Section 5. Emerging Article Themes
The eighty-one selected articles were coded, outlined, and reviewed. Several themes emerged and are summarized in this section following the Leadership Coaching Framework. Prior to discussing these themes, the coding scheme and outline structure employed with each article is shared. These outlines are located in Section 6.
Each article was coded on several dimensions. In addition to coding the Leadership Coaching Framework categories addressed in the article, each publication was coded on the general nature of the article (for example, conceptual or empirical). Articles with a strong and comprehensive introduction on the topic, as well as those that used a particularly effective methodology in investigating a research question, were designated accordingly. Lastly, each article was coded with the number of references included in the article and the total page length. A full description of the article coding process is provided in Table 1 (p. 4). Overall summaries of the articles collectively included in each category of the Leadership Coaching Framework are presented below.
The overview articles provide a broad appreciation of the current coaching literature and a common ground for interpreting the articles that focus on specific aspects of leadership coaching. This summary draws on a variety of literatures—including training, consulting, industrial and organizational psychology, and human resource practices—to present an overview of trends and issues in executive coaching. The overview includes seven conceptual articles, four literature reviews, two empirical studies, and one viewpoint piece. In reviewing these articles, several distinct issues emerged.
First, executive coaching should be distinguished from mentoring, therapy, and counseling (Feldman & Lankau, 2005; Hollenbeck, 2002; Kampa-Kokesch & Anderson, 2001; Passmore & Gibbes, 2007; Stern, 2004). Although these practices may inform the coaching field (for example, McKenna & Davis, 2009), executive coaching is a distinct form of learning and development that utilizes data gathering, constructive feedback, and a dyadic working relationship to improve the effectiveness of higher-level employees (Feldman & Lankau, 2005; Hollenbeck, 2002; Lowman, 2005; Passmore & Gibbes, 2007).
Articles in the overview section, as well as many throughout the entire sourcebook, also contribute to an understanding of executive coaching by identifying the specific inputs and processes associated with effective executive coaching (Joo, 2005; Ting & Hart, 2003; Passmore & Gibbes, 2007). These aspects of coaching include coach competencies (Bluckert, 2005b; Dean & Meyer, 2002; Stern, 2004; Wasylyshyn, 2003), the need for executive coaching training (Bluckert, 2005b; Dean & Meyer, 2002), and the importance of coach and client fit (Hollenbeck, 2002; Joo, 2005; Ting & Hart, 2003). Effective executive coaching also requires a multilevel approach, in which a coach addresses the specific needs of the executive as well as how that individual relates to the overall system or organization (Orenstein, 2002; Stern, 2004).
These articles also highlight future directions for executive coaching research. A consistent appeal is for the field to develop a common definition of executive coaching that is accepted by both the scientific and applied communities (Kampa-Kokesch & Anderson, 2001; Lowman, 2005; Stern, 2004). These articles argue that the definition should emphasize the unique contribution provided by executive coaching relative to advising, mentoring, therapy, and counseling. In addition, more empirical research should be conducted to validate currently recommended practices as well as identify potential moderators (for example, individual differences, measurements, and contexts) of the executive coaching processes (Kampa-Kokesch & Anderson, 2001; Passmore & Gibbes, 2007).
Coach and Client Characteristics
Coach and client characteristics articles address coach and client attributes that are potentially critical to the coaching process. Identifying coach characteristics—including knowledge, skills, and abilities that are essential for effective coaching—and potential clients who will benefit from coaching is critical for understanding how the individuals involved influence coaching outcomes and who should be involved in the coaching process itself. Relevant coach variables likely include coaching philosophy, coaching competencies, and experience, motivation, and personality attributes. Relevant client variables include readiness, skill needs, developmental goals, prior coaching experience, motivation, and personality attributes.
