At a recent conference on executive coaching, where I had to deliver the keynote address, I asked the audience what they would like me to focus on.  Surprisingly, the most overwhelming demand was for tips on how to convince the top management on the benefits of coaching.  People still see coaching as airy-fairy or scary — especially in a corporate setting!

And so it goes with CIOs and leadership.  We at the CTO Forum have been evangelising leadership as a no-brainer theme for CIOs.  It forms the basis of our relationship with you.  Yet, every once in a while a skeptic will ask: should a CIO be a leader?  For us, there is no discussion, nor is there a tradeoff.  CIOs have to be both technology and people leaders.  It is the mix of both that will make them the business leaders that their roles demand.

As we focus on leadership attributes in our cover story, it is the people leadership aspect that I want to comment on.  Increasingly, one of the most significant roles of CIOs as people leaders is that of a coach.  While leadership of the technology function calls for the ‘playing captain’; leadership of the IT team demands a ‘non-playing coach’.  This is also a chicken-n-egg problem.  Where is the time to coach when there is so much to do?  And, there is so much to do because there is no time to coach your next-in-line.

My own take on this is to break the ‘what-comes-first’ conundrum by beginning to coach. Chances are, you think you are coaching when you really are advising or mentoring.  There are copious definitions for each, but suffice it to say that coaching is different.  As an adviser, you tell people what they should do.  As a mentor, you serve as a sounding board but are biased in their favour.  Coaching, by contrast, is always done in the context of achieving better performance and outcomes, and the focus is on changing behaviours and attitudes.

The differences may be subtle but the interventions are not.  As a coach, you have to listen, give feedback, help the coachee figure out for herself how to address a behaviour problem and ensure improved results.  These are not easy skills and capabilities to develop.  No wonder our mailboxes are flooded with offers to attend coaching programmes leading to certifications.  And, one of these days, it may be worthwhile getting one!