COACHING

Coachingthe boardHR leaders need to be the change they want tosee in their organisations, says John Blakey

Irecently chaired a breakfast briefingfor senior HR leaders alongside CaroleGaskell, our co-founder and CEO ofFull Potential Group. Our startingpremise was that they are in a privileged

position when it comes to their role in themanagement team. While the frustrations of therole in terms of its decision-making authorityare often highlighted, it is easy to forget theupside opportunities that come with it. Inparticular, the HR leader is the only memher ofthe management team who has a focus on thepeople issues across the business and has theopportunity to buud collahorative relationshipsacross diverse functions to initiate change.

In maximising his impact in the role, the HRleader is faced with the classic challenge of how do Imake things happen when I cannot tell my board-levelpeers directly what to do? This is a challenge that isincreasingly common across all leadership roles asthe breakdown in command-and-control culturescontinues apace, driven by the converging trendsof technology, globalisation and social change.Coaching has emerged as a leadership style that iswell suited to meeting this challenge since coachingskills do not rely upon the manager having directauthority over a situation in order to influenceit proactively.

Ironically, in recent years, many HR leadershave introduced coaching sldlls training for theirorganisation's managers yet how many of themhave embraced the potential of coaching sldlls totransform the impact of their own role? How manyhave grasped the opportunity to become coachesto their board colleagues and the board team asa whole? Is it now the time for HR leaders tocourageously step into this role and to 'role-model'the organisational change they wish to achieve?

In focusing upon this opportunity, it may helpto reflect on how change really happens in the 21stcentury organisation. Many of us have been broughtup with a model of organisational change thatsuggests that strategic initiatives are only effective ifsponsored from the 'top down' by the CEO himselfIn my experience, it certainly helps if the CEOis on board but to make this a 'de rigueur' pre-requisite for change risks letting us all off the hookof our real potential.

In the political world, we have all been given apowerfiil reminder in recent times that profoundchange can happen from the 'bottom up' ifthe people involved are sufficiently passionate,persistent and visionary. Of course, I am referringto the Arab Spring, which was triggered by thecatalytic behaviour of one lowly Tunisian streetvendor, Mohamed Bouazizi. When he set fire tohimself in front of the governor's house on 17thDecember 2010, he had no inkling that, 12 monthslater, this act would have sparked an uprising thatbrought to an end a whole leadership epoch in theArab world.

Science also validates this model of changethrough the modern discipline of chaos theory.In the 1960s, mathematician Edward Lorenzdiscovered that very minor changes in the world'sweather system triggered major outcomes and hetermed this phenomenon the "butterfly effect",citing the metaphor that a butterfly flapping itswings in South America could cause a tornado inJapan several days later, due to the complex inter-relationships of the global weather system.

If we buy into this view of the world, thechallenge for the HR leader is could you trigger the"butterfly effect" in your organisation by acting as the

coach to the board and using coaching skills to catalyse

far-reaching change? I hope this is an excitingpossibility for you, yet, if true, it is also a serious

TJ August 2012 www.trainingjournal.com

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A A A A A A A Aresponsihüity. For, if HR leaders do not step up tothis challenge, they risk letting down the potentialof their own profession and consigning themselvesto a tactical role on the margins ofboardroom discussions.

For those brave soids who would like to embracethis opportunity, here are the top tips that, in ourexperience, enable HR leaders to act effectively inthe role as coach to the board.

Adopt the mindset of an interimbecause you probably are!Many business leaders that I coach commentthat they hire interim staff because they can relyupon them not to get caught up in the politics ofthe organisation - hence they keep an objective,independent mindset that is valuable to the widerleadership team.

What impact would there be if all HR leadersadopted the same mindset? After all, in thisdynamic, uncertain world, we are all probablyinterim appointments of one sort or another. Theillusion of a 'permanent' role sometimes lures us intoa fearful attitude in which we focus upon protectingour own jobs rather than providing genuine, honestadvice. We get caught up in the 'group think' of theleadership team and slowly hut surely become partof the prohlem rather than part of the solution.

