Let’s get one thing on the table. I am not on board with the Player-Coach idea AT ALL.
What is a Player-Coach?
A player-coach is a leader who spends much of their time doing the work as well as leading the people doing it. Originally a sports concept, it’s rapidly gaining traction in environments like sales and software engineering as organisations flatten structures and want managers to remain hands-on experts while still coaching and developing their teams.
This is borrowing a sports concept that’s been obsolete since the 60s. Even then it only worked occasionally. Modern sports – like modern business – has become too specialized, and demands full-time, separate focus for both players and coaches to excel.
What’s wrong with that?
This model will mean that middle managers are actively encouraged to revert to being a subject matter expert. Don’t get me wrong, many fall back into old SME habits under pressure anyway (which has been a historic irritant for most employers) and some would be secretly delighted to be ‘let off the hook’ for the more ‘managery’ stuff.
Without your close attention, the inevitable pull of urgent versus important work will kick in and you’ll end up with an overpriced SME or an undersupported team.
Because the best players rarely make the best coaches. The balance will always be off.
Now – let’s pretend you have a solid solution to ensuring they balance the player and the coach duties perfectly and so avoid the trap above. Excellent! Then you have to tackle this other issue.
Middle Managers are also expected to get involved in more strategic work, supporting their Executives. Sticking with the sporting theme, these are the team Manager tasks. This isn’t a player-coach-manager model, so the manager tasks are dropped to balance player-coach tasks. Enterprise leadership immediately declines and creates a strategy-to-action vacuum.
This isn’t a Player-Coach-Manager model. And that creates a vacuum.
If your managers aren’t operating in that manager mode in the future, where will your future Executives come from? The looming risk of the Executive pipeline is a bigger and nastier issue to unpack – this is just one of many contributing factors.
Player-Coaches don’t work in sport, and won’t work in business.
Now, we have some very exciting things on the menu at the moment, so please take a browse and I promise not to rant to you when you reach out – unless you specifically ask!
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The B-Suite Benchmarks® 2026 are nearly here!
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Darwin, I’m coming for YOU.
Thrilled to be partnering with AHRI and Biznorth again this year, this time to provide a full day training event in Darwin CBD that will knock your socks off.
Conversations that Drive Performance is for leaders who want results, but also want to be authentic. We don’t need to sacrifice mateship for leadership. And no-one wants their boss to sound like a robot. Join me and network with your peers from the Top End.
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Rebecca is Australia’s pre-eminent advocate for B-suite leadership – the expert in developing hi-impact B-Suite leadership at both a team and individual level.
Speak to Rebecca about:
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You can reach her on [email protected]
