The question of whose and which agenda coaches should focus on hit a nerve at a debate hosted by the EMCC UK.
Panellist John Blakey said coaches should consider not just the individual’s but their sponsor’s agenda and that of the wider community. Another of the panellists, Myles Downey, stressed coaches should not forget they are “servants”.
Blakey said: “Performance can be measured from many different objectives. It’s part of the complexity and paradox of coaching in this messy world we’re in.”
Downey, founder of the School of Coaching, said: “Who the **** do we think we are? We’re not here to save the banking system. We’re not here to save the planet. We deliver to contract. If we don’t like the ethics of the organisation, work somewhere else. We forget we’re a servant.”
The panellists also discussed performance versus development coaching. Sheffield Hallam University’s David Megginson had been “hugely stimulated” by Downey’s observations at last year’s EMCC UK conference that there was too much emphasis on development and not enough on performance coaching. “I started to wonder whether there was a place for performance coaching in our world. Has it been unduly neglected in our discourse?” said Megginson.
He noted that performance coaching comes from sport and the likes of Tim Gallwey. “But he’s actually tremendously light on performance and speaks little about goals. Those who see it as narrow and only focused on results are not in the same ballpark as the proponents of performance coaching. I find that heartening,” said Megginson.
See a review of Blakey’s and co-author Ian Day’s book, Where Were All the Coaches When the Banks Went Down? in the last issue (vol 5, issue 3).
Coaching at Work, Volume 5, Issue 4