Is coaching the next fad?

Is coaching the next fad?

In the 80’s, we lived in the cult of management. Then, in the 2000s, rose the cult of leadership. And now coaching is about anywhere – yet a new cycle to start?

I don’t think so. What if these 3 postures were neither trends nor in opposition? Simplistically, here is the expected result of each posture:

• Leadership is about giving vision and creating a movement within an organization. Envision, Energize, Engage, and Enable the organisation to go towards its next destination;
• Coaching is to guide a person (or a small group) to find the resources, the options, and the paths to move forward from within.
• Managing entails allocating resources as well as driving and controlling the implementation of a plan. It entails driving excellence in execution.

In fact, these are three essential skills to drive economic and human performance; they complement each other.

So then, how do you grow as a better leader, coach, and manager? Here are 6 lessons I've learned on my journey:

1. Be accessible. The future of leadership must be human and accessible. We have to accept to let go of the quest for "the perfect" management, to enter into a continuous questioning/bettering process, fed by regular feedback. The successive crises we are experiencing show that we must accept that we do not know or foresee everything. How can we make this acceptable for managers?

2. Find the right posture to fit the context. Here, the context is defined by the What (topic), the Who (person) and the When. Sometimes, it is simple: you have to decide now. More often, it is complex, and you will have several options. What should you do next when your collaborator is stuck: advise? coach? motivate? Do you opt for the option that makes him grow the most? Be the fastest? Or the most comfortable? This requires you to draw on a diverse set of skills, make an informed decision, and communicate openly with your collaborator.

3. Be and be perceived as consistent. How can we be perceived as consistent when Leadership/ Management/ Coaching is based on different - even contradictory- talents?

• The leader comes with his vision, his charisma, and his energy.
• The manager masters his know-how, his practical sense, and his attention to the execution.
• The coach, being the guide and facilitator, is always in a low position.

Dissonances could appear. Personally, I have found consistency in Socratic leadership. And for you?

4. Have a welcoming and "neutral" position. The coach's strength is to focus on the client rather than trying to understand the details of the situation, to be completely available without prejudice or solution. There is a natural tension here between the manager who masters the knowledge, might be a “fixer” and has explicitly or tacitly formulated an evaluation of his teams;

5. Mind being too attached to the outcome. The results of coaching come solely from the client's intentions; the coach is "detached" from the results even if he is morally committed to his client. The manager-coach must distinguish between coaching in the purest sense and the performance issues of his direct reports on both the managerial and economic or social dimensions.

6. Be balanced. When a leader opts to be a leader, manager, and coach, it is important to develop these talents in parallel to prevent him from falling into two pitfalls: either a strong preference for a single posture or being too poorly credible on one other.

A leader will need to constantly navigate, experiment, and adjust to find the right leader-manager-coach equilibrium.

Competitive advantage ahead!

Having experienced several Executive Teams going together on the journey, I have seen a step-change in the strength of the individuals, their teams, and their companies. Time and time again, 3 values have become towering strengths: Humility, Trust, and Caring.

One closing thought: the greatest strength of any organization and its leaders is their coachability...

Rapha?l Miolane