You might have noticed that the subject of executive coaching is getting some high profile media coverage of late. In fact a Harvard Business Review published in June 2002 carried a key article on the very subject written by Psychologist Steven Berglas. Lucy Kellaway summed up the contents in a review for the FT, written in her usual witty and acerbic style (also attached). In her column she says the HBR article "argues that coaching can actually be dangerous. Partly because the coach can get so close to the executive that he starts handing out ill-judged business advice ...?.. by relying on trite pop psychology, the coaches can ignore underlying symptoms and end up doing serious psychological harm".
As you will see the HBR article is very well written and, as one would expect from HBR, the author makes some well argued points about coaching. Naturally, given that one of SKAI's offerings is Executive Coaching, it has sparked some interesting debate at SKAI but that's not the point of this e-mail (although of course we'd be willing to share our thoughts with anyone who is interested).
Instead, we thought this would be a great opportunity to use the articles as catalysts to see what you think about executive coaching and the value it does or doesn't add in the business world. Once we have got your replies we'll analyse the results and share them back out with you. It will only take a few minutes of your time and in return you'll get an up-to-date perspective on the use of executive coaching in the private and public sector. Feel free to forward this e-mail to others inside and outside your organisation whose input you would value and who you think would like to take part in the survey.
Questions
1. What do you think are the top 3 situations where having a coach would be applicable in the business environment?
2. What kind of measurement of coaching have you seen carried out?
3. What business results have you seen as a result of coaching?
4. Which of the following does your organisation have?
• Formal coaching programme using internal coaches
• Formal coaching programme using external coaches
• Ad hoc external coaching support (not centrally organised)
• Other (please state) I look forward to getting your replies and plan to get the results back to you in 3 weeks time. |
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