Determining factors in the effectiveness of executive coaching as a management development tool
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a classified list of the factors that are most influential in the success of an executive coaching process, arranged in order of importance.
Design/methodology/approach
Selection of factors from an exhaustive literature review, and development of a qualitative investigation, applying a Focus Group, a Nominal Group technique, and the Delphi method to a group of experts comprising coaches, coachees, and human resources managers, in order to complete and assess the factors selected.
Findings
The most outstanding factors needed in executive coaching are confidentiality, trust, and empathy between coach and coachee; the coach’s ability to generate trust, and her/his competence in communication skills, vocation and commitment; the coachee’s need, motivation, responsibility for his/her own development and commitment to the process; and a guarantee from the organization of the confidentiality of that process.
Practical implications
This research furnishes a quantitative criterion for the evaluation and ranking of the determining factors in coaching success, which facilitates a justified selection of factors, both for research and professional purposes.
Social implications
This study makes it possible to better channel the allocation of resources and gearing of business decisions for the implementation of coaching programs.
Originality/value
This paper provides a systematic review of the empirically based literature dealing with the main success factors in the effective application of executive coaching, and contributes new factors derived from the knowledge of professional experts, along with a classified and ranked list of those factors, assessed in terms of their relevance to the satisfactory outcome of a coaching process.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to express their thanks to the professionals who collaborated in the development of this research, both in the Focus Group and Nominal Group and in the Delphi study, for their dedication, enthusiasm, and knowledge about executive coaching. Likewise, the gratitude goes to the University of the Basque Country for contributing to the funding of this research project.
Citation
Rekalde, I., Landeta, J. and Albizu, E. (2015), "Determining factors in the effectiveness of executive coaching as a management development tool", Management Decision, Vol. 53 No. 8, pp. 1677-1697. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-12-2014-0666
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited