Coaching Junior Management

The Guardian recently published this article that struck a lot of chords with me. It was about why our jobs are getting worse, explaining that many junior staff have no control over the way they do their jobs.

 

And in many ways the article is right. Fifty years ago a grocer would have total control over every aspect of how they do their job. Now someone selling vegetables will be working for one of the supermarket giants, unable to alter a single thing without a memo from senior management.

 

The interesting question is: what can we do to change this?

 

Coaching has already had great effects upon senior management, giving leaders a confidential and safe space to talk through their business options. With middle management too coaching has stepped up and shown its benefits, often radically shifting the tone and focus of appraisals and other performance-related conversations.

 

However it has been difficult to get a coaching approach to reach junior levels of management, which strikes me as a place where great results could be gained. After all, what’s the point of all the great interventions at director level when the staff on the ground floor are over-managed, disillusioned, and treating customers with the minimum of care and respect?

 

Of course the main reason why junior management are excluded from coaching is price. Few organisations are willing to hire expensive coaches at the lower level of an organisation, or invest heavily in training for junior management.

 

It would be nice to read case studies from an organisation bringing coaching to the junior management level. A cost effective way to do this would be to train internal coaches to a standard where they are able to skill junior staff in coaching basics. Co-coaching and using tools for training purposes are also remarkably effective at giving bang-for-bucks. 

 

Anyone ready to take up the gauntlet?