Coaching in the Development of Professional Competences

Roland Weiner

EMBA Madrid 2019 – Section A

Valencia, 12/11/17

Commentary on recommended reading – “Coaching in the Development of Professional Competences”

The technical note explains briefly how to develop competences through coaching and what is important for a manager in order to be an effective coach. The author starts by defining competences – observable, habitual conducts that enable a person to achieve success – and explaining how competences are acquired (the result of  the individual´s innate traits, knowledge, motivation and skills). He emphasizes that the most important is a positive attitude towards learning. That means that only willing and able persons can further develop their competences. He further explains how coaches can foster a positive attitude towards learning in case the person to be coached does not have a positive attitude. Subsequently the author describes how certain character traits, virtues and metacompetences are linked to each other and why they are needed in order to acquire other competences. Finally the essential aptitudes and attitudes of an effective coach are described as well as the importance of a professional coach that is able to develop the desired professional competences of the person to be coached.

Taking into consideration the observed change in organizations in these days (from management by objectives to management by competences / managing people) the article is now more important and up to date than ever. As seen as well in the case “Coaching at Banco Azucarero de Cali” nowadays basically everybody holds personnel evaluations and end-of-year performance interviews where he or she should act as a coach if the organization has adapted the new management style without proper training. As Ramiro Córdoba Pizarro said in the case: “all this business about competencies seems somewhat philosophical to me”.  I am sure he is not the only one that feels this way, even though the received a “basic training”. Very few mangers receive a proper training on how to coach people effectively, neither during their studies nor in their organizations. For me this is a huge problem giving the importance of a proper and effective coaching for the development of a person or an organization.