An interview with Liz Macann

Citation

(2007), "An interview with Liz Macann", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 21 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/dlo.2007.08121daf.001

An interview with Liz Macann

An interview with Liz Macann

Liz Macann is the co-founder of the BBC’s in-house Executive, Leadership and Management Coaching Network. Co-creator of the BBC Coach Foundation Course, Liz is responsible for the selection, professional training and development of approximately 80 coaches and the service they provide. She continues to develop her own coaching practice by working with a diverse client group of senior executives and leaders and supervises Coaches both within and external to the BBC. Through her coaching partnership, Liz has delivered coaching to senior executives, their teams and worked with organizations in both the private and public sectors to implement cultural change. Nationally, Liz takes a leading role in the development of Coaching as a profession, participating in the activities of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, the Association for Coaches and a number of think tanks and focus groups aimed at shaping the future of Executive Coaching. She is a speaker at national and international coaching conferences and seminars.

What attracted you to working in this field?

A recognition that there were a lot of great people grappling with issues, big and small, on their own as they felt too vulnerable to seek help and therefore staying stuck in a negative mind set. Also the insight that you cannot tell people what to do/have/be and expect it to necessarily be the right thing for them – something I learned on a research trip to India when I talked to villagers who had been given lots of shiny new toilets to improve their living conditions by a western charity when what they actually needed was a water supply. But the charity had not asked the right questions.

What do you see as the biggest challenge in your current role as head of executive, leadership and management coaching at the BBC?

BBC coaches are usually senior leaders and managers who have volunteered to train and practice as a coach in addition to their day jobs and for no reward whatsoever. We have endless people who want to do this but not all of them can commit the amount of time we have stipulated as critical to their right to practice.

The time involved is not just the hours spent actually coaching, but also attending the supervision and the Continuous Professional Development sessions we run throughout the year. We do this to keep the standards high but it rules out a lot of great people. A big challenge right now is expanding our network of coaches to meet the increasing demand.

There is also the issue of maintaining the integrity of the coaching process versus the demands of the business. So far this has not been a problem, but I am always on the lookout for conflicts of interest.

What is the most influential book you have read and why?

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankel. Apart from being his story, it’s a tribute to the human spirit and underpins my coaching philosophy. During his unspeakable experiences in the death camps of the Second World War he held on to the belief that whatever is happening to you, everything can be taken from you except one thing, the last human freedom: to choose one’s attitude to any given set of circumstances; to choose one’s own way. So powerful, so simple and yet by no means an easy strategy – the ultimate in self-responsibility, one of the two basic tenets of coaching.

In your opinion what are the biggest obstacles to effective learning and development in organizations?

Being too busy. People attend great training courses, return to the workplace full of good intentions to embed their new skills into their own practice then get swamped with the need to survive the moment and revert to old habits. Also there is no time for reflection. It is “doing” which is rewarded.

Who would you consider to be the key influencers in this field?

In my world of executive coaching one of the main figures is Sir John Whitmore. A pioneer of the profession, he is passionate about everyone’s responsibility to be their own leader and not look for leadership “out there”. To do this you have to start the journey of discovering who you are; what makes you uniquely you and how that impacts on how you live your life, relate to others, and make your decisions based on your own values and beliefs.

Where do you see development and learning in organizations in, say, ten years’ time?

I am not an expert in the broader arena of L&D, but what I do observe happening is a rapidly increasing coaching style of management. This style empowers individuals to learn and think in a way that works for them as individuals in their own context, rather than being told how to achieve a “quick fix” for one off issues in a way that works for the boss. There is also a growing recognition of the need for personal leadership.

What is your biggest achievement to date in the learning and development field?

I co-created the BBC’s Coaching Network; the concept, the selection of coaches, their training, development, accreditation and also the management processes which support the network and its strategic alignment to the business.

Are these issues attracting the attention they deserve in organizations today?

The BBC is hugely receptive to the value of coaching and to the impact its own in-house coaching network is having. It is also evident that more and more companies are creating their own internal coaching service, as well as buying in external coaches for individual executives, either as part of a development course or as a bespoke coaching program.

What is the key corporate event in your calendar this year?

The decision on the license fee – without which nothing happens!

Which organization do you most admire in relation to development and learning?

I do not know enough about other organizations to comment but I do admire what the BBC provides for its staff. From their first entry into the corporation, when they take part in a comprehensive induction program, staff are encouraged to undertake development which will realize their potential, not least by embarking on one or other of the Executive Leadership and Management Coaching programs in our portfolio.

What do you see as the key differences between management development and leadership development?

For me, a leader is something you are. It relies on you being authentically aligned to your own meaning and purpose, which then generates something others want to follow and are inspired by. It therefore follows that development in this area is to do with raising self-awareness about who and what the person is, and how that impacts on what they do.

Management on the other hand is something you do and is more transactional and about process. Self-awareness is still a big piece in management development (and in life!), but there is also the need to teach skills and processes which allow managers to operate with confidence and credibility.