The Leader as a Coach: A Paradox-based View

Abstract

Growing emphasis in organizations on reimagining the leader as a coach who prioritizes the development of team members in addition to focusing on task performance often ignores the possibility of emergent tensions in such an approach. Delineating these tensions could help researchers design methodologically rigorous studies on leadership effectiveness, and enable practitioners to train supervisors in the complexities involved in leadership-as-coaching. In this article, I throw light on these nuances by elaborating the learning-related paradoxes that emerge when the organizational leader acts as a coach. I describe five pairs of tensions that emerge in the learning and development of the follower: change and continuity; autonomy and structure; convergence and divergence; short and long-term orientations; and authenticity and social influence. I also explain their bi-directional cognitive, affective, and motivational impacts. Implications for research and practice are discussed.