A good rule of thumb would be to ask yourselfwhat would I be saying or doing now if I knew that Iwas not going to be in this organisation in 12 months'time? Often the answer to this question will liberatenew perspectives.

Alternatively, search within your Linkedinnetwork and I am sure you wiU quickly find an

experienced interim HR leader. A lot can belearned from talking to such professionals andexploring with them the difference between theirmindset as an interim compared to their time in apermanent role.

In NLP terms, this is an exercise in modelling -seeking out great examples of people who do thiswell already and asking them how they do it. It isalmost inevitable that, after such conversations, youwill have unconsciously picked up some shifts inoudook that will start you on a different path.

Make building trust yournumber one priorityThe traditional coaching skills of active listening,asking powerfiil questions and adopting a non-judgmental stance are vital tools for buildingtrust with your hoard-level peers. In a businessenvironment - where most dialogues involvepushing a parochial point of view, competingfor scarce resources and jumping to confident

The HR leader is theonly member of themanagement team whohas a focus on the peopleissues acrossthe business

www.trainingjournal.com August 2012 TJ

COACHING

Heart of thennatter 'theelephant inthe room'

conclusions - it can be very refreshing to havea coach-like conversation with the HR leader.Similarly, if your peers learn over time that suchconversations are never used against them in theorganisation, gradually they grow to trust you,confide in you and seek your counsel.

One of the HR leaders in our roundtablediscussion had developed this reputation sufficientlywell over a period of 12 months that his boardpeers were now booking monthly one-to-oneconversations with him. What's more, they wereturning up for the meetings religiously rather thancancelling them at the last minute due to an urgentconference call. This is the real measure - if busydirectors give up time for this informal coaching,you know that what you are offering is of uniquevalue to them. However, it may often start with amuch more informal chat over a cup of coffee.

Where would you start if you wished to upgradeand boost your coaching skills? Booking yourself

To effectively coach theboard, the HR leaderneeds to become theguardian of the 'bigpicture^ goals

onto one of the many excellent 'introduction tocoaching' style courses would arm the HR leaderwith the basic coaching skOls, all of which focusupon the trust-building challenge. For those wholearn from a good book. Sir John Whitmore'sclassic text Coachingfor Performance remains thegold standard in coaching literature. One of thespin-off benefits of engaging an external coach isoften that the coachee absorbs coaching skills byexperiencing the value of them first-hand, and thisis another way that an HR leader can embark onthe coaching path.

Boldly enter the ZOUDOnce trust has been buut into board-levelrelationships, the HR leader then needs tochange gear and courageously enter the "zone ofuncomfortable debate" (ZOUD). This term wasoriginally coined by Professor Cliff Bowman ofCranfield Business School and is best summarisedin the diagram left.

If a conversation between the HR leader andhis board-level peers is to be more than a socialchat, there is usually a matter at the heart of it. Theparties have come together for a purpose - to agreeaction, to make a decision, to resolve a problem etc.To achieve this, a socially comfortable conversationis not sufficient and to get to the heart of the issue- the 'elephant in the room' - the conversation mayneed to move to a ZOUD.

In this zone, there is a feeling of increasedtension and the pressure starts to buud as theparties may disagree and not see 'eye-to-eye'.What often happens is that the individuals feelthe tension, find it uncomfortable and, fearing thepressure wiU permanently damage the relationship,move back out to the zone of comfortable debate.The core issue is still the same and no movementhas taken place.

To avoid this risk, the conversation must stayin the ZOUD and the parties work through it touncover differences in understanding, assumptions,motives etc. By sustaining the ZOUD, peoplecan move to the heart of the issue and resolve itpermanently before moving on to a new topic.

