Coaching Myth Busting:

Coaching has become a real buzz-word in many organisations and many managers will claim that they coach. However few have received quality training in the ‘art’. This leads to a number of myths being perpetuated around what coaching is, how it is used and the impact it can have. Many of these myths or misconceptions are born out of poor quality coaching experiences where both the coach and the coachee leave the sessions disappointed. An example of a myth is:

“Coaching is a ‘soft’ leadership approach”

I would argue that coaching is often a more challenging approach, where the leader encourages or even ‘forces’ the team member to own the solution.

Let me give an example:

A team member approaches their line manager saying “I cannot get Joe Bloggs to attend my meeting!” The line manager may give advice such as “Tell them that they need to be there if they want any influence on the outcome” or they may say “I will go and talk to Joe Bloggs’ manager” in a well-meaning attempt to be helpful.

In both cases the line manager has re-inforced the team member’s helplessness and the dependency on themselves. Both may in the short term make the line manager feel better, but long term they will just get dragged further into advising/helping the team member do their job.

If on the other hand the line manager took a ‘harder’, more challenging coaching approach they might ask “What have you tried so far?, “What else can you do to get him involved?” and “What will you do next?”. This shows their belief that the team member has the resources to solve the issue and it will increase the team member’s motivation, self-direction and confidence.

Coaching is certainly not a ‘soft’ leadership approach, but often the brave approach, where
the leader is confident enough to recognise that they don’t need to have – or to show that they have  – all the answers.

What is your experience? Comments invited.

Author: Jan Bowen-Nielsen
From May 2011 Newsletter