PDF Summary:Coaching for Performance, by Sir John Whitmore

In Coaching for Performance, Sir John Whitmore provides strategies to maximize employees’ potential and performance. In a work world changed by globalization and the ability to exchange information instantly, leaders must shift from a command-and-control mindset to one that recognizes workers’ value. Coaches can help them reveal employees’ talents and step into this new reality.

Whitmore is a pioneer of workplace coaching and co-creator of the popular GROW model, a coaching framework for goal-setting and performance improvement. Published in 2017, the 5th edition of Whitmore’s groundbreaking 1992 book offers updated information on the benefits of coaching and methods of measuring organizational culture and performance.

In this guide, we’ll examine the ins and outs of performance coaching, how to create an effective performance coaching structure and maximize coachees’ performance, and ways to measure organizational culture and the impact of your work.

Along the way, we’ll compare, contrast, and contextualize Whitmore’s work with views of other coaches, psychologists, and mindfulness experts.

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Step 1: Build Trust and Connect

Whitmore says you have to build trust and connect with your coachee so they’ll open up and engage fully in the coaching process, which will help you maximize their potential. To do this, listen actively to show that you care and be aware of your own thoughts and feelings so they don’t interfere with your work.

(Shortform note: In Captivate, Vanessa Van Edwards suggests two different ways to establish trust upon first meeting. First, hold eye contact in 60 to 70 percent of your interactions to show interest. Then, keep your hands visible and gesture with them to demonstrate that you’re not hiding anything.)

Listen Actively

When you listen carefully to your coachee, you show that you care about them, making it more likely that they’ll share information that will help you maximize their potential. Whitmore outlines several strategies to be an effective listener, including these three:

1. Pay attention to your coachee’s tone of voice and choice of words. This gives you an idea of what they feel strongly about and areas to explore more deeply. For example, if they say, “I hate when my coworker talks over me at meetings!” in an irritated tone, probe deeper to see if they feel their ideas are regularly overlooked and want others to acknowledge them.

(Shortform note: Words and tone can take on a different life in email and text—communication forms where tone is difficult to interpret. In one study on this subject, participants only successfully deciphered sarcasm or seriousness in emails 56% of the time—but when they heard the same content on voicemail, they successfully interpreted them 73% of the time.)

2. Observe your coachee’s emotions and body language. When you pay attention to your coachee’s physical cues, you gain deeper insight into how they truly feel. For example, if you ask your coachee how they’re doing and they say “Great,” but are slumped in their chair, arms crossed over their chest, they’re probably not great.

(Shortform note: In Captivate, Van Edwards suggests another type of body language to keep an eye out for to assess people’s honesty: facial microexpressions. These momentary, almost imperceptible facial gestures communicate anger, contempt, happiness, fear, surprise, disgust, and sadness. Look for them to see if people’s words match their true emotions.)

3. Reflect back on what your coachee says. When you reflect back your coachee’s words and thoughts, you show that you’re paying attention to and are working to understand them. There are multiple ways to reflect back what your coachee says, including these three:

• Mirroring. You repeat back your coachee’s exact words
• Summarizing. You offer a synopsis of what your coachee said, keeping the original meaning intact
• Paraphrasing. You translate what your coachee said into your own words, preserving their meaning

(Shortform note: In Coach the Person, Not the Problem, Marcia Reynolds says these strategies are part of the “reflective inquiry process,” which helps illuminate your coachee’s deeply held beliefs. When you repeat back what your coachee has said—either in their exact words or another framing—you interrupt their automatic thought process and give them a chance to reflect more deeply. This deeper level of self-inquiry expands your coachee’s sense of self and options and empowers them to make lasting change.)

Be Aware of Your Thoughts and Feelings

Whitmore says you should monitor your thoughts and emotions before and during sessions to connect with your coachee in an unbiased manner. Failure to let go of negative ideas and judgments about your coachee can damage your perception of them as a partner.

(Shortform note: Reynolds says one way to let go of negative thoughts and emotions is to consciously stay “in the moment.” Before each session, choose one or two emotions that will allow you to be present and support your coachee. For example, if your coachee is anxious and negative, choose to be calm and positive, then root yourself in these emotions in your session.)

Step 2: Empower Your Coachee

Whitmore says that to maximize your coachee’s potential, you must nurture three qualities: Self-confidence, awareness of self and others, and ownership of their work.

(Shortform note: In Turn the Ship Around, L. David Marquet argues that for workers to perform at their peak, leaders need to not just empower but free them to apply their talents, energy, and creativity—which ultimately endows them with a sense of internal power.)

