As we enter the last quarter of this series it should have dawned on regular readers by now that a business partner is not just a different ‘animal’ to a trainer but they work to a completely different paradigm. Probably the best example of this paradigm shift can be seen in the exponential growth in interest in coaching.

I believe this interest is fuelled by the fact that most other conventional approaches to management development, over the last 20 years, have failed to deliver the sort of changes and results that they promised.

Some of the reasons why management developers have failed were explored in Bitesizes 17 and 18.

Generic competence frameworks and management modules fail to tap into individual motivation patterns and personal preferences. Moreover, they do not start with clear business objectives that the individual owns. Coaching seems to offer a solution that addresses all of these flaws.

However, there are also at least two schools of thought on the subject of coaching. Is the focus of the coaching on the individual and their own developmental needs or is it focused on the business and the results required?

A business partner will certainly support coaching as a powerful platform for learning solutions but only because they see it as a solid method for achieving better results through the individual they coach. The coaching is predicated on the individual’s responsibility to the organisation, not on the individual's needs, per se.

Maybe this also provides a simple but clear distinction between the terms coaching and counselling? One is based on clear business objectives; the other is based on the individual’s personal needs.

Paul is happy to take questions and comments and can be contacted at:mailto:paulkearns@blueyonder.co.uk

Earlier articles in this series can be found at:
The Bitesize Business Partners Page