The Best Candidates (And Leaders) Are The Most Coachable

Working with MBA candidates applying to the top US business schools, my Fortuna Admissions colleague Patricia Robertson loves helping people imagine and discover all the possibilities and finding the best place to achieve them. She believes that the top candidates are the most coachable.

Patty should know. From Fortune 100s, startups and non-profits to admissions and custom executive development programs at MIT Sloan, she has spent her career helping individuals and companies grow. As Patty and the team at Fortuna Admissions prepare the next generation of applicants to Sloan, HBS and the other M7 business schools, we talked about why being coachable makes such a positive difference.

“When my friend Jen, a longtime HR executive, was completing a professional coaching program I volunteered to be coached by her as part of her program. It turned out to be one of the greatest growth experiences of my career. This surprised me because I am a lifelong learner. So why was it so helpful? Three reasons: I embarked on deep reflection guided by a new person, I explored work and life situations more deeply allowing me to consider my goals, and how I was “showing up” and perceiving work situations all through the lens of Jen’s deft guidance.

Always considering myself an “open” person – I was a risk-taker, an entrepreneur, and creative – I also discovered that this same openness sometimes blinded me to consider recommendations of those who thought differently than I did, triggered my insecurities, or who I considered less creative. All in all, my need to control my own destiny – my drive and ambition – sometimes handicapped me from being truly open to everyone’s point of view. Fearing these folks would slow me down, I learned how much I missed once I realized this!

I have been a coach my whole life. As a management consultant I coached client teams to get them to adopt and implement strategic recommendations, I coached youth and adult ice hockey teams, and as a talent professional I coached new managers, CEOs and even boards of Fortune 500 companies and non-profits. 

Now I am honored to coach aspirants to elite graduate programs. Ironically, I find that the top candidates need coaches the least, yet are the most coachable. This gives them a double edge! So what do these top candidates have that others don’t? What does it mean to be coachable? In a nutshell, coachable people:

·     are curious, interested, and willing to learn from someone with a different kind of expertise. They have a “growth mindset”.

·     like being challenged to go deeper in articulating their goals and imagining their future. They are purposeful in their actions – they overcome obstacles and are resilient.

·     they manage their own destiny, are proactive, and actively generate ideas, bounce them off you, seek out feedback, and internalize the feedback directly into their efforts. They learn, internalize, and take action – they are motivated, they learn from others, and use that to improve, change, and grow.

·     have a history – a demonstrable, repeating pattern – of identifying goals and solving problems and taking real action that has visible impacts that they  then share with others to make their lives easier. They have a “bias for action” and help others by sharing their experiences.

Hiring a coach can change your life and career trajectory. But before you spend the money, time, and effort on a coach, I recommend doing two things to set yourself up for success. First, do some deep reflection on your journey so far. I call this your “You job”. How did you end up in your current role? What have you learned along the way? What do you like about it? What do you do well? What do you do less well? What do you dream about doing in the future? Why? What are your biggest gaps – and, most important, what do you need to learn or do to achieve your dreams and grow?

To achieve your dreams, and find fulfillment in your work, to paraphrase Simon Sinek – you must “find your why”.  You will discover that being able to articulate this is the best way to differentiate yourself to schools, and to maximize what you will get out of any program you are admitted to.

Second, assess your own coachability. Those most needing a coach tend to be the least self-reflective, the most resistant to change – or to advice that doesn’t fit their mental image of themselves. Sensitive, and often defensive, about being thought of as not promotable, too tough to work with, too nice, too rigid, too flexible, or too opinionated handicaps them from receiving and acting on feedback that would actually help them grow.

To hit the ground running with your coach, ask yourself:

·     How clear am I on my goals? Have I done my homework? Remember, the coach can’t and shouldn’t envision your dreams for you – their role is to help you go deeper as you envision them. 

·     How open am I to feedback? Your coach’s job is to help you stretch and grow, to see situations through a different lens, and help you grow.

·     Are you asking questions about how you can grow or talking about all the reasons that you haven’t? Before applying to a competitive graduate program, it’s best to leave the old excuses at the door – they will only handicap you from growing and reaching your full potential. Being coachable is being accountable – for past mistakes and future growth.

·     Am I willing to learn from more experienced people? The best coach will challenge you and push you out of your comfort zone, yes so you can create a winning package, but more importantly, to set you to succeed in your interview, as a member of the class, and in your career long beyond graduate school.

The attributes associated with being coachable mirror the attributes sought by top graduate programs:

·     Orientation around growth: Openness, creativity, and innovation

·     Orientation around others: Support for others and their ideas – a great team member who credits others and shares their ideas to help others succeed and solve complex problems

·     A growth mindset: always focused on improvement and making progress and impact. 

·     A bias for action and a focus on impacts – a record of action and results

·     Positivity, gratitude for opportunities, humility, and a balanced ego – the class is better because you are in it.

As the great basketball coach John Wooden once said, “things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out.”