Why Bosses Shouldn't Coach

Coaching Is Innately Personal

Coaching is more personal than mentoring. It requires an objective and supportive space. This allows staff to: feel comfortable, honestly self-reflect, challenge their thinking, broaden their perceptions, and modify their perspectives and behaviors. In fact, productive coaching sessions initiated around professional issues often veer off into underlying personal matters. Staff needs to know that their thoughts and feelings will be kept private, and any acknowledgment of personal flaws or imperfections will not inadvertently or deliberately be turned against them. Furthermore, they need to be able to openly, and without a lot of cautious editing, discuss problems at work, including those involving their bosses. This is why bosses shouldn’t coach.

Bosses Make Good Mentors

In contrast to coaching, mentoring is an important skill for bosses to have or acquire. Mentoring is ideal for grooming and refining staff’s professional skills. Though focused on work, career development, and sharing professional wisdom, a mentor will typically cultivate a more personal relationship with his/her proteges as well.

Research indicates that this kind of relationship is something younger, less-experienced staff crave. (Also see my blog on What’s the Difference Between Mentoring and Coaching?).

Coaching and Mentoring Matter Are Both Important Tools

Both coaching and mentoring are definitely useful investments. Each covers different but complementary aspects of work. Bosses mentor and they hire coaches to work with their staff where a different type of skill and relationship is required.

Take team dynamics as an example. A boss can encourage interaction and cooperation by establishing and reinforcing an organizational structure and behavioral norms that support the achievement of these ends. In addition, the boss who mentors staff might share knowledge and skills, expose staff to more challenging tasks and opportunities and provide guidance on career paths.

S/he can enlist a coach to work with the staff as individuals or in a group and dig deeper into personal issues that arise related to communication, inclusive work processes, ways to stimulate creativity and innovation, and overcoming staff resistance. Coaching can also be used to build staff confidence and encourage individuals to step outside their comfort zone and grow into new assignments and/or positions within the company or organization.

Unfortunately, grooming staff to rise through the ranks of the company or organization has dwindled over the last couple of decades, partly due to cost concerns. While coaching seems to be on the rise, it tends to be limited to upper management. Both of these trends leave mid-level and entry-level staff wondering why they should commit to one job. The result is widespread rapid staff turnover.

An increasingly mobile workforce suggests that future employers reap most of the benefits from staff development efforts while current employers cover the associated costs. Under these assumptions, mentoring and even coaching are seen as unwise investments. However, one could argue that what goes around, comes around, and all businesses would ultimately gain from a more qualified and inspired workforce.