I also invited my long-term colleague and friend, John Lazar, to offer his comments on the 2003 panel presentation. John not only played a central role getting this panel established at ICF, but also made the original version of this panel presentation available to a wide audience of coaches (as co-publisher with me of the International Journal of Coaching in Organizations).
Linda Miller
What has stayed the same in the field of organizational coaching over the past 13 years? Leaders are still wanting/valuing feedback. They’re still talking about how to get more from their teams. They’re still trying to figure out how best to communicate. Clear agreements still seem to be a theme that many leaders haven’t addressed. These are all areas of focus with exec coaching.
What has changed in the field over the past 13 years? I think one area that’s different is the need to be proactive around change. Change is happening so much faster and deeper. Leaders need to understand and be coached around being proactive change agents.
Coaching is now recognized as a leadership competency focused on development much more than before—when it was mainly focused on performance.
There are many more internal coaches, yet there still is a need for external exec coaches due to confidentiality concerns.
Bill Bergquist
What has stayed the same in the field of organizational coaching over the past 13 years? I was surprised and impressed with the insights that were offered by my fellow panelists in 2003. Either they were way ahead of their time or there is wisdom to be found in the lessons learned in the field of executive (and organizational) coaching that still holds true today. Here are several of the themes and insights that still seem to hold true. First, my colleagues on the panel emphasized the need for executive coaching (and I suspect all forms of professional coaching in organizations) must be closely tied to business results and to such related factors as strategic planning, succession planning and innovation. While I expressed some reservations about the reliance on ROI as a primary measure of coaching effectiveness, I recognize that executive coaching must be closely tied to performance – at both the individual level (leadership effectiveness) and team/organizational level (productivity, market share, etc.).
