• Home |
• About Us |
• Our Clients |
• Our Team |
• Contact Us |
• Testimonials

What is different about coaching people as their line manager as compared to being an external coach?

As an external coach working with various coachees in organisations, I work in a non-directive manner. Whilst some of the coachee's agenda and goals should have come from a brief from the client sponsor or line manager there is also always room for them to work on issues and objectives from their own personal agenda or even personal lives. The aim of my coaching is to help a person to maximise their performance and to achieve their potential and the route to their achieving this and the agenda that we therefore need to work on together is largely guided by them. I am there to help them make the best decisions, take the best actions and achieve the best outcomes for themselves, which should also include the objectives of the organisation -but sometimes may just not.
As the line manager however you cannot just allow the employee to drive the agenda, work on the issues of their choice and take whatever actions and decisions that they choose - because you also have your own business objectives to directly consider. You have a vested interest in the employee working directly on achieving the tasks, outputs and objectives that you want them to achieve for you and for the organisation. This often drives the initial agenda for the coaching discussion. You are also often intersted in the way that they do this work as well because you may have corporate standard approaches and systems to be followed.
You may also recognise the need to help an employee deal with other non-work issues that are affecting their work focus and performance and may also be far sighted enough to see miss-matches of skills or approaches that are there for a person and to encourage them to explore these issues and act accordingly. However at the end of the day, as their line manager, you have an expectation that they will perform and deliver against the job objectives that they have agreed to deliver on and you cannot easily divert them from this aspect of your coaching agenda.