I recently came across some business contacts questioning the value of engaging outside coaches for their key managers. They commented, “Why should we bring in external coaches when our company leaders should be giving feedback and coaching to their subordinates all the time if they are doing their jobs right.” And, “We have internal HR professionals available to answer questions and coach our employees whenever they need it. The managers should go to HR if they need help.”
I guess those statements do possess a certain element of validity. However, operating by those principles will cause your organization to miss out on a great return from outside coaching resources. Let me give you some examples of how outside coaches can complement the efforts of your internal staff and add great value to the organization’s bottom line.
Situation 1: An employee speaking about advice from her boss says, “I was told that I’m too detailed with instructions, but I’m no different than most other managers. And no one is perfect. Paul never liked me anyway, so I’d expect him to say that.”
- Dilemma: This manager will not improve her behavior unless she acknowledges her micromanaging style.
- Solution: Coaches use tools that objectively measure people’s behavior, and having the employee look at that “data” makes the circumstances seem more real and they become more willing to acknowledge and work on the opportunities. Also, we work with lots of organizations so there can be greater credibility when we point out to a person that their behavior is more extreme than most other managers. The bottom line is that we can often more quickly get people to recognize poor behaviors and cooperatively make adjustments to improve.
Situation 2: The director is giving feedback to a manager and says, “I think people feel bad sometimes because you give so much detail. But you are the boss and you really do know better than the employees. It’s just that people hate micromanagers. But I know you have a right to ask for things to be done your way. Do you ever think you are too specific with instructions? You know I always enjoy working with you, so don’t feel bad about this…”
- Dilemma: When coaching people you work with every day there is a tendency to be overly diplomatic. Messages get watered down and there ends up being no firm definition of the poor behavior or how to change it.
- Solution: Coaches are trained to deliver information in concise, direct ways that get to the heart of concerns quickly. We tend not to get caught up in beating around the bush, softening the message to the point of ambiguity, and back peddling to preserve people’s feelings. Now don’t get me wrong – all of us at PRADCO really are compassionate and caring people, and we are never “mean” or disrespectful as coaches. It’s just that as outside experts we have greater liberty to use what I call “direct talk” so the coaching content is clear. This gets things out into the open and brings about improvement much more efficiently.
Situation 3: An employee was just given constructive feedback by his boss, and here is his response: “It’s great of you to share that information. I’ll start making that change right away. Thank you for watching out for me. Consider it done! Talk with you soon…”
- Dilemma: Employees are not open and honest in the discussion. They fear they’ll be viewed as uncooperative if they try to dissect a situation and explain their behavior or analyze the causes. Also they may not want to “rat out” fellow employees or admit to problems contributing to the poor behavior.
- Solution: Coaches create an environment where conversations are “safe.” We let people speak openly and even vent about concerns, and then we apply techniques to help them analyze the situations, recognize related causes and effects, and define more appropriate behaviors.
There are other reasons why outside coaches are really useful – such as the repertoire of exercises and resources we have to share, our training in “constructive delivery” of ideas and putting a positive spin on things for greater acceptance. And we can’t ignore that managers in organizations often do not have the time to devote to effective coaching even when they have the skills.
Of all the great services PRADCO provides to our clients, coaching is one of the most impactful. We sometimes call it “Leadership Consulting” or “Action Planning” or “Developmental Feedbacks” [the processes take on a slightly different focus for various applications]. But by any name these activities bring useful change in the participants and accomplish great things for their organizations.
I hope you will consider giving your employees the benefit of professional coaching. PRADCO tailors coaching and development activities many different ways to meet client needs. Programs are designed to be very cost effective and easy to implement. Who in your company isn’t getting things done as effectively as they should? Who is not leveraging the full potential of their subordinates? We’ll recommend the right plan to help them! Just a few coaching sessions can be a helpful, rejuvenating and inspirational experience for the employees and can result in a great boost to company performance.
Thanks for reading!
- Ron







