The Role of Coaching and Mentoring: Addressing the Leadership Deficit

Abstract

The massive, complex problems facing the world in the twenty-first century demand effective leadership that can offer good judgement, systems thinking and unity. What we have in so many instances is self-serving, myopic, divisive and polarising leaders.

The radical changes that are needed in the selection and development of wise leaders are creating a growing role for coaches. However, at the same time the concept of leadership as being vested in an authority figure is giving way to leadership as a function distributed amongst teams. So, the focus of coaching on one-to-one leader development can be seen as compounding the problems of organisational inflexibility – not least because the unit of productivity in organisations is now the team, not the individual. An inevitable outcome of these trends is a radical rethink of both leadership and coaching.

Citation

Clutterbuck, D. (2022), "The Role of Coaching and Mentoring: Addressing the Leadership Deficit", Gray, H., Gimson, A. and Cunningham, I. (Ed.) Developing Leaders for Real: Proven Approaches That Deliver Impact, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 175-186. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80071-364-220221027