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Dear Gary,
When you asked me if I would draft a memo on "what is it like to be coached?" ...I thought I would end up writing a brief narrative of my experiences over the last few months. As I got into the task on my Mac at home ... I figured "what the heck" ...why not see if I could capture the spirit of your process in my own style. It didn't take long to recall the last few month's activities, as most of that time is still very vivid in my memory and thus the following two page description emerged after several cut and pastes. The style I chose to use is really a composite of my personal reflections as well as my attempt to encourage others to get into the game.
I hope others will find my description of management coaching ... from the athlete's perspective to be of some value in their own game plan for the future.
THE COACHING PROCESS
The management coaching process that my staff and I participated in with Gary Ranker proved to be a very empowering experience for all of the parties involved. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding the initiation of the process, the outcome ... in the final analysis, has to be viewed as positive. My personal feeling is that the candid and unabridged inputs one receives on how other people view you "in their minds eye" provides invaluable insight that few people will ever experience in a lifetime, much less have an opportunity to act upon over an extended period of time. The best advice I can offer is to go with the flow and to trust that the information gathered in this process will be a balanced assessment of the view that your employees, peers and management have of you as an individual.
To benefit from the coaching process you'll need all the information that Gary gathers. After all, this "stuff" is floating around anyway, why not benefit as a manager from the additional information that will make you and your organization more productive in the long run? Gary's process gathers all kinds of information: the good ... the bad ... and the ugly. The information gathering process itself takes approximately two hours of everyone's time when Gary interviews each individual anonymously in a 360 degree fashion. Plan to invest as many hours of your personal time as required to give Gary pertinent background information as well as your insight and perspective of what the important issues are. It is interesting to see if you're able to anticipate the root causes of the productivity issues concerning your staff.
The first time you read one of the previous sample reports that Gary provides . be sure to play close attention to both the positive attributes section, as well as the constructive criticism section. It may not occur to you . perhaps it just won't sink in at first . that your report could be many times worse (.especially when you finally realize you are the one in the mirror). It won't help much, but if you recognize and understand that some portion of today's society thrives on what is called "the blame system" (i.e., read the Washington Post or any other major newspaper and observe that many reactive people are conditioned to find fault in their leaders after a very brief period). The blame system itself is reactively centered and is the antithesis of what is required to motivate a proactive and highly productive workforce today. If you become so enlightened then you should not be too surprised when you find some very candid remarks about your own persona in your report.
When you finally receive your own personal report it will feel like you are on a giant roller coaster ride. Your positive attributes section is first .. read it several times before you read your constructive critique section . you will need it! The positive attributes section will strengthen your resolve for what comes next . the constructive critique section . this section may feel like you are being pummeled with stones from all sides at once. Now is probably the time you need to have a real spiritual session with Gary. After you have had some time to reflect on the constructive comments . you may wonder "is the gain worth the pain?"
You may come to realize that many of the comments appear to be in conflict and perhaps not very accurate or appropriate at all from your perspective. however the truth of the matter is that what you read is "the reality" from their perspective. The fact that several people had similar comments may have statistical significance and is the primary reason the comments made the report at all. Remember that your peers and employees are not always your closest friends and confidants and they don't always have your perspective or the benefit of knowing the "real you".
By the way . don't you remember the time you were abrupt with "Suzy Smith" because you were in a hurry to meet with the customer? Well, she does . and she formed an opinion of you and perhaps told others how inconsiderate you were. You know that you didn't mean anything by your abrupt actions (. right?) . well, she may not know the "real you" but she now has an opinion of the "affect" that you had on her. If you are abrupt with others in the same way, Gary's statistics will tell you where you are missing a real opportunity to understand why your organization is demotivated from performing at peak efficiency.
After you get your first look at your preliminary personal report . Gary holds a group meeting where everyone collectively gets to review your preliminary report and they are requested to come up with proactive recommendations for improving your weak areas. In addition Gary asks what the critical areas are: 1) Rank ordered in terms of importance, and 2) a measure of staff satisfaction is taken for each critical area. Gary then consolidates these inputs into your personal report for your review. In addition, he defines a set of three or four items on which you need to focus your attention. This is a very critical point in the process . it is similar to a baton being passed to you and now you are expected to start running. It is important to realize that you now own the information in the report! It doesn't even matte whether it is truly accurate or not. What is in your report is your staff's reality . it is now your responsibility to work the issues. If the criticism is on target then you must effect the change in yourself. If it is not accurate then you must change the groups impression of you in a proactive way.
Gary will give as much guidance and coaching as he can . but the biggest responsibility is yours and yours alone. Step outside of yourself and try to put yourself in the other person's shoes to look at yourself from their perspective. Try to understand the other person's perspective first before you ask them to understand you. You are a good manager and a recognized leader with an excellent track record . revisit some of these leadership skills and examine where the process came apart for you. Change if you need to . adapt . reach within yourself and do what you do best. Leverage the positive attributes that your people liked . give them more of the best and less of the worst. Measure the response . see the improvement . change if it doesn't improve. Work with Gary to understand the important issues and take the initiative to effect the changes needed.
A letter to the participants is the way to kickstart the change process. Keep the letter to the point . thank everyone for their constructive comments and let them know that you needed their inputs to effect any changes. If you feel embarrassed at first and perhaps a little awkward . then don't be too surprised if some of the people are a little embarrassed also. You can help everyone concerned if you get on with the issues at hand without agonizing over what was said in the report. A good way to do this is to generate an action plan and to let the people know what you plan to do about the key issues. The next step is all yours . start working the highest priority items and keep working them until you can see the change in the way people are responding.
Gary will work with you to make sure that you stay on track over the next few months. He will continue work with your staff to monitor satisfaction levels and provide instant feedback on your performance improvement from his perspective as well as the group's perspective. This instant feedback will allow you to fine tune your performance and optimize your ability to influence the performance of your staff. In many cases he will diagnose problems he observes with members of your staff and will recommend ways for you to improve the individual's performance.
A. D. Alley
Martin Marietta Corporation
Los Angeles, California
Written after his coaching experience with Gary Ranker at Martin Marietta Corporation in Los Angeles, California
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