Keys to an Effective Meeting with Client and Sponsor Manager
In some of my contract work with executive and leadership firms there is an option to have the coach and the coachee to have a session with the coachee’s manager or director.
This offers the coach greater insight into who the manager is and her preferred management style. I might ask questions about their management style, such as:
- “What are you like to work for?”
- “What would your direct reports say they most like about working for you?”
- “What would they say they find most challenging?”
- “How do you like others to communicate with you?”
- “What’s something a direct report can do to challenge you?”
The immediate manager has a significant influence on our ability to perform, grow, and develop, and enjoy what we do in any work situation. Many of my coaching clients will want to examine their relationship with their manager at some stage in the coaching program and its impact on them.
And how does the client’s manager respond? There’s nothing complicated here. After all, competent coaches ask their clients these type of questions all the time. With such input, we can refine our view of the client’s manager and question her, in the same way, we would question a client. If we recognize the client’s manager as a valuable font of information, our picture of the client’s coaching in context and the opportunities and challenges that it holds will be richer for it.
Managing the coaching process
When including a client’s manager in a session, there are practical matters that need clarifying upfront. The most obvious is identifying what involvement the client’s manager wants to have in the meeting and whether other stakeholders should be included.
There is also enormous value in asking the client’s manager what experience she has had of coaching. This helps the coach to gauge several things:
- What is the client’s manager’s understanding and expected results of the coaching?
- What does the client’s manager understand regarding her role in supporting the client to make changes in the workplace?
- What does the client’s manager understand about confidentiality in the coaching relationship and what she can expect to hear from the coach?
The client’s manager’s answers to these questions allow the coach to address any gaps in the client’s manager’s experience or understanding before the session gets underway.
Often, I gain insight into the balance of support and challenge that the client’s manager hopes to give to my client and/or the role that the client’s manager hopes I will play.
Much of the focus here is to minimize any misunderstanding between the coach and client’s manager as the coach works toward progress. That said, some of the questions explored above take the conversation more deeply into what the client’s manager understands coaching to be and why she supports coaching for this client rather than taking another development path. If the coach follows this, she is better equipped to serve the client.
Coaching outcomes
Recognizing what is working well for the client and attending to any shortcomings, the coach can then inquire, “What is it that you need the client to do differently?” while pointing out how key strengths relevant to the client’s expected way forward. In this context, it is useful to understand from the client’s manager whether the coaching is about developing the client for their current role or whether the focus is on the next position. The answer is important if the client is to invite opportunities to demonstrate how she is making progress.
I have learned even the most senior and experienced, are challenged by specific and useful feedback.
The coach’s role is to invite the client’s manager to describe clearly and specifically the change that she wants the client to make. Not every client’s manager is proficient at this, but coaches are equipped with questioning skills and are adept at helping clients describe a future vision. These same skills can help a client’s manager articulate what she wants to see from the client as a result of working with a coach. The coach can then get a feel for the priorities for change by asking several questions along the following lines:
“What are the key changes and challenges facing your team and this individual’s role in the next 3 or 6 months?
“If you could, what is the one thing you would change about this client?“How long has she got to make this change?”
“What is the change that she will find most challenging to make?”
“How will you know she’s heading in the right direction?”
Engaging the Manager
An engaged client’s manager can help the coach understand what has prompted the organization to invest in coaching this client- helping coach and client shape the coaching program.
The client’s manager has a unique opportunity to help the coach understand what success is in the client’s role. By asking the client’s manager what the client is strong at and what needs to do to improve, we can explore what the client needs to achieve and/or to be better perceived as successful.
Such information helps the client and coach explore progress on stated goals and set new or refined goals that address the organization’s expectations – giving the coach a broader perspective on what success means in the organization.
The client can, of course, incorporate her own view of success. However, it is useful to make that choice knowing any disparity between her picture of success and the expectations held by key influencers.
