The Psychology of Executive Coaching

Theory and Application

Bruce Peltier

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2011
• eBook ISBN: 9781135849818
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Psychology

With the first edition of this text, Peltier drew on his extensive experience in both the clinical and business worlds to create a comprehensive resource that brought psychological and coaching concepts together. It quickly became a practical and invaluable guide for both mental health practitioners looking to expand their practice into coaching and business professionals interested in improving their own coaching skills.

In this updated edition, topics reflect the latest developments in the field of executive coaching. Peltier describes several important psychological theories and how to effectively translate them into coaching strategies; essential business lessons in leadership, marketing, and the corporate viewpoint along with vocabulary for the therapist; the challenges women face as managers and executives and effective coaching methods for working with them; and lessons from successful athletic coaches that can be integrated into consulting skills. This edition includes four new chapters, one describing psychopathology likely to be encountered by coaches. Another describes and evaluates emotional intelligence, a third summarizes adult developmental theory for coaches, and a fourth sorts out the popular and scientific literature on leadership and leader development.

1

Assessment

Whatever exists at all, exists in some amount and can be measured.

—Edward L. Thorndike (1918, p. 16)

There is one essential area where psychologists have a clear edge over all other kinds of consultants: psychological testing and assessment.

Testing is central to the professional identity of psychologists, and to some extent it represents psychology’s historic core competency. Psychologists in the 1950s and 1960s often defined themselves as psychometricians, and psychological testing was their single important professional activity. Among mental health providers, only psychologists are formally trained to conduct and interpret psychological testing and assessments. Psychologists study testing in school, receive supervision in residencies, and are licensed to conduct formal evaluations and submit them as evidence in court. Psychologists are often identified with psychological testing in the eyes of the consuming public. Most psychologists possess a basic understanding of the important elements of assessment, including knowledge of the important tests and how to choose them, the clinical interview, concepts of validity and reliability, and how to inform people about the results of testing in ethically effective ways. Other psychotherapists (psychiatrists, family therapists) are familiar with assessment methods, and all assess their clients in some (less formal) fashion as a regular component of individual treatment.

The Role of Assessment in Coaching

Assessment is an essential element of executive coaching. It is important because people in the workplace tend to avoid frankness when they deal with one another, especially when they interact with people to whom they report—bosses and those who formally evaluate and pay them. The higher leaders get in an organization, the less frank feedback they receive. Leaders at the top of organizations rarely get any negative feedback at all, and sometimes—because of flattery or fear—they have a distorted sense of their strengths, weaknesses, and abilities. Structured assessment is important because people are generally not accurate self-reporters, in spite of how certain they may be about themselves (Erdberg, 2000). We cannot rely on what people tell us about their own qualities and behaviors.

Dissemination of assessment information must be negotiated and clarified at the beginning of the coaching relationship. Anticipate that clients might be wary about revealing information when they do not know exactly where that information will go. Therefore, it is essential to have a clear discussion about confidentiality and the kinds of reports that coaches will make. Clients are to be the first and most thoroughly briefed, but there are typically two other interested parties, the senior manager of the client, and perhaps the human resources (HR) department if that unit plays a role in coaching in the organization (such as coach selection and evaluation). A recent international survey of 140 experienced executive coaches conducted at Harvard University revealed that 68% of coaches kept their client’s manager apprised of progress and 56% briefed HR personnel. Twenty-seven percent provided information to others such as the chief learning officer or the person responsible for leadership development in the company (Kauffman & Coutu, 2009, pp. 12–13). These other parties typically have an interest in information that might help them understand and improve organizational operations and culture. Coaches and clients should design a formal plan for dissemination of assessment data and findings, and it should include regular meetings to evaluate progress. Goals are tracked at these meetings and renegotiated as appropriate. Clients must be apprised of any discussion between their coach and others. They should be included in feedback discussions whenever possible.