Pre-coaching activities involve conducting a needs-and-readiness assessment to select coaches who possess the requisite skills and abilities and to identify clients who are receptive and prepared for coaching; this is done to increase the probability of successful coaching outcomes. Determining resources required for executive coaching, and the manner in which organizations select coaches (Hollenbeck, 2002) and clients to receive coaching, have received a relatively high degree of attention (Ting & Hart, 2003).
Many of these articles investigate coach characteristics deemed important by clients and experienced coaches (Blackman, 2006; Hall, Otazo, & Hollenbeck, 1999). Characteristics identified as important include good communication and listening skills, credibility and experience, integrity, empathy, intelligence, psychological mindedness, assessment knowledge, motivational skills, ability to develop rapport, and business knowledge (Blackman, 2006; Blukert 2005b; Dean & Meyer, 2002; Hall et al., 1999; Stevens, 2005).
Many articles also compare the effectiveness or perceived effectiveness of coaches based on who provides the coaching, such as an internal or external coach (Ahern, 2005; Hall et al., 1999; Sue-Chan & Latham, 2004), or on the educational background of the coach (Barner & Higgins, 2007; Bono, Purvanova, Towler, & Peterson, 2009; Garman, Whiston, & Zlatoper, 2000; Homan & Miller, 2008; Liljenstrand & Nebeker, 2008). Overall, there appears to be relatively small differences in coaching as a result of educational background, though psychologists generally are recognized as having a stronger background in measurement and are more likely to use empirically validated techniques (Bono et al., 2009).
The literature on essential client characteristics is less extensive, but characteristics suggested as important for successful coaching to occur include individual readiness, psychological readiness, and environmental readiness (Ting & Hart, 2003), as well as individual difference attributes such as conscientiousness, openness to experience, emotional stability, and general self-efficacy (Stewart, Palmer, Wilkin, & Kerrin, 2008). A related and interesting theme is adapting coaching interventions to meet individual needs, such as the adult development stage of the client (Axelrod, 2005) or clients in less-developed countries (Renner, 2007). Articles of this nature highlight that client characteristics are important not just for identifying potential clients but also for understanding how client characteristics can influence the coaching process itself.
Collectively, these articles provide a foundation for identifying coach and client attributes that are important to consider in the coaching process; however, there are several fruitful and critical areas for future research. First, although a wide variety of coach and client attributes have been identified, many of these articles are conceptual in nature. Empirical research is needed to evaluate the influence of these characteristics on coaching processes and outcomes. Second, a theoretical rationale for why and when attributes of the coach and client matter needs to be considered. For instance, Alvey and Barclay (2007) addressed coach characteristics important for establishing trusting relationships with clients, thus addressing the question of why coach and client attributes they identified are important. Third, rather than focusing on how educational background influences the coaching process, future research needs to focus on training that can improve the effectiveness of coaching (Bono et al., 2009). Finally, focused attention is needed on selection criteria to determine potential clients most likely to benefit from coaching and how the coaching engagement may need to change based on the unique characteristics of individual clients.
Coach-client match is the process of pairing a coach to an individual client. Although a good match or fit between a client and coach is generally considered critical to the development of an effective coaching relationship, consensus regarding which factors are most important and their optimum composition, as well as effective processes in performing the match, is more elusive. The Leadership Coaching Framework suggests that the quality of the coach-client match moderates the effects of coach and client characteristics on the coaching process and relationship. Based on this literature, coach and client characteristics that may be relevant in pairing include commonalities in demographic, professional, and personal backgrounds, compatibility in behavioral preferences such as personality and work styles, and the coach’s credibility based on his or her competence and experience relative to the client’s coaching needs.
The coach-client match articles examine the issues related to the matching process as well as the interaction between the characteristics that each individual brings to the coaching experience. However, the topic is generally treated as a fringe issue. Twelve of the seventeen articles marginally examine matching within the context of other leadership coaching issues—predominantly coach and client characteristics and coaching process. However, despite the peripheral attention, five of these articles (Boyce et al., 2010; Hollenbeck, 2002; Homan & Miller, 2008; O’Broin & Palmer, 2006; Passmore et al., 2006) provide relatively greater insights on matching issues. Further, coach-client issues are central to four of the most recent publications (Carr, 2008; Scoular & Linley, 2006; Sparrow, 2008; Wycherley & Cox, 2008), indicative of the emergent interest in supporting the dyadic relationship.
