How to Coach Yourself and Others Popular Models for Coaching | Page 311

Is this a missed opportunity? I think it’s in part a reflection of the
fundamental challenge presented by the need to make a human
touch a visible part of an e-coaching “system.” We have no
shortage of collaboration tools. We have no shortage of experts
(though some are self-proclaimed). What we do have is a
shortage of people who can connect the two and who can make
individuals feel as if they matter and that their development is
unique and important. We talk a lot about the power of
technology to create individualized learning experiences, but
often we put all of the onus of creating this learning experience
on the learner. We say (and are told) that learners should pull
the information they need when and where they need it and
that’s true. But isn’t this also a bit of a cop-out? Are we, in effect,
telling our learners to “have at it”? Does this give us an out to
provide canned content to learners in the expectation that it’s
their responsibility to find and use what they need? This is the
age of Web 2.0, after all.
Perhaps our role as learning and development specialists is
neither to push content at learners nor to create systems that
provide every conceivable resource to every conceivable learner.
Instead, maybe our role is to be the human voice that guides
problem-solving. In an online course, we have a responsibility to
make our voice part of the multitude of voices that learners have
access to. We’re neither the “sage on the stage” nor “the guide on
the side,” we’re part of the fray. For me, this is the essence of the
TIM model.

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