Build Self-Confidence

Whitmore says that when you foster your coachee’s belief in themself, they function at their peak. Coaching naturally cultivates a positive cycle of self-belief in the following way: Coachees set and achieve small goals in pursuit of a larger end goal, creating a series of successes that they attribute to their efforts. This builds their confidence in what they’re doing and encourages them to continue forward on a positive path.

Further, these successes make coachees feel they have coaches’ trust and respect. This strengthens their sense that they’re able to make good decisions on their own and encourages them to continue to take ownership of their actions and work.

(Shortform note: In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg says that lack of confidence harms women pursuing leadership paths. Many experience “imposter syndrome,” which makes them feel undeserving and constantly on the verge of being exposed as frauds. Women are more likely than men to attribute their success to luck and to internalize negative feedback, lowering their self-confidence. To shake imposter syndrome, women should acknowledge that it’s a distortion of reality, “fake it till they make it,” and seize opportunities rather than wait for them.)

Build Attunement to Self and Others

Whitmore suggests you help your coachee become attuned to—or aware of—their own and others’ feelings and situations to maximize their potential. Self-attunement helps your coachee consider their emotions and biases so they can make conscious decisions about how to act—and avoid reacting—in the heat of the moment. This self-regulation supports their ability to act in ways that foster healthy working relationships.

For example, say your partner calls you at work and yells that you left dishes in the sink. When you get off the call, you’re aware that you’re furious and likely to snap at the next person you see. But you know that lashing out at colleagues would damage your working relationships, so you take a deep breath, acknowledge that you’re irritated, and take a walk to clear your head.

(Shortform note: Psychologists agree that practicing awareness can make you less reactive in the moment and better able to manage situations. Further, when you regularly engage your awareness when you’re fearful or anxious, you can reprogram your brain for the better. So, if your mind is racing, focus on a single sense—like how something tastes or smells—to dampen the release of stress hormones. Also, be aware of deeply embedded, cognitive distortions that mess with your mind and well-being. For example, look for thoughts about what you “should” do (the root of perfectionism) and replace them with rational thoughts.)

Additionally, attunement to others’ emotions and circumstances enables your coachee to gather information about conditions that impact their colleagues and their work together, which further improves their performance.

For example, if you’re aware that a particular client annoys your boss, and that client comes to meet with your boss on a day you’d planned to pitch an idea to them, you’ll know to wait to pitch that idea until the next day when your boss may be in a better mood and more receptive to it.

(Shortform note: While there’s value in being aware of others’ emotions and situations, some coaches say there are times when you should ignore others—like when they’re struggling. For example, you may be inclined to rescue a colleague buried in work, but people often learn the most when they go through a struggle and come out the other side on their own. So, rather than rush in, be peripherally aware of their situation and jump in only if they truly need it.)

Whitmore recommends developing awareness of self and others through meditation.

(Shortform note: Whitmore doesn’t explain in detail how to meditate. To do a sitting meditation, follow these steps: 1) Sit in a chair with your feet flat on the floor, hands in your lap. 2) Notice your breath flowing in and out of your nose. 3) If thoughts or physical sensations arise, mentally note them, then draw your attention back to your breath.)

Build Accountability and Ownership

Whitmore says coaches should help coachees develop an accountability and ownership mindset to increase their commitment to their work and maximize their potential. When workers feel they have ownership of their goals and can decide the best way to accomplish them, they’re motivated to do their best, which improves their performance.

(Shortform note: Research shows that leaders can also drive performance and improve outcomes by endowing employees with a different kind of ownership: financial ownership in the company. Financial ownership is linked to greater job stability, retention during recessions, and company survival, which may lead to less unemployment and greater macroeconomic stability.)

To build your coachee’s sense of accountability and ownership, follow these three tips to ask engaging questions that allow you to gather information about what’s important to them:

Tip 1: Ask open-ended questions. Open-ended questions yield more candid, detailed answers than yes or no questions, which typically prompt one-word answers and shut conversations down. Examples of open-ended questions include “What’s your goal?” “What barriers are limiting you?” “What resources are available to you?” and “What steps will you take?”

(Shortform note: Open-ended questions are also good if you’re trying to get a tight-lipped child to open up. When you ask them open-ended questions like, “What was the most interesting thing you did at school today?” you communicate that they and their feelings are important. This, in turn, strengthens their self-esteem and self-image.)

Tip 2: Use non-judgmental words. Use non-critical language to cultivate trust, create a safe space for your coachee to open up, signal interest, and gather information. Words that foster positive engagement include, “What?” “When?” “Who?” and “How many?” For example, “What are your thoughts on this issue?” and “When do you think is a good time to take action on this?”