A review of the coach-client-match articles identified three trends reflecting the state of the literature, the current conceptual and research foci, and the direction for future research. Unlike the leadership coaching literature in general, the published articles collected largely examine matching issues from a research perspective, with seven of the seventeen classified as research articles. Although the conceptual articles discuss the current matching processes, the research articles study the matching factors, including compatibility and credibility variables in building client-coach relationships. Most of the articles, however, explicate the need for further research to understand and guide practice, suggesting that any directions or conclusions would be premature. As a whole, these articles contribute to the understanding of matching issues by building on mentoring and psychotherapy literature and laying a foundation on which to build future research. As the research designs employed were often qualitative and less stringent, future research needs to be quantitative, systematic, and rigorous. Employing validated measures, reporting study design details and statistical outcomes, and grounding the work in theory will support the generalizability of the matching results across coaching programs.
Executive coaching is a form of leadership development that occurs in the context of the workplace (Hernez-Broome & Hughes, 2004) and benefits not only the individual clients receiving coaching but also the organizations they work in (Blackman, 2006; Kampa-Kokesch & Anderson, 2001). Because coaching occurs in the context of an organization, organizational factors are important influences on the executive coaching process (Joo, 2005).
The organizational support articles address factors associated with the organizational context in which coaching occurs that impact executive coaching. Many of these articles discuss the direct role that organizations play in selecting coachees as well as determining the coaching goals (Hollenbeck, 2002; Wycherley, 2008). Although coaching in the past was largely provided as a means to “fix” broken employees, organizations are increasingly using coaching as a means of investing in the future of the individual client and organization (Frisch, 2001). Thus, in addition to guiding the goals of coaching, organizations play an important role in how coaching is perceived and in the likelihood that a stigma will be attached to coaching, which can reduce motivation to make the most of the coaching experience.
Support, a component of the assessment, challenge, and support framework, can be provided directly by the organization. A supportive and safe, but challenging, organizational setting and culture positively influences the executive coaching process (Alvey & Barclay, 2007; Ting & Hart, 2003). Additionally, clients’ perceptions of supervisory support and motivation to transfer knowledge and skills learned in coaching back to the job have both been observed to be positively related to the coach-client working relationship (Baron & Morin, 2009). Given the importance observed of organizational support on executive coaching, it is noteworthy that organizations are generally perceived as supportive of the coaching process (Blackman, 2006).
The last issue frequently discussed in these articles highlights the nature of how the organizational context influences the relationship between client and coach. Many of the articles address the influence of the organizational context on trust. Trust is expected to facilitate higher levels of honesty and a willingness to be forthcoming with a coach (Alvey & Barclay, 2007). The organizational context and confidentiality have been observed to be important predictors of trust (Alvey & Barclay, 2007; Gyllensten & Palmer, 2007). Although internal coaches are recognized as possessing an in-depth knowledge of the organization, there is often fear that they may have a conflict of interest between the client and the organization (Hall, Otazo, & Hollenbeck, 1999). External coaches are valued for the stricter confidentiality they may provide, allowing clients to say the “unspeakable” (Hall et al., 1999; Stevens, 2005).
Collectively, the articles addressing the organizational context provide a foundation for understanding the importance of organizational factors on the executive coaching process and outcomes. The consensus appears to be that organizations have a significant influence on coaching processes and outcomes (Hollenbeck, 2002) and that the success of executive coaching depends on understanding the individual client as part of a larger organization (Orenstein, 2002; Tobias, 1996).
