On the final day, Dr. Yelyuk and Alice held a sharing circle in a big
room with all her staff. The doctor had prepared a letter, which she read
to the group; she let them know that even though it hurt her at first,
she did appreciate the 360 assessment and saw the truth in it. She talked
about all the things she’d had to learn that she wasn’t trained for in
medical school—like building a culture of teamwork, having boundaries
at work, authority, process, standard work for patient safety, and how to
be a leader. She concluded by telling them that she was grateful for their
concern and cared about each of them, and thanked them for taking
great care of the patients, each other, and her.
Each team member then had two minutes to talk about how they
had experienced the journey. One spoke about watching Dr. Yelyuk
make new decisions; several said that they were learning to speak up for
themselves. “You know,” remarked one of the techs, “in the future, if
something’s up, I feel I can talk to you directly now—that I’m not going
to hurt your feelings.” A number of people were enthusiastic about the
improvements in scheduling, in safer patient care, in more break time,
and in better communication.
It seemed to Alice that the staff now felt they could co-create their
own culture. They had overcome their learned helplessness and no longer
held the idea that this was just the way things were; they didn’t need to
resort to manipulation to accomplish the right thing.
That last meeting was very tearful—coaching engagements tend to
bring emotions to the surface. Alice excused herself when they started
hugging and talking about all they had been through.
A gratifying aspect of executive coaching is seeing the ripple effect on
the people around the client. A client’s changes can affect the culture of
an entire department: Tension levels go down, communication improves,
and people feel a greater sense of well-being. Dr. Yelyuk called Alice a few weeks later to say that things were
continuing to go well at the hospital. “Less is more!” she enthused. “Less
micromanaging, less worry, less anxiety—and more happiness!”
Why Coaching Matters
“The anesthesiologist and lead tech have turned into strong team
leaders,” Dr. Yelyuk wrote in a follow-up email to Alice. She was
happy for them, but mentioned that she regretted how she had
been holding them back. Many executives rise to their level because
of their performance history, not because of how skilled
they are at developing the people they’ve managed. As a coach,
you have the opportunity to open their eyes to the power of developing
and growing others After going through the process, Dr. Yelyuk decided that she
wanted to have another child. While surprising to Alice at first, it
made sense based on Yelyuk’s assessment profiles and feedback,
which showed a strong inclination to take care of others . . . and
now that she had more balance in her life, she could indeed expand
her family. You never know what unexpected results executive
coaching might yield!
