In this piece I want to widen the horizons a little and look at ways of ensuring that coaching becomes an integral part of people management and development in all organisations. Firstly let's examine the obvious rationale for taking up the coaching approach.



"We are constantly having to cope with change."

At one time we could expect to leave school, college or university with an education that would last our working life. We could enter the workplace and refine and develop this knowledge and, as we moved up the ladder and into supervisory or managerial positions, we could impart our knowledge and expertise and share our wisdom with those who would eventually replace us. Knowledge was power and commanded respect. Managers would be proudly say 'I wouldn't ask anybody to do anything I'm not able to do myself'

This position is no longer sustainable. Some have suggested that the body of knowledge we have when we leave the education sector is completely useless and out of date inside three years. Managers cannot hope to keep pace with the ins and outs of all the jobs performed by their teams because it would be like trying to push water up a hill - impossible.

Coaching, with its emphasis on drawing out rather than putting in, emerges as the only way of leading and developing people in our increasingly dynamic and fluid workplaces.

"We work in flatter structures."

During the 1980s and 1990s increasing competition and developments in technology, amongst other things, meant that many organisations underwent some kind of 'downsizing'. More often than not this meant losing large numbers of so called middle managers and resulted in the managers left behind having to find ways of achieving more results with fewer resources.

Where before organisations would have carried some slack there was now a need to be focused and precise in all areas of operations. Hierarchal reporting lines were abandoned in favour of matrix management which meant that people could expect to report to two or three 'bosses' depending on the projects they were working on. Technology took care of more of the routine tasks meaning people were free to work on business development in project teams with a high need for creative thinking.

This is still very much the case today, and will be even more so in the future. Against this background, managers cannot hope to lead and develop their teams by being the font of all knowledge and simply passing down the orders. Instead we need ways to help people access their creativity and flair. We need ways to make people feel empowered and resourceful and motivated to achieve. Coaching offers a practical way of achieving these aims.

"People are the only true competitive advantage."

If we get a new IT system or piece of plant our competitors can get the same by the following week.

We might secure a large amount of capital investment or funding but there would be nothing to stop our competitors doing the same.

Any organisation, no matter how sophisticated, is in the end, simply a collection of people. It follows that if we want to improve business performance, then we must always look to improve the performance of individuals and teams, as this is where the potential for improvement lies.

The frustration comes from hearing senior managers cry "We've got to get the best out of people", then watching as they do the exact opposite and spend a fortune on various ways of stuffing the best in to people. Coaching provides the antidote to this approach.

"People expect to de developed."

The essential 'deal' of working for an organisation has irreversibly changed. Where once we could expect security and a job for life in return for our valiant efforts at work, now we cannot expect to remain in a job for life whatever our level of performance.

The new 'deal' is that in return for our work and endeavours we expect to grow and be developed so that we might move on to bigger and better things and perhaps move to a different organisation. People now talk of CV Building and Employability as being crucial areas to consider.

Coaching can deliver on these expectations and it can do so quickly. It can help organisations provide the development that people expect without the huge investment required for complex training programmes.