Who needs a Coach?

About a month ago I met with Peter Irvine, one of the most successful business leaders in the world and one of the founders of the Gloria Jeans Coffee worldwide franchisee empire. He is a truly remarkable individual. We had a good discussion and shared many thoughts and views regarding life, business and leadership. As a freelance political and business writer for the Business Resource & Lifestyle Magazine (download the article page 18), I was interested to learn Peter's perspective on important issues of life and business. After our meeting I walked away with a book he has written: "Win in Business". Let me quote from the book: "If Tiger Woods – the greatest golfer in the world – needs a coach, who says you don't need one! By 'coach' I mean find someone who is going to be positive, someone who is going to be able to sow into your life. Find someone who doesn't think with "bottom of the pile' mentality." Do Medicare Coaches fit the category of a good coach? Not according to my experience. Some of the coaches I have encountered in Medicare have the potential to be good or even outstanding coaches. There are some who are sort of Ok, but most are with ingrained "bottom of the pile" mentality. But why is this so? Why there aren't any outstanding coaches within Medicare? I submit it is because of the culture of utter mediocrity within the Medicare; a culture where excellence is often mentioned in slogans and countless statements and charters, but when it comes to application of excellence, at any level of management, the picture is quite different.

Once I attended one of those useless training programs, where the program instructor described the "official" role of the coach within Medicare is to execute the instructions coming from the coach's superiors; full stop. Wow, what an impressive position statement! Sure enough, it appears that those coaches who excel in being the whip of their masters do get the promotion and the accolades from their supervisors. On my floor we have a couple of coaches who are famous for spending their time on spying and pestering SOs; looking for opportunities to "catch" and reprimand SOs for every little, real or perceived mistake.

Instead of amplifying individual's strengths and ability and building up teams based on individual and collective strenghts and abilities, these coaches are more keen on tearing down individuals. These coaches are completely void of people management skills, yet their "bottom of the pit" mentality is rewarded. It is for this reason that our coaches are mediocre at best.

Some of Medicare's leaders and supervisors mimic Wilhelm Klink, a social climber, who surround themselves with "I know nothing! Nothing!" Sergeant Schultzes.

"The Ignorance is bliss!" and the "What you don't know won't hurt you!" attitudes have permeated the organisational culture of Medicare deeply and are promoted so vigorously that even the truly capable individuals have yielded to such attitudes in order to get the promotion. The sad thing about all these is that once they suck up to the mediocrity, they seem to be entrapped in it forever. I have met some really smart, potentially great coaches and highly capable managers in Medicare, yet, by their own admission they are not willing to challenge the small mindedness of the system, for the fear of being marginalized. Others, well, they have had enough of sucking up to and glorifying the mediocrity and have abandoned the organization, benefiting other organisations with their skills and know-how, leaving Medicare even more saturated with mediocrity.

Recognise some of the coaches / supervisors?

Sucking-Up:


I see Nothing!


Flip Flopper