Stages of Change

Prochaska and DiClemente’s extensive research in addiction (Prochaska, 1979; Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983; Prochaska, DiClemente, & Norcross, 1992; Prochaska & Velicer, 1997) led them to the development of an important stage theory of change, commonly called stages of change or the transtheoretical model. They studied hundreds of people struggling with addictive behavior and were seeking “common principles that can reveal the structure of change,” especially intentional change, in human behavior (Prochaska et al., 1992, p. 1102). While observing the ways in which people tend to change, they developed a normative model with five or six progressive stages, and this model provides an important vehicle for executive assessment. These stages of change are:

1. Precontemplation—People at this stage have no intention of changing. They may not even perceive that there is a problem. Although others may think that something is wrong or needs attention, the subject does not.
2. Contemplation—At this stage subjects are aware that a problem exists. They are thinking seriously about making a change, but have made no commitment and have taken no action. People can remain in this stage for years. They are not quite ready yet. They may be weighing pros and cons and may be ambivalent.
3. Preparation—At this stage there is a commitment to change and plans are made to accomplish it. Goals are set.
4. Action—The plan is put into effect and change is made. Clients behave differently than they have in the past. This stage, like several others, can be uncomfortable. Goals are assessed.
5. Maintenance—Changes are consolidated and reinforced. Relapses are corrected.
6. Termination—Changes become normal and are seen as a natural part of one’s identity. It feels as if it has always been this way, and the old behavior holds no interest.

It is easy to grasp the importance of Prochaska’s work for coaches. One of Thorndike’s three learning principles (1932) was the law of readiness, which helps explain the importance of Prochaska’s stages of change. Thorndike asserted that (Lindsay, 2000, p. 237):

1. When someone is ready to act, doing so will be experienced as satisfying.
2. When someone is ready to act, not doing so will be experienced as annoying.
3. When someone is not ready to act, but is forced to do so, this will be experienced as annoying.

The Harvard survey of coaches inquired about client “coachability” and found that out of 10 factors cited, the most important one was change readiness (Kauffman & Coutu, 2009, p. 18).

This means that timing is everything. Coaches must time their interventions correctly or risk annoying their clients. Careful assessment allows a coach to determine the stage of readiness of the client and respond appropriately. The question of who initiated the coaching process is often instructive. Did the client request help or was the client pressed into coaching by the sponsoring organization? Does the client perceive the situation in the same way that his or her boss perceives it? What is at stake; what happens if coaching does not take place or is unsuccessful?

When clients are in a precomtemplative stage, clients are unlikely to be interested in getting help and may, in fact, be defensive or offended, as others have probably already tried to point out their shortcomings. They may employ some of the psychological defenses described in Chapter 3, such as denial, projection, intellectualization, or reaction formation. They may prefer that other people change. This is a difficult stage for coaches, as they are under pressure to get results but are faced with a client who is uninterested in participating. Honest, authentic, Rogerian interaction (described in Chapter 5) along with potentially powerful results from a 360-degree assessment (described later under the heading “Assessment Methods for Coaches”) may open a door, especially if accompanied by an employer mandate for change. Consciousness-raising and values clarification are appropriate at this stage. Clients in this stage can become the best and most highly motivated clients once they trust that a coach is truly interested in the client’s point of view and does not intend to push an unwanted agenda from the outside.

Clients in the contemplative stage are typically easier to work with, as thoughts about change are already in motion. They may, however, be ambivalent, perfectionistic, or procrastinators. People can get stuck in this phase for years. Values clarification exercises or discussions may be useful, and the data from 360-degree evaluations is still likely to be productive. It is a good idea to “normalize” ambivalence at this stage, meaning that a coach can call a client’s attention to the fact that ambivalence is common and expectable. Coaches may employ Lewin’s force-field analysis (described in Chapter 9) or a functional analysis (found in Chapter 4) to examine the pros and cons of change. Self-efficacy, the extent to which a person feels that he or she can actually accomplish something once they start, should be examined and enhanced when possible (also described in Chapter 4). Sometimes clients do not have much confidence in their ability to make a change, so they avoid it and put it off and make excuses. Having a coach at this stage can really make a difference, especially if people feel that they have someone who will stick by them if things get tough. Change nearly always entails risk, and it is good to have someone with you to share some of that risk. Persuasive methods are tempting at this stage and coaches must carefully assess the appropriateness of efforts to urge the client to change, as these can be counterproductive or productive, depending upon the circumstances. Coaching judgment is key at this stage.

