EXECUTIVE AND LEADERSHIP COACHING

 Ben  Zander on Leadership - You Tube

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INSIGHTS Acccording to Rooke and Torbert

Seven Transformations of Leadership
Excerpted from David Rooke and William R. Torbert, “Seven Transformations of Leadership,” Harvard Business Review.

"Probably what is most important about this article is that it is a breakthrough into the “popular” business press for a developmental perspective related to leadership.

Their focus is on action logic of individuals related to leadership. There is good reason for this because, as the authors state, “…we’ve found that leaders who do undertake a voyage of personal understanding and development can transform not only their own capabilities but also those of their companies.”

The authors put forward their seven category set of ways of leading: opportunist, diplomat, expert, individualist, strategist and alchemist.

The first three account for 55% of the “leaders” in their surveys.

Achievers are 30%, Individualists 10%, Strategist 4 % and Alchemist 1%.

Opportunists generate distrust and tend not to remain managers for long. They seek to win any way they can. However, they can contribute importantly in emergencies and in sales.

Diplomats are loyal and tend to avoid conflict. They provide supportive glue in bringing people together. Experts are rational and efficient, but find collaboration challenging. They are best in the role of individual contributor.


Achievers challenge and support others in pursuit of objectives. They have difficulty thinking outside the box. Generally, they are effective action and goal-oriented managers. Individualists see their action logics and those of others more objectively. The tensions that are a result foster creativity. They are effective in venture and consultation roles.

Strategists lead change through attention to personal relationships, organizational relations, and national and international developments. Through mutual inquiry, vigilance and vulnerability they are transformational leaders.

Finally those rare individuals with Alchemist action logics are in continuous processes of discovery and renewal and have the capacity to think in terms of metasystems. They have high integrity and are charismatic. They can lead society-wide transformations.

See the Harvard Business Review on Executive Coaching here:

http://www.edbatista.com/2009/02/hbr.html

Executive Coaching is an efficient, high-impact process that helps high-performing people in leadership roles
improve results in ways that are sustained over time.It is efficient because, unlike traditional consulting
assignments, it does not require invasive processes, large outside teams, and lengthy reports and analyses
to get results.

It is a high-impact process because Executive Coaches typically work with clients in short meetings (i.e., 30
minutes per session). During this time, the coach and client can generate important insights, gain clarity,
focus, and make decisions to improve performance.

Executive Coaching works with high-performing people in leadership roles. It is not therapy, meant to "fix" a
person. As an Executive Coach, your clients are already highly functioning, successful people. Like any of us,
they need support from time to time in order to perform better.

Finally, your goal as an Executive Coach is to improve results in ways that are sustainable over time. Your clients
want some sort of outcome, usually related to improved profits, career success, organizational effectiveness, or
career and personal satisfaction. If you aren't helping your clients get results, you aren't doing your job. At the
same time, coaching is about helping people improve their own capabilities and effectiveness, so that the
results and performance improvements last. To use the time-worn and famous quote, you are teaching people
to fish, not feeding them for a day.

“This book attempts to do the improbable, if not the impossible. In a brief and clear way, we want to synthesize large numbers of frameworks, tools, processes, and studies of leadership to identify the essential rules that govern what all great leaders do.” Through rigorous research and significant experience, authors Dave Ulrich, Norm Smallwood and Kate Sweetman have developed a comprehensive framework about what leaders do and why they do it.

THE LEADERSHIP CODE: Five Rules To Lead By serves as a guidebook to help readers be better leaders themselves and simultaneously help them build better leadership in their organizations.The authors encapsulate their research into five simple, yet powerful rules “all excellent leaders must follow. Since these rules form the basis for all good leaders just as our genetic code determines our elemental core as a people, we call it the leadership code.“

• Rule 1: Shape the Future: Where is your company headed? What is the direction of your career? Leaders are strategists, they answer the questions ‘where are we going?’ As practical futurists, they figure out what the organization needs to succeed and map the direction they must go based on current and planned resources. They work effectively with others to figure out how to get from the present to the desired future.
• Rule 2: Make Things Happen: How will you make sure you get to where you’re going? If you are a leader that makes things happen you are an executor (as in, one who executes). Executors translate strategy into action. They put systems in place that help others do the same. They focus on getting things done.
• Rule 3: Engage Today’s Talent: Who are the right people for your organization? Leaders that optimize today’s talent are referred to as talent managers. They understand what skills are required to carry out their mission, and they know how to attract the right talent to their organization.
• Rule 4: Build the Next Generation: Who stays and sustains the next generation? Leaders with this focus are human capital developers. They ensure long-term leadership development and focus on assuring the growth and progress of their organization. They can spot future talent and understand how to develop those who possess it.
• Rule 5: Invest in Yourself: This rule is the center of The Leadership Code and promotes personal proficiency. Leaders are learners: they learn from their successes and from failures, they read books, take classes and learn from life itself. “Effective leaders inspire loyalty and goodwill in others because they themselves act with integrity and trust.” They are decisive and have a passion for making bold and courageous moves.

To help clarify the five rules, the authors map them against two dimensions: time and attention, both of which are supported by the strength of the individual leader. The time dimension helps leaders think and plan in both the short and long term. The attention aspect provides context by which leaders gauge when their focus needs to be on building the organization and when they should focus on building individuals. They use the following visual to map the five rules to the two dimensions:

The Leadership Code

The book includes several self-assessments and references to excellent on-line resources including focused videos from the authors.

The Leadership Code is not for the “drive-by” reader who is trying to get quick ideas on how to improve. However, if you put in the time you will definitely gain new ideas and understand how to apply those ideas to your personal leadership development as well as the development of your organization. If you love to study and learn and challenge yourself, this book is a must-read.

Resonant Leadership from the perspective of Richard Boyatzis , Annie McKee and Frances Johnston provides compelling   insights  :

Leadership Coaching has some similarities to counselling in a work context in that coaches have to be able to work effectively in a one to one relationship and working alliance that enables,encourages and supports :

• Increase self awareness and awareness of others
• Improved refelction on choices,alternatives,options and dilemmas
• Problem solving
• Takin action aiming for well formed outcomes
• Reviewing outcomes and life long learning

Naturally coaches will meet and engage with a diverse range of clients with a wide range of challenges and different starting points in terms of experience,ability. For example some clients have just been promoted into a new and challenging role, some clients are looking for insights concerning leadership impact or dealing with complex change
under conditions of high uncertainty . The needs are wide and diverse. In this sense coaching is not seen as remedial and its aim is developmental.

Examples include coaching executives taking on a new role or wishing to raise the bar on performance in their existing role

• Insights on effective leadership skills
• Leadership theories
• Leadership development
• Vision and Change management
• Leadership team efectiveness

COACHING AT WORK