Leadership Coaching or Leadership Teaching?

Let us first be a teacher

“What are you brilliant at Don?”

I was asked this question on the back of me suggesting that most of us (especially us Scots) have a problem admitting to anything that smacks of being ‘too big for our boots’.

Yet without the confidence of knowing what we’re really good at how can we possibly excel?

So back to the question: “What are you brilliant at Don?” (Thanks Rajesh Poselay)

My starting point is a saying that’s taken me 30 years to refine, and it goes something like this:

“MOST other people, can do MOST things MUCH better than me, but I can do SOME things MUCH better than MOST other people.”

If you follow that convoluted logic then it’s reasonable to suggest that, at the very least, there are some things at which each of us might excel.

It might be trigonometry, or computer coding, but it could just as easily be baking scones, gardening, or betting on the horses.

So what’s my claim? I’ve thought about this a lot and I reckon there’s only one thing. And that’s teaching - and even then I’m uncomfortable saying that out loud.

Yet I’ll never forget the first time I taught a class of kids. It was the most remarkable experience as I’d never felt as comfortable or satisfied, particularly when I began to see the impact I could have of their learning and confidence.

That joy has never left me, and that feeling came back just as strong this week working with an exceptional group of leaders from a major insurer.

In a strange way this all came together in a separate conversation with someone about our approach to leadership coaching.

At the risk of being too simplistic, ‘coaching’ is about making people better at what they already know and do, whereas ‘teaching’ is more about introducing new knowledge and skills.

Both have the same end but in terms of leadership coaching it’s about helping the leader to best leverage their existing knowledge and skills to best effect.

On the other hand, leadership teaching does the same, but also promotes a more interventionist approach and stretches the person beyond their existing set of skills.

So why don’t we see a proliferation of people promoting themselves as ‘leadership teachers?’ - which we don’t.

The answer is complex but perhaps it’s got something to do with a fixed idea of teaching being about a didactic or directive approach that many people experienced at school - an approach that would meet with huge resistance and negativity.

The second reason is the association with teaching that it’s something for children and young people - not seasoned leaders.

The third reason is possibly down to the idea of teaching assumes a deficit in their knowledge or skill as a leader - something that few leaders would readily admit.

Coaching doesn’t have such baggage and benefits from the connection with sport and sport stars, who readily avail themselves of coaches rather than teachers.

However, flip that perception on its head and think about what you experienced with the best teacher you ever had, and imagine what they might have done for your leadership if they had access to a set of skills and knowledge which would have taken your leadership to another level?

Of course, the real world never falls easily into the semantic distinctions we would prefer and in reality teachers can coach, and coaches can teach.

Nevertheless, as the above quotation from John Wooden (one of the most revered coaches in the history of basketball) suggests - if there is to be a hierarchy then let us first be a teacher.