Today I’m noodling about academic coaching. I received a request from a parent asking whether I could coach their son or daughter as they made their way through their undergraduate business program. I don’t usually get involved in tutoring one on one unless its with one of my students at the university (in which case it’s simply called doing my job and not tutoring per se).
But what got me intrigued was that the person making the request was very specific with their expectation. It wasn’t the tutoring that they were interested in, it was academic coaching and
The request in this situation was unique because the request came from a parent who was approaching academic coaching as an active element of succession planning for the family business. Very forward thinking indeed and an intriguing approach to the very challenging issue of passing the family business between generations. For those of you who haven’t studied such matters, very few second generations achieve the same level of success as the founding generation. I do love the hard challenges.
So the idea is to hire an independent coach to work with your son or daughter to provide them with a quasi mentor, quasi coach, quasi tutor to guide them through their academic years of university with the end goal in mind. Can it make a meaningful difference against the staggering odds inter-generational succession?
You can’t hire a pure academic, because they often lack the real world business acumen. You can’t hire someone from the business world, because they are too far removed from the classroom, which I guess is why I got the call. Half my career is working in the highest levels of industry and the other half is in academia and
So here is the crux of what I came up with to describe the position of an academic coach, which by the way, in and of itself is not new. But what is new, and rare (which is why you keep coming back to this website), is the linkage to business excellence.
The Scope of Academic Coaching Services:
There needs to be mutual agreement between the coach and the student as to the desired outcomes. The simplest way to define academic goals is in terms of grades; however, the coach should seek to ensure that the means lead to the desired end. However, once goals are set, the coach and student mutually commit to their fulfillment and set plans accordingly. These would be updated at the beginning of each semester. The goals will likely evolve throughout the academic life of the student.
Also discussed early in the process is an understanding of the student’s
Coaching is about monitoring progress, evaluating approach, and offering advice and technical expertise when necessary and where appropriate. The coach has one eye on the ultimate objective and one eye on the more immediate requirements of the student’s present course demands.
Coaching would be provided throughout the term through informal weekly meetings, which could be in person (if you live on Canada’s east coast) or video conference otherwise, with phone/email/IM for “on call” support.
During the weekly meetings, the coach would review the ongoing activities and deliverables for each class. These would not be detailed discussions of the line-by-line analysis, but rather just an opportunity for the student to explain their approach, discuss their prioritization of different tasks, and ask for any advice. Any minor technical questions can be handled during the weekly session (where the coach has expertise.) The student will submit major assignments to the coach as well for consideration and holistic feedback.
Traditional tutoring may become necessary where the student experiences difficulties. In areas of expertise, the coach can offer additional assistance in those subjects (for example I’m an
Through this interaction with the student throughout the term, the coach will be in a good position to evaluate the student’s strengths and weaknesses academically and in general business acumen. This is not only important feedback for the student, but for the parents as well.
At this point, it is all a little hypothetical in my mind as I try to work out the details of how this will come together. The biggest challenges I see right now are:
1. Making a connection with the student and gaining their trust- after all, they are young with their own ideas and are probably not all that interested in reporting to someone mom or dad hired to “coach” them (though I’m sure this vary depending on the student). Perhaps there are those second generation students who are forward thinking enough to actually seek such independent counsel as I’ve described.
2. Having to balance the interests of the individual with the desires of the parents. What happens in the case when the individual wants to go their own way in life; whereas, the parent wants their child to take over the family business. To which I believe it is better to know that upfront, then to have the business fail over the long run?
I’m always interested to know what you think as you and I jointly try to push the academic envelop. If you are interested in my academic coaching services, feel free to contract me though any of the contact methods listed on the home page.
