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Coaching
I have several relationships right now with companies where I’m essentially playing coach to the CIO or CTO. That’s a nice role and probably the most fun I’ve had in any of the consulting I’ve done. I get pulled into all kinds of things. Sometimes, its a quick question about a product and other times its a multi-week session to develop product strategy. I mentioned this sort of thing in a discussion of CIO resolutions for 2005. Many people are in roles where they could use a coach. Coaches aren’t necessarily someone who can do the job better and they’re certainly not an indication that the person getting coached can’t do the job themselves. The value I provide has a couple of components. First, I have perspective because I’m not in the day-to-day work. Second, I have the luxury of keeping current—somethings that’s hard to do in any role with operational responsibilities.
Posted by windley on January 6, 2005 3:55 PM
Comment from Steve Shu at January 7, 2005 12:33 PM
Very good post. In my primary job as independent of being an author for The CIO Weblog, I serve as a freelance management consultant. I find that the consultant-client relationship at the operational level (as compared to the consultant-sponsor level) is sometimes one of the trickiest things for client operations management to understand. Until the engagement is rolling, the relationship can feel like that awkward first dance until people *really* get a feel for how the relationship is going to work (beyond what words and expectations have been set up front).