Life/Work - Issue 32

So what are we to make of this plethora of personal coaches who've suddenly swarmed the corporate landscape, promising to help executives organize their lives, orchestrate their careers, and define their dreams? What to make of a new field of business in which practitioners aren't required to have any specific skills or competencies?

"Buyer beware" seems a reasonable place to start.

But there is another way to look at it. The concept of tutoring goes back to ancient Athens. The term "mentoring" comes from Homer's "The Odyssey," in which the character Mentor was a tutor to Telemachus. And who would deny the enormous value of a good coach in sports -- both as a teacher of technical skills and as a source of inspiration?

So why not take advantage of good coaching to gain a competitive advantage? Why not use objective outside counsel and support to help you develop the communication, time-management, self-management, and interpersonal skills necessary to perform on today's corporate playing field -- where the pressures have never been higher and the rules are constantly changing?

Perhaps no executive coach addresses these issues more deeply and broadly than Fred Kiel and his partners at KRW International, based in Minneapolis. A counseling psychologist by training, Kiel, 59, was a pioneer in the field of coaching. He began working as a coach back in 1975, and he started KRW in 1987. Today, his 45-person company focuses almost exclusively on coaching senior executives -- the sort of people who earn $1 million or more a year at large blue-chip corporations such as Corning Glass and ContiGroup Companies Inc.

KRW relies on a coaching process that is far more challenging, probing, and long-term than most of the traditional skill-building techniques. The entire process is based on a single premise: Your job performance cannot be separated from your personal history or from your life outside of work.

Clients are typically referred to KRW by their bosses -- but not because they are failing. In most cases, they are seen as highly promising, technically skilled candidates for advancement who lack necessary leadership skills. KRW requires clients to commit to its process for at least 18 months, and the total cost runs between $150,000 and $200,000. KRW's theory is that if a company is willing to make such an investment in an executive, then it must be committed to that person. In fact, the sum is relatively modest in comparison with the cost of replacing such a high-level executive.

KRW begins its process by gathering a vast amount of data -- not only from the client but also from the client's bosses, colleagues, and direct reports, as well as parents, spouse, children, and close friends. More than two dozen interviews might be conducted for a single client. Workplace colleagues answer questions about integrity, emotional competence, stress management, motivation, leadership, and technical proficiency. Questions directed to family members focus on marriage, parenting, friendships, early family history, values, and defining experiences. The final report can run as long as 300 pages, and clients have the security of knowing that the data are entirely for their own use: It's up to the client to decide whether or not to share the data with others.

The next step in the process -- the Insight Session -- usually takes two entire days. Two KRW consultants meet with the client off-site, and each takes turns reading interviewee responses out loud, without identifying who said what. Data are divided into three categories: effectiveness in professional life, effectiveness in personal life, and family history. The feedback is always a blend of strengths and shortcomings, based on the theory that improving performance depends not just on identifying and addressing shortcomings but also on leveraging strengths. Often, it's the positive feedback that most surprises clients. Predictably, it's the criticism that commands most of their attention.

What KRW does is more goal-oriented than therapy, but it undeniably plays the edge, drawing on psychological principles and demanding a level of self-examination that is rare in corporate life. Clients are asked to peel away their defenses, to explore the underlying motivations that drive them, and to look at the impact that their behaviors have on the key people in their lives. "It's a process of undressing yourself, and that is a very sobering experience," says Paul Fribourg, 46, chairman and CEO of ContiGroup. "It takes a strong stomach to listen to how other people see you."

Kiel finds that resistance to change is common. "We're talking about people who have been very successful at doing things their way," he says. "Typically, they are very locked into their belief systems and aren't very introspective. Often, the only way to break through their denial is to use the data to demonstrate that you know more about them than they know about themselves. If you can do that, you'll have their attention, and you might eventually lead them down a path to self-understanding and transformation."