Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, his lack of a power base, and how an executive coach could have helped

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was featured in a Wall Street Journal headline this week that stated that his lack of a power base outside of the White House has hurt him badly during the politics around the firing of 8 attorney generals.

One of the areas that every executive coach needs to cover with clients is their power base. How strong are the client’s relationships with colleagues, employees, managers, and various key people outside the organization (the media, investors, community leaders, customers, vendors, government, etc.)?

Managers focus so much these days on analysis that many of them tend to neglect their business relationships. This is a huge mistake. The less competent executive with strong relationships almost always ends up being more successful, because she/he has a network to provide sound advice and to give cover if needed. We spend so much time planning business strategy; why not develop a plan to build our power base?

That’s why The Center for Executive Coaching spends a good deal of time teaching our members how to assess an executive’s power base, and take steps to improve it.

By the way, how is YOUR power base?

The first two minutes of a coaching session

Recently I worked with a coach who did something at the start of a session that I think all coaches should do: He took a minute or two to get grounded.

We sat down and he said, “Let me take just a minute to get grounded.” Then he sat. By the end of the moment, he was more centered and focused, and ready to generate a great session.

It’s a wonderful technique, one that lets a coach get focused on the matters at hand, the client in front of him/her (or on the other end of the phone), and drop personal issues or considerations that could distract or interfere.

When you get grounded, you can condition yourself to be oriented in a few ways:

1. The blank slate. Here, you are wide open and ready to listen to the client’s point of view, without prejudgment or adding your own “junk.” That way, you can provide your clients with the rare luxury of truly being heard.

2. Listening “for” something. Here, you can ground yourself like a laser beam, listening for a particular viewpoint or way of being that can help the client improve. For instance, you might listen for signs of commitment, blind spots, limiting assumptions, resignation, or behaviors/language that might be holding the client back.

3.  Assessing. When you assess, you are testing different hypotheses about what might be the root cause of the client’s performance issues. You can hone in on a logical, comprehensive framework to get to the bottom of a problem.

4. Listing from the point of view of another person. Here, you can ground yourself to think like one of your client’s colleagues or employees, and try to understand how that person would react to the client. If you are coaching your client to improve professional relationships, this is an excellent orientation.

There are many other perspectives you can take. By grounding yourself the first two minutes of a session, you can be sure to be focused and “on point” with the right orientation to get maximum impact.

Before you leap into results and answers…

Many students and members of the Center for Executive Coaching, and many executive coaches, make a common mistake when they work with clients: They rush too quickly to answers and supposed results.

It is perfectly acceptable, and in fact necessary, to take as much time as you need to assess a situation with a client before jumping into solutions.

Spend a couple of sessions asking questions to understand the client’s situation, style, biases, and ways of processing information. Are they linear thinkers or more holistic? Do they emphasize the bottom line, relationships, status, technology, or tasks? Are they short-term, medium-term, or long-term focused? Take the time you need to understand what makes your client tick.

At the same time, ask the questions you need to ask in order to understand a situation fully — before jumping to conclusions.

One way to do this is through the process of inquiry, or asking a series of open-ended questions. Questions include: How would you describe the problem? What is it costing you and your organization? What have you tried to fix it? What has worked and what hasn’t? What would be an ideal outcome in this situation? What do you think are the root causes?

Even in inquiry, I find that many coaches hide suggestions with questions. For instance, “Have you tried….?” is really a veiled way to get to solutions.

Be patient. Get to know your client and the situation. Let them know you need a bit of time to do your own assessment. In my experience, clients respect coaches more when the coach insists on taking some time for their own analysis — even if the process takes a bit longer. Plus, you get deeper insights and better results.