“The carrot and the stick are pervasive and persuasive motivators. But if you treat people like donkeys, they will perform like donkeys”
The above quote comes from the late Sir John Whitmore, who was one of the pioneers of the performance coaching movement (as well as a legendary racing driver) and a passionate believer in leadership as a quality that should exist throughout an organisation, rather than being concentrated at its peak. Together with his colleague, Graham Alexander, he created the GROW model in the 1980s as a way to make coaching conversations ‘fluid, natural and artistic’.
I first encountered...