Can executive coaching really make a difference?

For the most part business executives are a pretty pragmatic lot; results, ROI, being competitive are just a few elements of their lexicon. Accountants, lawyers, marketing people, strategists, technologists are just a few of the people that make up an executive team. Rarely though, do you see the team coach as part of the line up - as you would if we were talking about football, basketball, or baseball.

How come that just about every sport, and all the performing arts, have the notion of coaching, and being coached, as a normal part of the structure and disciplines of their profession - but not for most executive teams?

Is there a huge opportunity for enhanced performance being missed here? One would think so.

The image of a particular coaching scene sticks in my mind when I think of what would be possible if executives were coached the same way sports professionals or performing artists are.

Some years ago I saw the Kirov Ballet in rehearsal in front of an audience of about 2500 people in the London Coliseum. I don't remember the ballet being rehearsed, or who the prima ballerina was. What has stayed with me is a series of exchanges between the ballet master and the prima ballerina:

• The stage is empty but for the ballet master, who signals to the orchestra to play, at which point the prima ballerina makes a dramatic entrance from back stage right and traverses the stage to front stage left, dancing in a way I cannot describe, except to say it was breathtaking
• When she came to a stop the audience, mostly mothers and daughters, and clearly ballet enthusiasts, broke into thunderous applause
• At which point the ballet master pounded the stage with a long staff, like a broom handle, silencing the applause. He wagged his index finger like a high speed windshield wiper and, in Russian rapid fired a series of, "niet, niet, niet's", issued some instructions and at then pointed to the back right of the stage. It was not difficult to deduce that some powerful coaching had just been given
• The prima ballerina walked to the back of the stage, the orchestra was instructed to play again, and the prima ballerina repeated her performance
• When she finished this time the audiences response was still enthusiastic though a little less thunderous
• The ballet master repeated his pounding, his wagging, his niet's and his pointing to the back of the stage. The tension in the audience was palpable
• As before, the prima ballerina walked to the back of the stage, the orchestra was instructed to play again, and the prima ballerina repeated her performance
• When she finished this time, the audience was silent, the atmosphere was tense
• After a brief theatrical pause, the ballet master turned to the audience and said in a loud strong, accented voice, "Now!" and the audience exploded in applause, as much to relieve tension no doubt as to show appreciation. He then turned his attention to the prima ballerina and was clearly showering her with praise and appreciation as her delight was obvious.
  

I have often thought, "what would be possible for organizational performance, for work satisfaction, for relationships, and so on, if that kind of rigor and discipline was a regular part of work? If that commitment to each others' best performance was what characterized relationships at work?"

For me, that is the possibility of coaching.