The Most Effective Approach For Native American Leadership Development Is Coaching
The most effective method of leadership development is through the use of coaching gifts and skills. It is not the quickest or easiest method of leadership development, but it does bring lasting changes in the life of the person being coached. Stoltzfus writes in Leadership Coaching,
Leadership Coaching is the discipline of using relational influence to develop and empower adult leaders. By contrast, the old familiar tools we’ve used to work with one-on-one center more around imparting than empowering. A mentor imparts wisdom and opportunities to a junior; a counselor diagnoses a problem and suggests solutions; . . . While these are effective methods, the weakness of impartation is that it is better at creating followers than developing leaders. . . . What is needed to develop adult leaders is a method of working with people that pushes them to take responsibility and lead, not follow. That in a nutshell is coaching.” (Stoltzfus, 2005, pp. vii-viii)
In 2006 and 2007 the Canadian government, through their Human Resources and Social Development Canada offices conducted a training program which provided for “coaching and appreciative inquiry as the main enablers in acquiring greater personal and professional leadership.” (Branch Leadership Survey Results, 2007, p. 1) They also conducted surveys during the course of the training to determine the benefits of coaching in leadership development which reflected the following benefits.
Our survey findings clearly show that the more employees and managers participate on workshops or in practice sessions such as the individual coaching sessions or the coaching circles, the more dramatically their capacity for personal and professional leadership increases. From December 06 to May 07 respondents indicated increases in approximately 80% of the observed individual leadership indicators covered in the questionnaire.” (Ibid)
Though I did not find any statistical work related to the use of coaching Native American leadership development, I would propose that coaching would find similar levels of success with these ethnic groups. Native American people have specific concerns and a mindset that flow out of their history. Coaching would be particularly well suited to help many Native Americans make greater strides in their lives while being mindful of these concerns and perspectives. The following article by Rave not only lends support to the idea that leadership development is important to Native American tribes, but also refers to the desire and concept of self-determination within Native American tribes. “The key to sustainable economic development in Indian Country lies in how Native nations govern themselves,” said Begay, who is also co-director of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development. “Self-determination is the only policy that ever worked.” (Rave, 2009, par. 3) Begay goes on to say, “successful businesses in Indian Country are dependent upon five key areas, including exercising tribal sovereignty, strong tribal governments, culturally appropriate institutions, long-term planning and good leadership (emphasis mine).”(Ibid, par. 10) Coaching, which requires deference to the client’s agenda and approach to solving problems, is a perfect match to Native American people’s desire for self-determination, and would also fit nicely in leadership development.
The authors of Co-Active Coaching make an observation that applies here as well. They observe that a more directive coaching approach has often been applied in helping develop people in Western businesses. However, non-directive methods, like Co-Active Coaching, “may be the most appropriate when the focus of coaching is developmental”. (Whitworth, Kimsey-House, Kimsey-House, Sandahl, 2007, p. 277) Pure coaching by its very nature is non-directive. Taking this more non-directive, eastern approach to leadership development would be very appealing and in tune to the Native American mindset and heart.
There are other aspects of coaching that would be appealing to Native American peoples and therefore applicable to leadership development that I cannot go into depth about here, but I will list a few. The emphasis of the relationship between the coach and client is in alignment with the value they place in relationships; the humble and respectful attitude of coaching which sees the client as the expert in their own life would be appealing; the concept of dancing in the moment reflects an intuitiveness and spirituality characteristic of many Native people; the holistic approach of coaching toward the client as well as the accountability that coaching provides would both serve Native people well. All these and others lead me to conclude that the use of coaching to develop leaders to reach the fullest potential as leaders is a tool crying to be picked up and used!
The Most Valuable Approach For Native American Leadership Development Is Coaching
As mentioned earlier, coaching is not the easiest way to attempt leadership development, but it does produce the greatest results and therefore truly provides the most value to people, including native people and communities. Like other segments of our countries population, many Native Americans do not have an overabundance of financial resources, so getting the best return for the investment is essential. There is significant effort being made to explore the question of return on investment of coaching in general that will apply to Native Americans as well.
