Background information on the topic "Leader as Coach"

Managers as consultants

Seeing the manager as a coach is one of the changes in modern companies. Today's managers advise, help and encourage their employees. Translated, "coach" also means bus, carriage and cabin - an image that is helpful when applied to the manager's advisory and helpful function: Like a coachman, the manager holds the reins in his hands and helps the employees to follow a successful path in the company.

The coach knows what the task at hand is for his employees; his core competence is not technical knowledge, but knowledge of organizational and interpersonal relationships. Thus, it is the manager's task to strengthen cooperation in teams, to address conflicts and to solve them together with those involved.

It is important for the coach to support the employees, to enable them to deepen their professional knowledge through further education and training, and to strengthen personal competencies. The goal of a good manager is to encourage employees to perform at their best and to maintain their motivation over the long term. Confidential discussion of personal burdens is therefore also part of a manager's job. Sensitivity and a high degree of conversational competence are necessary for this because, after all, trust is the basis for such an exchange.

Being recognized as a coach and consultant also means being able to make and defend unpleasant decisions without upsetting those involved. Management training, which is repeated at intervals, for dealing with employees in a consultative and supportive manner, maintains the management qualification. The Management-Institut Dr. A. Kitzmann supports executives in this role with a seminar on the topic "Executive as coach and consultant" in Münster and Stuttgart, among other places.

Author: Management-Institut Dr. A. Kitzmann