The role of Coaches

He ran fast; excelling particularly in the short form events such as 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. His low Centre of Gravity, given that he was 5 ft 3 inches, helped keeping the posture steady as he darted down the tracks. On the football field, he trained really hard, but never made it beyond backup goalkeeper. His aspiration of representing the school team in football was limited to being the 12th man. And then he went to college, where his football coach asked him to play right wing. For four years, he always started and became an irreplaceable member of the team. What changed – the position he played; his skills were matched to the role and then he was unstoppable.

Workplaces these days are constantly changing, as are the nature of roles we play. With the code of work undergoing change rapidly, understanding whether you should play goalkeeper or right winger makes the difference in between a 12th man or a star performer. The role of an organization coach to identify talent and match them to right fit jobs hasn’t ever been more critical. I believe, it is the HR Manager in an organization who needs to play this role of a coach! And then train every manager to become an effective coach.

Coaching extends to beyond skill and role fit. A key role is to provide safe space for the performers to repent, reflect, ruminate and recharge. Too many high performers move rapidly ahead in their careers, turbocharging their journeys, with constantly pumping adrenaline serving as the fuel. While it is all hunky dory when the going is good, troughs on the journey are inevitable. And a safe space to go back to in these times is what the Coach provides. Good coaches also provide the spaces for success not to get to the performer’s head. Just as every sportsman has had a strong coach to back him, organization leaders need a coach to be around. Increasingly, the role of HR Leaders is to be the coach for the Function/Vertical Head who has been a star performer lifelong. In an ideal world, every person should have a coach. In the organization context, people who have successfully transcended from middle management to senior management have in some form or the other a Coach in the firm.

The Coach additionally helps leaders discover themselves, is comfortable playing second fiddle, doesn’t have a need for the limelight himself, and carries back to the leader both good news and bad. Several leaders get surrounded by sycophants, who only keep singing praise so as not to offend the leader. This marks the beginning of the end. A coach, in the truest sense, has the real interest of the leader in his mind, and hence musters courage to play back the not so great news as well.

Should every leader therefore take on a coach? And should the coach be within the firm or outside? Do leaders feel the need for a coach in the first place? How would this dynamic play out in firms of the past when Coaching as a concept wasn’t in vogue?

Keen to hear your views