When a teenage Christiano Ronaldo first started his career, he was fresh-faced and full of spunk. But it was Sir Alex Ferguson, the football manager of Manchester United, who saw the promise behind the raw edges — and refused to let him leave the stadium until he agreed to sign for his team.
He clearly had foresight. Years later, Ronaldo went on to become one of football’s greatest stars.
But Ronaldo wasn’t the only one. The same can be said for countless others who thrived under Ferguson’s leadership and became indispensable to the team, including David Beckham, Eric Cantona, and Ryan Giggs. Ferguson knew just how to tailor his approach to each person. “He knew exactly what each player needed, whether it was a pat on the back or a kick up the backside,” said Giggs.
It is no wonder that Ferguson is regarded as the ‘father’ of football players, managing Manchester United for 26 seasons until he retired in 2013. His attention to detail and uncanny ability to bring out the best in his players established a foundation of mutual trust that allowed the team to consistently act as one unit and dominate the field.
The same holds true in business. Great leaders must see themselves as supportive coaches rather than autocratic bosses, guiding their employees rather than micromanaging them. Only then can they score goals together.
As the world evolves, so too must our mindsets and leadership styles to better prepare our employees to take on any challenge that comes our way.
Taking a Shot in a BANI World
In our new BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, and Incomprehensible) world, where the increasing pace of change is a constant, even the best leaders cannot possibly know everything.
Success in the BANI world demands an overhaul of corporate leadership. Instead of a top-down approach, companies must foster an environment of collaborative change that centres on effective communication, creativity, and coaching.
People are the most powerful force in any organisation. To prepare for a volatile world, leaders need to enhance their coaching and communicative skills to build up and empower their people. According to McKinsey, when employees find greater intrinsic motivation, they are 32% more committed to their work and 46% more satisfied with their jobs.This lays a strong foundation to help steer the company through a crisis.
Organisations are well aware of the benefits of workplace coaching, which include improving employees’ skills and knowledge, increasing employee job satisfaction and productivity, as well as boosting their confidence and resilience in tackling challenges in the workplace. A report by NTUC LearningHub in 2025 found that coaching (34 per cent) is one of the top initiatives business leaders are prioritising in the next five years. Most business leaders (85 per cent) and employees (80 per cent) also believe that coaching enhances both personal and professional development.
“The solution to some of the toughest human resource challenges in the workplace—namely engagement, retention, and trust—is found in coaching. Although developing leaders as coaches can be challenging, overcoming these difficulties is worth it. You endure the effort once, but the long-term payoff continues year after year,” according to Dr. Henry Toi, author of Think to Thrive: Reengineering Your Mind for Growth and a partner of SIM Academy, who developed the new coaching course, Lead, Coach, Inspire: Everyday Techniques for Powerful Conversations.
Listen, Ask, and Guide
So what makes a good coach? To put it simply, it is striking the right balance between discipline and encouragement. A good leader-coach cannot be too heavy-handed and quick to criticise, nor can they be too lenient at the risk of undermining growth and accountability. And rather than micromanaging employees, which defeats the point of hiring them in the first place, leaders should entrust them with responsibilities, empowering them to perform at their highest potential.
Coaching is all about active listening and questioning as well as intentional guidance, and is a mindset to be applied every day at work. Use it during performance reviews, frame questions in daily interactions with other staff members, and check in on the well-being of employees. According to coaching platform BetterUp, companies with a strong coaching culture have a 45 per cent higher year-on-year revenue growth than those that do not prioritise coaching. The former are also 16 per cent more likely to bounce back to full performance after setbacks or stressful experiences. Implementing workplace coaching ensures that organisations have the ability to stay strong and responsive even during trying times.
For instance, AstraZeneca, a global science-led biopharmaceutical business, witnessed great results after shifting from a performance management approach to a coaching-focused strategy. Annual reviews became regular conversations that focused on employees’ contributions rather than their performance, while coaching capability programmes were developed for managers and leaders to strengthen skills such as asking meaningful questions and encouraging open dialogue.
The impact was far-reaching. Managers reported a 70 per cent increase in confidence in holding meaningful conversations with employees, leading to noticeable improvements in effective communication and teamwork. Meanwhile, 88 per cent of employees believed they had improved their existing skills or learned new ones within the coaching ecosystem.
Help for Effective Coaching
Yet, coaching remains a relatively underdeveloped skill. About a quarter of business leaders lack coaching skills and formal training, while over half of them say they have the skills to coach but are not formally certified, found NTUC LearningHub’s 2025 report.
This isn’t surprising. Like any other skill, coaching takes time, discipline, and practice to master — and leaders are often wired to want quick results. It can also feel counterintuitive to traditional notions of top-down leadership, with leaders initially feeling uncomfortable about shifting from directing to listening.
“Coaching is all about the coachee. The coachee sets the agenda, the pace and it takes time to see results in the coachee,” says Dr. Henry Toi.
To train business leaders who are also effective workplace coaches, SIM Academy’s “Lead, Coach, Inspire: Everyday Techniques for Powerful Conversations” course is designed to help participants build an executive presence while honing their communication strategies. It teaches them how to guide their employees to set goals and solve difficult situations on their own.
As the volatility of the BANI world intensifies, workplace coaching must evolve from a personal development tool to an organisation-wide priority. The rise of AI threatens to disrupt workplace practices, driving organisational restructuring and creating an even more crucial need for retraining. Amid such shifts, coaching is imperative in helping employees navigate change and reach their full potential, driving sustainable business success.
After all, as Ferguson once said in an interview with Harvard Business School, “The job of a manager, like that of a teacher, is to inspire people to be better.”
