Rethinking Coaching in Tech: A Framework for Success

This article outlines coaching frameworks designed to address the unique challenges of tech leadership.  It expands traditional coaching approaches, which focus on optimizing areas like marketing, sales, finance and operations, to include the critical tech functions of engineering, product and design.  These frameworks integrate personal development needs, such as self-awareness, stress management, and behavior change, with the specialized business and technical expertise required for success in the tech industry. #TechLeadership, #LeadershipCoaching, #ExecutiveCoaching, #TechCoaching

#LeadershipDevelopment, #EmotionalIntelligence (EQ), #TechnicalSkills, #Innovation, #Management, #CoachingFrameworks

Coaching needs may vary widely for different organizations and particular people within an organization navigating various contexts. Applicability of a particular coach and coaching approach can be challenging in innovative tech companies because most coaching approaches originate from psychology and business domains. Berman & Bradt [1] describe how professionally trained psychologists are often best suited to coach personal-focused topics such as personal insight, stress management and behavior change and how professionally experienced business specialists are often best suited to coach business-focused topics where domain knowledge, understanding and experience are crucial. Figure 1 expands the personal-focus and business-focus to include a technical-focus. Specifically, Berman & Brandt’s business-focus roles emphasize marketing, sales, finance and operations optimization. I expand this framework for tech organizations where technical-focus roles emphasize engineering, product, design and technology optimization. In many tech organizations, these technical-focus roles are fundamental to a well functioning tech organization.

Figure 1:  Three core coaching competency needs of a thriving tech organization

Even the ideal balance of Directive and Nondirective leadership styles [2] will often differ for tech companies. For example, a tech company with a well established servant leadership management style may thrive most with a situational coaching approach that is much more nondirective than other organizations operating with more traditional management styles.

Daniel Goleman emphasizes the importance of emotional intelligence (EQ) with five core competencies for leadership coaching:  self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skill [3]. In Figure 2, I introduce five complementary intelligence quotient (IQ) competencies:  logical reasoning, problem-solving, knowledge acquisition, pattern recognition and technical skill. These are combined with the coaching pillars and organization context highlighted by Berman & Bradt [1]. Combined, the parts of Figure 2 span the space of coaching needs of tech leader coachees and coaches. Because it’s unlikely that a single coach’s skillset spans the entire space of coaching needs in Figure 2, two or more coaches with complementary strengths may best support a particular tech leader coachee. For example, a coach with professional psychology expertise may be best suited to coaching contexts with a personal-focus and a coach with professional tech domain expertise may be best suited to coaching contexts with a tech & business focus.

Figure 2:  Space of coaching needs for a typical innovative tech organization

In summary, innovative tech organizations typically require tech domain coaching expertise beyond the standard business and personal domains of most coaching approaches. Roles involving engineering, product, design and technology are both challenging and critical for tech leaders to consider in their relation to business-focused roles such as marketing, sales, finance and operations. As an added layer of complexity, the personal dynamics between people in different roles of a tech organization may benefit from two or more coaches to support a leader to effectively navigate a sensitive decision.

Thank you to professionally trained psychology specialist coaches John Bowen, Kanica Saphan and Paul Sheesley for inspiring, motivating discussions of when personal-focused coaching is most important. Thank you to professionally trained healthcare specialist coach Juliette Kumar for acting as a sounding board of business- and technical-focused coaching needs.

[1] Berman, William H., and George Bradt. "Executive coaching and consulting:" Different strokes for different folks"." Professional psychology: research and practice 37.3 (2006): 244.

[2] Ibarra, Herminia, and Anne Scoular. "The leader as coach." Harvard Business Review 97.6 (2019): 110-119.

[3] Goleman, Daniel. What makes a leader?  Harvard Business Review, 1998.