Robert Hargrove

After a busy day on my This Old House Project, I took off at 6:30 pm for the Big Apple. I had appointments schedule the next day with Morgan Stanley and ABC (Disney).

I was to meet with the Global Talent Development Chiefs of each of these companies. Chances are, if you are an executive coach and you call the CEO of big company looking for business, you will be shifted to this department in short order.

As I got off the 32nd floor in the burled wood elevator in one of these august companies, a secretary escorted me through some glass doors to meet the Talent Managers. As I stepped into the office, I saw a sign on the door that said, “Training Department.”

In a lot of companies, the “Talent Development Manager” is just a new handle for what used to be called the Training Manager—typically one of the least empowered people in the company.

We have discovered that in most companies, the Talent Manager’s role is pestilence avoidance—another words, to keep out the hordes of consultants from cold calling senior management 24/7.

Like the Training Manager of yore, their main job is to play gatekeeper. Send us your resume. Don’t call us. We’ll call you. This can all be linked back to the fact that most business executives see leadership development as a separate activity to be delegated to others.

Now as most Talent Managers are often ex-psychologists who have never had to produce business results, coaching (like training) of executives is seen as providing leadership lobotomies (remediation of problem behavior), rather than leadership excellence and bottom-line results.

When I visited Morgan Stanley, I was told by the Leadership Development folks that they are taking a very different approach. First of all, every key business unit has a CEO, and the CEO has a second job that they are accountable for that is called “talent development.”

For example, one of Morgan Stanley’s business unit leaders is also the Talent Development Executive who used to be in charge of Morgan Stanley Asia. He heads up a burgeoning new area at the Investment Bank today.

The BU Leader/Talent Development Manager works in close partnership with Talent Development colleagues (subject matter experts in HR). Yes, part of their job still includes vetting coaches.

I was told that because Morgan Stanley investment bankers have the opportunity to make millions of dollars a year depending on how many deals they do, talent development is closely linked to getting business results, not just a remedial activity.

Further, as time is money, the bank sends very few people off to executive development programs at Harvard Business School to be entertained by professors or to the Center for Creative Leadership for a psychological intensive.

I perked up when they said this, because I have been told repeatedly that the best part of a week of executive education at Harvard were the professors jokes and the food. I have also secretly held CCL in thinly disguised contempt—yes, execs get some useful 360 feedback on their leadership behavior but…where’s the beef? ROI!

I told the bankers that Masterful Coaching takes a contrarian approach and we’re totally aligned with where they were coming from. We believe that leaders need to be developing other leaders, coaching takes place in the domain of accomplishment not therapy, and success is measured by ROI vs. behavior modification.

After the meeting with Morgan Stanley, I visited ABC (Disney Entertainment) where the Talent Managers were clearly advocating linking leadership development to business goals.

While they may not yet have the same level of executive sponsorship as Morgan Stanley, the signs were all there that a paradigm shift was in the wind. Coaching is often seen as helping executives win in the ratings oriented business of TV vs. just helping them conform to the corporate leadership competency list.

Being offered a coach is seen at Disney as “a good thing” rather than a bad thing (such as a last gasp effort before being show the door). Finally there are many executives who clamor for coaches who can be a thinking partner and trusted confidant. The job of Talent Management is to make sure that the coaching delivers ROI.

Perhaps this is a sign of a shift in the wind through the corporate world. Inshallah. If God wills it.