The financial value of coaching continues to be affirmed by a growing number of sources. At a seminar on coaching and mentoring, Williams made this broad assessment of the value of coaching to The Royal Society of Medicine in London, “Coaching has proven a worthy investment during its short but remarkable history.” (Williams, 2004, p. 1)
The monetary value of coaching for top leaders of organizations has also been shown. A number of studies found the following. “According to IMetrixGlobal LLC, companies receive an average return of $7.90 for every dollar invested in executive coaching” and “According to a Hay Group study of Fortune 500 companies, 21% – 40% employ executive coaching. Coaching is used as a leadership development resource for key executives and talented executives.” (http://www.optimalthinking.com/blog/tag/executive-coaching-statistics/) These companies would likely not use coaching if there were not a real return on their investment. In addition, productivity is impacted when leaders of companies make use of coaching. “Personnel Management Association reports that when training is combined with executive coaching, individuals increase their productivity by an average of 86% compared to 22% with training alone.” (Ibid)
But coaching is valuable when used with people at all levels of the organization too. The authors of Co-Active Coaching make the case that when some pillars of their coaching model, which in my estimation are common to mainstream professional coaching philosophy, are used with employees they “may contribute to an organizational climate that is most conducive to strong employee satisfaction and high performance for both the individual and the organization.” (Whitworth, et al., 2007, pp. 274-275)
Still, some have come to question the validity of return on investment studies because their focus is to narrow. In an article by Grant, “it is argued that financial return on investment (ROI) is an unreliable and insufficient measure of coaching outcomes, and that an overemphasis on financial returns can restrict coaches’ and organisations’ awareness of the full range of positive outcomes possible through coaching.” (Grant, 2012, p. 1)
However, the ground work for another tool named the Well Being and Engagement Framework has been created by Grant to give a broader evaluation of the true benefit of coaching to employees and their companies. This tool proposes to evaluate the broader and more accurate impact of coaching’s impact on people, who by nature are complex beings and function in complex social for-profit and non-profit organizations. Grant affirms, “The research clearly shows that coaching has great potential to enhance the performance, productivity and well-being of individuals, organizations and the people that work for them.” (Grant, 2003) He goes on to state,
Using models such as the WBEF we may in time even see a humanistic ROI developed with could be used in conjunction with the existing financial ROI metric. This would allow organisations to assess the impact of coaching on well-being as well as their finances _ surely a more meaningful and compressive approach than can be obtained by a myopic focus on financial ROI.” (Grant, 2012, p. 9)
These studies and insights reveal the value of coaching as very real, though, like coaching, sometimes intangible.
There are other ways of providing professional coaching that can help it be more affordable that should be mentioned. Bringing a coach on staff or contracting for services with a coach can be an incentive for a coach to reduce the cost for the guarantee of consistent work. An organization that has that type of relationship with a coach also makes available other formats of delivery of services that are effective. These formats make coaching more affordable even outside of a staff or contract coaching arrangement. Group coaching is one format, by which small groups of no more than 15 can receive coaching. When structured to consider confidentiality and focus, just as individual coaching is, group coaching can provided added benefit because of the collaborative nature of bringing more than one mind and soul into the coaching conversation. Cockerham, an experienced and respected group coach writes to coaches in her chapter on return on investment,
As more scalable solutions for promoting individual growth and development are being demanded in the marketplace, elevating your coaching skills and embracing group coaching can leverage and expand your own coaching offerings resulting in a strong return on investment both for you as a coach and for the organizations where you coach groups.” (emphasis mine) (Cockerham, 2011, p. 113)
Another method of delivery is through 30 minute or even 10 minute laser coaching sessions. The 30 minute format again reduces cost, while 10 minute laser coaching can be a great way of helping individuals with more immediate, impromptu blockages to progress in their lives.
One final aspect related to appreciating the value of coaching should be noted. In 2012 the most comprehensive study of coaching was released. One finding was in relation to the present and future use of coaching as it related to income groups around the world. The study found that though currently professional coaches “are most highly concentrated in the high-income regions of North America, Western Europe and Oceania (primarily Australia and New Zealand)” (ICF Global Study, 2012, p.7), “Nonetheless, the coaching profession appears to be showing more rapid growth in emerging regions outside the established high-income regions.” (Ibid) The study results went on to state how there is a growth trend in what likely should be considered low income areas of the world. “The evidence from the study suggests that the trend indicators have been growing more quickly outside the high-income regions.” (ICF Global Study, 2012, p. 11) This data shows promise that Native American populations and communities, which are some of the lowest income groups in North America, will begin using coaching services in the future.
Native American leadership development is essential and the use of coaching to help create strong and healthy leaders will not only work, but it will pay for itself over time. Though it may seem un-orthodox and go against the grain of past training methods used, our Native American people have the capacity to invest in the long term nature and work characteristic of coaching. My desire is to see that proposition tested, one native leader and one native community of people at a time.