Knowledge

Coaching Junior Associates - Why It Does Not Happen

I meet many senior associates that are quite excited about the prospect of "coaching" junior associates and who are asking for training and guidance in this area. But when we go into the discussions, it appears very rapidly that the roadblock that prevents them form coaching is not a lack of coaching skills, but a lack of time. Basically, responding to partners' and clients' demands eats up all their time and attention. There is nothing left for coaching junior associates.  This has nothing to do with senior associates' attitude (they are genuinely eager to coach), but more with a "system" where senior associates are strongly encouraged to spend all their time on client work. For example, in a firm where the exclusive criterion for allocating bonuses and awarding promotions is the number of billable hours, you can't reasonably expect senior associates with a normal sense of self-preservation to allocate a significant part of their time to juniors.  Training of senior associates in coaching skills is far more effective when the "system" actively supports senior associates in their roles as coach. Good coaching is not just a matter of individual skills. It is also a matter of organisational choices.

Antoine Henry de Frahan | 1 July 2007 |