Align your goals with the 'hig picture'not the little silosTo effectively coach the board, the HR leader needsto become the guardian of the 'big picture' goalsof the organisation - it is at this level that boardmembers are most likely to find a common visionand a shared sense of purpose. In contrast, mostfunctional directors are still operating in suos inwhich narrow measures of success are optimisedat the expense of the wider good. If the HR leader

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chooses to promote his own HR 'sUo-leveF goals,most likely he wiU fail due to the formal authoritythat more operational directors exercise around theboardroom table.

What are examples of these 'big picture' goals?In a recent interview with the HR leader of autility company in the North West of the UK, agood example emerged regarding HR being thedriving force behind a company-wide customercare programme. The CEO had declared a visionto be the "best service company in the North Westregion" and the HR leader concerned had seizedthe opportunity to pick up this baton and create aculture change programme to supportits achievement.

In this case, the change was driven from the 'topdown' but I have also seen examples where, due tothe HR leader's intimate grasp of the organisation'scultural 'temperature', initiatives have been launchedfrom within the HR function itself and these havesucceeded because they were the right solution atthe right time to meeting the 'big picture' challengesfacing the company.

An example of this occurred following the mergerof two large multinationals in the IT servicessector. This merger coincided with the imminentretirement of four board members and the issueof succession planning was about to shoot to thetop of the agenda. Sensing this, the group HRdirector proposed a new leadership developmentprogramme that had many benefits, one of whichwas establishing a succession pipeline for the board.

Because it was the right 'big picture' initiativeat the right time, the board approved a significantinvestment and the resultant programme was agreat success.

Mind the gapI recall being on a course some years ago when thefacilitator asked the group: "What is the biggest gapin the world?" One of the more literal participantspiped up with the answer: "The Niagara EaUs." Wesoon learned, however, that the biggest gap in theworld was between the human head and the humanheart. It was an analogy that has stuck with meever since.

If this is the biggest gap in the world, what weneed are great bridge-builders to span it and bringthe best of both 'head' and 'heart' resources to theboardroom table.

Typically, it is the 'head' that rules the boardroom- lengthy, analytical, linear conversations amongvery bright people in which the numbers lead andthe people follow. If the HR leader can 'mind'this gap, he often fulfils a unique coaching role.By 'minding' the gap, I mean being aware of it

If busy directors give uptime for this informalcoaching, you know thatwhat you are offering isof unique value to them

and making sure it does not become a 'blind spot'in the team's decision-making. This sounds likea very grand role, requiring advanced emotionalintelligence skills, but in practice the first step canbe a simple one.

In this case, the first step in bridging the gapbetween the 'head' and the 'heart' in the boardroomis simply to ask: "How do we feel about this issue?"What typically happens at this point is that yourpeers wiU tell you what they think, not what theyfeel. At which point, you can persist with a simple:"No, you just told me how you think but I reallywant to know how you feel."

I went round this loop four times with amanaging director coachee of mine before hefinally slumped back in his chair, let out a sigh andexclaimed: "I feel insecure!" At last we had bridgedthe gap and the conversation took a very differentpath from that point on.

ConclusionArmed with the above tips and starting points,I hope this article has given you a practical wayforward to meet the challenges of acting as a coachto the board from an internal HR leadership role.

That such a role is in great demand isdemonstrated by the dramatic rise in externalcoaching at board level over the past ten years.Clearly, many board-level directors are lookingfor help!

Sometimes it is exactly right that an externalcoach is best placed to make a difference to theteam or individuals involved. However, in ourexperience, there are also many situations in whichthe HR function underestimates its own resources,skills and experience that enable it to play asimilar role.

With all the challenges that boards face todayfrom globalisation, new technology, social shifts,bottom-line performance and relentiess pressure,now is a good time for the assertive HR leader toseize the opportunity and claim the role of coachto the board, and so position HR as a genuinelystrategic force for positive change. TJ

JohnBlakeyis non execu-tive director ofFull PotentialGroup andco-author withIan Day ofChallengingCoaching (nb2012). He canbe contactedat John®fullpotential-group.com

www.trainingjournal.com August 2012 TJ

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