One caveat: Whitmore recommends that you avoid “why” questions (for example, “Why did you make that decision?”) because they can make your coachee defensive. Also be cautious with “How” questions (for example, “How did you make that decision?”) because they can put your coachee into an analytical mindset, taking them out of the observational mode key to building awareness.

(Shortform note: To strengthen your practice of using non-judgmental words to create trust and a safe space for your coachee, re-evaluate your relationship to judgment. When you regularly practice non-judgment—letting go of automatic judgments—you neutralize thoughts, feelings, and perceptions that can be toxic when left unchallenged. In doing so, you create a more peaceful state and space in your mind to appreciate life’s beauties and see people and situations for what they are—as opposed to your assessment of what they are.)

Tip 3: Follow broad questions with detailed questions to pursue your coachee’s interests. Once you have a big-picture understanding of what your coachee is saying, ask more in-depth questions to prompt them to think more deeply about what matters to them. The more they talk about things they care about, the more engaged they’ll be in the coaching process, and the more interested they’ll be in taking ownership of their work.

To ask more detailed questions, add a single emphasis word into sentences to deepen your coachee’s focus. For example, after they answer the question, “What do you want?” follow up with, “What more do you want?” Or, follow “What could you do?” with “What else could you do?”

(Shortform note: Experts say that companies can deepen employees’ connection to and ownership of their work by aligning workers’ roles and responsibilities with broader company goals. When companies explicitly communicate why employees’ work matters and how it supports the broader vision, workers gain confidence and proactively claim ownership.)

Step 3: Set and Achieve Goals With the GROW Model

Whitmore says you can help your coachee illuminate and achieve goals using the GROW model—a framework he and colleagues developed in the late 1980s to help employees set goals, maximize their potential, and improve performance. The model has four stages:

1. Goal Setting. Identify your coachee’s immediate and end goals.
2. Reality. Assess whether your coachee has chosen a realistic goal.
3. Options. Explore all possible actions the coachee could take to achieve their goal.
4. Will. Determine your coachee’s determination to follow through on their goal by outlining specific steps, timeframes, and accountability frameworks for accomplishing it.

(Shortform note: The CLEAR coaching model preceded Whitmore’s GROW model and rests on the idea that managers should develop and guide workers—not just give directives. GROW takes the idea a step further, saying that managers and leaders should maximize employees’ potential by giving them ownership of their work. Another difference between the models: CLEAR focuses on coachees’ motivation and behavior, while GROW centers more on goal setting, making action plans, and reviewing goals. CLEAR stands for Contract (define your coachee’s work), Listen to your coachee’s feelings, Explore your coachee’s beliefs and assumptions, Action (make a plan), and Review your coachee’s progress.)

Step 1: Develop A Goal

Coaches and coachees should set two types of goals at the start of their session: a big-picture goal and performance goals. The first type of goal grounds and guides session, so you always know what you’re aiming for and can stay on track. The second type allows you and your coachee to assess the progress they’re making to achieve their broader goal. Goals should be realistic, specific, tied to a clear timeframe, measurable, and agreed upon.

(Shortform note: In Grit, Angela Duckworth suggests a different way to think about and set goals: Frame goals as a multi-level hierarchy. Low-level goals are at the bottom and include daily actions like writing emails and going to meetings. These goals are a means to an end to achieve higher goals, like completing a work project. To determine each level of goals, continually ask yourself why you’re doing each task you’re doing and why you care about it. Each answer will send you to the next level until you have no answer. At that point—when you want something just because you want it—you’ve reached your highest level goal, the one you’ll dream about, fight for, and demonstrate grit to achieve.)

Step 2: Make the Goal Realistic

Coaches and coachees must ensure that goals are realistic so they can reasonably be achieved. To do this, be objective, emotionally disengaged, and use neutral language. This will prevent biases, judgments, and expectations from distorting your and your coachee’s perception of what’s realistic and their potential for success. For example, don’t say, “This is a bad goal.” Instead, try, “I think this goal may not be as achievable as it could be because it’s general. We can strengthen it by making it more specific.”

(Shortform note: Not everyone agrees with setting realistic goals. In Principles: Life and Work Ray Dalio recommends that you shoot for the stars when setting goals. He says the only reason you think you can’t achieve a goal is that what you know right now is limited. But when you start working to achieve your audacious goal, paths that you couldn’t conceive of will present themselves to you. So, don’t let fear of the unknown stop you from setting bold goals.)

