Can coaching just be "done" to people - or do they need to know that it is happening to them?

Yes they do need to know that they are being coached. How else can they be expected to play their part in this complex process? How will they understand the approach and techniques that the coach is using? How else can they be expected to be willing to take responsibility for their own issues, learning, thinking and actions?

If you don’t tell them upfront that they are being coached then there is little or no chance that they will play their part in addressing their issues and actively and purposefully work at addressing their issues and acting to resolve them. Furthermore when they do eventually find this out might they then feel manipulated into doing what you want them to do rather than what they really want and need to do? Is this necessarily a bad thing anyway? Well not if you are happy to be manipulating them to take action in the short term that will help you to achieve your goals. But in the long term, when you are not around and leading and controlling their behaviour then how will they act and react and what will their motivation be to do the best job that they can?

In the short term some managers have said to me that they are taking this coaching approach automatically with their employees within the day to day managing of their people. This is true to some extent where they are using the core skills of a coach in their role as manager.

However this is not the same thing as genuinely and openly executive coaching them to improve their performance by using the COACH technique or similar process to address their own issues and objectives, take responsibility for their performance – and not just working to achieve the basic objectives those chosen for them by their manager.