December 2003  

Current Events

In conjunction with this newsletter, we have launched a completely new web site for Crane Consulting. Please visit us to learn about our upcoming public events and the focus of our continually-evolving consulting practice. Very soon we will begin publishing chapter excerpts from "Coaching Cultures - The Next Wave".



The Key Questions in our Culture Assessment for "Leaders Becoming Positive Role Models"

 

Leaders demonstrate competency in using effective coaching behaviors.

 

Leaders request feedback on their coaching effectiveness.

 

Leaders encourage others to develop their coaching competencies.

 

Leaders are effective at asking questions vs. telling the answers.

 

Leaders create trusting partnerships with people.

 

Leaders demonstrate compassion in their interactions.

 

Leaders are reflective vs. reactive when dealing with stressful situations.




Our audience:

We believe this newsletter will be an effective resource for the following: executive leaders, middle level managers, members of the team, and sole contributors. We believe if professionals working in the field of human resources, organizational development, and training either as an external consultant or internal resource, will also find value.

Seasons Greetings!

We wish you, your family, and your organization a safe Holiday Season and a Prosperous New Year!

Here is our next installment of describing our work in helping leaders to create a true High Performance organization...enjoy...

The Process of Creating a Coaching Culture

We would define the process of creating a coaching culture as “a long-term developmental process for building organizational capacity to create and sustain high-performance results.”

The definition may be easy to articulate – the process of shaping a culture is harder. Why? Because an organization’s culture is composed of the collective attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, relationships, and processes by which members of the culture operate. It is “how we do things around here.” These dynamics are established over long periods of time, and are difficult to shift rapidly, yet critical to address if the organization wants to create and sustain performance over the long haul. Culture is the powerful interpretative filter through which all strategic decisions and changes are perceived and experienced. It’s the 800 pound gorilla that can eat strategy for lunch!

Since culture shifting takes place over several years (with care and feeding), it requires a long-term commitment from leadership. Culture change is most effectively, and perhaps only, accomplished when the leaders of the organization are willing to become champions of the coaching process and conscious role-models of effective coaching. Of the seven core fundamental dimensions of a coaching culture we describe on our website, let’s take a closer look at the first – the role leaders play in this transformation.

Leaders Become Positive Role Models – this requires that the leaders of the organization become sufficiently inspired about the prospects of creating a coaching culture, that they are willing to become committed to leading the way. Since leaders set the tone, pace, and expectations for the culture, they lead this organizational development process by changing themselves first by going through their own personal transformation from BOSS OF PEOPLE to COACH FOR PEOPLE. Each participates in an authentic developmental process, including some of the following developmental steps we do with our clients: a 360 ° feedback process on coaching competencies, a personal coaching contract, and works with a personal coach (a learning partner).

 

If an organization’s top leaders have been coached from outside executive coaching professionals, we build upon those positive experiences. These one-on-one external coaching relationships serve as a model and springboard for the leader becoming a coach for their respective teams.

As a unified message from the top, the senior leadership team needs to “own” the change process, demonstrate their “coach-ability”, and be engaged in developing people as the sustainable competitive advantage for the business.

To build trust and demonstrate “ownership” of the initiative, they must speak with one voice in support of the new coaching culture – they are “on the same page.”

Coaching represents “applied leadership”. As leaders become master coaches, they have a powerful tool to create energized teams focused on improving performance and creating a competitive advantage for the business.

Life at the top can be lonely, and people tend to tell the CEO what they think they want to hear. As CEO’s become more effective and approachable as coaches, they begin to receive more and better quality feedback on their behavior and decisions, placing them closer to the heart beat of the organization. This is a clear “reality check.”

Leaders become significantly more effective as they deliver critically-important, time-sensitive feedback to people – in a way people can hear it. The organization is better able to benefit from the wisdom of its leadership as they coach others.

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