Head: (4 of 5)
Heart: (5 of 5)
Leadership Applicability: (5 of 5)

Executive coaching is still a mysterious process for many.  In Leadership Chronicles of a Corporate Sage, Sue Bethanis explains the process by concrete example.  Instead of lecturing, Bethanis tells us the story of Max, a fictional character that is a composite of many executives she has coached.  Max is a smart, aggressive and quick-witted informational technology executive whose leadership skills have not advanced as fast as his career. Bethanis shows us how over six months of weekly sessions, his people and communication skills increase dramatically.  Because he is learning in real time, and initiating much of his own learning at Bethanis' equally quick-witted prompting, these are lessons that go much deeper than what he might pick up in a class or seminar.  And as a result of Bethanis' narrative approach, which psychologists have discovered is one of the best and easiest ways for people to digest and apply information, the readers learn right along with Max.

Coaching itself is a dialogue process in which the coach probes and prompts the coachee to look at any vexing situation from a different perspective, what Bethanis calls reframing.  Her style of coaching is: 1) a blend of questioning, useful content and assignments given at just the right time in the process, and, 2) some advice/consulting given based on her years of experience running her own company and working with executives from high tech, finance, healthcare, biotech, and most recently, clean tech. Good coaches must match their style, pace and tone with that of fast-paced busy executives. They cannot get away with a lot of vague, touchy-feely directives, and must work within the goals set by the executive, not the coach's own agenda.  Bethanis' broad expertise shows in her flexibility and quick adaptation to the needs of the sometimes scattered Max. 

The leadership framework that Bethanis uses with Max provides a system of learning and achieving from which all leaders can benefit.  First, Bethanis emphasizes the Leader as Learner.  One of Bethanis' first assignments for Max is to gather feedback about his communication skills from his manager, peers, and the people he manages.  This is difficult for Max at first, but as he gains in talking frankly with the people around him, he becomes aware of some bad habits such as frequent interruptions and a tendency to bark out judgments or orders without fully listening to the questions or complaints people present to him.  Once he is conscious of what he needs to work on, Bethanis is right there with assignments to incrementally improve those skills.  And when he backslides, she is there to help him catch it.    

The second role in the framework is Leader as Relationship Builder.  With Bethanis' guidance, Max learns when to "slow down to go fast," and "when to slow down to go slow."  She helps him concentrate on the little things that build relationships:  small talk, rapport, conversations in the hallway, spending 80 percent of any conversation listening and assessing before pronouncing and advising, networking, negotiation, compromise, and being aware of how his own emotions affect others.  This is the pivotal role on which Max gains the most ground.

The third leadership role, the pinnacle of the framework, is Leader as Visionary.  Bethanis doesn't stop with Max's immediate problems and issues; she pushes him to step out of the fray from time to time to stretch his thinking for the long-term.  She has him develop his own personal vision and legacy, meshing it with that of the team or organization.  She gets him to name his five most important values, what his greatest skills are as a leader, and what he wants to be remembered for.  Of course in this time of economic uncertainty and the growing awareness of the consequences of climate change, a leader's vision must encompass not just what it means for any particular person or organization but for what and how their roles play out in the wider world.  Again, without preaching, Bethanis works with Max in a way that equips him with the tools and skills he needs for the challenges ahead.  

The next role is Leader as Coach.  Bethanis doesn't hold on to her secrets-professional coaches aren't the only ones who can coach, in fact, she makes the case that anyone in an organization can and should coach, at any time.  Private, hour-long weekly sessions are best for intense learning, but any casual hallway conversation can be turned into a quick and simple learning moment.  Bethanis has coined a simple approach called In-the-Moment, or ITM coaching, which involves establishing quick rapport, spending time absorbing and assessing the issue, and then asking questions or making suggestions that reframe the issue in such a way that the coachee can come up with their own solution or action item.  By using ITM Coaching techniques, Max not only gains credibility and kudos for his much-improved communication skills, he helps engender a new culture of inquiry and self-autonomy within his organization.

The final leadership role is Leader as Globalist.  Over the six months that she works with Max, he has been adding incrementally to his skills, and his management chain has noticed.  They send him overseas to Singapore to help troubleshoot a major operational problem.  Bethanis helps him prepare by helping him free himself from his own narrow cultural worldview and understanding the unwritten business and social rules of Singapore.  But being a globalist goes beyond being able to work with people from other countries.  How can leaders lead their companies to be truly global players and participants without inflicting global damage?  The changes that companies will need to make to re-engineer themselves to meet the challenges of the next 5 to 25 years need to be more than surface-deep.  It is the wise corporate sage, like Max becomes in the book, who will be the ones who need to initiate and sustain the underlying behavioral and strategic changes that an increasingly inter-dependent world will require.

Buy it by contacting allison@mariposaleadership.com.