a b reissfelder - management coaching - 1 who is coaching really for? clients and coaches beware...

A B Reissfelder - Management Coaching -

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Who is Coaching Really For?“Clients and Coaches Beware“

Koučing Centrum & International Coach Federation

Conference Prague, June 6th-7th, 2006

Annette B. Reissfelder


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Why am I here? • To share my passion for coaching:

– Maximise the results and impact of individual sessions– Improve professional coaching standards and development

• To talk from a “non-coaching position” as– A fairly seasoned expert in the profession– A professional with concerns, hopes, and aspirations – An insider who will answer and raise new questions

• My sources: – Own observations, reflections, discussions with would-be

coaches, HR managers – My working hypotheses


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Professional Background• German, lived and worked in several European countries• Economics + economic history studies, psychology degree • Previous professional roles include trainer, consultant, HR

manager, and co-owner + COO of consultancy with 25 staff• Systemic management + coaching training and supervision• Currently coaching in Czech, German, and English in CEE

countries (mainly CR), the UK, F, and D • Most clients from top level (CEO, board, board -1) positions A CHANGE-oriented consultant A business owner who used to manage a training budget


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Profession: Full-time Coach• “When she isn‘t coaching, she‘s probably at a conference“• Working differently with companies and managers • Focus: How clients can best manage their own change

projects• Practice:

– Individual coaching• Approx. 70% top management positions• Approx. 30% middle management positions (usually growth roles)

– Some board + top management group coaching– German-language Coaching Club for top managers with a solid

background in (self-)coaching (former participants of – cf. below)– Coaching-based management training for senior managers


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No Advocate of “Wellness Coaching”• Bottom line: my services cost real money + must deliver

FAST and TANGIBLE returns • “As much as absolutely necessary, as little as possible“• How to measure the company’s gains:

– Savings (streamlined learning systems, direct cost-cutting ...) – Quality (more internal promotions, customer satisfaction, …)– Retention figures, employee satisfaction, etc. …

• Always create a hierarchy of goals if client is not a CEO• Overall “earnings“ have to far exceed session costs (my

fee, their time)


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The Centrepiece: How Coaching Lifts Companies’ Performance

• By eliminating the WASTE of energy and moneyExamples:– Training programmes that lack solid link-back /

follow-up / cost-effect ratios – Badly managed performance assessments

• By removing personal and organisational ROADBLOCKS

• By boosting individual motivation and ENERGY


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What am I talking about?Paradoxes and Double Binds

• My clients are always smart and reasonable enough to solve their problems themselves

• UNLESS they trap themselves with double binds or ingrained assumptions (This is how it must be)– “I need my team to do exactly what I want, but I need

them to believe they came up with it themselves; At the same time I need them to show more initiative

and think more independently…“


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More Examples of Belief Systems that Trap My Clients

– "I need my managers to be top experts in their fields... AND I expect them to be professionals who support and develop their team/direct reports"

– a variation on this: "I must be the leading expert in my field... AND I need to develop a team of competent, self-accounting professionals"

– "I want my coaching programme to be as short as possible... AND I want the coach to tell me what to do clearly, instead of wasting time with all this unnecessary reflection"

– "I want a robust company with clear structures and systems in place... AND I want my people to be customer-oriented and flexible, and of course to cooperate synergistically"


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Calculating the Bottomline of Coaching - Estimated Savings

• 10% year-on-year increase in closing sales for under-performing sales rep (or 25% - 33%?)

• Gains when 100% of training participants adopt one key learning skill in their everyday practice

• Estimated savings from NOT replacing one manager• Outplacing + paying out old manager• Replacing (recruiting and training) new manager• Extra demands on colleagues diverted from tasks and goals

• How do these figures compare to the costs of 5-20 hours of one-on-one coaching over 2-6 months?


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“What an Interesting Profession“

• Travel options• Meet interesting people• Work with people who want to develop and

improve themselves

Oh really?!


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Definitely an Interesting Profession… Most people lack a positive view of coaching – but are curious If they have NO opinion, I have 10 minutes to engage them This is the only time I will ever have to change their mindset

(“Now show me how you are different”) Potential clients want/need to change something (usually someone else!) Have zero time for a “nice” approach + “understanding”The last thing they want is to “develop” N.B. People who want to develop usually don‘t want to pay you! Potential clients are experienced, demanding, and quick thinkers

= can quickly see what works for them+ - 5 crucial minutes to position myself as a true partner!


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Challenges of Working at Top Level• CEOs and entrepreneurs have a different mindset

– Not interested in “development“ for its own sake – Certainly don‘t want to unlearn what made them successful

• Extremely effective and capable professionals • Like challenges and creative, surprising new edges, thoughts + ideas• Don‘t need your knowledge; not interested in your opinions (esp. on

“how they need to change”)• Have no positive experience of your coaching - yet… • Probably ask themselves how you can be worth your fee – with no

experience in their industry + no idea about their complex contexts• What do you have to offer?


