I’m driven towards coaching as a process I want to share with others because of how I think I can best make a difference – by supporting and preparing leaders who want to make social change, either as part of their work and/or as part of their overall mission in life. I am doing this work because I love working with people and groups to see them grow and accomplish things that they are passionate about; and because I think we need to do more to support leaders to make change.
As an example, in my original professional field (public health), it’s estimated that between one-third to one-half of the workforce will be eligible for retirement within the next 5-10 years, due to the demography of the baby boom generation. That’s a lot of people, experience, and know-how potentially moving out of the work world in a short amount of time.
So what? Why is this important?
Public health professionals—in their roles as environmental
monitors, inspectors, consumer educators and health care
providers—significantly reduce the number of preventable deaths.
Without an adequate workforce in this field – including those in
leadership roles – the health and safety of our families and
communities may be seriously compromised. While many organizations
(see here)
are working on the issue of workforce development in public health,
there is a great deal of work needed to prepare and support a new
generation of leaders to take up the charge in this field and others.
This issue of leadership development certainly isn’t just unique to
public health – it’s just an example of one field where coaching
leaders should be part of preparing for our future. Coaching shouldn’t
be something just thought of for the for-profit sector either. A
growing group of people, including the James Irvine Foundation,
are finding coaching to be an important organizational development
investment for non-profit leaders as well. The issues that non-profit
and social service agencies are impacting are too important to not
support, develop and encourage their leaders, and I’m dedicated to
being a part of that.