Once upon a time, coaching wasn’t considered important in business.
Actually, “once upon a time†wasn’t very long ago. It’s how things were when I was coming up in business. Back then, things were different than today.
Back then, people were promoted to their first leadership position based on their knowledge of the work. Leaders were designated experts who directed the work.
Back then most companies expected their leaders to train team members in the work and not to praise them too much. After all, if you praised them, they might get used to it.
Today, things are different. It’s a different world where you lead different kinds of workers from a different generation.
Leadership development for a VUCA world
I’m sure you’ve heard the term “VUCA†where the letters stand for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. Guess what? You can’t be the designated expert when what’s required from you and the team is changing all the time. You need different leadership skills and you need to keep re-learning your job.
Leadership development for leading knowledge workers
In today’s world, most workers are knowledge workers. That means that they know more about their work than you do. You need to concentrate on something besides the details of the work. The only way to help them (and the team) perform better is to help team members get the most from their knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Leadership development for a Millennial workforce
There’s a lot of nonsense written about Millennials but they do seem to expect self-development to be part of what they get from work. If you’re the leader, that’s part of your job.
Developing leaders who coach
If your job is leadership development, you should be developing leaders who coach. Help them develop and apply coaching skills in their work. Evaluate their coaching performance and part of their leadership work.
