Executive coaching
The development of a knowledge-based economy entails the necessity of searching for new methods and tools for strengthening and verifying organizational learning processes. In this context, numerous studies indicate the significance of executive coaching as an instrument supporting both individual and organizational learning processes[1].
Because of the competitive global marketplace, people management is gaining importance. People management strongly influences all other sources of competitive advantage, such as technology, manufacturing processes, structure, and business strategy[2]
It is strongly believed that the most important asset of any business is its employees. People and the management of people are increasingly seen as key elements of competitive advantage[3].
Traditional views on competitive advantage emphasize such barriers to entry as access to capital, economies of scale, and regulated competition. Recent views have highlighted the organization’s strategic management of its human resources as a source of competitive advantage that cannot easily be acquired or imitated[4].
Efficient organization management has always been the domain of those employed in the organization and constituting its capital. People have always been a special organizational resource in the sense that their competencies in the form of knowledge, experience, skills, and abilities are the organization's strategic resources, allowing the organization to develop and gain a competitive advantage. They create an organizational culture[5].
Investment in human resources in the form of, e.g., a coach's support, can lead to obtaining benefits of added value for the enterprise[6]. This is because several factors determining the efficiency of an organization's functioning depend on the people employed in the organization.
Taking care of employees' intellectual and professional development has become a strategic task for numerous managers. To retain employees and maintain their involvement, the organization needs to take care of their development. Numerous publications emphasize that human capital:
has a major impact on the innovation of economies and societies,
has a serious influence on institutional transformations,
- favors promotion and popularization of modern models of
consumption and quality of life,
- shapes modern technical and organizational, information technology, as well as social infrastructure[7]. Human capital underinvestment results in the emergence of civilization and the education gap, economic stagnation, etc.[8].
Human resources development is defined as any actions taken in the organization aimed at supporting and implementing the process of enhancing the skills and motivation of employees. This process is intended to “equip their professional potential with features necessary for performing current and future tasks. As a result, it contributes to the pursuit of the organization's objectives and individual goals of the employee.”[9]. Development of work resources is realized through:
- “various forms of training broadening knowledge and skills and shaping employees' behavior;
- individual professional carrier planning and pursuit. “[10]
Coaching is becoming an increasingly common way of developing human resources. This is confirmed by the growing number of coaches themselves, centers, and programs educating coaches[11]. Numerous publications concerning coaching have been released over the last few years[12]. However, this field requires research.
There is a large amount of terminological chaos at the current stage of the development of coaching. It often happens that something that has nothing to do with coaching is called coaching. A few groups involved in defining coaching can be distinguished:
coaching recipients (direct customers),
principals (indirect customers: HR department employees, HR managers),
- managers,
theoreticians (scientists),
professional coach practitioners,
non-professional coach practitioners[13].
When defining coaching and the coach, it seems safest to use records of professional associations and organizations dealing with coaching.
It can be claimed that:
Coaching is professional assistance provided by a suitably qualified coach for the benefit of the customer's (e.g. manager's) development.
Coaching is a process based on cooperation between the coach and the customer. Its essence is the customer's development in the direction which will be suitable for the customer in their view and using measures which will help the customer.
Coaching constitutes a relation between the coach and the customer, and the relation space enables the customer to raise awareness, make changes and enhance professional skills.
Coaching is a dynamic process in which the customer changes in the direction that is valuable for them[14].
Researchers indicate that coaching is a key element of efficient management, and improvements in productivity and business results are benefits of implementing a coaching culture.[15]
Executive coaching, whose beginnings date back to the 1940s[16], has become popular only in the 21st century. In a broad sense, “executive coaching” is a specific type of training aimed at enhancing high-level managers' leadership skills and efficiency[17]. “Executive coaching” is increasingly regarded as an exceptionally effective approach to enterprise development.
“Executive coaching” has become popular partly because, above all, it helps the management team change deeply rooted leadership behaviors. Furthermore, “executive coaching” is a development method ensuring privacy, which is appreciated by high-level managers. Kokesch & Anderson[18], Kilburg[19] and Orenstein[20] noticed that coaching as a profession has, to this day, been the subject of very few publications. Grant[21], Kilburg[22] and Passmore[23] claim that there is no competence model for the coach, which is particularly important, taking the ongoing terminological chaos into account.
Executive coaching needs to deal with the expectations of the parties concerned in accordance with its nature. In order to meet customers' expectations, the executive coach needs to have broad knowledge with respect to broadly understood management. According to Kampa-Kokesch – Kokesch[24], the executive coach must be well acquainted with such disciplines as business, psychology, organizational sciences, and emotional intelligence. Executive coaching is characterized by a multidisciplinary approach[25].
