Stakeholder Centered Coaching
Picture yourself in this situation: a member of you leadership team is essential to the organization but has one behavior that’s a constant problem. It could be disrespectful communication or making excuses or withholding information or failing to give others credit. You think if only this leader would stop, he’d be incredible. The trouble is, that leader isn’t aware of how he’s stunting his success, nor does he have a clue about how he is negatively impacting his team and organization. He doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal, may have tried to fix it without success, or worse, thinks everyone else is too sensitive.
The behavior continues with a significant hit on productivity. Clearly something needs to change and the best case would be for him to change this one damaging behavior. But changing one’s behavior is no easy task. To be successful, a leader needs to acknowledge the behavior, commit to changing it and get support from the people that matter the most.
Stakeholder Centered Coaching addresses this behavioral challenge with a proven methodology that gets sustained results. It gets results because behaviors and perceptions change in parallel. The leader makes a commitment to change his behavior, but rather than work in private in which no one actually knows what he’s doing differently, he enlists support from key people in the organization. These people become his stakeholders. They can be peers, colleagues, his boss and direct reports.
He publicaly shares the behavioral goal with them and checks in monthly for input and suggestions while working seven simple steps. Although the steps are simple, they are not easy; consequently, this coaching approach is not for everyone. It requires courage, discipline and humility. For those who engage, the process works. The leader changes and very importantly, gets credit for his efforts.
I facilitate this highly visible process by coaching in the background. It’s a game changer for the leader and organization. This methodology is based on the work of legendary executive coach, teacher and author Marshall Goldsmith.
“The lessons I learned from Stakeholder Centered Coaching continue to yield results. One of the more lasting impacts was becoming more aware of how my unintentional nonverbal cues can be off putting and remembering how important it is to actively listen — not just wait for my turn to talk.”