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The Boredom Dilemma• Management “development“ quickly bores top performers• The Supermarket Analogy: A few articles catch your

attention, but the whole experience is uninspiring• Coaching avoids this problem (if the coach matches the

CEO/manager)• BUT many top people see it as a ”weakness” = unattractive• HR’s educational role: Create opportunity for the CEO to

discuss key topics with a coach – Team goals, performance reviews, career planning, etc… – The goal is to facilitate ONE positive personal experience

• High performers see the benefit straight away


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The Bottom Line: What All Coaching Clients• … face: undesirable outcomes• … believe: there is something THEY can do• … really hate and won‘t tolerate for long:

– being told what to do or think - just like everybody else– being patronised or treated as immature, inexperienced +

clueless• … have already tried without success:

– applying old linear/causal explanatory models– talking to friends

• … want: help with being stuck right nowThis is what they are willing to pay for


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Centrepiece for HR Managers/ Business Owners

Ensure that your actions have maximum impact- Ultimately you want to change behaviour: A complex goal!- To succeed, you must respect each individual‘s complexity

(reflected in coaching before trainings and blocks of seminars)Reduce your company’s wasted costs caused by

– Lack of clear (and/or closely monitored) performance evaluation follow-up / career plan / succession plans

– Lack of training / seminar / workshop follow-up and clear implementation plans – These should be closely monitored by HR (worst case), or the managers themselves (best case)

Look at what it‘s WORTH - not what it COSTS


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If You Are Considering a Career in Coaching

You are on the right track if you want a profession which…• Challenges you every time you meet a client• Ensures you will keep learning for the rest of your life -

not in a course, but from yourself and your clients • Requires exceptional energy and inner strength (plus the

usual things that any successful independent professional has to confront)

• Requires reflection, and ongoing personal and professional development


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Questions for Aspiring Coaches• What is your background and USP? • Anything you are trying to get away from? • Any chance your coaching clients will be working in these

same contexts?• Do you have a convincing track record of being ambitious

for others?• Are you comfortable with an independent professional role?

– Bookkeeping, travel arrangements, admin, … - not for everyone– Responsible for your own marketing, pricing, sales calls– Selecting and financing your own ongoing training + supervision– Facing financial insecurity and a hugely varying workload


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Centrepiece for Coaches-to-be: Where and How to Train

• Starting off as a coach is tough in many ways– professional problems, self-doubts– self-management issues, finance/workload – data/examples

• Easy way out: Overcome this by learning on the job • Learn to apply your new coaching skills in your present job• Find out what works and where you’re strengths lie while

managing your current (or new) team • Use these insights to develop a niche for yourself – not

just a marketing niche, but one that is about you


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Useful questions if you are looking for a coach (for yourself or others)

• Does this coach have the life experience to face tough contexts and crises?

• Is this coach mature enough to respect my personality, or do they want to “educate“ me (= to be like them, or how they feel I should be/act/…)

• Do I believe this particular person is walking their talk?• Does (s)he offer a safe environment to clients while still

addressing their underlying needs?• Do I trust this person? Would I work with him/her? Why?


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Putting it All Together: The Coaching Space

• Created between each coach and coaching client; • Space determined by the possiblitities, personal

and professional resources, and motivation that both bring to the table

• Resulting space can widely vary in impact – 1+1 = 2 (coach is almost irrelevant/no value-added) – 1+1 = 3 (some impact; suited for middle management) – 1+1 = 4, 5, 6+ (exceptional impact, for the top level)


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Questions – now?

– Or later? Contact Annette B. ReissfelderTop Management CoachingMoorreye 88, 22415 HamburgGerman Mobile +49/178 97 151 97Czech Mobile +420/603 151 550


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Somewhat heretic guidelines (to be used in small doses)

• Compare how little we can ever know about our clients with the multiplicity of their experiences with “being them“ – most of which are potentially accessible to their self-reflection

• My favourite quote for coaches: “If you have a hypothesis, take an aspirin and hope it will go away“ (Steve de Shazer, 1991)


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Appendix 1/4 The Case for Self-Reflection

• Coaches only have themselves to rely on – Very good self-care is essential

• Coaches with better self-reflection can do more with and for their clients

• Many coaching trainings focus solely on coaching tools and techniques

• Tools are great but without highly developed self-reflection skills have little real value for the coach

• Strongly advocate basic systemic training for coaches


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Train the Self-Reflection Muscle…2/4• Self-reflection is a muscle: it needs to be isolated,

strengthened, and trained • It’s not just clients who benefit from this!• Coaches need supervisors (more experienced coaches)

to help keep this muscle in perfect shape• Self-reflection is central to a coach’s main professional

tools, i.e. how they create value for their clients– Ability to distance self from the client’s issues – Ability to offer useful insights and opinions (that are about the

client, not the coach)– … and to detect circular thinking/paradoxes


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Self-reflection Addresses Behaviour and Context 3/4

• Monitor your actions (using feedback + feed forward) • Reflect your behaviour with a better future in mind: looking for

higher goals, other points of view, alternative actions, etc.• On-going behavioural assessment

– What exactly am I doing? How did I get there?– What effect does/did this have on the others? – Is this type of (re)action I chose (still) effective?

• Put on glasses in different colours to see things differently • Be less black-and-white/„either-or“, but more context-oriented

The aim is to make you see more options


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Self-reflection² Focuses on our Way of Thinking 4/4

• Where do my judgments and assessments come from?• What do I really know about what I do and how I do it?• What stereotypes rule my assessments?• What behavioural preferences rule my actions?• How can I makes sure I listen to my client, when I know

how most of what I hear is about ME not HIM?

How do I reflect my behaviour?How do I reflect that others reflect me/my behaviour?

a b reissfelder - management coaching - 1 who is coaching really for? clients and coaches beware...

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