Book Review — The Coaching Effect by Bill Eckstrom & Sarah Wirth

What Great Leaders Do To Increase Sales, Enhance Performance, And Sustain Growth

BLUF: Nothing elevates performance more than coaching.

Executive summary

No matter where you stand on the spectrum of performance improvement, there is a section in The Coaching Effect that will resonate with you. With numerous pages of insightful content backed by data, if you believe that all performance can be enhanced — and that even top-performing organizations and teams experience performance variability — you will find something that speaks to you. However, if you do not believe that performance improvement and growth come from discomfort, you will learn why the data suggests that such a mindset leads to stagnation and comparative failure.

By employing a data-driven framework for thought leadership, the authors lay the groundwork for clarifying the distinction between high-growth, high-performing organizations and those that do not achieve this status. This distinction arises from fostering a coaching culture, which promotes an effect known as “discretionary effort” — the additional productivity that a coach can inspire and drive their teams to achieve through coaching activities. By identifying four types of organizational states (stagnation, chaos, order, and complexity), the authors advocate for thriving in a combination of two of these environments, along with a model that encourages discretionary effort through complexity-driven high-growth activities.

Upskilling first-line leaders, also known as coaches, helps them thrive in high-growth environments. While these activities are familiar to most leaders, as the authors suggest, they are not often executed. When they are, they are frequently carried out ineffectively, leading to poor outcomes and, in some cases, stagnation. Properly applying their model shows how to perform high-growth activities that yield significant improvements across various desirable end-state categories. However, engaging in these activities can be uncomfortable and requires a deep commitment to learning, growing, and changing.

The content

To set the stage for the book, the author shares a story about a time when he worked for a leader who created discomfort to inhibit growth. That leader, a natural coach, was not afraid to push, demand, and challenge their teams to perform and exemplifies the book’s message that coaches are essential to performance and growth. Furthermore, great coaches positively influence team performance because they see it as their inherent responsibility to do so.

Understanding a coach’s impact, or lack thereof, begins with recognizing the difference between a great coach and a less effective one. Discretionary effort — which encompasses productivity levels, enhancements in team efficiency, improvements in quality, and additional sales driven by a manager — represents the core distinction that an effective coach brings to their team and organization. This illustrates the true value of coaching. In other words, while a team can function and perform without a coach, how much greater productivity might be achieved with one in place?

The authors surveyed thousands of employees and organizations to answer that question, and the data is alarming. They discovered that very few organizational leaders grasp how to implement the necessary activities for growth or how their managers allocate their time. Even more concerning, they found that managers often doubt their own effectiveness and engage in performance-limiting activities almost a third of the time.

The environments in which we work and lead are classified into four “growth rings.” Understanding these rings is essential to the book’s premise because every organization fits into one. They include Stagnation, Order, Complexity, and Chaos. Stagnation signifies a state of low performance and negative growth. Similarly, Chaos, characterized by low performance and low growth, emerges from both internal and external factors and can create an environment where fear influences leadership. Neither stagnation nor chaos are ideal settings for an organization to operate in, yet many do.

Order is characterized by predictability through known inputs and outcomes. It can lead to growth, as the same activities produce consistent results, though it may not foster extraordinary growth. While order provides comfort to leaders due to its predictability, it can result in catastrophe if not managed with care. The authors illustrate this potential disaster with the example of Blockbuster Video, the now-defunct home video rental chain. Its model was predictable until that very predictability contributed to its downfall. The final aspect, Complexity, arises when predictable inputs are changed, leading to unpredictable outcomes. Complexity presents the greatest opportunity for organizational growth because of the discomfort it generates and the uncertainties it entails. While growth-oriented coaches need to embrace and promote complexity, it is crucial to recognize that introducing complexity at an inappropriate time, in an unsuitable manner, and with the wrong people can adversely impact discretionary effort and performance.

Developing coaches requires intentionality, and coaching effectiveness is measurable, which is significant considering the limited adoption of coaching-based leadership in the workplace. To promote optimal performance outcomes, their research identifies four key high-growth activities strongly associated with positive discretionary effort: one-on-one meetings, team meetings, performance feedback, and career plan development. They discovered that the top 20% of coaches frequently engage in these activities and do them well.

The analysis is staggering: Coaches who regularly participate in high-quality growth activities overwhelmingly outperform those who do not. Furthermore, the data indicates that the quality of coaching is crucial; ineffective coaches adversely affect their teams when they increase the frequency of their coaching efforts. However, since the effects of coaching are measurable, there’s no justification for this to continue. With minor adjustments to the implementation of the four high-growth activities mentioned, leaders can positively influence their team’s performance and overall success as quality is controlled. Yet, as the authors note, very few organizations monitor and track these activities.

To assist organizations in implementing effective coaching methodologies that foster growth, the authors present a four-step coaching process supported by data demonstrating remarkable effectiveness when applied. This process includes measurement, education and training, implementation, and tracking and analysis. While the process is straightforward and not as difficult to adopt as one might think, the reality is that very few organizations ultimately commit to enhancing their coaching efforts. Why is that? Because order is simply more comfortable and predictable than a complex environment. Furthermore, the authors note that three factors contribute to the lack of permanent implementation: insufficient executive buy-in and support, inadequate adoption by front-line managers (coaches), and misconceptions regarding the time necessary to implement minor changes.

