The manager-coach's roles and skills as needed to optimise the work-life balance of working women.

Abstract

Coaching has been identified as a primary means of enabling growth, development, retention and change amongst those employed in organisations. Executive and external coaching are the primary means of delivering this coaching, and, as a result, coaching often only reaches those at the most senior levels of the organisation. The use of the manager-coach in South African organisations is not widespread but coaching has been identified as a key component of effective leadership in the 21st century and it has been suggested that it is a key leadership style. This research therefore explores the roles that manager-coaches can play in an organisation as well as the skills required to optimise this role. This research therefore took place in an organisation that is implementing a manager-coach approach. Coupled with this was the concept of work-life balance and the realities that working women face in attempting to achieve work-life balance, with the primary objective of the research being to identify the roles and skills needed by the manager-coach to optimise the work-life balance of working women. The data was gathered through face-to-face interviews and contact with a representative focus group and analysed by means of content and thematic analysis. A detailed literature review covering the areas of coaching, and in particular manager-coaching, what optimal work-life balance is as well as the realities facing working women in attempting to achieve work-life balance was also conducted. The findings show that, to optimise work-life balance in working women, the manager-coach plays a critical role in communicating with working women and optimising flexibility and choice for these women. In addition to this, the findings showed that the manager-coach plays a role in facilitating the growth and development of the women who report to them, as well as enabling their performance and providing recognition. The findings showed that these roles are enabled by manager-coach skills such as empathy, support and effective communication. The research concludes by reflecting that the manager-coach has an important role to play in enabling choice and flexibility and the growth and development of working women and it is anticipated that this has a direct impact on both the work-life balance and the retention of these women in the workplace.