NOTE: As of 2022 the Center for Executive Coaching is now accredited with the ICF as a Level 2 Coach Training Organization. The ICF has changed their language and replaced ACTP with Level 2. We were among the first group of coach training programs to receive this accreditation, after a rigorous review by the ICF.

Coaching Case Study: Would you fall into this trap as a coach?

One of our members has been coaching the executive director of a large non-profit for a while now. The executive director asked her to write down some notes about a potential strategic plan, based on her observations of the organization.

The coach, diligent as always, wrote out a strategic plan, complete with an analysis of the market, competition, SWOT analysis, and 10 suggested strategic priorities. The executive director loved it and asked the coach to present it to the board of directors.

Question: What would you do now? How would you present your findings to the board?

In speaking with the coach, she was going to present the strategic plan to the board, and ask for their approval. I suggested that this would be a big mistake. The coach had not been introduced to the board previously, and therefore lacks the positioning or credibility to walk in and propose a strategy. Also, it is the board's role to set the direction of the organization, and the coach risks being seen as usurping the board's natural role.

Instead, we decided that the coach should walk lightly here: Tell the board that she has had the opportunity to observe the organization from afar, discuss a few observations, perhaps suggest a few potential strategic priorities as a way to start the discussion, and use those as a springboard for the board to start discussing overall strategic direction. In other words, go in as a catalyst to get a strategic discussion moving in a structured, effective way — not as the expert proposing the strategic plan.

She took this approach, and the board welcomed her. They jumped into a discussion of strategic direction and next steps, using many of the coach's ideas as if they were their own. The coach now has the potential of significant additional work about a reorganization and ongoing strategic planning!

Lesson: Do not jump in as an expert or decision maker when that is not your role and you have not been invited by a sufficient number of decision makers involved in the process. Be the catalyst or "shadow leader" and use that role to gain momentum and build your credibility.

Aflac

Amazon

Ancestry

Army Corp of Engineers

Ascension Health

AT&T

Bank of America

Bechtel

Best Buy

Booz Allen

Bose

Bristol-Myers Squibb

Brown University

Capital One

Caterpillar

Charles Schwab & Co.

Children’s Hospital Colorado

Cisco

Citrix

Coca-Cola

Deloitte

Dropbox

Duke Energy

Galveston Independent School District

General Atomics

General Electric

Google

Harvard Business School

Home Depot

Inland Steel

International Red Cross

Johnson and Johnson

Kaiser-Permanente

KPMG

Laser Spine Institute

Lexis Nexis

Liberty Mututal

L’Oreal

Macy’s

Mckinsey Consulting

Merck

Microsoft

MIT

NASA

National Basketball Association (NBA)

Nike

Nissan

Nvidia

Partners Healthcare

Philips

Procter & Gamble

Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC)

Ralph Lauren

Regeneron

Rice University

Ross Stores

Russell Reynolds Associates

Schneider Electric

Shell Oil

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Stryker

The Ohio State University

Tom’s Shoes

United Nations

University of Florida

Unum

UPS

US Air Force

US Army

US Army Medical Corps

US Marines

US Navy

USAID

Valassis

VMWare

Xerox

Zappos

Our featured articles