CASE STUDY #4:

Coaching for Self Responsibility

The Challenge: At an all-staff annual retreat, the company was grappling with how to address an "us versus them" mentality that non-management employees experienced as inconsistent with the company's values.

The solution: We shared with all staff a Harvard Business Review article1 that described the experiences of one company in which employees at lower echelons coached the company's senior-most personnel. Our client's senior managers and staff were uniformly willing to experiment with a non-traditional solution to the "us versus them" challenge, and asked us to develop a coaching program for their six executive team leaders (including the President). This was the genesis of our Coaching UpSM program.

Recognizing the potential sensitivities inherent in this type of coaching program, we worked closely with the coaches beforehand to develop their deep listening and communication skills, and to clarify coaching objectives and program ground rules, such as confidentiality. We then met regularly with the coaches to facilitate a peer supervision group. These monthly meetings helped them "own" their roles as coaches and gave context to their experiences.

Over the six-month duration of the program, not only did the "coachees" benefit from direct, thoughtful, and respectful feedback from their coaches, but the coaches themselves gained tremendous personal insights and were able to modify their own behavior as they integrated their learning and observations. In this manner, they became models for others of high quality interactions. The "us versus them" attitude abated as the coaches and coachees alike promoted more open and direct communication.

The Results: At the conclusion of this initial program, the Company decided to offer coaching to any associate who was interested in participating. This meant also training a new set of coaches. The President was first in line to sign up to be a coach in this second go-round, but noted that he definitely wanted to continue as a "coachee" as well.

As one coach summed up her experience, "I believe all of us who experienced this program are more sensitive now to our own and others' strengths and weaknesses, the effect we unknowingly may have on others, and how positive and unthreatening honest and open communications can be. This radiates throughout the company."