The study also found that new executives who received coaching and training were three times more likely to succeed than their counterparts who didn t. As a result, organizations that fail to provide adequate coaching are probably shooting themselves in the foot. All candidates, whether internal or external, need coaching. Internal people may know the lay of the land, but may come in with internal baggage, says Aherne. People from the external world may have a clean slate, but don t know the internal politics.
Coaches can come from inside or outside of the company.
Internal coaches should come from HR, not from the executive ranks, advises Shupert, who serves as internal coach for The Learning Company s top executives. Senior executives are hired to be good leaders, not good coaches, so HR does the coaching, he says. Other HR professionals find it preferable to beef up their internal coaching efforts with outside experts. Many agree with Advanta CEO Alter that the investment is worth the results. To Alter, an outside perspective is virtually essential during the transition phase.