Things begin to happen in the preparation stage, where good intentions are converted into a plan for action. Obstacles are identified, timelines are established, and activities are designed and prioritized. Goal setting is now called for.

Then comes the action. In this phase, plans are activated and real change begins, optimally in small, achievable steps. The best plans consist of small, feasible activities that are acceptable to the client and the organization. This can be a time of great discomfort, and coaches can help to provide important support. It is also helpful if important others can recognize and support early improvements. Coaches can hold clients’ feet to the fire and cheerlead at the same time.

The maintenance stage consolidates gains in ways that avoid relapse or backsliding. Coaches continue to provide appropriate positive reinforcement and recognition. If relapse occurs, coaches help clients get back on track using the relapse as a useful guide to improving the plan. Coaches, when appropriate, can help arrange positive organizational responses to the changes made by their client.

If all goes well, clients eventually make it to the termination stage where the new behavior is more or less completely integrated into daily life. The changes are comfortable and there are no urges or inclination to go backward or revert to old ways. New behaviors are integrated into the client’s identity and are seen as “normal.”

Miller and Rollnick (2002) have integrated the stages of change into a formal treatment method and called it motivational interviewing. The method is summarized for coaches in Palmer and Whybrow’s Handbook of Coaching Psychology (2008, pp. 160–173).

Most executive coaches fly by the seat of their pants when it comes to assessment, and many use an informal 360-degree process. This chapter outlines the important components of an effective executive assessment process along with ways to incorporate them in coaching.

A Brief History of Psychological Assessment and Psychometric Instruments

Attempts at objective assessment have been around for centuries, and there is evidence that formal mental testing has roots in the 16th century, if not earlier (Drummond, 2000). Psychologists have always used the clinical interview to assess patients and clients, but modern clinical practice has moved toward structured interviews, which have the potential to be more reliable and more consistently comprehensive than unstructured ones. Objective psychometric instruments were first conceived out of the need to standardize the way that psychologists collect and interpret client information, particularly during wars and times of rapid educational or economic expansion in the United States. It was thought that standardized instruments would yield better results than interviewer preferences and prejudices.

Alfred Binet was studying the relationship between palmistry, phrenology, and intelligence when the Ministry of Public Education in Paris commissioned him to develop procedures to distinguish between students who could be educated and those who could not (Drummond, 2000). This work led to the development of the first standardized IQ tests. Testing was originally conceived as an objective and fair way to allocate precious educational resources (even though it has not generally accomplished that purpose. If anything, widespread standardized testing in education seems to have served to maintain the status quo and distract from learning).

World Wars I and II led to accelerated activity in test development, as the American military establishment sought to quickly and efficiently screen out “dull” young men using the Army Alpha test. They added the Army Beta when it became clear that many immigrant recruits could not be accurately tested using a format written in English. Standardized testing seemed successful, and the Army eventually moved toward personality testing to screen out recruits with character problems.

Hathaway and McKinley (1943) pioneered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) at the University of Minnesota as a way to differentiate between normal, neurotic, and psychotic people. They combined questions from the best existing personality inventories and developed comprehensive norms that became widely accepted in the psychological community as the gold standard for personality testing. The test was taken over by a commercial testing corporation who partnered with the University of Minnesota in the 1980s to revise and restandardize the test (update norm groups). Another recent revision has produced...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Author and Contributor
• Introduction
• 1 Assessment
• 2 Developmental Psychology and Adult Development
• 3 The Psychodynamic View
• 4 Behavioral Concepts
• 5 The Person-Centered Approach
• 6 Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Therapy
• 7 Family Therapy and Systems Thinking
• 8 The Existential Stance
• 9 Social Psychology and Coaching
• 10 Hypnotic Communication
• 11 Emotional Intelligence
• 12 Lessons from Athletic Coaches
• 13 Coaching Women
• 14 Psychopathology and Coaching
• 15 Leadership
• 16 Workers, Managers, and Leaders
• 17 Ethics in Coaching
• 18 Making the Transition
• Index