Coaching as punishment
La version française de ce billet est disponible ici.
All too often, I hear people around me talk about coaching as if it were some sort of punishment:
— “They’ve been accused of bullying again; we’re going to give them some coaching.”
— “You need to coach them to do X less often.”
— “I feel like I’m screwing up all the time lately; maybe I need coaching!”
If these phrases sound familiar — whether in your thoughts or from the mouths of your colleagues — this article is for you.
It is true that coaching can be an effective way for addressing behavioural challenges or performance issues. But turning to coaching only when problems arise is like waiting to exercise until you are overweight.
First of all, it is important to point out that coaching isn’t something that one does to someone; it is a partnership between coach and client. As a result, the level of implication of the client in the coaching engagement will determine the extent of possible results. For this reason, the resentment that your colleague might feel if you impose coaching on them as a kind of punishment risks seriously limiting the possible positive effects of coaching.
To get back to my example from above, doing sport when you are in optimum health helps you not only to stay that way, but also to achieve your full potential. In the same way, seeking out coaching when you are in a good, stable position at work — or when you are rising quickly through the ranks — helps you to stay on the right path and attain your most ambitious objectives. If all is going well, why not benefit from that positive momentum, and do everything in your power to ensure that things stay that way?
On the other hand, coaching as punishment is often associated with the short-termism that many employers suffer from. In this model, as long as the ship isn’t sinking, everyone keeps their nose to the grindstone, and personal development gets the minimum attention necessary. After all, there are so many emergencies to deal with!
However, we focus on the short term at the expense of the future, when skills gaps will become more obvious, and much more difficult to overcome (bad habits are hard to break; bad habits that have been in place for years are even more stubborn). If ever you have gone back to a sport after a long break, you know how long it takes simply to get back to your previous level of fitness — that’s time you could have spent advancing towards new objectives.
So why wait until you have a problem at work before taking action? Contact Jon here to have a chat about why most of his clients are high performers seeking out ways to set the bar even higher. Would you like to know more about his experience and qualifications first? Click here.