The following parable, or myth, is one in a series of twelve, which we’ve identified at Pathos Leadership Group that accounts for executive coaching to fail!  Our results-focused executive coaching is contrary to these parables, leaving executives and their organizations in a position to succeed when it comes to organization development, operational improvement, and financial success!  For more information on our Executive Coaching or Organization Development initiatives contact us at info@pathosleadershipgroup.com or call 877.455.3133.

Executive Coaching Parable 10 – I Just Want Results!

Alan was a C-Suite executive who recently transitioned to his current organization.  His department, many of whom thought that they should have received the C-Suite, were currently “not firing on all cylinders.” When the Human Resources leader recommended to Alan that he work with an Executive Coach to assist him with his recent transition, and also to coordinate more of a teamwork atmosphere, he was reluctant.  “Don’t get me wrong… I could use the help!  However, I’m not certain that a bunch of ‘soft’ assistance is going to work.  I need something that’s more tangible in nature… I just want results!”

The parable above indicates Alan’s perspective regarding executive coaching and the lack of results associated with its methodologies.  Unfortunately, Alan is not alone!  Nearly 71% of the executives we polled share a common thought that there really is a lack of hard, tangible metrics that can be reviewed to measure a coaching engagement.

When we first started our executive coaching practice, it was as a result of a participant in one of our leadership development workshops stating that they “enjoyed the four-day program, however I know that I’m not going to be able to implement the action plan we developed on my own!” We knew that we had an opportunity to dramatically increase the training and development implementation and sustainment rates (The national averages that we’ve seen are a paltry 27%… The Pathos figures were 72%).  However, before we set out to coach our first leader, we wanted to ensure that we continued in our “results-focused” approach by developing a series of metrics that not only could be measured efficiently, but also would reflect the opportunities to effectively manage the behavioral change.

The results… As an increased value for working with an executive coach after our leadership development workshops, we saw an increase in implementation rates from 72% to 94%.  Furthermore, in follow-up efforts we not only saw implementation results, but after time sustainment taking place.

The Moral of the Story: Always insist that your executive coach share with you their tool(s) for assisting you in measuring your implementation initiatives.  If there isn’t anything to measure, your not going to be able to manage, and you’re definitely not experiencing Pathos Coaching… but you are hopefully having a nice conversation!