However, the data is solid, and as the number of surveyed organizations increases, the benefits of implementing a coaching-based system within an organization become harder to dispute. With the right mindset, buy-in, and support — particularly from the top down and fueled by a genuine desire to grow — the principles and steps outlined in the book are effective and fundamentally common sense.

Ten insightful quotes from the book

1. “There is a correlation between high-performing teams and managers who create healthy discomfort for those on their team.”

2. “Knowing that exponential and sustained growth only occurs when you are in complexity forces you to decide to select growth or no growth.”

3. “Every business has the opportunity to transform and elevate the performance of every employee on every team.”

4. “Coaches develop relationships, order, and complexity to maximize individual and team performance.”

5. “If you want to ensure that your team members are taking action on long-term goals, you absolutely must ask about them regularly.”

6. “If a coach wants their team members to improve their performance, the coach must first improve their feedback.”

7. “If we could offer only one piece of advice to coaches who want to improve their feedback, it would be to ask more questions.”

8. “The best coaches are often the ones pushing their team members to keep growing.”

9. “When coaches embrace discomfort and make changes, growth is the outcome.”

10. “Leaders at every level need to look in the mirror and ask themselves whether they are an obstacle to growth or a catalyst for it.”

The wrap-up: why you should read The Coaching Effect

If you’re like me, you enjoy sharing great discoveries when they come your way. These could include a fantastic restaurant, a new product or service, a striking image, a thought-provoking quote, an insightful article, or an engaging book. The Coaching Effect is one of those remarkable finds, and here’s why: it effectively illustrates what is already happening in every organization. It reflects your current organization, your past experiences, and potentially your future ones, too. As you read the book, you’ll visualize what has been and what could be. This is a forward-thinking book that will resonate with you if you have a growth mindset.

So, who is this book for? If you’re an executive in any organization, regardless of the type of business or industry, and you’re curious about why your organization isn’t growing at the pace you believe it should, this book is for you. That curiosity could be the catalyst for saving not just your company but also your job. Additionally, if you’re leading a team of sales representatives or project managers, grab this book now. Why? Because you understand better than anyone that organizations often promote the best-performing sales reps and project managers to lead their peers; however, data shows that they don’t always know how to lead and, even worse, can fail dramatically. As leaders rely on these individuals to drive top-line revenue, this is not an area they can afford to miss on. In this book, you will discover a blueprint to tackle that dynamic and a process to achieve lasting positive change.

If you’re leading a team for the first time and feel uncertain about your approach, that’s completely normal and more common than you might think. If this sounds like your current situation, this book is designed for you, providing actionable tools to help you improve right away. Moreover, if you’re a team member in an individual contributor role and plan to move into management in the future, this book is definitely for you. At the very least, it will help you understand what success in team leadership looks like as you work toward that goal.

With that, thanks for reading!

About the book’s authors

Bill Eckstrom is an executive, entrepreneur, mentor, student, husband, and father. His primary passion is growth, particularly in understanding how coaches and leaders influence the development and performance of individuals and teams. He started his management career in 2000 and rose to become the US sales director within three years. In 2004, he was named senior vice president of business development for a publicly traded healthcare organization. In 2008, he founded the EcSell Institute, a research-based organization that collaborates with leaders globally to help them better understand, measure, and enhance coaching’s impact on performance. Bill’s work as a keynote speaker is internationally acclaimed. He has spoken to hundreds of groups and is a sought-after guest on podcasts and shows worldwide. His viral TEDx Talk, “Why Comfort Will Ruin Your Life,” became the fastest-growing talk in the event’s history when it was released in 2017. He resides in Nebraska with his wife, Kerstin, and their three children: Will Jr., Claire, and Maddie.

Follow Bill Eckstrom on LinkedIn.

Sarah Wirth has twenty years of experience in employee assessment, leadership development, sales executive coaching, and customer service. In 2011, she joined the EcSell Institute as vice president of client service, where she increased its retention rate to over 94 percent. Sarah is passionate about leadership and its impact on team performance, having presented to executives worldwide. Her expertise, along with her fact-based, commonsense approach, makes her a sought-after presenter. She holds a BA from the University of Nebraska and a JD from the University of Michigan Law School and is a member of the Nebraska Bar Association. Sarah has been a legal advisor for numerous organizations, specifically in contract, employment, and intellectual property law. She resides in Kansas City with her husband, Mike, and their two sons, Miles and Emmett.

Follow Sarah Wirth on LinkedIn.

Book details:

Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press (April 2, 2019)
ISBN-10: 1626346097
ISBN-13: 978–1626346093

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Reading is one of my passions, and I hope you find this book review insightful! As a leader and educator, I love learning and sharing. With each book I read and summarize, I consider how its content can be applied to teams and organizations, searching for resonant elements such as impactful quotes while discerning who the ideal readers are. I seek opportunities to implement what I’ve learned from each book and share that knowledge to improve myself, my teams, colleagues, peers, and those pursuing personal and professional growth alongside me. I write these reviews partly because I love to read and write, but also to share leadership lessons.

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