The 21st Century Manager - Part 4...

The final article in our 4 part series focusing on the specific challenges and opportunities faced by 21st Managers, looks at the significance of the coaching role.

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Regular readers of PD news will know that one of my colleagues - Jeremy Cassell - has recently written a number of articles on coaching. In this, the final article of the "21st Century Manager Series", I discuss why coaching is a key role for managers in the new style businesses that have evolved over the last few years.

Arguably, coaching has always been a fundamental element of the manager's role? True, but there are three key drivers that are forcing managers to actually take up the role rather than pay lip service to it;

1. The shift of responsibility from HR to line management

In previous articles I have compared the traditional companies of the old economy to the less structured model of the 21st century business. The...

• change in structure
• de-layering of hierarchy
• streamlining
• and changing role of HR

has moved the responsibility for staff development.

Cynically, in the old order, line managers carried out cursory appraisals, identified training needs, and passed those needs on to HR. The training group of HR, were then tasked with arranging suitable courses. Staff attended courses, returned with the certificate, so managers could now cross this off their list. "I sent them to the doctor and they are now well!" OK, this is stating an extreme, but this extreme still exists today.

The development of appraisal into more comprehensive performance management systems firmly places the responsibility for managing performance and development with the line manager. In many businesses, there are now less in-house trainers to act as doctors. Often the in-house trainer's role has changed from a deliverer of courses, to a consultant to the business.

Finally, budget constraints have meant that booking people on training courses with external providers has not always been an option. Overriding these factors has been a central message from HR groups that they do not have the sole responsibility for staff development - it is a shared responsibility with line management.

2. A realisation that "training does not work!"

This may sound an odd, even suicidal comment for a training consultant to make -so let me qualify it! To make the point more clearly, training courses in isolation rarely provide the most effective learning. A brief advertisement here - hr Team's approach to a project is to develop a learning programme which incorporates a number of learning mechanisms, of which practical workshops may be one element.

To return to the main point - effective development involves more than training course attendance. Well structured, focused, relevant training workshops have a high contribution, but to derive the most value there must be follow through back in the workplace. This is where the manager's coaching role comes in.

HR groups are also becoming more rigourous in pushing back on managers by asking the question of managers nominating people for training courses "Is attending a training course the best option - can the development need be more effectively addressed by coaching?" There may well be a cost driver here, but the most important factor is "which is the best solution?"

3. The level and rate of change

Yes, we are back to this topic again! The effect of the rate of change on the manager's role has been a constant theme throughout all of the articles in this series.

Change drives a coaching role in two key areas;

• Firstly, in helping people to deal with the change itself. We are all aware of the potential effects of constant and rapid change on people and the impacts these concerns can have on the effectiveness of the change. The manager's responsibility is to manage the people and the process elements of change. In dealing with the people aspects the coaching role may merge into mentoring - but debating these two definitions is a different story!

• Secondly, change often means changes in job roles and therefore new skills. These may be major or detailed, depending on the nature of the change - either way, there is a potential coaching role for the manager.

In summary:

The nature of business in the "new economy" places more emphasis on leadership, for the many reasons we have discussed during the series of articles. Coaching is a key element of leadership.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading the 21st century manager series. I would welcome your comments and feedback. My e mail address is richard.moxham@hrteam.co.uk