Authentic Leadership Growth in Executive Coaching Happens in Three Stages

Drew always seemed to be looking around the corner for what was next. At 60, Drew had reached
the top ranks of his corporation, reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer and frequently
interacting with the Board of Directors. Drew rose through his organization’s ranks on the strength
of his technical abilities, and the company rewarded him handsomely. Throughout his career, Drew
demonstrated and valued excellence; he didn’t suffer fools easily. As Drew reflected on his
organization and position, he recognized that he had few role models for leadership; under stress,
which seemed increasingly frequent, Drew was not an effective collaborator, particularly among new
and unfamiliar faces. After a few egregious blow-ups with talented associates, Drew knew that he
had to do better, or he would spend the next years constantly apologizing to others or finding
himself outside of the organization.

As the pioneering Swiss psychoanalyst observed, “you are what you do, not what you say you do,”
and “we cannot change anything unless we accept it.” An executive who approaches coaching from
a developmental perspective arrives at the coaching engagement with enthusiasm, excitement, and
some mix of dread. Many have worked so long at perfecting their ambitions to rise that meaningful
change is often difficult. And the many challenges executives encounter are resistant to
improvement because their behaviors have successfully served their ego and professional pursuits.
Certain events contribute to an executive’s need for coaching. Among those events are significant
transitions (e.g., becoming a manager of managers), poor emotional intelligence, failure to
collaborate (e.g., “I’m the most competent person in the room), and underdeveloped self-awareness.
Many of these can come in combination, and the coach and client must unbundle and unpack the
desire to change to reach a desirable outcome. This article highlights the three forces –– catalyzing,
capitalizing, and conditioning –– that successful coaches employ to help an executive leader achieve
greater congruency between thought and action.

Catalyzing

In this stage, the coach and client work to understand and develop a clear, deep, and significant
assessment of the forces driving and restraining personal change, growth, and development. Without
a trustworthy partner capable of openness and confidentiality, the reinforcing systems for status quo
behavior overpower the desire to change. The authentic coach recognizes that the request for help is
just one of several steps in catalyzing desire and visualizing successful outcomes. This stage commits
the client to a personally meaningful change, not one arising from an organizational mandate. The
coach commits in a singular way to the client.

Along with personal identification, both vision and dissatisfaction must exist. Many years ago,
pioneering Organization Development practitioners and scholars in the Formula for Change model
observed the change could not occur without these forces 1. In addition, they observed the force of
resistance, or what Bob Kegan and Lisa Lahey might refer to as the “Big Assumption,” to which we
anchor and that has power over us until we are able to understand it, and thereby develop 2.

In other words, the coach and client work to reduce suffering and to increase congruency, resulting in the unleashing of many positive attributes.

Capitalizing

In her groundbreaking article, Darya Funches identified three gifts of Organization Development
practitioners: heart, discernment, and presence 3 . These gifts are relevant and inspire authentic
leadership coaching engagements. The coach brings heart and hope to the client’s situation and
works with the client to envision possibility to probability. In discernment, the coach and client
work to distinguish important from unimportant. When we are present, we bring our best to the
situation. Heightened self-awareness and the effective use of self-promote presence.

Dependent on the needs presented by the situation, the coach will engage the client and its
stakeholders to understand and promote change. As the client goes through a series of discussions
and activities, they will practice and try new behaviors to align attitudes, behaviors, and ways of
thinking, establishing a mindset that can reliably learn and grow.

The active work in this process is effective to the extent that it is not transactional. The skilled coach
works with the executive to identify and to mine glide paths to improvement. The burden doesn’t
make it better, and if the catalyzing stage is held to its intent, a rhythm for results in a psychologically
safe relationship is required. The client and coach work to capitalize on strengths that support
effective behavioral change.

Conditioning

Conditioning establishes and advances the process of the executive stepping more fully into their
capabilities and capacities. The work of earlier stages is cumulative and includes recognizing choices
for healthy development and effective leadership. The days of command-and-control administration
are long gone if they ever existed. We are now moving into the COVID endemic world, where
authentic leaders and their organizations prosper because of executive ability to form a community
and engage with many. Depending on the success of the work, the client executive can foster newly
gained insights to the benefit of others.

In conditioning, we help the client understand motivations and encourage them to apply them to
future activities. If the client has made it this far and seems unwilling or unable to make further
progress, achievements should be recognized and celebrated. Both the coach and client have

adjacent seats to power and influence, one personal and the other organizational. Many executives
see person and organization as inseparable, confirming that life and work are blended rather than
separate. The choices we make are influenced by integrity and guided by values that honor the
dignity of the individual and advance diversity, equity, and inclusion.

As we return to Drew, his improvements resulted in his increasing influence on his team and
organization. Rather than hold onto old ways that had served him well, he now sought feedback and
diffused situations by paying attention to his triggers and communicating his feelings in ways that
welcomed and invited participation, resulting in improvements to the company’s innovation
pipeline. Drew learned new approaches to problem-solving and decision-making that grew diverse
people and ideas around him and grew inclusiveness. Authentic Leadership coaching provided Drew
with renewed energy and purpose that languished in the absence of catalyzing, capitalizing, and
conditioning.

In the successful Authentic Coaching engagements, executive priorities and actions align. Successful
engagements also result in changes to enduring relationships with family and friends. At a deep level,
the coaching will have resulted in the executive bringing more of who they are to what they do and
their best to every situation. For many, this journey is difficult, and, in the end, authenticity is the
pathway for personal, team, and organizational prosperity.

1 Richard Beckhard and His Contributions to Organization Development. Retrieved from
https://www.shmula.com/27874-2/27874/
2 Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. L. (2009). Immunity to change. Harvard Business Review Press.
3 Funches, D. (1989). Three gifts of the organization development practitioner. In W. Sikes (Ed.), The emerging
practice of organization development (pp. 149-164)

Originally appeared in the Library of Professional Coaching.