Tipos De Sociedad

THE MANAGER’S CORNER

The manager as coach*
Aïda Warah**

The biggest challenge in human resources management has always been the question of how to unlock and mobilize employees’ potential.

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n this article, coaching is presented as a human resources management approach and not as a technique applied in isolation. Today, some large organizations such as AT&T and IBM have replaced theword manager with coach to reflect a commitment to a cultural change where development and growth are highly valued. In addition to managing product, process and financial decisions, managers as coaches are very mindful and capable of sound human resources management practices. Contrary to traditional managers who focused on top and bottom performers, managers as coaches identify thosecompetencies that distinguish top from average performers and try to help everyone develop them. The goal is to increase the overall capability in the organization. Achieving this entails a management approach that focuses on building all employees’ potential and resources, including low, average and high performers. This human resources management approach is coaching.

coaches to help them do better.Within organizations, coaching took place, in its earlier forms, during performance appraisals, once a year and without follow-up. For the past 20 years, coaching has appeared in the literature as a management development technique. Writings on coaching also contain elements related to mentoring and team building. Recent discussions focus on coaching as a tool for organizational change through seniorexecutives. Today, rather than involving a specific problem area and a limited proportion of the workforce, coaching is proposed as a management approach that involves the whole person and the whole organization.

Coaching: A historic perspective
The word coaching was first used in English in the 1500s to refer to a particular kind of carriage.1 Hence to coach people is to facilitate theirmoving from one place to another but without carrying them. For decades, athletes, public speakers and performance artists have turned to 56

Aïda Warah has a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Ottawa and is currently Senior Psychologist at Executive Counselling Services of the Public Service Commission of Canada. She is also a part-time professor at the School of Psychology and theCommunications Department, University of Ottawa, where she teaches on personal development, interpersonal communications and career counselling. She conducts research on leadership, values and learning organizations. She was also visiting professor at Saint-Paul University in Ottawa where she taught, at the graduate level, Ethics, Counselling and Research Methods. * Nothing in this article shouldbe taken as reflecting the position of the Public Service Commission. ** The author wishes to thank her colleague Dr. Marcia McCoy for her feedback on an earlier version of this article.

Optimum, The Journal of Public Sector Management • Vol. 29, Nos. 2/3 (56-59)

THE MANAGER’S CORNER

Coaching approaches
There are two basic approaches to coaching inspired by two different schools ofthought in psychology: behaviourism and humanism. When coaching is based on behavioural modification principles, coaches take charge of the coaching situation. They observe and assess the coachees, identify a problem to be fixed, set goals and design an action plan. Coaches are also responsible for finding ways to motivate the coachees to follow through with the action plan. An advantage of thisapproach is the production of specific results in specific areas. Also, the coaching process is easily managed. According to the humanistic approach, we are free and responsible beings with a natural tendency for growth and self-actualization. The main role of coaches is to facilitate rather than dictate. They help the coachees increase selfawareness, self-directed behaviour and, consequently,...