Scott in LO11226 raised the key point of 'ownership' and added
'leadership' as critical aspects of performance and change. He talked
about 'experts' and many millions of # or $ or any other currency in all
probability being spent on 'experts', typically external to the
organisation, having minimal impact.
IMO in the 'coaching' process, whether at the individual or organisational
level the coach has to see 'passing on their skills' as one of their key
intentions. Enabling the person or organisation to carry on without you is
IMHO very important.
If we want learning to continue after the project or change programme and
we want to avoid dependence (and I do) then passing on our skills is
essential.
The barrier in many cases is that people are comfortable with dependence
for a number of reasons.
1. It enables them to avoid high levels of personal responsibility for
outcomes
2. If things go wrong they have someone to scapegoat.
3. Having someone do something to them satisfies a demand for activity
(without responsibility!!). The demand often coming from above!! in the
organisation.
Fortunately, this is changing. More people are accepting that experts do
not deliver long term change. They have to be intimately involved. There
are still many who resist and it is a challenge to work with them.
Passing on our skills is one of the most important ways that we can help
others. This ties into the threads about symbiosis, and the comments about
sharing ideas and patents/ownership of ideas/models.
I would be very interested in the views of others.
Ian Saunders
Transition Partnerships - Harnessing change for business advantage
tpians@cix.compulink.co.uk
--tpians@cix.compulink.co.uk (Ian Saunders)
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>