Wearing Multiple Hats? Challenges for Managers-as-Coaches and Their Organizations

P Fatien Diochon, K Otter International Leadership Journal 2015

This article explores the challenges for individuals and organizations of adding coaching to the repertoire of managers. In complex and dynamic environments, a manager becomes responsible for developing people for continuous learning, which transforms him or her into a manager-as-coach. However, the resulting expanded capacities and skills require a manager's ability to navigate a new ambiguity in roles and identity; this article uses the metaphor of “wearing multiple hats” to represent the challenges that managers face when they add coaching to their repertoire. To prepare them to do so, the development of a manager-as-coach should go beyond an instrumental approach to embrace a transformation learning approach that includes not only skill acquisition, but shifts in values and mindsets. Additionally, organizations should be supportive by promoting a more distributed and horizontal culture of leadership