Coaching as a Two-Way Relationship

Many of us have experienced sports coaches, where they helped us stretch for the crawl, turn in dance, or catch a ball. But sports coaching tends to be just one kind of coaching—and not necessarily the kinds of coaching you need to provide or hear at work.

Coaching is one of the most important--and most difficult--responsibilities of leaders. Too often, people struggle and fail when it comes to coaching others. Coaches may try to impose their style on someone else for whom it doesn’t fit. Some coaches try to transfer “best practices” regardless of how well they fit the organization. Other coaches talk too much.

Coaching is a two-way relationship between a coach and the coachee. But not all the learning is on the coachee’s side. If a coach is not learning as he or she proceeds with the coaching, the coach shortchanges the coachee.

We will explore how to recognize when you are the right coach--and when you’re not. We will explore multiple coaching techniques so you can select the ones that most fit you, the other person, and the context. We will practice coaching in several ways and see which ones you prefer, and which ones you might need to practice more. And we’ll see how to learn as you coach.

About Johanna Rothman

Johanna Rothman helps managers and leaders solve problems and seize opportunities.

She consults, speaks, and writes on managing high-technology product development. She enables managers, teams, and organizations to become more effective by applying her pragmatic approaches to the issues of project management, risk management, and people management.

Johanna writes two blogs: Managing Product Development and Hiring Technical People. She is the author of:

- Manage Your Project Portfolio: Increase Your Capacity and Finish More Projects.

- 2008 Jolt Productivity award winning Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management

- Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management (with Esther Derby)

- Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds: The Secrets and Science of Hiring Technical People

Find more of Johanna's articles and her blogs at www.jrothman.com.

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