“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person; he believed in me.”

Jim Valvano, Basketball Coach

Introduction by Jack Hubbard

When Bob St. Meyer & I began our adventure in entrepreneurialism more than four years ago, we set out to be a Performance Coaching

enterprise. Having worked with more than 50,000 bankers between us, we knew the missing link between classroom sales training and revenue lift were tactical touch points in the field. We were also well aware that the key to any successful sales environment is the sales manager – the leverage point of the culture.

Now, while we offer knowledge-based sales workshops in seven lines of business, coaching continues to be the linchpin of our firm. We currently coach more than 225 sales managers in business banking, retail, wealth management and even in the call center.

This first anniversary edition of Conversation Signposts targets some of the key elements of coaching and provides a review of one of the top coaching books ever written. Finally, Dwight Lampley offers some ideas about how and when sales managers should make joint calls with business bankers.

Joanne Worden is the primary author of this month’s issue. Joanne is our Director of Performance Coaching. In that role she works in the field with sales managers and she coaches our coaches. She also does a good amount of classroom work for SM&H clients. Joanne learned her craft from the retail side of sales at the Gap and followed that with a stellar career in Human Resources and Training at AMCORE Bank in Rockford, Illinois. She has also worked for two major bank sales training firms. Our coachees find Joanne firm but fair, strategic yet sensitive. We’re pleased to have Joanne on our rope and appreciate that she invested her time to provide some ideas around the sales coaching process for our readers.

• A study done by Personnel Management Magazine found that training alone increased productivity by 22.4%, but when training was combined with coaching the figure soared to 88%.
• Manchester Inc. recently released the results of a study that quantifies the business impact of external executive coaching. The study included 100 executives, mostly from Fortune 1000 companies. Companies that provided coaching to their employees realized improvements in productivity, quality, organizational strength, customer service, and shareholder value. They received fewer customer complaints, and were more likely to retain executives who had been coached. In addition, a company’s investment in providing coaching realized an average ROI of almost six times the cost of the coaching.
• The study indicated that when using a coach:
  53% of executives reported their productivity had improved
  39% said customer service scores rose
  34% indicated customer complaints reduced
  23% saw cost reductions by using a business coach
  22% saw sustained bottom line results when a coach was engaged
• The survey also suggested that employees were beneficiaries of executives who were coached:
  77% indicated better working relationships with direct reports
  71% have better working relationships with immediate supervisors
  67% mentioned better teamwork within their department
  61% had increased job satisfaction

• “my best coach really listened to me”
• “they helped me clear the hurdles”
• “they pushed me to go where I thought I couldn’t”
• “they modeled exemplary behavior, personally and professionally”
• “they had no hidden agenda”

1. The coach conducts himself/herself in an ethical and professional manner. In order to gain the respect and true commitment from the people we coach, we must first operate from a position of integrity and ethics. A study from the Ethics Resource Center found that 90% of employees value leaders with integrity as highly as they value income. For a coach, this means congruence - actions matching words, being willing to do the right thing even though it may be the hard thing, and always being honest with the people we are coaching.
2. The coach establishes a coaching agreement. From the onset of a coaching relationship, it is important to have an agreement between the coach and coachee about goals and objectives. Without this agreement or guideline, people waste time just discussing a lot of “stuff”, but not making much progress. The coaching agreement can shift and evolve as the relationship progresses, but it must begin with a clear purpose.
3. The coach establishes trust with the coachee. This competency manifests itself in a variety of ways. It means that the coach creates a safe and supportive environment where the coachee feels free to share thoughts and ideas and to try new things. It means the coach shows genuine concern for the coachee’s welfare and their future. It means the coach establishes clear agreements and keeps promises. And it means they champion and celebrate new behaviors in the coachee.
4. The coach demonstrates a clear coaching presence. In order to be truly effective, a coach must be fully engaged when they are involved in coaching activity. They are focused on the coachee and their needs, and are able to be flexible depending upon where the discussion leads. They can see a variety of ways to work with the person being coached, they use humor effectively, and they can help the coachee shift perspective to consider new possibilities. Additionally and most important, a good coach demonstrates confidence in working with strong emotions without becoming overpowered or enmeshed by the coachees’s emotional state.
5. The coach demonstrates active listening. A quality coach really practices all those things we’ve learned and read about effective listening. They can distinguish between words, tone of voice, and body language. They can succinctly paraphrase to mirror back what the coachee has said to ensure clarity and understanding. And they can allow the employee to vent or “clear” the situation in order to move on to the next steps.
6. The coach uses powerful questioning. This piggybacks on the previous competency in that the coach will ask questions that reflect active listening and understanding of the coachee’s situation. The coach asks a variety of open and closed ended questions that create clarity, evoke insight, and move the coachee toward what they desire, not toward staying in the same spot. A good coach also uses redirected questioning to avoid giving the answer to the coachee too soon.
7. The coach uses direct communication. A seasoned coach is clear, articulate, and direct in providing feedback. They solidly state the coaching session objectives, agenda, and purpose of