The role of coaches is to skillfully choose words so as to reach their interlocutors. They are leaders who manage their coaches in a specific way in order to achieve the best possible results. Such leadership coaching is associated with the following initiatives of the leader[26]:
Supporting subordinates in moments of uncertainty,
Fostering continuous learning through experience,
Building an atmosphere of trust,
Supporting the creation of tight and integrated work teams,
- Appreciating experience and competencies,
- Improving skills and listening to others,
- Orienting subordinates towards the acquisition of knowledge.
More specifically speaking, coaching is nothing else than detailed management of the subordinate’s development thanks to in-depth analyzes and reflections, leading to greater achievements. Coaching is “a comprehensive approach, the aim of which is to support development through using a number of different techniques, increasing the effectiveness of the use of the potential of skills, supporting the acquisition of new knowledge, and improving activities”[27]. An effective coach uses appropriate metaphors in order to present situations to the coachee in a comprehensible way.
Motivating listeners with the use of stories effectively arouses their imagination and activates a sense of association, thanks to which one can uncover the hidden truth. The better coaches understand their coachees’ line of thought, skillfully involving them in cooperation, the more they increase the efficiency of the tasks performed.
The metaphors and symbols used have a remarkable influence on the development of the coaching relationship. The provision of information by the coach in this form has a significant effect on the effectiveness of communication. Metaphors are more easily remembered as their parts can be ordered based on certain schemas, and they arouse our imagination and emotions.
In the work of a coach, metaphors are very significant and can be very useful in order to understand, explain, and accept different phenomena. What matters most is choosing the most appropriate metaphors that will produce the desired effect.
Considering their profound influence on unconscious processes, they are effective thanks to the fact that they skip the filters of rational thinking. The ambiguities of metaphors can make them alternatives when choosing new, better changes introduced into life, which can cause the elimination of old behavior. A metaphor is not only a chance journey into the world of figurative language but also a fundamental factor within the everyday cognitive process.
Metaphorical communication is a very important part of the whole communication process between a coach and a coachee or a customer. It is far more effective than direct communication, which is not always successful. All kinds of therapists, coaches, and trainers are willing to use it, and they agree that it offers extraordinary advantages. A well-told story referring to the situation in life, financial situation, or career of the customer helps to arouse their imagination and direct their thoughts and activities towards issues they have not considered before.
Executive coaching literature and bibliography
[1] Chmielecki M., Coaching modern-day nomads, „Journal of Intercultural Management”, No. 1.2, 2009, pp. 135–146.
[2] Chmielecki M., Development of Corporate Entrepreneurship in the Context of Human Resource Management and Organizational Culture in Polish Organizations: Research Results, Przedsibiorczo i Zarzdzanie,”, No. 14.9, Zarzdzanie zasobami ludzkimi, 2013, pp. 101–116.
[3] Allen M.R., Wright P., Strategic Management and HRM, [In] Boxall P., Purcell J., and Wright P. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Human Resource Management, Oxford University Press, New York 2007; Boxall P., Purcell J., Strategy and Human Resource Management, Palgrave MacMillan, New York 2003.
[4] Chmielecki M., Development of Corporate Entrepreneurship in the Context of Human Resource Management and Organizational Culture in Polish Organizations: Research Results, Przedsibiorczo i Zarzdzanie,”, No. 14.9, Zarzdzanie zasobami ludzkimi, 2013, pp. 101–116.
[5] Sukowski., Interpretative Approach in Management Sciences, „Argumenta Oeconomica”, no. 2, 2009.
[6] Król H., Ludwiczyski A., Zarzdzanie zasobami ludzkimi Tworzenie kapitau ludzkiego organizacji, PWN, Warszawa 2007.
[7] Król H., Ludwiczyski A., Zarzdzanie zasobami ludzkimi Tworzenie kapitau ludzkiego organizacji, PWN, Warszawa 2007, p. 111.
[8] Makowski K. (ed.), Instrumentarium zarzdzania zasobami ludzkimi, Wyd. Szkoy Gównej Handlowej, Warszawa 2002, p. 181.
[9] Zarzdzanie zasobami ludzkimi: studia przypadków: praca zbiorowa, pod red. naukow Aleksego Pocztowskiego; Wysza Szkoa Biznesu-NNational-Louis University w Nowym Sczu, WSB, Nowy Scz 1998, p. 24.
