Why Management “Openness” Is Not the Same as Coachability

Category: Management & Governance
Read Time: ~5 minutes

Openness is about attitude. It shows up in meetings as agreement, politeness, and receptiveness to ideas. Coachability is about action. It shows up later — when priorities shift, habits are challenged, and decisions must change.

Many teams are open to conversation. Far fewer are willing to change how they operate when that change is uncomfortable.

The Moment Coachability Is Revealed

Coachability tends to surface around a few predictable moments.

It shows up when a familiar process is replaced with a standardized one. When authority shifts away from a founder. When performance is measured differently. When accountability becomes explicit.

At that point, openness often fades. What remains is the team’s true tolerance for change.

Why This Matters More Than Experience

Buyers often overweight experience and underweight adaptability.

A management team can be deeply experienced and still resistant to change — especially if that experience has been validated for years. Past success hardens habits. It creates identity around “how things are done.”

Coachability requires the opposite: the willingness to question methods that previously worked.

That is rare, and it is costly emotionally.

The Governance Mistake That Follows

When coachability is overestimated, buyers compensate poorly.

They delay hard decisions. They soften expectations. They accept partial adoption of new processes. Over time, this creates a hybrid system that satisfies no one — not the buyer seeking change, and not the team trying to preserve autonomy.

Execution slows quietly. Friction increases. The original thesis weakens without a single obvious failure point.

How to Assess Coachability More Honestly

Coachability is best assessed through evidence, not statements.

Look for examples where management has already changed behavior, not just discussed it. Ask what was stopped, not just what was added. Pay attention to how decisions were made when trade-offs were real, not hypothetical.

Most importantly, observe whether accountability has teeth or simply language.

Practical Takeaway

Do not confuse enthusiasm with adaptability.

A management team that nods early but resists later is more dangerous than one that pushes back honestly from the start. Resistance can be managed. Passive non-adoption is harder to detect and harder to fix.

Underwrite behavior, not tone.

 Closing Thought

Openness makes diligence easier.
Coachability determines whether the strategy ever gets executed.

The difference between the two only becomes clear when change carries a cost — and someone has to pay it.