Leading from the Inside out: A Coaching Model

Citation

Walz, J.T. (2005), "Leading from the Inside out: A Coaching Model", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 331-332. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730510600715

Leading from the Inside out: A Coaching Model, provides a hands‐on model to navigate the coaching environment complete with step‐by‐step procedures and worksheets to plan and document progress. Many books concern themselves with the theoretical framework of coaching interaction but none that so clearly provides a roadmap to successfully accomplish the goals of coaching. It is apparent that the authors are concerned not only with developing coaching leaders but also with the welfare of our workforce and the growth of our organizations. They state: “Being a coaching leader means giving employees the power and opportunity to exercise choices that will make their lives meaningful and contribute to organizational success” (p. 5).

Bianco‐Mathis, Nabors, and Roman begin by describing what coaching is and what it is not. They accomplish this by comparing traditional means of leading versus using coaching techniques. The results are quite revealing; coaching requires a very different mindset toward leading others and addresses the values of the coaching leader as a key to successful coaching. “Leading from the inside out requires the coaching leader to examine and articulate deeply held beliefs about leadership, to coach others who are followers, to develop systems and processes to create a coaching organization, and to reach out to the community with the spirit of coaching” (p. 10). In this way, the coaching leader will be enriched by the coaching experience if they are candid enough with themselves to consider who they are, what they believe about themselves and others, and are willing to grow as a leader.

This notion of leading from the inside out sounds like Burns’ (1978) “Transforming Leader” from his Pulitzer Prize winning book, Leadership. The coaching leader, like the transforming leader, is being transformed through the process of coaching along with those who are being coached. This transformation results in a leader who is better equipped to make moral choices and to lead others to new levels of moral responsibility and action. What Bianco‐Mathis, Nabors, and Roman have successfully done is articulate a detailed process of becoming a transforming leader through a coaching approach to leadership. This approach is based on a model that follows these four principles:

1. 1.

   Future‐focused. The goal of coaching is to achieve the organization and leader's goals, not to dwell on or label past actions or behaviors.

2. 2.

   Data‐based. Leadership coaching should be based on feedback data: self‐assessment and feedback from organizational members.

3. 3.

   Action‐oriented. Coaching is always more about what the leader does than what he or she thinks or feels.

4. 4.

   Results‐driven. Results are what matter in organizations (p. 13).

Although it would appear that any approach to leading would or should include these principles, the authors have taken them and established a well‐thought‐out process supported by worksheets. These worksheets cover; establishing the coaching relationship, gathering and analyzing data, processing feedback and planning actions, taking action, and evaluating progress. The worksheets ask the coaching leader to respond to questions by providing narratives, checking blocks, and ranking preferences. In this way, administering and reflecting on the coaching process becomes interactive.

Finally, the authors describe how to create a coaching organization. They define a coaching organization as “… an organization based on a coaching mind‐set, supported by a coaching infrastructure, with the aim of achieving organizational strategy, individual goals, and bottom‐line results” (p. 137). This model is a response to the emerging workforce of individuals who join our organizations with the hope that they will find work that is rewarding, relationships that are enduring and challenges that are stimulating.

In conclusion, readers will find Leading from the Inside Out: A Coaching Model, a book that provides foundational elements for becoming a successful coaching leader. The authors have done an excellent job recognizing the needs of twenty‐first century workers while balancing this with the competitive demands of the marketplace. The book focuses on transforming the heart and mind of today's leaders while considering the role of the human spirit in motivating workers in a collaborative effort to take our organizations to new heights of achievement.