[10] Jasiski Z., Zarzdzanie pracy, Warszawa, 1999, p. 145.
[11] Chmielecki M., Coaching dla kadry zarzdzajcej. Kompetencje i wiedza coacha, „Zarzdzanie Zasobami Ludzkimi, No. 1(96), 2014, pp. 73–82.
[12] Kilburg R.R., Diedrich R.C., The Wisdom of Coaching, American Psychological Association, Washington 2007; Levinson H., Consulting psychology: Selected articles, American Psychological Association, Washington 2009; Palmer S. (Ed.), Whybrow A. (Ed.), Handbook of Coaching Psychology: A Guide for Practitioners Paperback, Routledge, London 2007; Baek-Kyoo (Brian) Joo, Executive coaching: A conceptual framework from an integrative review of practice and research, „Human Resource Development Review”, No. 4(4), pp. 462-488; Feldman D.C., Lankau M.J., Executive Coaching: A Review and Agenda for Future Research, „Journal of Management December”, Vol. 31, No. 6, 2005, pp. 829-848; Gray D.E., Executive Coaching: Towards a Dynamic Alliance of Psychotherapy and Transformative Learning Processes, „Management Learning”, Vol. 37(4), 2006; Ellinger A.D., Ellinger A.E., Bachrach D.G., Wang Y.L., Baş A.B.E., Organizational investments in social capital, managerial coaching, and employee work-related performance, „Management Learning”, No. 45, 2010.
[13] Chmielecki M., Culture as a Barrier to Knowledge Sharing, Journal of Intercultural Management”, 2014.
[14] Chmielecki M., Culture as a Barrier to Knowledge Sharing, Journal of Intercultural Management”, 2014.
[15] Ellinger A.D., Hamlin R.G., and Beattie R.S., Behavior indicators of ineffective managerial coaching, „Journal of European Industrial Training,”, Vol. 32, No. 4, 2008.
[16] Kampa-Kokesch S., Anderson M.Z., Executive coaching: A comprehensive review of the literature, „Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research”, Vol. 53(4), 2001, pp. 205-228.
[17] See Axmith M., Executive coaching: a catalyst for personal growth and corporate change, „Ivey Business Journal”, May-June 2004; Blattner J., Coaching: the successful adventure of a downwardly mobile executive, „Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research”, No. 57(1), 2005, pp. 3–13; Cocivera S., Cronshaw S., Action Frame theory as a practical framework for executive coaching process, „Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research”, No. 56, 2004, pp. 234–245; Turner C., Ungagged: Executives on executive coaching, „Ivey Business Journal”, 2006.
[18] Kampa-Kokesch S., Anderson M.Z., Executive coaching: A comprehensive review of the literature, [In] Kilburg R.R., Dietrich R.C. (ed.), The Wisdom of Coaching: Essential Papers in Consulting Psychology for a World of Change, American Psychological Association, Washington, 2007.
[19] Kilburg R., Trudging toward Dodoville: Conceptual approaches and case studies in executive coaching, „Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research”, No. 56(4), 2004.
[20] Orenstein R.L., Measuring executive coaching efficacy? The answer was right here all the time: „Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research”, 2006.
[21] Grant A.M., The Impact of Life Coaching on Goal Attainment, Metacognition, and Mental Health, „Social Behavior and Personality, vol. 31(3), 2003, pp. 253-264.
[22] Kilburg R.R., Toward a conceptual understanding and definition of executive coaching, [In] Kilburg R.R., Diedrich R.C. (ed.), The wisdom of coaching: Essential papers in consulting psychology for a world of change, American Psychological Association, Washington 2007, pp. 21–30.
[23] Passmore J., Coaching and Mentoring: The Role of Experience and Sector Knowledge, „Internation Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring” (special issue), 2007, pp. 10–16.
[24] Kampa-Kokesch S., Anderson M.Z., Executive coaching: A comprehensive review of the literature, [In] Kilburg R.R., Dietrich R.C. (ed.), The Wisdom of Coaching: Essential Papers in Consulting Psychology for a World of Change, American Psychological Association, Washington, 2007.
[25] Chmielecki M., Coaching modern-day nomads, „Journal of Intercultural Management”, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2009, pp. 135–146.
[26] Czekaj J. (ed.), Metody organizacji i zarządzania, Wydawnictwo Akademii Ekonomicznej w Krakowie, Kraków 2007.
[27] Sidor-Rządkowska M. (ed.), Coaching. Teoria, praktyka, studia przypadków, Oficyna a Wolters Kluwer business, Kraków 2009.