Case Studies in Executive Coaching: Doing the CEO's dirty work

 

You are working with a large health system to coach executives and managers about performance improvement. Your compensation for this work is outstanding. The project is fascinating and you can make a huge difference in a struggling hospital network.

 

The only problem is that the CEO — your client — is a bit of a “control freak” who wants to be sure that you get the “right” results for his direct reports. He often tells you what he wants his managers to conclude, and expects you to use your coaching skills to help them reach those conclusions — on their own.

 

For instance, he may have a specific idea about how to merge two departments and is not particularly open to other alternatives. He expects you to “coach” the two department heads to reach his conclusions, without appearing to be leading them to a specific outcome that he wants. He then wants these department heads to recommend these ideas to him, as if they were their own ideas.

 

You feel uncomfortable being put in this position, but the engagement is extremely lucrative and important work.

 

Questions:

1. How do you handle this issue?

3. What if the CEO will not change his expectations of what you can/will do for him?

4. In general, when do you stop working with a client?