The traditional manager role included significant knowledge transfer: explaining how to do tasks, answering questions about procedures, providing information employees needed.

AI is taking over much of this. An employee can ask an AI assistant how to format a report, navigate a system, or understand a policy—often faster and more accurately than asking their manager.

This shift doesn’t make managers less important. It changes what they’re important for. As AI handles knowledge transfer, managers should focus on what AI can’t do: coaching for development, growth, and performance.

Most managers aren’t prepared for this shift. Here’s how to develop the coaching capabilities they need.

What Coaching Actually Means

Let’s be specific about coaching versus other manager activities:

Coaching is helping someone develop capability through questions, observation, feedback, and guided reflection. The coach helps the person learn, not just perform.

Directing is telling someone what to do. It produces immediate performance but not development.

Teaching is explaining how to do something. It transfers knowledge but may not build capability.

Mentoring is sharing experience and advice based on the mentor’s journey. It’s valuable but different from coaching.

Many managers default to directing and teaching because those feel efficient. But as AI becomes better at both, coaching becomes the manager’s distinctive value.

Why Coaching Matters More Now

Several trends elevate coaching importance. Research from Harvard Business Review on manager effectiveness shows that coaching capability increasingly differentiates high-performing managers:

Work changes faster. When work was stable, managers could direct based on experience. When work changes constantly, employees need capability to figure things out—which requires coaching.

AI does the routine. As AI handles routine cognitive work, humans focus on complex judgment, creativity, and relationship—capabilities developed through coaching, not direction.

Employees expect development. Talented people want growth, not just employment. Managers who can’t develop people lose them.

Learning is continuous. Annual training events are insufficient. Daily coaching enables continuous development that periodic programs can’t achieve.

Managers who can coach effectively multiply their impact. Those who can’t become bottlenecks in an environment that demands adaptation.

The Coaching Skill Set

Effective coaching requires specific capabilities:

Active Listening

Most people listen to respond. Coaches listen to understand.

Active listening means:

• Full attention to what the person is saying
• Observing non-verbal cues
• Suspending judgment during the conversation
• Seeking to understand the person’s perspective

This is harder than it sounds, especially for busy managers who want quick solutions.

Powerful Questions

Coaches ask questions that promote thinking, not just questions that gather information.

Powerful questions:

• Are open-ended rather than yes/no
• Explore assumptions and perspectives
• Promote self-reflection
• Challenge without attacking
• Create insight rather than defensiveness

“What did you try?” is a better coaching question than “Did you try X?” The former promotes reflection; the latter seeks confirmation.

Observation and Feedback

Coaches notice what’s happening and share observations effectively.

This requires:

• Attention to behaviour and patterns
• Ability to describe observations specifically
• Skill in delivering feedback constructively
• Focus on development, not just correction

Poor feedback damages trust. Skilled feedback builds it.

Developmental Challenge

Coaches push people beyond comfort zones while maintaining support.

This means:

• Assigning stretch tasks that build capability
• Providing autonomy to figure things out
• Being available for support without taking over
• Accepting productive struggle as part of development

The balance is challenging—too much push creates overwhelm; too little creates stagnation.

Goal Setting and Accountability

Coaches help people set meaningful goals and hold them accountable.

This involves:

• Collaboratively defining development objectives
• Breaking goals into actionable steps
• Following up on commitments
• Adjusting plans based on progress

Accountability without micromanagement requires trust and clear expectations.

Developing Coaching Capability

Coaching skills don’t develop automatically from management experience. Deliberate development is required.

Foundation: Coaching Mindset

Before skills training, address mindset:

• From “I need to have answers” to “I need to help them find answers”
• From “efficiency means doing it myself” to “development requires their struggle”
• From “my experience is the guide” to “their context may differ”
• From “feedback is correction” to “feedback is development”

Mindset shift often requires experiential learning—seeing coaching work, experiencing being coached, reflecting on difference from directing.

Skill Building: Structured Practice

Coaching skills develop through practice with feedback:

Workshop learning: Initial skill introduction through workshops that include practice scenarios.

Peer coaching: Managers practicing coaching each other on real development goals.

Supervised practice: Coaching real employees with observation and feedback from skilled coaches.

Reflection routines: Regular review of coaching conversations to identify what worked and what didn’t.

For organisations seeking to build systematic coaching capability, AI consultants Sydney include manager coaching modules specifically designed for the AI age transition.

Integration: Making Coaching Normal

Individual skill building isn’t enough—coaching needs to become normal management practice:

Protected time: Managers need time for coaching conversations, not just operational meetings.

Expectations: Coaching should be explicit expectation, not optional enhancement.

Recognition: Managers who develop their teams should be recognised for it.

Modelling: Senior leaders should coach their direct reports visibly.

Support: Ongoing Development

Coaching capability needs ongoing support:

Coaching communities: Forums where managers share challenges and techniques.

Advanced development: Progression beyond basics for managers who want deeper capability.

External coaching: Professional coaches who can model advanced practice.

Resources: Tools, frameworks, and references that support coaching practice.

The AI Coaching Paradox

Here’s an interesting tension: AI can assist with coaching itself.

AI coaching applications can:

• Prompt reflection through questions
• Provide feedback on specific work
• Track development goals
• Suggest development resources

But AI coaching has limitations:

• Limited understanding of personal context
• No genuine relationship or trust
• Inability to read emotional subtlety
• No organisational political awareness

The answer isn’t “AI replaces manager coaching” or “manager coaching ignores AI.” It’s integration:

Managers use AI to support coaching (suggesting questions, providing resources, tracking progress) while providing the human elements AI can’t: relationship, judgment, empathy, and contextual understanding.

Measurement and Evaluation

How do you know if manager coaching capability is improving?

Lagging indicators:

• Team performance improvement
• Employee retention rates
• Promotion rates from the team
• Employee engagement scores

Leading indicators:

• Frequency of coaching conversations
• Employee perception of manager development support
• Manager confidence in coaching skills
• Quality of development plans

Direct observation:

• Coaching conversation observations
• 360-degree feedback on coaching behaviours
• Case studies of development success

Measure a combination to understand whether coaching investment is working.

The Organisational Shift

Building coaching capability isn’t just a training program—it’s an organisational shift:

From: Managers as directors who ensure work gets done To: Managers as coaches who develop people while work gets done

This shift requires:

• Changed expectations at all leadership levels
• Adjusted time allocations
• Modified performance criteria
• Different skill development focus
• Cultural reinforcement

It’s significant change. But in an environment where AI handles routine management tasks, it’s essential change.

Starting the Journey

For L&D teams building manager coaching capability:

1. Assess current state. How do your managers spend their time now? How much is coaching versus directing?

2. Build the business case. Why does coaching matter more now? What outcomes will improve?

3. Start with willing managers. Develop coaching capability in managers who want it before requiring it universally.

4. Integrate with existing programs. Coaching development can enhance existing leadership programs rather than competing with them.

5. Create practice opportunities. Skill development requires practice. Create structures that enable it.

6. Measure and adjust. Track whether coaching capability is improving and outcomes are changing.

The AI age demands different management. Help your managers make the shift.