Does a Good Manager Make a Good Coach ?

To answer that question, we first need to define the two notions.

According to Peter Drucker, management claims to be, “An activity whose purpose is to obtain from men a collective result by giving them a common aim, common values, a suitable organization and the training needed to be efficient and adaptable to change.”

Coaching, for its part, is, “Developing the potential in each person by means of a strategic action that, when used at the appropriate moment, enables them to improve their performance.”

In other words -and potentially- management is to sociology what coaching is to psychology. If, on an academic level, we do not study a group of people in the same way we would an individual, the same is true in business. The way we act depends on who we’re dealing with, whether it’s a group, an individual employee or co-worker or both.

Consequently, many managers are successful in creating drive in a team but, when put face to face with one of their employees in their office, are struck by a kind of “writer’s block”, a fear of those uncomfortable moments of silence and of the employee’s unpredictable reaction to them.

If a good manager doesn’t necessarily make a good coach, then the reverse case is also true, but in this case it’s easier to deal with. Surely, being able to manage all of one’s employees individually must mean one is able to manage a group? Doesn’t the sum of all individual interests contribute to the general interest? These are just some of the questions that deeply interest SD Consulting and lead it to think that if there is one quality that is unanimously agreed upon as being valuable, it’s leadership! Whereas the manager will try to steer his or her teams in the right direction on a daily basis, the leader will try to do it over the long term by showing the way forward so that today’s investment in people delivers tomorrow’s results.

In other words, developing the qualities of manager and coach without first developing leadership qualities is futile.