Robert Hargrove

Stop Acting Like the Grand Inquisitor

Dear HR Exec,
When I wrote my book Masterful Coaching in 1995, I ranted about a schism that took place in the history of management, which involved taking business results and putting it in the hands of the P&L managers and leadership development and putting it in the hands of HR.

The result was a wrong-headed approach to leadership development that was based on developing a list of homogenized corporate leadership competencies and forcing them on everyone in the organization. In my book, I was in effect attempting to rectify this wrong-headed paradigm. I wrote that leaders develop in the process of going for an Impossible Future and achieving extraordinary and tangible results. Since that time, executive coaching has really taken off.

I received a letter this morning that indicated that certain HR execs are becoming very threatened by the dramatic growth of the coaching movement. Further, they not only want to control coaching in their organizations, but make sure that it fits their worn-out, burned-out leadership development paradigm. This letter came from a person who was very excited about the MC Certification process, but who suddenly dropped out due to the threat of an HR Inquisition.

Please read the letter and then think about how you would handle a situation like this.

Hi Robert,

My apologies for the delay in responding to my earlier communication to you regarding my decision to defer the Masterful Coaching Certification process. Unfortunately, my communication with you coincided with a difficult work time and demanding travel schedule.

While I am still personally and professionally committed to learning and applying the Masterful Coaching process, I will likely need to find alternative options to practice it. The political chessboard here is requiring that I deviate from the process to a degree that I am not comfortable with, and I would not waste your time in trying to resolve.

For example, I am not allowed to use the word “coaching” in my efforts; whether it be in how I present myself or in the documentation I share during the process. Coaching is falling under the control of HRD and is being tightly controlled, with a primary focus on coaching to competencies.

Additionally, we could not use the 360 feedback process, which I think is critical to the coaching process. Corporate HRD is developing a company standard for 360 feedback, again revolving around defined “leadership competencies.” There are similar roadblocks along the balance of the process.

I was attracted to the process you developed based on my experience of what works and doesn’t work in trying to lead people through significant change efforts. I believe your process has integrity and I don’t want to spend my time, or yours, trying to adapt it to a highly restrictive environment that will build an “impossible future” around a narrowing set of constraints.

I will continue to explore opportunities to practice as much of the methodology as possible in this environment, while searching for opportunities (clients) where I could focus on truly learning and applying the process as intended. Be assured my interest in and commitment to learning the process is intact, but I will need to pursue other avenues toward certification. This decision may well take me down external paths for an environment supporting this expectation.

I wish you well and appreciate your guidance to date.

Best Regards,
John