment results with the
behavioral issues that led to the coaching referral. For instance,
a problem dealing with other managers might be understood as a
result of high drive, high need for control, high competitiveness
and low sensitivity to emotional feedback. This meeting is of
critical importance as it allows all principal parties to take
appropriate responsibility for their piece of the plan. Thus,
the individual has primary responsibility for looking after his
developmental needs, but human resources might commit to finding
a specific training opportunity, and a manager might commit to
helping the employee with a particular issue or providing feedback
on progress at specified intervals. At the conclusion of this
meeting, all parties should have a clear idea of the employee’s
areas for development, how those needs will be addressed, and
what the desired changes in behavior would look like when fully
implemented.
Coaching
Phase
As the coaching phase begins, the consultant has a clear idea
from the assessment process where the candidate is in terms of
his/her readiness to change. If, for instance, the candidate is
seen as uncertain about the benefits of change and primarily “going
along” because of external contingencies, then appropriate
reading assignments and education about the benefits of change
would be provided. Coaching at this point is focused on helping
a candidate develop his or her own reasons and motives for change.
Assuming the candidate has achieved an adequate level of readiness
for change, the next step is to set specific goals. These goals
are specific and are defined in behavioral terms, although it
is often the case that more internal and generalized changes occur.
For instance, there could be a case where it has been determined
that a candidate needs to spend more time interacting with and
building relationships with reports and others in management.
With the help of the coach the candidate would set specific goals
as to how often he/she should spend time talking with reports,
what types of topics might be addressed, etc. If it were also
determined that the candidate needed to work on listening skills,
a sub goal regarding the amount of time spent listening in these
interactions would be set.
After goals have been set, coaching focuses on helping the candidate
develop new levels of awareness and skills. To continue with the
above example, the candidate with poor listening skills may be
given a behavioral simulation exercise in which he is asked to
listen to one of our staff present a problem. The candidate would
then summarize what he heard as well as any emotional reactions
that might have occurred during the process. The candidate would
also be instructed in the basic principles of effective listening.
Clients are also given detailed homework assignments, which facilitate
learning through practice. Again, using the example above, the
candidate might be asked to choose three people to engage with
so as to practice listening skills. The candidate would then report
back to the coach on several new pieces of information he or she
discovered about each person.
During the coaching process, feedback is solicited from managers
or HR representatives regarding the candidate’s progress.
This information can be used to reinforce the efforts and progress
of a candidate, or in other cases, to clarify or refine the candidate’s
attempts to use new approaches. This ongoing interaction with
the organization is important because it keeps the learning effort
tied to the work context and reflects the importance the organization
places on the candidate achieving his or her goals.
Throughout the coaching process, the candidate will be asked to
complete reading assignments. The content of these readings varies
from research-oriented articles to more theoretical topics. For
instance, research articles on bottom line results associated
with emotional competencies might be assigned to a candidate who
is uncertain about the benefits of developing greater interpersonal
skills. During the more active phase of learning, a candidate
might read articles on leadership that focus on the importance
of modeling exemplary behaviors or providing intellectual stimulation.
It is also important to help the candidate understand how the
issues they are working on may relate to their stage of career
development. For instance, it is not uncommon for people who have
been top performers in an operational sense to encounter some
difficulty when they transition to a role that involves a greater
emphasis on working with other top managers in setting direction
and responding to the broader challenges faced by their organization.
Different skills are required, and what may have been seen as
a strength at one point in their career may now be seen as a liability.
It can be helpful to frame the change process in developmental
terms as it normalizes the challenges they face, and can help
candidates be less defensive about the problems they are encountering.
After new skills have been acquired and practiced, it is important
to prepare the candidate for the inevitable setbacks that will
occur. It is well known that under stress we all tend to regress
to earlier learned responses, even though they are no longer the
most effective. This may lead to discouragement, and in extreme
cases, abandonment of new learning. It is also true that as the
attention and support that led to the coaching intervention is
withdrawn or diminishes, the external support for new behaviors
decreases. This also raises the risk of some regression. It is
important to help the candidate anticipate these types of situations
and to develop ahead of time ways of dealing with these challenges.
Continuing with the example, the candidate who has learned to
spend 25 percent more time interacting with others and employing
active listening skills, might be instructed to ask a trusted
colleague to tap him on the shoulder if he notices that he or
she is returning to less interactive ways. It is also helpful
just to know that setbacks are going to occur and that reviewing
successes and revisiting the reasons for change can maintain positive
changes.
Coaching facilitates a change process that requires considerable
focus and effort from the candidate and ongoing input and support
from the organization. However, a successful coaching effort is
truly a “win-win” for the individual and the organization.
When a talented individual becomes a more effective team contributor,
or a high achieving, “get it done at all costs” manager,
also learns to better understand and develop the people working
for him or her, the results can be powerful and well worth the
effort.
Contact Drake
Inglesi Milardo to discuss your coaching requirements. There
is no cost for an initial coaching evaluation.
Please call us at 207-772-2823 to schedule this or with any questions you may have.
Please click
here to request more detailed
information about our services.
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