Hello, I am Roach the Coach and I am your guide through the Coaching Chronicles. There are 4,500 species of us cockroaches so we are well placed, across the globe, and across time, to tell you about coaching…
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, but a less well-known fact is that he was also the 16th President of the US Coaching Union (USCU).
In 1861, Lincoln took on the poisoned chalice of President of the USCU. This job was a particularly toxic role as the group had split geographically on a fundamental issue – the definition of Manager Coach. In the South, they believed ardently that staff had to be slaves and that they should be directed on what to do.
In the North, they had a very different view. Having been heavily influenced by the Pilgrim Fathers and the wave of non-directive coaching approaches that came out of Cape COD (Coaching on Delivery), managers in the North held a firm belief that even if you had slaves, you could not call yourself a Manager Coach if all you did was bark orders.
This rift had been around for years, but the growth of the Union continued to ignite the debate, until one day, the Southern branches ‘declared war’ on the Northern branches’ view.
Lincoln saw a chance not only to end the Manager Coach rift among the coaching fraternity, but also to change American history by abolishing slavery forever.
In a bold and rare move, Lincoln took the declaration of war from the Southern branches as a declaration of war, full stop. It was the start of the American Civil War.
Lincoln was a natural coach and applied many of the formal coaching principles we see today to his daily life.
When thinking of marriage, he had ‘chemistry’ sessions’. His first serious contender, Ann Rutledge, was courted for a while, but sadly died before Lincoln had a chance to reach a decision. He then courted Mary Owens and, following reflection, wrote to her to say he thought them not a good match. He then courted Mary Todd and they got engaged. Lincoln realised in supervision that he had not reflected thoroughly on this decision, so broke off the engagement. However, they met again at a party and Lincoln concluded the chemistry was right so they married.
Lincoln also embraced the notion that telling people what to do rarely yielded the best results. He firmly believed in a person-centred approach – he valued Rogerian theory. In all his coaching conversations, Lincoln truly held people in the highest positive regard. That said, in 1844, Lincoln and his new wife moved to Springfield. It was here that Lincoln first experienced a challenge to this belief, and it gave birth to some of the most famous quotes in history.
One balmy Springfield day, Lincoln’s wife came to ask her husband to help her new friend Marge with a terrible predicament. Marge’s husband Homer (who clearly had some learning and social difficulties) had gone out to start a new job as a tree feller that day and had forgotten to take his tools. Marge wanted to drop off the tools at the woods, but knew her tall blue hair was so distinctive that her husband’s colleagues would instantly recognise her, thus making Homer look like an idiot and possibly lose him his job.
Lincoln agreed to help but only in his typical non-directive way. He delved into his coaching self and worked with Marge to help her come up with some options she could try to ensure she could discreetly drop off her husband’s tools. She concluded that if Lincoln would lend her his Stovepipe hat, it would hide her unique hair and she could get to Homer unrecognised.
Later that evening, Homer came to thank Lincoln for helping his wife. Lincoln asked Homer how long it took to chop down the larger trees. Homer said it took the other guys six hours, but he was struggling to get it done in eight. Lincoln was overwhelmed by the stupidity of this man.
Although a typical non-directive coach, a rare moment of weakness overcame Lincoln and he delivered a directive suggestion that would fuel the argument for directive practices for years to come: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
Homer looked surprised – he didn’t know you could sharpen an axe. Lincoln noted, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than speak out and remove all doubt.”
In his supervision session, Lincoln spoke of his shame for not holding Homer in the highest positive regard. He committed to never allowing that to happen again.
Although challenged many times through the hardship of the American Civil War, Lincoln remained true to his principles and acted as a beacon for non-directive coaching. In the Gettysburg Address he reminded the nation of the futility of ‘telling’ when trying to effect change, and the importance of helping people find their own answers.
Sam Humphrey is an independent coach
Coaching at work volume 8, issue 2