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Coaching people at work - do you need to be an expert in their work?

The question is can you still be an effective coach if you are not at ‘expert’ in the coachee’s field of work?

There are at least 5 black and white answers to this question and in typical coaching style I would like to examine these options further.

1. Oh yes you do
2. Oh no you don’t
3. It is better if you are
4. It is better if you aren’t
5. It doesn’t matter either way

1. Oh yes you do

The expert performer response from a person such as Geoff Boycott or Ian Botham in cricket or a Terry Venables or Paul Gascoigne in football or Linford Christie in Athletics.

Clearly they have done it personally – performed excellently at the highest level

- they know what it feels like
- they had a high level of talent, drive, ambition and will to win

BUT – they don’t necessarily know what it feels like to strive and struggle – as many of us do without their level of natural talent. They may or may not possess the necessary communication, relationship skills and patience. In many cases their own strong ego may get in the way of them focussing on the performance of being able to establish the appropriate level of rapport and empathy. It can also be about offering technical insight.

2. Oh no you don’t

The response from coaches to people in organisations where they or we are not the experts. Arsene Wenger at Arsenal was not a top level professional footballer – but he certainly is a top level football manager and coach.

Graham Pitts, Linda Hicks and Mark Evenden are not high profile coaches that many if any of you will have heard of – they are not famous, well known personalities – but they are excellent coaches of Directors, Executives, Leaders and Managers in organisations. Usually they will not have performed at the same level nor had the equivalent amount of responsibility that their coachees hold in their organisations. More over it is unlikely that they will have even worked in that particular organisation or even industry sector
So what is it about them and what they do that enables them to be such good coaches?

They have these types of personal characteristics:
1. They listen and observe
2. They work to understand the coachee as a person, the organisation and their environment, roles and relationships.
3. They ask effective questions.
4. They try hard to listen and understand the answers
5. They are open minded and work hard not to be judgemental
6. They are patient
7. They work to establish empathy and rapport
8. They support their coachee – mostly
9. They challenge their coachee where necessary
10. They are committed to the learning, performance and success of the coachee
11. They leave their own egos to one side
12. They focus on a broad range of issues, problems, relationships, opportunities and successes that the coachee wishes to work on.
13. They don’t know the limits of a person’s potential.

3. It is better if you are

Well only if your expertise, ego and experience doesn’t get in the way of your coachee’s needs.

4. It is better if you aren’t

Well I do believe this and it follows on from my responses to statement 2 above.

5. It doesn’t matter either way

In my experience ‘Oh yes it does’. I believe that in many cases, particularly in business organisations it is more effective for the coach NOT to be the expert in their coachee’s subject field.

In high level performance activities e.g. sport or performing arts then perhaps it is better to be the expert – provided that you can leave your own ego behind and focus on the needs of your coachee.
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