   techniques or exercises. Additionally, they use language that is appropriate and respectful to the coachee. Every month more than 200 coaching reports leave our offices and arrive via e-mail on our coachee’s desks. We discuss what we saw, what is working, what is not and what commitment to action the coachee made during our session. We then connect those recommendations month over month at all layers of bank management to be certain the activities we suggest are being executed.

8. The coach creates awareness. This is one of the tougher competencies because it’s the one that focuses on the coachee’s self discovery. The coach must develop a deep understanding of the coachee’s needs and use very probing questions during this phase to get the coachee to the “a-ha” moment. This “Socratic” questioning helps the coachee discover for themselves the new thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, etc. that strengthen their ability to take action and achieve results. At this point the coach can ask things such as “what will the reward be for changing a particular behavior pattern?” or “what will the consequence be if you don’t”? A world class coach helps create behavioral ownership on the part of their coachee.
9. The coach assists in designing actions. It’s at this stage that the coach and coachee actually brainstorm and plan for taking on new actions that if executed correctly and reinforced, will most often lead to the previously agreed upon desired results. The coach shares time asking the coachee to explore alternatives, evaluate options, and to make related decisions for action. Additionally, the coach can take on a “do it now” focus at this point, and encourage the employee to stretch and challenge them self beyond their comfort zone.
10. .

    The coach facilitates the goal setting process. This is where and when the specific plan goes down on paper, following the SMART approach (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and with target dates assigned), and the coachee clearly understands the actions involved. At this juncture the coach may also identify additional resources for learning and assistance (books, other employees and mentors, classes, etc.) in helping the employee exceed their goals.

11. The coach helps to manage progress and accountability. This is the final step in the ongoing cycle of coaching, and obviously the most important. It’s at this stage that organizations and individuals can begin to experience real “lift” from a sound coaching initiative. The effective coach begins each new coaching session by asking the coachee about the action steps that he or she committed to during the previous session(s). In the best case scenario, the coachee has followed through on the action plan and will be able to share some positive outcomes as a result of the plan execution. The coach pauses to acknowledge, reinforce, and celebrate any action steps that have been completed. In other cases, the coach must be prepared to confront the employee with the fact that he/she did not carry out the agreed upon actions, and discuss in a positive, but matter of fact tone the reasons why. At the end of this conversation a new set of action plans are designed, or a recommitment (with more stringent time lines) to the previous plan.

“The Heart of Coaching,” the May 2005 Book Review

The basic premise of Thomas Crane’s best selling book, “The Heart of Coaching” is simply that as coaching becomes a predominant cultural practice, it creates a performance-focused, feedback rich organization capable of creating and sustaining a competitive advantage.

Crane, an organization development consultant with many years of experience with Fortune 1000, small entrepreneurial, non-profit, and government organizations, introduces and discusses in detail the idea of Transformational Coaching – a powerful process for communicating performance feedback. By using this process frequently and consistently, Crane explains that an organization’s employees are more likely to:

• Have clear understanding regarding the mission of the business and their role in creating success
• Know organizational priorities and act with a sense of urgency
• Commit to giving their personal best efforts
• Freely contribute to organizational goals without worrying about who gets the credit
• Consistently achieve results
• Value co-worker’s thoughts and ideas
• Share feedback with co-workers without fear of reprisal
• Seek out and respond appropriately to performance feedback
• Have fun at work

The definition Crane provides for Transformational Coaching is: “the art of assisting people enhance their effectiveness in a way they feel helped”. To accomplish this outcome, Crane indicates that coaching must be a comprehensive communication process in which the coach provides performance feedback to the coachee. The elements of this communication process include offering feedback which is:

• Data based
• Performance focused
• Relationship focused

The Transformational Coaching model has three distinct phases:

• The Foundation Phase, in which the coaching climate is created by connecting, setting expectations, observing, and preparing for the coaching discussion.
• The Learning Loop Phase, where the coach shares their feedback, listens to the coachee and engages in dialogue to learn from the exchange. During the Learning Loop, the coach is required to: be present, request permission to share, state the purpose of the feedback and state positive intentions. The coach also: shares perceptions of results, asks learning questions to explore the coachee’s beliefs, and respectfully and reflectively listen.
• The Forwarding-the-Action Phase, in which the coach works with the coachee to create positive momentum and a commitment for change. At the final stage of the model the coach may use a variety of techniques. The coach may: solicit and suggest options, request specific changes, or require changes in performance levels and clarify consequences. No matter which option is chosen, the conclusion of this phase will find the coach clarifying the action commitment and a follow-up plan, and offering support.

