If the brief is a file on someone, decline. Coaching is not performance management in a softer chair. Some calls arrive dressed as coaching and are, in fact, a request for a file. “We need someone to work with X.” The next sentence is about retention, promotion, or a number the sponsor already wants.
I decline those. Hanover Executive does not offer guaranteed outcomes or advice presented as a personnel verdict. A coach who writes the verdict is no longer a coach. In Berlin we would rather lose the work than launder a management action through a confidential hour.
Hearing the brief
Ask who will be in the room and who will receive notes. If the sponsor wants content, the executive is not the client. If the executive has not asked for the work, it is not coaching. It may still be a legitimate management action. Call it that. Respect it enough to use the right trade.
I will not invent a package that pretends otherwise. Hanover Executive has no “intervention team.” One person, one leader, a written stretch — or nothing. If you need a 360, buy a 360 under that name. If you need a coach, the leader has to want the hour.
A useful tell is the first attachment. Last year’s review, a list of “themes,” a note from the chair that the executive has not seen — those are file ingredients. A useful tell in speech is “we need you to get them to.” That is an instruction. Instructions belong with managers.
| Brief | Treat it as | Hanover’s door |
|---|---|---|
| The leader asked, and can name the change | Coaching | Write the stretch |
| The sponsor wants a file on the leader | Management action | Decline |
| Guaranteed promotion or a number already chosen | A different trade | Decline |
| A 360 the sponsor already wrote | Assessment | Buy assessment under that name |
What I will not do
I will not write a file. I will not grade the leader. I will not smuggle a personnel verdict into a coaching brief. If that is what is wanted, say so early and I will decline.
A useful first note names the seat, the kind of conversation, and whether a sponsor exists. It does not attach last year’s review. Confidentiality starts before the first session.