Executive coaches know the importance of asking questions both to assess the situation in which they are called to help and to stimulate the client’s thinking. At least equal weight needs to be given to how to evaluate and act upon answers. Long before a coaching engagement occurs, the future client or that person’s management has already asked, “what is going on?” The answer that they formulate is what is usually presented to the executive coach as the problem to be solved. Therein may lie a trap.

A rule of thumb in the different yet parallel field of psychological counseling is that the “presenting problem” is usually not the “real problem.” There is also a tendency among some counselors to “pigeon hole” the client, in accordance with their own preconceptions, ideologies, and the opinion of whomever is paying for their service. The same principles can apply to trusted advisors in executive coaching, mentoring, and consulting.

Below is the real-life example to illustrate the point, with identifying details altered to protect confidentiality.

I was retained by an international financial services firm to provide executive coaching for a regional vice president. Though very high performing, he was seen as becoming a legal liability due to complaints from a succession of his administrative assistants of his being overly harsh and hyper-critical. The man’s severe demeanor with me when we were introduced and his pronounced lack of enthusiasm for having a stranger assigned to coach him helped to confirm in my mind the presuppositions of executives at corporate headquarters. Having conducted in the past a great many leadership seminars which emphasized the need on the part of most managers to learn a more participative and less directive approach, I felt the picture was pretty clear as to what I was dealing with.

As an initial assessment, I conducted confidential, one-on-one interviews with each member of the subject’s professional, managerial, and support staff, lasting about an hour. My expectations were that they would confirm the profile of an overbearing, autocratic manager who needed development in more humane and effective forms of management.

To my surprise, each staff member expressed great liking and loyalty for the man. Their industry demanded great attention to detail and the highest standards for accuracy and client service, to all of which he was firmly committed. His staff all respected him for this, and none felt that he was too demanding. The consensus was that he tended to hire executive assistants who resisted his high standards. These poorly selected employees had resorted to gossiping, complaining, and undermining him when their work was found to be lacking. While he did have some rough edges to smooth, the main intervention he needed was help with developing job specs and realistic job descriptions, interviewing and selecting carefully and enforcing accountability in a non-emotional form. He also needed to question his own limiting belief that everyone he hired would automatically agree with and support his high work standards.

The client’s main underlying issue was not harshness but a soft spot for applicants whom he wanted to “help out” and whom he hesitated for too long to terminate when it was clear that they were unsuited for the position. The applicants whom he had felt sorry for and wanted to “help out” did not return the favor; rather they had been doing their best to “help him out” of a job! One could sum up the feedback as saying that he was a great leader but a mediocre manager.

Fortunately, the client received the feedback with an open mind, and relief. He took seriously the recommendations and implemented them. The result was that he grew in responsibility and income within his firm. No amount of coaching in emotional intelligence or more collaborative behaviors would have addressed the underlying issues, of needing to recruit, select, and set expectations, along with enforcing accountability, more effectively. This coaching engagement not only significantly impacted the client’s career and life, but it also helped me to deepen my appreciation for clients’ challenges and the importance of not taking presenting situations at face value.