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Are You a Coach or a Referee?

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By Michael Cochrum, CUBI.Pro Recently, I was speaking with a good friend of mine who is a leader in his business.   He was telling me about a decision he was about to make to hire a new employee.   “This hire is critical”, he said, because the organization has had a series of bad separations which has left his team reeling by the disruption.   My advice to him was that he didn’t need to hire a ‘project’, because it was obvious, from recent history, that his organization didn’t do a real good job coaching its team members.   My friend bristled a bit at my comment and, in defense, responded, “I think I’ve been doing a good job helping my team get along with one another and settle disputes.” “But, are you a coach or a referee?”, I challenged.   Both are essential to the game but allow me to explain the difference. A referee’s role in a game is to, first and foremost, know the rules.   They also assume that everyone else knows the rules and, therefore, focuses on rule enforce