Coaches can come from inside or outside of the company. Internal coaches should come from HR, not from the executive ranks, advises Mr. Shupert, who serves as internal coach for the Learning Company's top executives. Other HR professionals find it preferable to beef up their internal coaching efforts with outside experts. Many agree with Advanta's Mr. Alter that the investment is worth the results. To Mr. Alter, an outside perspective is virtually essential during the transition phase.
Internal coaches can be helpful, but it's a more difficult role.
Embarking on a search for new leadership, he decided, with some trepidation, to go outside for six of eight senior-management positions. We were not in a steady state, so the new people could have had either a salutary or disruptive effect on the organization. I wanted to do whatever I could to tilt the scale to the positive side. To help, Mr. Alter bought into a program offered by Diversified Search, an executive-search firm headquartered in Philadelphia, and leadership training specialists from Manchester. Diversified found the candidates, then Manchester's Ph.D.s took over, providing psychological testing, training and coaching to help the new hires get acclimated.