5 coaching myths that need busting

Widely acknowledged as a powerful development tool, coaching is used by an increasing number of organisations to develop the talent they need to meet their business strategy. Yet whilst phrases like coaching culture and leader as coach have entered common business language and the awareness of the benefits coaching can bring to business performance has grown, so too have the myths surrounding it.

Here we debunk five of the most common coaching myths we come across.

Myth 1: Coaching only suits, and is given to, very senior executives.

The reality: In a survey by Sherpa, just 30% of organisations reported they used coaching only for senior executives. Coaching can help with a number of business challenges; developing high potentials, supporting individuals who have been promoted into bigger roles, helping managers lead their team through change effectively, developing resiliency, accelerating the pace at which maternity leave returners get back up to speed, equipping first time managers with the skills to be effective leaders.  As none of these business challenges are experienced only by those at the C-suite level, reserving coaching only for a select senior group is somewhat limiting.  While the content may be different, all levels of employee, certainly all managers and leaders in an organisation, can benefit from a coaching approach to management.