Through the application of a culturally sensitive coaching model, in a Sino-foreign education partnership, this chapter explores a non-directive coaching model and its positive impact on knowledge exchange and innovation. Whilst acknowledging the call from some quarters for the use of a directive approach to coaching, in mainland China, this chapter explores the positive relationship between the non-directive approach and socialisation of knowledge amongst teachers. The chapter also sheds light on the potential positive impact of the GROW model to support the ‘Coaching Dance' and facilitate movement towards a more non-directive approach to enhance knowledge exchange. It is also important of further research into both the GROW model and the development of a coaching approach built upon the foundation of Confucian culture.
TopIntroduction
This chapter applies a culturally sensitive coaching model to investigate the opportunities provided for knowledge exchange and innovation in a Sino-foreign partnership. Particularly, the model is deployed and analysed in the context of a bilingual school based in mainland China.
The current education environment in mainland China provides a rich context for an investigation as it has many parallels with the wider business environment. There is significant political pressure on the education sector to ‘internationalise’ by adopting best global practices (with a significant shift in the legal and political environment aimed at rewarding those who innovate and comply with Central Government’s reforms, whilst embracing Chinese culture) and moving beyond rote learning to a more innovative and collaborative approach to education. This step change and the many fast paced legal reforms have led to an increasingly Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) environment.
It is in this context, and with the ever-increasing presence of Chinese business on the global stage, that we note the critical importance of Western business managers’ understanding of Chinese culture and business practices (Paine, 2010). Yet, few Western business schools reference Chinese business practice and leadership. Management theories often over-simplify the complexity of leadership development in an international context and fail to recognise how philosophical and ideological differences drive a distinctly different approach to leadership and management in Asia (Alves, Manz and Butterfield, 2005).
The field of coaching also suffers from this deficit. Despite the increased use of coaching in China, there is very little research into the effectiveness of coaching intervention in a Chinese context, although, there is significant demand for the development of a culturally specific coaching model (Gallo, 2012; Kim, Egan and Kim, 2013). According to Chau (2016), this is a significant barrier to the development of Chinese executives.
Chinese junior executives often fail to develop career plans and do not take the initiative to set targets with their bosses. Whilst Chinese senior executives, buffeted by the Volatile Uncertain Complex and Ambiguous business environment in China and how they perceive, react to and understand its rapid modernisation are suffering ‘mid-life crisis’ at a far younger age than their Western counterparts (Woo 2011).
As the Chinese government seeks to rapidly move away from an economy built on ‘Made in China’ to one ‘Designed in China’ it emphasises the need for management innovation with rising foreign acquisitions (to stimulate Chinese innovation and creativity), and senior Western executives more likely to work for Chinese companies both in China or in their home country (Regina, Abrami, Kirby and McFarlan, 2014). As such, it is not just Chinese executives that suffer from a lack of a coherent model, but all executives in Sino-foreign partnerships. Such partnerships are likely to continue through the One Belt & One Road initiative, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi calling for continued business collaboration and a greater ‘Think Tank’.
In this context it is critical that an effective international manager understands Chinese business practices and the corresponding leadership needs, being able to innovate and survive in what can be a very volatile business environment, where the turnover of expat CEOs is approximately four times higher than the global average (Paine, 2010).
The cultural context of Sino-foreign partnerships certainly adds a great deal of complexity to the knowledge exchange and innovation processes and whilst Knowledge Management models, such as Nonaka’s SECI model, may provide critical insights for executives engaged in change management and innovation (Percy and Dow, 2020) there are significant gaps in these models as they neither address how new ideas are produced nor how the collaborative process works (Bereiter, 2002).