None of the articles in this section identify exactly how organizations can provide support as part of the executive coaching process. The discussions generally focus on the organization identifying the best executives to receive coaching and helping to match them with an appropriate coach (Hollenbeck, 2002), or on the value of organizational support (Alvey & Barclay, 2007). The exact role of the organizational system has been identified as one issue in need of greater attention (Orenstein, 2002), with future research needed to identify and understand the specific organizational factors that influence effective executive coaching. Although these articles suggest that this topic is important, it has not received nearly the amount of attention as the other Leadership Coaching Framework components have.
The coaching process is the core of the coaching engagement and is where the actual act of coaching occurs. As depicted in the Leadership Coaching Framework, the coaching process is partitioned into the logistics of the coaching session, program content or elements, the relationship, and tools and techniques. A review of the articles identified three trends reflecting the state of the literature, the current conceptual and research foci, and the direction for future research.
The vast majority of writing about the coaching process relies heavily on the “practiced wisdom” of seasoned coaches sharing their thoughts, expertise, and experience. The majority of the articles included are conceptual, with only two being research based (Blackman, 2006; Bono et al., 2009). The articles also represent a variety of discipline-related approaches that are used in the coaching process. As more clinical and counseling psychologists enter the arena of executive coaching, they bring with them their training in psychotherapy and theoretical approaches to behavior change. The most common of these are psychoanalytic, humanistic, cognitive-behavioral, and rational emotive (Barner & Higgins, 2007; Cociver & Cronshaw, 2004; Ducharme, 2004; Kilburg, 2004; Passmore, 2007; Sherin & Caiger, 2004).
Although a multitude of ideas and perspectives are offered regarding the critical variables comprising the coaching process, the coaches’ theoretical orientation and the application of psychotherapies to the practice of executive coaching are most consistently discussed. Many of the conceptual articles also focus on coach characteristics as an aspect of the process, such as coaches’ theoretical orientation, credentialing, and professional experience (note that the Leadership Coaching Framework identifies these as input variables to the process rather than components of the process). The research articles also tend to focus on how coach characteristics such as professional experience and background influence coaching behaviors and thus the coaching process (Blackman, 2006; Bono et al., 2009). The fact that these articles merge and intermingle discussions of input and process variables, as identified by the Leadership Coaching Framework, attests to the complexity of conducting coaching research and identifying the discrete factors that influence coaching.
Also worth noting is that these articles do not map precisely onto the areas identified in the coaching process component of the Leadership Coaching Framework (mechanics, program content, relationship, and tools and techniques). As noted earlier, the majority of articles in this section are theoretical in nature and so do not reflect more concrete variables such as the logistics of the coaching session, assessments, contracting issues, and specific tools and techniques used. To some extent, the articles that focus on the theoretical orientation of the coach touch on the relationship aspect of the process as well as the general techniques used.
All of the articles emphasize the need for further research in order to understand and guide practice. As a whole, these articles contribute to the understanding of the coaching process by building on psychotherapy literature. Future research needs to examine the applicability and generalizability of related fields’ research to coaching and validate the importance of process variables’ impact on coaching effectiveness.
An important component of the executive coaching process is the medium through which coaching sessions are conducted. Executive coaches can use a variety of methods to connect and communicate with their clients. Although traditional coaching sessions have often been conducted face to face, increasing technological advances allow the use of other mediums such as teleconferencing, e-mailing, instant messaging, and even virtual simulations.
The medium articles address or examine means of coaching other than the traditional face-to-face interactions. Much of the literature consists of conceptual models or anecdotal evidence, with very little empirical research. Nevertheless, extant practices and theoretical models suggest that the coaching environment and medium are important moderators of the executive coaching process. Specifically, face-to-face, technology-supported, or even blended coaching (a combination of technology-mediated and face-to-face coaching) may differentially influence executive coaching outcomes.
