Coaching for Commitment
At one time leaders were encouraged to believe that they could achieve results through
people by controlling the performance of others. They were encouraged to believe that if
they could write enough policies, make enough rules, invoke enough rewards and
punishments, solve everything for everyone, practice rigorous oversight, and critically
appraise performance, they just might plan, organize, and direct people up to a level of
satisfactory performance.
These days, no one really believes that satisfactory performance is good enough.
One leadership lesson that most organizations have apparently begun to learn is that
people may do satisfactory work because they are forced to do so by a variety of controls,
but they will only do superior work because they want to—that is, because they are
personally committed to doing so. The traditional control model of leadership does not
work, and here are some of the reasons why:
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People can, perhaps, be managed and supervised to a satisfactory level of
performance—provided there are enough controls, work is predictable, and
managers or supervisors have time to give continual and direct oversight. Rarely
do these conditions exist today. Thus, performance more and more comes under
the control of the individual.
People have value because they can respond to unplanned events, provide an
individualized approach, and take advantage of unexpected opportunities. People
in organizations have value over technology and systems because they take care
of hundreds of problems and respond to hundreds of opportunities that no one
knew would occur. Superior performance is clearly a function of such behavior.
People have an enormous amount of control over what they do and how much
effort they put into their jobs. The majority of people in the majority of jobs could
do a good deal more or a good deal less, and nobody would be the wiser—
especially their immediate supervisors.
The only way for leaders to survive is to have people working with them who
know more about what they do than do the leaders themselves. The people
actually do the work know more about the technical requirements and other
demands of their jobs than their supervisors know or can ever possibly know.
The response time needed to ensure customer satisfaction (one major key to an
organization’s success) cannot be achieved unless the people who are in most
direct contact with their customers make their own decisions without recourse to
the directions of higher authority.
People are ultimately their own bosses. It is when they view goals and standards
as their own that they perform at their best.
Sustained superior performance is in the hands of the individual performers. All workers
have control over how much energy they will put into a task. Most workers have a lot of
control over which tasks they will do and how much time they will put into them. How
Brandeis University
Office of Human Resources
May 2009
this discretionary energy and time is used marks the difference between the committed
and the uncommitted.
Coaching helps create people who exercise their own self-control, and who are
committed to excel in their own performance.
Coaching is something you do with people, not to them. Coaching is considered
successful when people commit to their ideas and put their words into action.
Coaching is all about the person being coached (PBC)! Comprehensive Coaching
Definition: Successful coaching is a conversation of self-discovery that follows a logical
process and leads to superior performance, commitment to sustained growth, and
positive relationships.
Commitment is a key strategy for obtaining phenomenal organizational results.
Commitment is created when the people being coached:
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Are clear about core values and performance goals.
Have influence over what they do and how they do it.
Have the competencies to perform the jobs that are expected of them.
Are appreciated for their performance.
One dominant characteristic of superior teams was that team members felt “committed.”
Characteristics of superior teams:
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Being focused.
Looking forward to going to work.
Caring about results and how well the team did.
Taking it quite personally when the team did not meet its goals.
Making personal sacrifices to make sure the team succeeded.
Being determined to succeed.
Never giving up.
Coaching is considered successful when the coach:
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Helps the PBC to commit to his or her ideas and put them into action.
Effectively models coaching for commitment skills and behaviors.
Source: Coaching for Commitment: Achieving Superior Performance from
Individuals and Teams, 3rd ed. by Cindy Coe, Amy Zehnder and Dennis Kinlaw
Pfeiffer 2008
Brandeis University
Office of Human Resources
May 2009