On-boarding Coaching

"On-boarding" is the process in which a newly hired executive transitions from joining a company to being productive and successful in their new position. Unfortunately, many executives haven't fared well in the typical sink or swim approach to on-boarding. Historically, this process has been implicit, unstructured and chaotic. The result has been that nearly 2/3rds of the executives hired from the outside fail in their new positions even though they possessed the knowledge, skills, experience and performance history to be successful. (ref: Ciampa and Watkins, Right From the Start)

Today's dynamic business environment doesn't provide the ideal circumstances for recently hired executives to assimilate into their new company's culture. Would-be leaders can fail for a variety of reasons including some or all of the following: unclear or unrealistic expectations, failure to build partnerships with key stakeholders, failure to learn the company, industry or job fast enough, failure to gain commitment from direct reports, lack of cultural awareness, political naiveté, acting too quickly.

HPI's on-boarding coaching is a 3-6 month systematic approach that increases the chances of the executive's success and gets them up to speed and productive as quickly as possible. The on-boarding coach uses an executive coaching approach to provide a process roadmap and the support of an objective third party to facilitate the executive's assimilation and success in the new position and organization. The HPI coach helps the executive clarify expectations as follows: identify and achieve learning goals, understand the new culture, build productive relationships, establish credibility, form a strong team of direct reports, assess potential land mines, set priorities, develop an action plan and make any necessary changes in leadership style to be productive in the new role and environment.

An investment in effective on-boarding is an investment in employee retention, morale and productivity. The tangible results are quick integration of the executive into the company and an acceleration of their impact on business results. These results more than repay that investment.

On-boarding Coaching Process

1. Contracting (meet with client and manager)
2. Diagnosis
   
   1. Skill assessment
   2. Job demands
   3. Cultural issues
   4. Alignment issues
   5. Coach conducts 360 interviews
   6. Behavioral assessment(s)
   7. Coach provides summary of diagnostic results
3. Set coaching goals
   
   1. Client sets own goals based on diagnostic results
   2. Coach meets with client and manager to discuss goals and ongoing manager support (optional depending upon contracting discussion)
4. Coaching sessions (tasks)
   
   1. Determine the underlying need(s)
   2. Create action plan
   3. Motivate client
   4. Stay on task (e.g., skill practice, self evaluation, exercise new skills in the workplace)
   5. Evaluate progress compared to plan
   6. Provide information, feedback, follow-up and encouragement
   7. Reset goals and update action plan as needed
5. Midpoint check up
   
   1. Coach conducts 360 interviews
   2. Coach provides report summarizing interviews
   3. 3-way meeting with client and manager (optional depending upon contracting discussion)
   4. Make mid-course corrections as needed
6. Coaching sessions (process, as above)
7. Assess engagement
   
   1. Coach conducts final 360 interviews
   2. Coaches report summarizes interviews and makes recommendations
   3. 3-way meeting with client and manager. Create new development plan

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Executive Coaching

Executive coaching is a highly effective process for developing the leadership capabilities of managers and executives. Where coaching was once seen as primarily a tool to correct underperformance, it is now also widely used to help successful leaders get even better. A 2004 survey by Right Management Consultants found that 86% of the companies surveyed used coaching to sharpen the skills of individuals identified to be future leaders. Ideally, executive coaching is a three-way partnership between the executive, the coach and the organization (generally represented by the coachee's manager).

An HPI executive coaching engagement is a 6-12 month commitment designed to significantly accelerate the leader's development. The process is goal-driven with the goals being defined by the executive, based on performance data and the executive's aspirations. The data sources include past performance reviews, manager input, existing 360 feedback and 360 interviews performed by the executive's coach. The 360 interviews are typically the most valuable source of feedback as they allow a more adaptive and deeper exploration of others' perceptions and their description of problematic, as well as more desirable behaviors. The client identifies the contributors to the interview assessment so that they will more likely accept the findings.

The focus of executive coaching is on behavioral change to improve an individual's performance in their current role and/or to prepare them for their next assignment. The coach helps guide the client in selecting 2-3 behavioral changes for the engagement. Some examples of goals for an engagement include being more influential, having greater executive presence, increasing strategic agility, being more collaborative or more effectively managing conflict. To address the goals, an action plan is developed with specific concrete methods of change and adjusted as needed during the engagement. Throughout HPI's executive coaching engagements, progress is measured using the 360 interview process.

The benefits of executive coaching are numerous and case specific. Clients report improved working relationships with their direct reports and with their manager, increased commitment, improved teamwork, reduction in conflict, increased job satisfaction and better business client relationships. Organizations using the executive coaching process claim it resulted in increased productivity (by 53%), increased retention of senior people (by 39%), reduction in costs (by 23%), and increased profitability (by 22%).* In financial terms, a Fortune magazine study of senior executives who had completed an executive coaching engagement found the managers' conservative estimate of its monetary payoff to average more than $100,000 giving an ROI of the coaching investment of about 500%.**

* Ref: The Manchester Review, 2001, Vol. 6, #1
** Ref: Executive Coaching - With Returns A CFO Could Love, Fortune Magazine February 19, 2001

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