A coaching culture in traditional organizations involves a change management process and leaders must know the result they want from switching to such culture. So posits Dianna Anderson in her article published on HR Exchange Network. Organizations have varying worldviews which are expressed in the way they carry out their day-to-day business activities. An organization’s worldview represents its culture, and culture is the way the organization does things. Leadership style plays a pivotal role in the culture that exists within an organization.
There is a leadership worldview that takes a problem-solving approach in which the leader is assumed to have the answers to most problems and therefore has the right to direct the actions of employees and keep the organization from falling apart based on the knowledge and decision-making power vested in him. In an organization that embraces this culture, coaching is used as a problem-solving tool for people problems. This worldview is a traditional approach and the use of coaching as a problem-solving tool lends itself to being manipulative through its rule-based mechanism.
A shift to a coaching leadership style takes a completely different approach from a problem-solving culture. In the coaching culture, good leadership is accepted as one that focuses on people development, embraces the differences among people, and encourages learning and engagement. Additionally, it uses role modeling as an approach to learning as well as appreciative coaching methods to resolve differences. With this shift, the traditional problem-solving approach is now focused on resolving issues with processes and procedures rather than people problems. Transformation from a traditional leadership culture will result in greater employee engagement, ongoing learning, confident employees, and better all-round performance.
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