We Can Change... this common turnover trap

The real risk of coaching people out of your organization

Apr 03, 2023

I was chatting the other day with my friend and fellow coach Robyn, and our conversation came around to an all-too-common scenario:

😣 High-potential team member is struggling with some element of their work/role.
💡 Organization hires coach to work with team member.
🌷 Team member grows and changes rapidly through the coaching process.
⚙️ Organization doesn’t change at all.
✌️ Team member leaves the organization.

We see it all the time.

Honestly, this is a big part of why I don’t coach individual leaders unless I’m also working on their team alignment and/or org culture. Well, for one thing, the transformational ROI isn’t nearly as high. But there’s a real danger of coaching high-potential individuals out of your organization, especially when they are doing the hard work of developing as leaders on their own, while the broader team/org stands still.

Here are a few simple ways to avoid this trap:

Don’t use coaching as a remedial tool. This is super important. If there’s a performance problem, make sure you’re setting clear expectations, giving constructive feedback, creating accountability and recognizing progress. If that doesn’t work, maybe it’s time for a PIP. This is not the time to bring in a coach. Coaching is for high-performers who are ready to stretch into their next leadership challenge—not for someone struggling with the fundamentals of a role.
Be clear and aligned on the coaching objective. Often I get the call to coach leaders who are “really talented” and “do great work” but can strengthen some aspect of their leadership (e.g. inclusive decision-making, delegating, building trust, leading with a purposeful vision). These are often excellent coaching candidates, especially if their development will be supported by or catalysts for improvement in how the team/org operates (e.g. criteria for who makes what decisions, responsible allocation of work, a compelling vision set at the top).
Don’t make the person into the problem. The red flag is when the growth objective is undefined, for example: “She needs to be more professional” or “She just doesn’t get how we do things here.” Not only is this vague direction not helpful to the team member or the coach, it makes the problem personal in a counterproductive way. Also, this kind of language is usually a good indicator of culture issues within the team/org that leadership a) doesn’t recognize or know how to talk about, and b) would rather not work on.
Attend to team dynamics. You’ve got to work on them. No individual issue occurs in isolation. It is often a product and/or reflection of its environment. How is the team around this person operating? How is it evolving? (The answer to the second question is maybe more important than the first.)
Coach the coachee’s leader too. You can engage the person who oversees the team member, either in a handful sessions focused on that particular reporting relationship or (even more effective) in a full coaching engagement supporting that manager’s development too. By doing so, you’re widening the scope and start to address the larger system, even if only in the context of this relationship. It’s a place to start.

Pro tip: If the only people getting coaching in your organization are your managers—if the execs aren’t doing the work themselves—it’s only a matter of time before you’ll be looking for new managers.

Remember, the person is usually not the problem. Pretending they are may be a good way to avoid looking in the mirror, but it’s also the fastest way to lose good people.

When you coach the system, everyone wins.

We Can Change

We Can Change... this common turnover trap

The real risk of coaching people out of your organization

Discussion about this post