IDENTIFY POTENTIAL COACHES

A coach guides rather than manages; throughout history there have been instances of guidance being given by 'elders'. What if instead of creating 'managers' we created guides? What if we gave respect to the wisdom of our experienced workers? The very best supervisors and managers are those who share their wisdom and give guidance to new employees. The very worst managers are those who play it by the rules with no flexibility or explanation.

What is interesting is that if you examine the development programmes in many organizations it is very likely that you will see references to coaching. However if you probed further and looked at job descriptions for senior managers or members of the board or looked at the performance measures, how often is coaching included? How much real coaching takes place on a day-to-day basis? How is knowledge transferred within an organization? How much real scope is there to create a coaching environment? How much real opportunity is there to reshape the landscape to become more focused on individual development?