How to Coach

Introduction

‘War is too important to be left to the generals’¹

Georges Clemenceau, French Prime Minister during World War One

Coaching is too important to be left to coaches. Coaching is something all managers must master, if we want to improve ourselves and our teams.

It was not always this way. In the bad old days, bosses bossed and workers worked. Bosses had the brains and the workers had the hands. The world of command and control created clarity and certainty. It was a simple world, if not entirely comfortable for the workers.

And then things got complicated. The workers became educated. They could achieve more, but they demanded more. They were not just unreliable machines; they were human beings with hopes, fears and characters. Managers ...