More and more managers become an internal coach. This article gives insight in what you need to become an internal coach.

1. MANAGEMENT
Be aware as a manager that coaching doesn’t always mean an
hour-long session or a series of sessions with a team member.
Coaching results can be achieved in five minutes. But these
five minutes have to be focused, attuned and reflective. Listen
carefully and ask questions that help the other person to find
their solution.
Can Every Leader
BE A COACH?
I
t is increasingly expected for leaders to be able to coach Leaders should go inside themselves and look at their own
their team members. Some companies send their managers feelings and behaviour before they even start coaching. By
to a training course to learn coaching skills, others include reflecting for instance on the following basic questions, a manager
coaching skills in the leadership development programmes can become more aware of their strengths and weaknesses:
or organise the training in-house.
Training organisations help people to memorise the models
and sequences of questions through exercises and role-plays.
If the organisation doesn’t provide a training on coaching
and why?
skills, a manager can always go to a bookstore. There are
books offering all kinds of templates and methods today for
structuring a coaching conversation and building coaching she do?
relationships. Most of them even include ready-made, one size
a training, and the next day you can start coaching your team involved, and so focused, and so engaged, that time seemed
members. But becoming a coach, evidently, takes more than irrelevant? Why?
So what does a leader need to become a coach? From our
what you were doing? What was it?
experience in leadership development, training, coaching and
consulting individual leaders, the path towards becoming a
coach begins with learning to use oneself as an instrument, moment of what you had to do? And what were those tasks?
a tool, for helping others to be more effective and successful.
Using oneself as a tool in coaching situations is a competency Answering these questions gives a manager some insight in when
that leaders should master if they want to make a constructive they felt strong and weak. Based on this knowledge they learn to
impact in their coaching. look from different perspectives at (ordinary) situations.
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2. The ability to actively listen to others - is another critical Be aware as a manager that coaching doesn’t always mean
competence for leaders who want to become coaches. A good an hour-long session or a series of sessions with a team member.
exercise for managers to practise listening is the following (you Coaching results can be achieved in five minutes. But these
need a partner to do this with): you and your partner have to five minutes have to be focused, attuned and reflective. Listen
think about a problem or an issue that is bothering you. The carefully and ask questions that help the other person to find
issue can be related to your work or private life. It has to be their solution.
something where they don’t seem to be able to get their head The company should also acknowledge that maybe their
around. Your role as a listener is only to ask questions. Preferably managers only want be a coach within their organisation but
open questions, that take the speaker further or deeper into coaching clients, psychologically or physically, may cause
his or her understanding of the issue. Ask questions that offer unnecessary stress. They should not coach if this is the case. I
other perspectives. As a listener it is forbidden to make any also see individuals being asked by the organisation to become
recommendations or suggestions. It is forbidden to guide by a coach to other employees, but they are scared to death by
asking leading questions. The only goal of the listener is to listen the prospect of dealing with others at a rather personal level.
and to ask questions that make the speaker more effective in So don’t ask them to be a coach. They must feel comfortable
dealing with his or her issue. Take turns and discuss afterwards as a coach.
how it went. How was it to be a listener or the speaker? Our conclusion is that it is not easy for a modern manager to
When I do this exercise in a training or a coaching session the become an effective coach. A leader can become a coach if they
get to know themselves, know how to listen to the one who is
somebody who listens and asks questions that get them to think, being coached and is prepared to act again and again as a sort
that force them to change the way they look at things. For many of psychological detective, investigating their own reactions to
managers it is hard to listen. Most of them are solution focused, what the coaching client is dealing with.
that is also what the organisation is asking of them. When I ask
them to tell me what they do as a coach, their response could
be summarised as: It’s very clear. People come to me with a
question about what to do and I give them answers. Providing
(expert) advice can hardly be called coaching. In coaching it has
to do with giving the other the time and space, to ask the type The article is by Frank Kuijsters, director of Digne Consult Asia Pacific. Those
interested in coaching, call 6400 7091 or send an email to info@digneconsult.com.sg,
of question that takes the person further into his or her own website www.digneconsult.com.sg
understanding and finding their own best solution.
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