By Frank Benest, ICMA-CM

+ Do you feel stymied in respect to your career advancement?

+ Would you value a sounding board to bounce off new ideas?

+ Do you at times face a problematic work situation for which you feel ill-equipped to address?

If you have answered yes to any of the above questions, perhaps you could benefit from one-to-one coaching. Here are tips on how coaching can contribute to your life.

What is coaching? Coaching is a confidential relationship typically between a senior local government manager—currently serving in a management position or retired—and an aspiring leader that aims to help the emerging leader achieve his or her hopes and dreams. Coaching can often help a person focus on accelerating career development and addressing problematic work situations.

What can I expect from a good coach? Recognizing your aspirations, a good coach is in your corner and wants the best for you. It is not what the coach wants for you or from you; it is what you want to achieve.

A good coach is a catalyst for action and will:

• Explore your hopes and dreams.
• Ask questions about obstacles and challenges.
• Prompt you to consider a variety of options.
• Share experiences.
• Invite you to consider big leaps in your career path.
• Offer resources, connections, and opportunities.
• Provide candid feedback.

What are my responsibilities in the coaching relationship? You must take the initiative in reaching out to the potential coach and in scheduling times to talk either in person or by phone. You also need to be open to the conversation and honestly share your goals, challenges, doubts, and fears.

Finally, it is your responsibility to take any action—a stretch assignment, professional involvement, or training—that flows from the coaching.

Where do I find a coach? There are a number of places to find a coach. A coach might be a senior manager in your department or in another department; a professional from another public agency; or a local government leader whom you find in one of your professional organizations.

Some ICMA state associations or other affiliated organizations like Cal-ICMA, Texas City Management Association, Oregon City/County Management Association, and International Hispanic Network have now established one-to-one coaching services.

The new ICMA Coaching Program (icma.org/coaching), plans to launch “Coach Connect” in 2016, which is an online service to match you with a coach based on your needs. “Coach Connect” will be available to any local government employee in the United States.

Do I need more than one coach? While you may want to start with one formal or informal coach, eventually you want to create a “dream team” of coaches and advisers.

Different coaches can offer different things. One or more members in your dream team may:

• Advise you on how to enhance your skills, gain new experiences, and position yourself for advancement.
• Suggest how you may handle problematic situations at work.
• Alert you to new job opportunities.
• Serve as connectors to others who may be able to provide advice or resources.
• Serve as a sponsor in helping you secure an appointment to an interdepartmental team or a professional committee or access some other opportunity such as a training program.
• Provide information, data, knowledge, and expertise.
• Serve as a sounding board for advice.

How do I approach a potential coach? It’s easy if a senior manager has already registered as a coach or offered to serve as a coach in a formal coaching program. You simply send an e-mail, introduce yourself, indicate that you found the senior manager on a state association’s “Coaches Gallery” or some other registry, and ask him or her to schedule a face-to-face meeting or a telephone call.

It’s a good idea to provide a list of dates and times to get together in order to give the coach some flexibility in scheduling.

If you are approaching a senior manager who is not involved in a formal coaching program, you can try one of two approaches:

The direct approach: “I need some career coaching. Would you be willing to give me some advice or feedback?”

The indirect approach: “May I buy you a cup of coffee and pick your brain about achieving some of my goals (or advancing my career)?”

Another approach is to ask one coach to make a connection with another potential adviser, and then you follow up after the introduction.

How do I get the most out of coaching? Here are tips to maximize the value of coaching:

Ask for help and feedback. A lot of us find it difficult to ask for help. We often perceive doing so as a sign of vulnerability and weakness (see Career Compass #32 “The Power of Vulnerability” at www.icma.org/careercompass). You can only benefit from coaching if you ask for guidance or feedback.

Be open to the conversation. It is important to not only share your challenges and dilemmas with a coach, but be open to the feedback and any suggestions on how to handle difficult career or work-related problems.

Prepare for the conversation. In advance of the get-together with the coach, identify the challenge you are facing; what actions you have taken; what have been the results to date; why you are frustrated; and how you’d like things to change.

Use the coach to promote self-reflection. Coaches can ask probing questions that promote reflection, self-criticism, and opportunities to make adjustments. After an informal or formal coaching conversation, reflect on what has been discussed and the implications for self-correction.

Avoid griping. It is therapeutic to express some frustration, but you want to quickly move on to request the coach’s perspectives and constructive feedback.

Be forward-looking. While you want a coach to assist you in debriefing recent experiences or efforts to advance, the point is to explore what you have learned so that you can enhance your future behavior and opportunities.

Learn from the stories. Coaches love to tell war stories. Don’t just enjoy the swapping of stories. Probe for lessons that may be related to your dilemma or challenge.

Follow your own lead; don’t feel compelled to follow the advice. While you want a coach to offer different perspectives and additional options and prompt action, you do not have to accept or act on anything. It is your responsibility to weigh the advice and feedback and choose whatever you may do to enhance your career development or become a more effective leader.

Enjoy the interaction. While you are certainly looking for feedback and advice, informal or even formal coaching offers an opportunity to form new relationships and get social support. The experience of meeting with a senior manager colleague and exchanging experiences and views is stimulating and fun.

Remember, coaches love to coach. Often we think it is an added burden if we ask a senior manager to coach us or act as a sounding board. Not so!

Coaches love to coach. It is satisfying and fulfilling and gets us away from the more mundane aspects of our daily work. You are doing a senior manager a favor if you ask for advice and coaching.