Abstract
Of the many employees who attempt leadership transitions, less than a third can fulfil their role expectations and up to 46% underperform. Transitioning from managing self to managing others is one of the most challenging and complex career growth for a first time junior manager. The challenging complexities of transitioning can be attributed to the learning and acquiring of new leadership skills, the mind-shift of managing others to deliver organisational goals versus individual contribution. The notion is that coaching could provide a particular meaning by helping a newly appointed manager overcome their sense of fear and risk of failure. Therefore, this study explores and highlights the benefits of coaching for junior managers who have recently transitioned from non-managerial to managerial roles.
A qualitative phenomenological approach was adopted which focused on understanding the reality and shared experiences of junior managers who participated in the study. Primary data was collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews with eight junior managers who recently transitioned into junior management roles and have received some form of coaching to assist them to transition to these new roles. In order to identify significant patterns and give meaning to the collected data, a thematic analysis approach was adopted to analyse the data from the interviews.
The findings of this study offer some insight by suggesting that when people go through career transitions in organisations, the requirements for job success change demanding for new skills to be learnt hence the findings in this study support the notion that coaching can add value to first time junior managers.
The study concluded that coaching first time managers who are transitioning contributes significantly in helping them to navigate and adapt to the demands of their new roles. Coaching interventions also contribute to minimizing anxiety and stress including resistance of the new leadership by subordinates.