Firing an executive coach, part 1

A reader writes:  My cousin and I have entered the family business created by our fathers.  Our fathers are open-minded and we are thankful that they have given us major responsibilities even if we are still in our late 20s. We wanted to improve our performance, so my cousin suggested that we hire an executive coach, who started working with us last year.

The coach mentors my cousin and me separately and we signed up for a package of sessions.  The sessions are pricey, but our business absorbed the cost.  The first two sessions were OK, but there was nothing the coach suggested that we already did not know.  When my cousin and I compared notes, we discovered the coach was telling us both the same motherhood statements: things about motivation and communication that sound good, but are really too general to be useful in our case.

My cousin is not assertive, so I asked the coach during our third session if he could help us out with division of responsibilities and streamlining of operations.  But he wanted to talk about work-life balance, which is not what we need now.  My cousin and I feel that coaching is a waste of time.  Before we hired him, the coach told us that he has clients in top corporations, and I guess we were taken in by his claims.  I am not sure that executive coaches know the nitty-gritty of a real business.

I want to fire the coach immediately, but my cousin does not want to generate ill will.  Our fathers are leaving the decision to us, but I know my dad is not happy.  Our family business is not yet a top corporation, and while we are willing to spend for important things, every peso counts (I am also in charge of finance).  My cousin says we can still learn some things from the coach, but I don’t want to waste any more time.  Can you recommend a better coach for us?  What do you suggest?

My Reply: I am sorry to hear about your unfortunate experiences with your executive coach, but there should be good coaches who can address your needs.  Executive coaching is still relatively new in the Philippines, and I am not sure they are licensed or regulated (the Professional Regulation Commission does not yet require coaches to pass licensure exams).  But coaches who take clients from top corporations should at least be accredited by international or regional associations.

In your case, there definitely was miscommunication between your expectations and the specialization—or even expertise—of the coach.  Various versions of executive coach abound (as a few seconds of surfing the net will show), but for Filipino family businesses, coaches should be able to perform two main functions:  developmental and performance coaching.

“Developmental coaches help clients to increase their leadership effectiveness by improving their interpersonal and persuasive skills, use of ‘big picture’ thinking and overall communication proficiency,” says Kent Rhodes of the US-based Family Business Consulting Group. On the other hand, “performance coaches help clients apply skills to meet specific performance criteria in leader behaviors, strategic planning and implementation, and overall company success.”

From your description of your coach, it seems as if he falls in the first category, with his emphasis on soft skills such as work-life balance.

I understand your frustration when a highly-paid coach insists on focusing on his agenda to the exclusion of yours.  The executive coach you need is one who is more of a problem-solver than a hand-holder, someone with the requisite business background, not just soft skills, to advise you on technical matters.

For effective division of labor, for instance, you need a performance coach who can assess your and your cousin’s strengths and challenges to determine the best fit for you and to provide other options if needed.  This means the coach ideally combines business expertise with human resource skills to give pragmatic alternatives.

Be honest with your coach.  Before the next session, have a candid discussion with him on aligning his coaching with your objectives.  He must be forthright not just about his expertise, but also about his degree of comfort in touching on specific business issues.  If he cannot meet your expectations, then there should be no more reason to waste your time—or his.

Your cousin seems kind, but I agree that if the coach is not effective—or is not able and amenable to change the focus of the succeeding sessions—then terminate the contract then and there.

(To be continued next week…)

Queena N. Lee-Chua is on the board of directors of Ateneo de Manila University’s Family Business Development Center.  Get her book “Successful Family Businesses” at the University Press (e-mail [email protected]).  E-mail the author at [email protected].