Recently, I received a message from a LinkedIn contact, who asked “Would I benefit from being coached?“. It is a question that people often ask. So I thought it would be worth sharing with a wider audience.
My contact wrote
“Thanks for your kind wishes on my new role. I do enjoy all your posts on coaching and development. I’m looking to accelerate my career and so currently pursuing a flexible Executive MBA course. Would I still benefit from being coached?”
My reply:
“Hi Mike*! Thank you for your feedback. Getting feedback from folks who read my articles is very important – it is an important motivator for me as a writer. So Thank you. As for your question: Doing an Executive MBA is great. More than anything it signals serious intent – so wise choice if you are trying to show people you want to step up. It is also useful if you are seeking a career change (from Engineering to Finance or Marketing etc) – but a full time MBA would be more appropriate for that.”
“Would you benefit from being coached? Let me answer that in two ways.
“Coaching is different from knowledge acquisition (which your MBA is an example of). If you have heard about the 70-20-10 model of Adult Learning, then 70% of learning happens on the job (for example, by putting to work what you have learnt about leading people in your MBA courses, in your job as a Team Lead); and only 10% of learning comes from attending classes or reading books.
“Coaching provides the bridge (the remaining 20%) – by helping you find the best way to put your knowledge to work, and by practising it in a safe environment until you have reasonably mastered it. This does not have to come from a paid external coach – ideally your supervisors and mentors would fulfil that role. Unfortunately, in today’s lean organisations, no one has the time to do that in any meaningful way. We tried peer coaching for new managers at XYZ* – but again with all the travel and meetings and work commitments – it just did not work.”
“The second part of my answer has to do with whether YOU would benefit from coaching. Almost anybody can benefit from coaching – if they are willing to work together with the coach. A coach typically spends 30 minutes with you each week (or in some cases 1 hour every other week). However, what is more important is what you do between the coaching sessions. So for example, you and your coach might work on redesigning your 1-on-1 sessions to incorporate new concepts you learnt about giving feedback and empowerment. However, it is meaningless if you do not then go out and implement it. The benefit comes from the doing – not the knowing. The coach helps by making you aware of your assumptions and beliefs and addressing them. This ensures they do not come in the way of utilising your new knowledge”
This was a very brief exchange, so that’s all I managed to say.
How would you have responded to my young friend’s question?
(*names changed)