Step 3: Explore Action Options

Once your coachee has a goal, work with them to brainstorm all possible actions they can take to achieve it. Whitmore says you should focus on quantity, not practicality, of ideas to foster creativity. Welcome all ideas, no matter how small or seemingly silly.

(Shortform note: Experts recommend several visual brainstorming techniques Whitmore doesn’t, including mind mapping, where you generate ideas without the constraints of structure or order using colorful visuals. Bubble maps are another option: Draw three rows of three circles. Write a problem you want to solve in the middle circle and fill surrounding bubbles with solutions. When all bubbles are full, move an idea from an outside bubble to the middle and begin again.)

Step 4: Determine Your Coachee’s Will to Execute Their Goal

In this final stage, assess your coachee’s determination to achieve their goal to maximize their chances of attaining it. To do this, have them develop a plan with the following information:

• Specific actions they’ll take to achieve their goal
• The timeframe in which they’ll accomplish each step. This should be specific and carry some urgency to keep momentum going.
• Obstacles they may encounter and supports they might need. This helps them prepare for and remediate potential roadblocks.
• How you’ll know if they change their mind about part of the plan.This helps ensure they remain accountable and that you’re both on the same page.
• How they plan to measure their progress. This keeps them on track.
• Their level of commitment to their plan on a scale of 1-10. Whitmore says that your coachee is unlikely to follow through on anything less than an eight. If they indicate a number lower than this, ask what barriers exist that keep that number from being a 10.

(Shortform note: Whitmore doesn’t go into detail about the possibility that your coachee won’t make progress. Experts say that several factors can block people’s innate motivation to perform at work, including home stressors and the feeling that their bosses don’t genuinely care about them. In the latter case, they may resent their boss and view performance pep talks as hollow. To avoid this, leaders should work with workers to understand challenges they face, assess their own role in those challenges, and take steps to resolve the problem.)

Once your coachee’s plan is set, schedule regular check-ins to discuss their progress and give feedback. Deliver feedback in a positive, non-confrontational way to encourage them to share openly, learn from the experience, and gain confidence in their actions.

For example, ask, “What’s going well?” “Are there things you’d do differently a second time around?” and, “What are you learning?” This will prompt your coachee to process their experience at a deeper level. It also offers a model to assess their own progress and performance, which gives them ownership and makes them more self-reliant.

(Shortform note: In addition to sharing positive feedback, experts suggest that you give feedback as promptly and specifically as possible because the brain’s best learning occurs when it’s in action. So, praise your coachee as soon as you identify an area of strength or progress, and be specific about what worked so they know what you’d like to see more of. The more you give feedback in this way, the more you’ll normalize the feedback process—turning performance reviews into friendly discussions rather than hot seats.)

Once your coachee has achieved their goal, have a final conversation to share feedback and wrap up. Ask your coachee how things turned out, what they learned, and how they’ll apply what they learned in the future. This allows them to reflect on the coaching process as a whole and recognize their self-efficacy, which will further build their confidence, attunement, and ownership and maximize their potential and performance.

(Shortform note: There are many ways to wrap up a final coaching session. One leadership coach recommends the following steps: First, ask your coachee to name their biggest insights and results from their work and what habits they’ll take away from it. Second, ask about their biggest dream in the year ahead and the first tiny step they’ll take to reach it. Third, have them pretend it’s three years in the future and they’ve achieved professional and personal success. Ask what their future self would tell you about what’s happened since you last worked together. Fourth, if you believe you can help your coachee achieve this dream, ask if they’d like to work with you on it. Finally, give them a gift card for a free session to encourage their return.)

Part 4: Measure Organizational Culture and Performance

You just learned how to build trust with, empower, and help your coachee set and achieve goals to maximize their performance. In this final section, we’ll discuss how to assess organizational culture and measure the impact of your coaching.

Measure Culture and Performance

Whitmore says that to drive performance, leaders must understand their organization's culture and its impact on performance and, as the performance coach, you must understand the impact of your work on company performance. Whitmore’s Performance Curve enables assessment of the former, and his Return on Investment (ROI) methodology measures the latter.

(Shortform note: Although “performance curve” and “return on investment” are common terms in many industries, here we’re referring to the specific assessment tools Whitmore developed.)

The Performance Curve

The Performance Curve outlines four stages of organizations’ cultural development and corresponding levels of performance that coaches and leaders should assess. Workers' motivating force at each stage in the Performance Curve corresponds to the needs that drive people at each level on Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Stage 1: Impulsive. This stage is characterized by structureless chaos, inconsistency, and short-term thinking. Workers are motivated by survival. Performance is low.

