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By Jesse Hsu
Published in Human Resources on October 2008
More than ever companies in Asia are investing in their top talents with executive coaching. Will coaching be as e!ective in the more reserved culture of the East as it has been in the West? What are some of the coaching challenges unique to managers from Asia?
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 Boosted by the need for a new generation of leaders to replace retiring baby boomers and expatriates, MNCs in Asia are promoting more local talents than ever before. In Asia, managerial talents of such upward mobility often face critical expectations to perform, along with heightened internal anxieties to make progress. Jordan Jiang, a 37-year-old marketing director, was about to confront a major promotion as the marketing VP of a European conglomerate in China. Top management had ear-marked Jordan as one of its key talents ready for visible projects and potential C-suite spots. Faith in Jiang is so strong, the corporate officers decided to invest in coaching his leadership development by hiring an external coach. Although he hadn’t originally thought it necessary, Jiang accepted the opportunity, but decided against multiple coach candidates after preliminary interviews. This concerned the VP of Human Resource: Why would anyone be so picky toward an obvious favor from Corporate?
I was introduced to Jiang in a “chemistry check” meeting. When I met with Jiang, he acted reserved. A sharp and learned professional, Jordan inquired about how our results were to be used and whether any reports would be submitted to upper management. After I clarified the coaching dynamics and assured him full confidentiality, he gradually opened up. It took about three sessions before he revealed what he hoped to attain from the coaching process. It turned out that Jordan’s immediate need is one often shared by many: Transitional Management.
What struck me was Jiang’s inability to speak candidly early in the process. As a coach practiced both in Asia and in the US, I am familiar with the Asian coachees’ guarded reservation. Many executives approach their first sessions with defensive attitudes from their pre- conception. And these layers of defense seem to complicate in proportion to their ages.
Here are several tips to help you use coaching effectively with your Asian managers, and explore why managers bump heads with coaches:
Be prepared to answer common questions raised by apprehensive managers: “Why should I be coached?”, “What is a coach good for?”, “Show me what you have got?”, “Can I trust a coach recommended by HR?”, “How will our discussion be used?”, “How can a coach help me do my job better?”, “What if I don’t want to cooperate?”
Trust must be earned as priority #1.
Coaching as an individualized developmental function is a newer idea in the business realm to rising local talents. When assigned to an outside coach who has been introduced from “above”, most managers perceive the coach as an expert consultant who takes on an authoritative role and is linked to the higher command.
The coaching effort might be undermined if the results were to be reported and assessed in future reviews. The Chinese managers’ backgrounds may cause them to treat this unfamiliar role with watchful respect. It is important to know managers need time to build personal confidence in their coach before opening up.
- Make sure your coach sees it a top priority to establish the role of a “trusted advisor” in coachee’s eyes during preliminary sessions.
- The coach’s ability to practice local courtesies and to earn trust from the coachee is crucial for gaining traction.
- Cultural awareness gives the coach more band width to relate, thus speeds up the acquaintance stage and may yield deeper exchange.
Coaches connect and communicate with their listening tongue. Coach training programs with Western origin may suggest such rules of thumb: “Ask more and talk less”, “Establish early boundaries coaching to empower the coaching relationship”, “Refrain from giving advice”... etc. These golden rules to use words evolved in part to distinguish coaching from other care- giving professions such as counseling.
Asian managers’ communication radar corresponds intuitively with non- verbal signal. Those common coaching guidelines may alienate your managers if exercised without sensitivity.
- Leadership coaching is powerful when contagious. Make sure your coach readily projects and models in line with your corporate credo values.
- What will your managers be influenced with? A coaching presence infects uplifting thoughts and inspires healthy habits.
- Power and position used to have their monologue way in Asia. But modern day managers thrive on interactive participation. Your managers may lend respect to a powerful speaker, yet effective coaching escalates solely on mutual involvement. It won’t work unless your managers are well engaged.
Do expect a coach to remain curious and inspirational. Executive coaches work to catalyze individual potential into performance and growth. The dynamics of coaching differentiates from that of therapy or consulting, in the latter process are set up to diagnosed problems and to suggest treatment plans. Coaching is most effective when individuals commit to cooperate in discussions, and stay accountable to action steps.
Most executives are capable of making critical decisions. And they can implement changes if they want to. Coaches are hired to act as catalysts and to support managers in their upward mobility. Negativity and directive approach from a coach can be counterproductive.
Positive coaching pays higher dividend for your money. Managers from systems embedded with suppression of free expression take more effort to warm up to coaching interaction. Negativity from the individual’s past may kick in when tough questions are asked. This defense mechanism has shielded the individuals from turmoil and penalties inflicted by authorities in their past.
Good coaches learned how to conduct conversation in lively, open-minded and supportive ways. So, HR managers, pick up that Appreciative Inquiry model again. A positive culture can magnetize your workplace to appeal and to retain talents!
EQ in coaching can be caught more than taught. Emotional intelligence is talked by management more than it is walked. The lack of practice often handicap managers’ leadership effectiveness, thus slow them down in their track to reach general management. The speed bumps are often found between the head and the heart of Asian managers.
A coach’s ability to “walk the talk” is crucial to lift the coachees up to capture a healthier interpersonal dynamics through interaction. Once an individual’s gaps are co-identified in coaching sessions, the coach can utilize teachable moments to kick off the coachee’s EQ-practice habit.
Coaching to fend off talent invader attempt? Despite the cordial invitations offered by executive placement firms, managers on the rise are usually too occupied to entertain outside opportunities. Situation may become different when managers reach their boiling point of frustrations from work or from life. Without trusted second opinions or personalized support from employers, managers may “tip over” and tilt toward other palatable options.
Most senior leaders and their HR department can hardly spot such subtle shifting in the minds of their key talents. Thus, retaining key employees in “the war for talents” is becoming a popular reason for hiring coaches. An experienced coach is expected to augment the talent retention function. By providing a safe space to address deeper work-life issues and to enrich their career outlook (and in-look), a coach safeguards his or her coachee’s confidence and earns the respect from talent management sponsors.
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