In addition, these articles suggest two important themes. First, technology-mediated coaching presents unique benefits and challenges (Driscoll, 2005; Goldsmith, 2006; Pulley, 2006). For example, technology facilitates global communication, as it is more time- and cost-efficient than travel (Driscoll, 2005; Hakim, 2003). In doing so, electronic coaching allows for improved accessibility to coaches by clients (Driscoll, 2005; Goldsmith, 2006; Hamilton & Scandura, 2003; Knouse, 2001). Electronic coaching (e-coaching) also poses challenges. The lack of face-to-face interactions can inhibit quality interpersonal relationships between coach and client (Boyce & Hernez-Broome, 2010; Driscoll, 2005; Mallen et al., 2003). Additionally, coaching technologies may be difficult to use for some individuals (Driscoll, 2005; Goldsmith, 2006), and the constant connectivity can become overwhelming for both coach and client (Goldsmith, 2006).
A second emerging theme emphasizes that different (or perhaps more pronounced) skills may be required of an executive coach, depending on the coaching medium (Boyce & Hernez-Broome, 2010; Goldsmith, 2006; Hamilton & Scandura, 2003). For example, executive coaches in a virtual environment may need enhanced interpersonal skills in order to overcome the impersonal nature of electronic communication methods (Boyce & Hernez-Broome, 2010; Driscoll, 2005; Mallen, Day, & Green, 2003).
Although limited in number, existing work on e-coaching research lays the foundation for future research efforts. In addition to verifying the similarities and differences between electronic and traditional coaching, research should examine the differences among e-coaching methods (for example, telephone, e-mail, teleconferencing, and avatars). Additional research is also needed on the practice of blended coaching and how it can be successfully implemented (Pulley, 2006). Continuing this research will provide a greater understanding of the specific dynamics created by e-coaching mediums, and ultimately a wider repertoire of empirically sound e-coaching practices.
Despite the rising popularity of leadership coaching, the scarcity of evaluations of coaching engagements has been a systematic complaint within the coaching literature (Feldman & Lankau, 2005; Joo, 2005). The coaching outcomes articles focus on measuring coaching impact in order to evaluate coaching engagements. Identifying and measuring appropriate coaching outcomes is critical for studying the coaching process and providing a foundation for understanding the factors that contribute to successful coaching engagements. These articles highlight the different methodologies used and outcomes examined in coaching evaluation research.
In general, coaching studies have been criticized for their lack of methodological rigor (for example, Feldman & Lankau, 2005). Although some of the studies included in our review suffered from methodological limitations such as small sample sizes (for example, Jones et al., 2006; Levenson, 2009; Orenstein, 2006), several of the studies exhibited rigorous methodologies such as using experimental designs—examining client changes from pre- to post-coaching and/or comparing outcomes against a control condition (for example, Evers et al., 2006; Smither et al., 2003) and incorporating multisource data (e.g., Smither et al., 2003; Thach, 2002).
Studies examining coaching outcomes have also moved beyond simple assessments of clients’ satisfaction with coaching. A range of criteria are being explored, including self-efficacy (Baron & Morin, 2010; Evers, Brouwers, & Tomic, 2006), flexibility (Jones, Rafferty, & Griffin, 2006), and leadership behaviors or performance (De Meuse et al., 2009; Orenstein, 2006; Smither, London, Flautt, Vargas, & Kucine, 2003).
Although progress has been made in the evaluation of coaching engagements, there are several directions where future research is needed to bring added validity to the coaching evaluation literature. First, the nature of leadership as social influence calls for a multilevel perspective of coaching outcomes that include changes in the attitudes, performance, and retention of both the client and the client’s subordinates. Second, research evaluating coaching engagements should include a focus on distal outcomes. Some of the most valuable organizational outcomes (for example, leadership retention and an adequate pipeline to fill senior positions) may not be observable until months or years after the coaching intervention has ended. As coaching continues to mature as an approach to leadership development, we anticipate that evaluation approaches will also continue to mature as researchers and practitioners work together to evaluate coaching outcomes.