Executive
Coaching in the Press...
The
New York Times featured an article entitled "Personal Trainers to Buff the
Boss's People Skills". This article highlights the trend toward executive
coaches - consultants who work one-on-one with CEO's, top managers and business
owners.
These
coaches are in effect marketing consultants helping the executive analyse and
improve their internal marketing and management skills. Here are important
excerpts:
"Companies
in trouble have long looked to outside experts for advice on marketing strategy,
quality control and other straight-ahead business topics. But sometimes the
problems turn out to be interpersonal, and then an executive coach may be called
to the rescue."
"There
is no single reason for the rise of coaching over the last decade. But one
factor appears to be the gutting of legions of middle managers, which has meant
that the surviving bosses have authority over areas where they have no
expertise, straining their 'people' skills.
"Also,
the advent of a generation of workers under the age of 45 who are more diverse
racially and sexually and (who) were brought up to question authority, has
undermined the effectiveness of older, white male bosses, many of whom adhere to
command-and-control management."
"Not
all coaching is aimed at faltering employees, those in danger of derailing their
careers or their companies. At some companies it is offered to scores of
executives at once, in an effort to engineer a broad shift in strategy. Still
other companies, like Texaco and Avon, offer coaching as a perquisite to proven
managers, in the understanding that everyone has blind spots and can benefit
from a detached observer."
The
quoted text is © New York Times |
