There are several issues driving this phenomenon. Firstly, executives are interested in learning how to get
better performance out of their people. They want to know how to get their people to take more ownership
and be better leaders themselves, thus reducing their workload. Many executives also like the idea of
learning to coach in relation to dealing with their own children and communities, and some like the idea as
something they might use in semi-retirement. Then, there is the fact that offering to make someone a coach
increases their perceived status. It’s not a threat in any way. Whereas, when you offer a coach to someone
(as opposed to someone wanting to be coached), there is always a small part of them that might feel they
don’t need it, or feel threatened. Status is no small matter with senior executives. Telling an executive they
are so accomplished you want them to coach others is more likely to get them involved in training than
saying they have some learning gaps. Once they start to learn to coach, they see for themselves that they
might have new skills to develop, and they learn these skills in their own time.