>...But I think there is a way in which leaders and their people can
>learn together. If the leader accepts that the follower brings
>knowledge and experience which is at least as relevant to the issue
>under discussion as that of the leader, they can share their
>learning on the basis of valuing each others contributions and
>learning from each other.
>....Martin Raff -- martin@vistaraff.win-uk.net
Coaching is definitely a difficult interaction in a hierarchy. The
implicit implication of the coaching intervention is that the "coachee"
has messed up and needs fixing. This results in at least a partial
shutdown of the "coachee" and a resulting loss of vslue in the effort.
Joint learning as you suggest is the better approach. It is very
inefficient because it should be repeated in every interaction. This can
result in repeating the coaches' apparent learning in a repetitive manner
for every direct report to get buy-in. The trick is to get the coaching
interventions to occur at the "boundary" of the "coachee's" experience
when they know they need help.
This can be made to work but it takes several years to be effective in
even a small organizational unit...I know I did it...Keith
--Keith Cowan <72212.51@CompuServe.COM>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>