At this stage, coaches should focus on raising team members’ self-awareness and awareness of others in the company and encourage them to be responsible for their work.

Stage 2: Dependent. This stage is characterized by a command-and-control mode of operation, low trust in authority, compliance, and risk aversion. Workers are motivated by the need to belong. Performance is low to medium.

At this stage, coaches should focus on empowering and encouraging team members to take greater ownership of their work.

Stage 3: Independent. This stage is characterized by structures that support individual workers’ and leaders’ goals and workers’ sense of autonomy, ownership, and drive to succeed. Workers are motivated by esteem. Performance is medium to high.

At this stage, coaches should focus on broadening team members’ perspectives beyond themselves and supporting their collaboration with colleagues.

Stage 4: Interdependent. This stage is characterized by teams running themselves, leaders supporting and inspiring them; strong collaboration, communication, and idea sharing; and a learning-centered culture. Workers are motivated by self-actualization. Performance is high.

At this stage, coaches should shift focus from supporting individual team members to overall team performance.

(Shortform note: Whitmore doesn’t detail how to do this kind of coaching, but experts say one way to support thriving teams is to have them regularly solicit peer feedback to enhance their performance. For example, they can informally ask colleagues, “What can we do even better in the future?” This question keeps input positive, productive, and forward thinking.)

The Six Stages of the Life and Death of An Organizational Culture

Whitmore’s four-stage Performance Curve focuses exclusively on the improvement and growth of a company’s culture. In contrast, the Six Stages of Organizational Culture model envisions the full life and death cycle of company cultures, which unfolds as follows:

Stage 1: Chaos. This stage is characterized by unpredictable change and instability—the latter driven, in part, by impulsive behaviors of individual workers with little in common and no clear understanding of the organization’s purpose.

This stage is similar to the “Impulsive” stage of Whitmore’s Performance Curve, where individuality and inconsistency are high and performance is low.

Stage 2: Maturing. In this stage, workers settle into their roles. Individuals become a collective that shares characteristics, emotions, and behaviors.

This stage is similar to Whitmore’s “Independent” stage, where individual workers understand their role and care about their work. Attunement to the needs and good of the collective have yet to be developed, but performance is relatively high.

Stage 3: Thriving. In this stage, the group establishes a culture through a shared belief in the organization and its purpose. New traditions, beliefs, and behaviors flourish.

This stage is comparable to Whitmore’s “Interdependent” stage. Individual workers understand their relationship to and impact on the collective. The culture is healthy and self-sustaining. Performance is high.

Stage 4: Fracturing. In this stage, the culture peaks, innovation and success wane, and growth stops. The formerly cohesive group begins to doubt the organization and splinters.

Stage 5: Deterioration. In this stage, once-shared ideologies and social structures break down. The culture reverts to factioned interests of individual workers.

Stage 6: Obsolescence. In this stage, belief in the organization is dead. The culture reverts to chaos.

Measure the Return on Investment of Your Performance Coaching

Whitmore’s ROI measures the effectiveness of your performance coaching work at maximizing coachees’ potential and performance and changing organizational culture. This allows you to see the effectiveness and benefits of your performance coaching. Follow three steps:

Step 1: When you begin work with your coachee, record—and have them record—the following information:

• Their short and long-term goals
• Actions they’ll take to achieve their goals
• Reflections on their progress toward their goals

Step 2: Estimate the ROI. At the end of your coaching relationship, take the information you gathered from Step 1 and connect them to quantitative results of your coachee’s efforts and the organization’s financial bottom line. List:

• The coachee’s completed actions or tasks
• The monetary impact of each action or task
• Your confidence (from 1% to 100%) in your monetary impact estimate
• Multiply the monetary impact by your confidence level
• Divide that figure by the cost of your coaching
• Multiply your result by 100

Alternate ROI Measurements

Some experts say too much emphasis has been placed on assessing the financial ROIs of coaching work. They recommend instead examining the impact of your investment in coachees. Estimate this in the following ways:

1. Feedback ROI: Measure your coachee’s response to, and application of, input from others about their performance to assess whether they’ve become more receptive to feedback.

2. Motivation ROI: Measure your coachee’s drive in both their current job and pursuit of career dreams. This measure looks broadly at motivation and can reveal what traditional metrics do not: Why one coachee is highly motivated and another is not.

3. Happiness ROI: Measure your coachee’s happiness in and outside of work to assess their emotional state. This information can help companies identify interventions that increase happiness and, thus, productivity.