Action Coaching

Action Coaching: How to Leverage Individual Performance for Company Success

About the Authors

David L. Dotlich and Peter C. Cairo are renowned experts in executive coaching and organizational development. They are founding partners of CDR International, a consulting firm specializing in executive coaching. Their extensive experience includes working with top-tier companies such as AT&T, BellSouth, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Bank of America. Dotlich also teaches in executive education programs at the University of Michigan and the University of Minnesota. Cairo is the former co-chair of Columbia University's Department of Organizational and Counseling Psychology.

Main Idea

Action Coaching is a transformative process designed to foster self-awareness and motivate change in individuals, aligning their personal development with the strategic goals of their organizations. This method is not just about enhancing individual performance but also about driving organizational success. By integrating specific strategies and action plans tailored to individual needs, Action Coaching ensures that both personal and corporate objectives are met.

Table of Contents

1. What is Action Coaching?
2. Why is Action Coaching Effective?
3. The Eight Steps of Action Coaching
4. Providing Motivation for Change
5. Coaching One-to-One
6. Coaching Conflict Management
7. Personalizing Leadership

What is Action Coaching?

Action Coaching is a process that promotes self-awareness and motivates individuals to change in ways that align with organizational needs. This synergistic approach aims to develop change in individuals, positively impacting business goals while also fostering personal growth.

Essential Elements of Action Coaching

• Self-awareness linked with business results: The individual's need to change is reconciled with the organization's perception of that need early in the process.
• Action plans: These plans set specific work-related tasks and milestones that track development, ensuring that progress is documented and evaluated.
• Levels of achievement: Goals are set based on organizational needs, such as self-awareness, performance improvement, performance breakthrough, or transformation.
• Structured process: Action Coaching combines a formal strategy, tactics, and explicit goals to facilitate a logical and orderly coaching process.

Differentiation from Traditional Coaching

Action Coaching differs from traditional coaching in several key areas:

• Relationship: Traditional coaching follows a therapist-patient relationship, whereas Action Coaching establishes firm business relationships.
• Approach: Action Coaches follow specific strategies and action plans tailored to individual needs, aiming for performance breakthroughs.
• Focus: Traditional coaching focuses on personal insights rather than actions. Action Coaching translates insights into actions with organizational results, coaching within the context of environmental goals and obstacles to change.

Why is Action Coaching Effective?

Action Coaching is effective because it links individual and organizational concerns, using a structured process that includes:

Eye-opening Perception

People often believe something is true about themselves or their workplaces and selectively find examples to support these beliefs. Action Coaching uses various techniques to break this self-fulfilling behavior, opening individuals' eyes to the reality of their situations and pushing them toward change and growth.