Coaching is a term well understood in the world of sport. It is also a concept which has enormous potential for 21st century companies and 21st century people. Here is what got me thinking about this: it seems we need to think differently about personal development, education, continuous learning and coping with the ever increasing complexity of the world around us.
When we think about education, it is a lot about 'just-in-case' knowledge as opposed to 'just-in-time' knowledge.
When we think about education, it is a lot about "just-in-case" knowledge as opposed to "just-in-time" knowledge. We are learning either too much of what is irrelevant and then have no idea of how to apply it; or too much but not at a time or place where we can apply it. Coaching is about a just-in-time response to issues and situations happening now.
Coaching in the world of sport is a formal and well applied concept, but in business we have rarely considered applying this approach. Coaching in business is as much about a mindset as a formal approach. It is about finding a sounding board for a specific topic. Someone that can offer a fresh perspective on career, life, business or technology, to name but a few.
Let`s compare coaching to the idea of having a personal trainer, someone who understands the person and his or her lifestyle and physical condition. The personal trainer then devises a programme which will suit the individual and will adapt this programme over time as conditions change. In addition to this, the personal trainer also helps you get to the gym!
It is these same elements that we need to apply as we think about coaching as an option for either personal development and growth, or in the context of the many challenges facing the organisation at all levels. By way of example -- I am realising the value that I have had over time of having a brilliant sounding board when it comes to business strategic thinking. I have certainly not thought of this relationship as a formal coaching situation, but that is exactly what it is. Let me examine for a moment why it has worked so well.
The value of coaching lies in the expertise of the coach. Someone who is theoretically sound on the topic but also someone who has the experience to back it up. It also lies in the personal rapport that you are able to build with your coach. There has to be a spark on a personal level. Coaching is not teaching. It is more about a facilitated process of self-discovery on the topic and bouncing ideas. It is also about being able to leverage the knowledge of the coach to fast track through topics where you simply would not have the time to acquire the knowledge yourself. It correlates well to the example of the personal trainer in the sense that he or she can help you apply the knowledge to the specific situation you are dealing with.
The idea of coaching is even more relevant in the fast moving world of 21st century companies and in particular in the South African context where the skills shortage is everybody`s problem. Coaching is definitely a way in which we can drive a sensible development initiative, which is specific to the organisation. Coaching is also extremely relevant to each individual who is grappling with career development.
Given the one to one nature of coaching, it is clearly time- and labour-intensive. One has to think about ways in which a single, brilliant individual coach can be applied more effectively.
Enter the Internet! It allows a form of communication which is interactive, but nonetheless can be used at the time most convenient to both the coach and individual. It means that one can discuss the topic, then go away and think about it. It is often in this process of revisiting the discussion that the insights are made, partricularly in committing the thoughts and discussions to the written word.
Clearly one has to see this as part of the overall set of communication tools. There has to be some personal contact, whether face to face or by telephone. In thinking about coaching in this way, one can leverage the power of creating these virtual relationships to support whatever area of coaching you require or are participating in.
Coaching focuses on the individual in the context of either career or organisation. We can predict with absolute certainty that complexity will increase, that the rate of change will continue to accelerate, that people will need to take increasingly more control over their own career development and that it would be useful to tap into the expertise of a trusted party from time to time.
There are some interesting Web sites from a career point of view which you can get to by looking for key words like "careers", "counselling", "career change" and so on.
Also, perhaps a word of caution. Coaching is a fairly new field when it comes to careers and business in general. There is little or no formality about who might call himself or herself a coach and therefore the onus is on the individual (as usual) to find what is needed and to make sure it is credible and real.
Personally, I don`t want to get hung up too much on the formalities of it, but rather on the idea and potential of applying the ideas of coaching in building a 21st century company. How we apply it to deal with the development of people in the various roles within the organisation and how we apply it to keeping ourselves "in training" and "fit" for our new world.
Share
