Exercise in Anecdotal Writing for Managerial or Leadership Coaching - Case Study Example

In 2007, Food Service Utility worker Rick Steve fulfilled a very important role within the Eurest Dining Services facilities at the Microsoft campus.Owners and restaurateurs generally recognize the importance of Rick’s position at that time because they themselves may have started in the role in the industry. In accordance with a new mentorship program launched by the owner of Rick’s employer, he was identified as a high-potential employee and assigned a coach to help him realize his potential in moving into higher-level roles within the organization. One day, Rick was approached by his coach, John Reeve, during the first part of his evening shift. Rick had not seen John in the past, but John was the general manager of the division that oversaw not only Rick’s Eurest location but Eurest locations across the Microsoft campus system. John introduced himself as the general manager and told Rick during their first meeting that he had volunteered to take on the added responsibility of mentoring high-potential employees during an 8-week program within the organization with the goal of helping them reach their professional goals with the company. John disclosed that he too had started as a Food Service Utility worker and had learned what he needed to know to be successful from his own mentor years ago. John knew that openness in the relationship would help build trust and rapport, which is consistent with the findings of research on personal and organizational learning (Hale, 2000, p. 231). John asked Rick if he would be willing to continue their professional relationship as mentor and mentee, which Rick agreed to enthusiastically. Building on the trust that John had established by revealing his own background and experience with a coach, he asked Rick for his opinions about a style of coaching he liked best. Rick had never really had a coach or a mentor before, so he asked John for suggestions. John replied that he found formal meetings set around consistent meeting times were most effective because research shows that mentees in formal programs with guidelines on frequency tend to see those programs as more effective and they tend to see the program as having a more positive, lasting impact on their career and job attitudes (Ragins, Cotton, & Miller, 2000, p. 2000). Rick agreed and they set up a formal meeting schedule where they would convene weekly (on Friday since it is the slowest day for business) for 30 minutes during the first hour of Rick’s evening shift (which was most convenient for John, who works during the day) to discuss issues Rick had encountered on the job and how those experiences relate to Rick’s future with the company. Outside of those formal meeting times, John told Rick that he would be available by phone or email to discuss immediate concerns. During the first meeting a week after their introduction, John and Rick met for 30 minutes on a Friday at one of the tables in the dining room. John further detailed his mentoring style as being there to support Rick’s ideas on how to develop professionally as well as personally in a facilitative manner, rather than a directive manner in a way that a supervisor would. John said he felt this would serve as the best foundation for a good coaching relationship, which is supported by the literature on the subject (Moss, et al., 2006, p. 51). For that reason, he encouraged Rick to take any short-term concerns about the job to his supervisor and to discuss long-term concerns with John. During subsequent weeks, Rick expressed worries that he was not providing high enough levels of customer service, which was one of the performance metrics outlined in his goals for the year. Rick worried that his customer service was not just a problem now, but that his behaviors would continue indefinitely. Using a facilitative mentorship style, John probed Rick’s feelings with specific questions and instead of offering opinion or direction on what to do about it, Rick came to his own conclusions on how to attack the problem. Through the process of talking through the problem, Rick reached a shared understanding with John that involved insights, creativity, and wisdom that Rick had not realized he had. Because of that experience, Rick found a method he could use to solve similar problems, even without John’s assistance to ask the difficult questions. During the fourth week of meeting, John recognized the need for Rick to set professional goals for himself, consistent with the organization’s needs and John’s desire to be promoted into higher levels within the organization. Goals are important, John realized, because goal-setting helps the mentee gain a sense of control over the successes and failures that one has in institutional settings like the workplace (Martinek, McLaughlin, & Schilling, 1999, p. 61). Similar to the facilitative manner in which John helped Rick solve his problem in developing better behaviors for customer service, John encouraged Rick to come with the fifth week’s meeting with a list of 3-4 professional goals for him to accomplish in the long-term (over the next 2-3 years)—conceptually distinct from the annual (one-year timeframe) goals Rick set in his performance management process. Rick did so and at the fifth meeting, he described them to John. John questioned Rick about his goals, which led to significant revisions. Once the goals had been defined in terms of being specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, John put them on paper to keep track of them formally. They would discuss progress toward the goal during each weekly meeting. Not only would the goals help Rick keep his mind on achieving long-term objectives in his career, but it would motivate him to perform better on a daily basis. John told Rick to follow up with his supervisor about the goals he had set to get further direction. By the eighth week, Rick and John had discussed Rick’s progress toward his goals thoroughly, and Rick had always been pleased with John’s willingness to listen. From experience with his own mentor years ago, John had learned listening without judgment or premature categorization was the strongest competency of a mentor (Bloom, 1995, p. 67). John’s knowledge was reaffirmed when Rick gave John feedback saying that John was a great listener and provided needed insights by facilitating Rick’s own internal thought processes and leading him to the right conclusions. Rick exited the mentor program successfully; he was now fully prepared to meet the goals he set with John in addition to having a framework for conceptualizing success. References Bloom, M. (1995). Multiple roles of the mentor supporting womens adult development. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 65, 63-72. doi:10.1002/ace.36719956510 Hale, R. (2000). To match or mis-match? The dynamics of mentoring as a route to personal and organisational learning. Career Development International, 5, 223-234. doi:10.1108/EUM0000000005360 Martinek, T., McLaughlin, D., & Schilling, T. (1999). Project Effort: Teaching responsibility beyond the gym. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 70, 59-65. doi:10.1080/07303084.1999.10605954 Moss, J., Mickan, S., Fuller, J., Procter, N., Waters, B., & ORourke, P. (2006). Mentoring for population health in general practice divisions. Australian Health Review, 30, 46-55. doi:10.1071/AH060046 Ragins, B., Cotton, J., & Miller, J. (2000). Marginal mentoring: The effects of type of mentor, quality of relationship, and program design on work and career attitudes. The Academy of Management Journal, 43, 1177-1194. doi:10.2307/1556344 Read More