The second half of “The Heart of Coaching” provides detailed information on a variety of coaching issues including: the language of coaching and the art of conversation, dealing with special coaching situations such as the difficult employee or coaching one’s peers, and effective coaching of different styles of people. It also asks the coach to explore a variety of beliefs (including their own) that could potentially help or hinder the idea of transformational coaching.

The concluding chapters focus on traits and characteristics of high performing cultures and detailed information on ways to encourage and grow this type of organizational environment. Crane indicates that the principle and practice of Transformational Coaching or Coaching with the Heart will greatly enhance an organization’s ability to create a culture of high performance.

We see numerous books about coaching. We have found “The Heart of Coaching” to be one of the more practical approaches on the subject. Read it today, use it tomorrow.

Dwight Lampley Talks Joint Calling

Dwight Lampley is Executive Vice President of St. Meyer & Hubbard. In addition to the 130 days of best-in-class training and coaching he conducts annually, Dwight is the coach of the SM&H cadre of professional facilitators.

I can’t name a bank that is not holding business banking managers accountable for making joint calls. This process is well entrenched in every sales process. The challenge is not whether or not to make joint calls. The issue seems to be when, how, and how well. Here are some ideas that may make your approach more effective.

The Goals of Joint Calls

Certainly having someone with a big title on a call indicates the bank’s interest in a particular company. The manager can answer questions about the bank and the economy that adds tremendous value to a relationship. The manager might be a good “closer” or “negotiator,” another good reason to bring them along.
Unfortunately, one main purpose of the joint call is many times missed – coaching. On a joint call the sales manager needs to listen with one ear to what the business owner is saying and use the other to hear the behaviors of his or her banker.

When to Go

If we believe the sales cycle is anywhere from three calls to close business with a current client to six or more on a cold prospect, the

sales manager should think carefully about when in the cycle he or she should make that joint call. The goal of early cycle “Discovery Calls” is for the business banker to understand the current challenges and the overall short and long term priorities of the prospect. Therefore on call calls one or two, the manager adds very little value. Their time is better spent later in the sales cycle.

“What if my banker is having trouble asking questions,” is a typical question we get from sales managers who have trouble with the concept of no joint early cycle calls. Our answer is simple. Role play, skill drill, sit down with your banker and be certain what questions they have prepared to ask. If your banker is depending on you to go on early cycle calls, you will do the call, own the process, and ultimately have another client in your portfolio.

A good time to go is during “Presentation Calls.” During this phase you can co-present, deal with pricing issues and be a senior presence without having to take over the relationship. This allows you to share the stage with your banker while allowing you to watch him or her do some of the presenting also.

After the Call

The post-call debrief between banker and manager should occur as soon as possible after the call. Let the banker tell you how they did, what they need to improve on and articulate some strategic next steps. The tendency is just the opposite where the manager wants to “tell” the banker what happened on the call versus being in an “ask” mode.

When it is your turn to talk, be positive first and talk about all the great behaviors you saw. Then look to discuss improvement opportunities. Either way, be certain to be specific and objective with your commentary. This allows the banker to begin to improve the behaviors they are not doing well while continuing to do the behaviors at which they are already proficient.

Finally, create an action plan (a brief one) based on one or two high payoff behaviors you want to see improved. Then, follow up in one week to be certain the banker is attempting to improve and on the next joint call be certain to look for that behavior again.

Some Final Thoughts on Joint Calling

• Go strategically – think about when you can have the greatest impact
• Know your role – don’t go on the call at all unless you do
• Know the maximum and minimum call goal – the business banker shouldn’t even go on the call unless they know the objective
• Know the questions/comments – Get a flavor of where this opportunity is in the sales process and the conversation the banker is planning for
• Image resistance – what concerns might come up on the call, how will it be dealt with and who is responsible to deal with it
• Practice if you can – role playing won’t hurt
• Listen and Redirect on the Call – when the prospect asks you a question and your banker can answer it, direct it over to the banker to indicate their expertise
• Take notes – write down things you see the banker doing or saying that can help you with your post-call coaching conversation
• Resist taking over – if you do, you’ll own the relationship and the banker will never own better behaviors
• Debrief immediately and review Socratically – ask lots of questions of the banker before you get into the “tell” mode

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