Hey, Coach, make me a better manager

Tag : Home Based

We have a management coach helping us this week. Say hello to thereaders, Coach. "Heh-hey!"
We'd been thinking about this for a while. As a home-basedfreelancer, we are manager, researcher, writer, tech support, cookand bottle washer rolled into one. We knew sharpening our skills atthe top could optimize productivity through our entire flowstream.But we worried that management coaching was still in the adolescentstage of developing into a professional practice.
Put another way, we viewed coaching as a cottage industry ofquestionable value.
Then came a press release from the Canadian Management Centre."Management coaching is coming of age," it said. It quoted JohnEckmire, leader of the Centre's coaching practice: "The days ofviewing coaching as a cottage industry of questionable value areover."
How are we doing, Coach?
"Superstar. Keep powering forward. You're beautiful."
Say, Coach, are you going to introduce your friend?
"Who, her? You don't see her. Falling for distractions is costingyou 63% of your potent ial . Stay on the ride. Don't dunk yourvibe."
So, you're saying this woman is here as a distraction to beresisted, thus building our power to resist distraction?
"Absolutely. Also, if you read the press release, you'd know that astudy of successful coaching practices revealed several guidelinesfor implementing a coaching program. One of the guidelines statesthat evaluating coaching performance may help boost success rates."
She's doing a performance evaluation?
"You can see she has a clipboard."
And are we paying her, as well as you?
"Whoa, tappy-tips. You've flown so far out of the zone, you're inthe ozone. What's the goal here, colonize Mars? Or write a littlecolumn?"
How about we try a coaching method called modelling? You sit in ourchair and demonstrate writing a column. We'll watch and learn.
"Do real work? Not this jackrabbit. Why do you think I became acoach?"
Brain injury? "Sarcasm is corrosive in the workplace. That cost youa video-game break." I think we're done. You can go now ... both ofyou. Cranks. Hey! Who tied our shoelaces together?
Management coaching may be coming of age, but it still has somegrowing up to do.