Coaching
at the Heart of Strategy
An
excerpt from her newly launched book Lessons from the School of
Hard Knocks with a foreword by Noeleen Moholwana Sangqu
Used
with permission of the author:
Author: Dr
Renate Volpe
CEO
- HIRS
/ LCI
http://www.hirs.co.za
5 March 2007
Back to ... Workinfo.com Human Resources Magazine Volume 1 Issue 5, 2007
Coaching
is a platform where people may make and receive meaningful
contributions. Whether people are old, young, male or female they
fall into two categories under the coaching banner - having
something to teach, or wishing to learn.
The
dilemma of competence
An
organization has a vision and a mission to achieve a specific
goal, which in one or another way hopes to contribute to the
economy and employment of our people.
The
more competence that is brought to the table, in this regard, the
better.
There are four levels
of competence:
- Not
knowing that I don’t know,
- Knowing
that I don’t know,
- Knowing
that I know
- Not
knowing that I know
Protégées
would fall into the first two categories, whereas coaches would
fall into the latter two.
In
the first category, youth and lack of experience may manifest in a
display of arrogance and a ”know it all” attitude. In the
“knowing I don’t know” phase, a person is keen and eager to
learn from those who know. Your older experienced person may fall
into the last two categories, where they know that they know, and
may consciously make a choice to develop others.
Alternatively,
they are not conscious of just how much life experience they have
integrated and therefore never make a conscious choice to invest
in the development of others.
Coaching
- the solution to the development of competence?
Coaching
offers a constructive solution to two dilemmas:
- Continued
retrenchment of middle aged, experienced people, thereby
loosing critical competence.
- An
inability to deliver, from equity based organizations, due to
a lack of experience and knowledge..
Steps
in narrowing the divide, between those who don’t know and those
who do.
Firstly,
Addressing
our world views
Our
belief systems influence the way we see the world. What we believe
dictates how we will behave. It is therefore important to confront
what we believe and understand the implications of this in a
particular context.
In
an organization where people, who know, are leaving and people who
don’t necessarily know, are in positions of delivery, the
following examples are relevant:
- A
belief in competition would manifest in thoughts such as “I
know what you don’t know, so let me watch you fail you
bugger! “
- A
belief in collaboration would result in the following:
“Let me find out what you know, if I can assist,
offer you the opportunity of sharing my knowledge and
experience, so that you will be able to perform your function
more effectively.”
The organization would have to provide an education platform where
employees were asked to review their beliefs around scarcity and
abundance and collaboration and competition, relative to their
continued contribution to the company’s future.
Secondly,
Redefinition
of roles and functions
Those
who are older, with more experience but vulnerable to retrenchment
should undergo a role re-definition into coaches whose function it
is to impart competence and skills. A need assessment of
competence of younger or equity based employees should be done to
determine gaps in competence. A matching of coach and protégé
should then occur.
Thirdly,
Guidelines
for coaches and protégées
A
partial spectrum of roles that coaches
play appears as follows:
- As
a facilitator, the coach smoothes the way for things to happen
- As
a counselor, he or she acts as a sounding board when clarifying
issues.
- When
playing the devil’s
advocate, the coach may act as sounding board or advisor
whilst the protégée practices presenting arguments or
proposals. Whilst managing healthy communication the coach
encourages a two – way exchange of information
- As
an advisor, the coach communicates the informal and formal
realities of progression within the organization
- Whilst
broking, the coach expands the protégées network of contacts
- When
advocating, the coach may intervene on the protégés’ behalf
and represent their concerns on specific issues to higher
level management
- When
mentoring the coach clarifies performance goals and
developmental needs
Prospective
coaches
should assess themselves with respect to the following on a scale
of 1 – 10.
- How
self-aware am I?
- Am
I capable of being an inspiration to others?
- Am
I generous and truly able to give of my knowledge and
experience?
- Am
I capable of building and maintaining good relationships?
- Can
I keep confidences?
- Will
I be able to be flexible and respond to the different learning
needs, styles and expectations of my protégées?
- Do
I listen and communicate well?
- Am
I skilled in the art of providing feedback?
- Have
I kept up with the times, am I forward looking?
- Do
I have the discipline to deliver consistently?
- Am
I able to set and respect boundaries?
- Do
I diagnose astutely and am I able to contribute substantially
to finding solutions?
- Do
I have the capacity to be business minded?
- What
can I offer?
- What
are my resources?
- What
kind of person or level of person will I be best able to
coach?
- What
are my needs?
- What
do I stand for and value?
Protégées
should ask:
- What
are my developmental needs?
- Where
do I want to be?
- What
skill and knowledge do I need?
- Am
I prepared to risk in order to grow?
- What
kind of relationship do I require?
Once linked
the coach and protégée should work on establishing:
- A
relationship,
- Assessing
expectations,
- Focusing
in on skill gaps and
- Contract
for learning objectives.
A
word of warning
On
the one hand coaching in South Africa
has become “a flavor of the decade solution” for a host of
ills such as unemployment, retrenchment, and burnout, amongst
others. Providers have sprung up with varying levels of
legitimacy. Costs run the gambit from substantial to ridiculous at
executive levels.
On
the other hand coaching resembles counseling. Only those prepared to
receive feedback and face the pain of growth will, firstly, access
the service, and secondly, decide to commit to the process, and
use it to its fullest potential.
The
benefits of coaching are many and may result in significant
personal growth and empowerment, skilled and informed employees,
which in turn can make a significant contribution to the
organization’s triple bottom line.
Dr
Renate Volpe
began her corporate career in the world of Mining during the mid
80s. As a Divisional Director at the Chamber of Mines, she jointly
spearheaded the development of the then largest people management
structure in South Africa. Always innovative and pushing limits Renate turned entrepreneur
in 1995 and founded Leadership Culture Innovators, a training and
development consultancy. Renate is best known for her People
Friendly Culture Change Initiatives at companies such as Anglo
American, IBM and Standard Bank. Long-term retainers with
companies such as MTN and Nike appear amongst her list of
prestigious clientele. Renate Volpe holds a Doctorate in
Developmental Psychology. Her uniqueness rests in her integration
of a background in people development, 30 years of business
experience and her status as a successful business owner and
entrepreneur. Her expertise rests in the areas of people
development, leadership and change management. Dr Volpe is a
faculty member of various business schools. She is the author of
the popular read “The Entrepreneurial Mind Shift”, and
regularly writes for The Star, Workplace, Beeld and business
journals. Most recently Renate maintains her profile as a futurist
and trend setter with the establishment of the HIRS company
together with Noeleen Maholwana Sangqu. The HIRS company
facilitates women taking responsibility for their emerging role in
big business. HIRS focuses on providing women with those
leadership competencies that will enable them to perform as
resilient, focused and successful leaders of tomorrow. She offers coaching
services to women in leadership positions.
Dr Renate
Volpe can be contacted at tel: 011 455 0769 / fax: 011 455 4160
and http://www.hirs.co.za
Short
description
Effective coaching incorporates various considerations, such as
competence, expectations and the roles of people play who are involved
in giving and receiving coaching.
Keywords
and related phrases
Attitude, belief system, coach, collaboration, competence,
competition, counselling, experience, feedback, knowledge
transfer, protégée, skills transfer,
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