| Frequently, I am asked to coach a manager or executive whose leader wants to change them in some way. Perhaps the leader needs to learn how to give people feedback without shouting demeaning comments, the leader needs to set more appropriate boundaries with her staff, or learn how to manage conflict.
Whatever the issue, my experience is that coaching is frequently successful, as long as the leader is given the appropriate incentive to change, and their boss can avoid confirmation bias.
Because of the additional human tendency to wait too long to solve many problems, leaders delay requiring coaching of a specific employee until they are totally fed up with that employee’s behavior. Thus, even though the employee is changing, the leader doesn’t see the change because they are ignoring all evidence of change.
“Are you being objective in assessing the leader’s actual behavior
or are you only observing things they do and say
In one situation, for example, I coached a woman whose bosses told me that they simply didn’t like her. As usual, I asked for specific behaviors that they found distasteful. They responded with a list of annoying traits: she interrupted people in meetings, failed to let partners know before contacting the firm’s clients, and so on. She was receptive to coaching and we worked hard over a twelve-week period to ameliorate these behaviors. As I checked in with the leaders during the process, they admitted that these specific behaviors had changed. Yet at the end of the contract, they lamented that they didn’t know if she would ever be successful at the firm because they “wanted to work with someone they liked,” even though they couldn’t exactly tell me what about her remained a specific concern. Confirmation bias.
What Should You Do?
- Don’t Delay. If someone is a technical expert and a valuable employee, yet needs coaching on people and management skills, don’t delay. Don’t wait so long that you won’t be able to assess any changes accurately.
- Be Specific. Be specific on the front end of the coaching agreement. Make sure that you delineate specific behavior that you want changed so that you can more objectively assess whether that behavior has indeed improved.
- Be Aware. Be aware of confirmation bias. Are you being objective in assessing the leader’s actual behavior or are you only observing things they do and say that confirm your bias?
 Did You Know
We teach about confirmation bias as part of our leadership and conflict workshops, as well as striving to avoid assessments based on bias in our coaching assignments.
For more information, call or write us at: 303-216-1020 or Lynne@workplacesthatwork.com
Be sure to read Lynne’s book “The Power of a Good Fight” –
Embracing Conflict to Drive Productivity, Creativity and Innovation.
|
July 31, 2017
