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The purpose of this paper is to explore the issue of workplace coaching and offers insight into the various coaching practices that are necessary to produce better employee performance and results.

The paper reports on a survey of 219 experienced managers who were asked to respond to a series of questions on the subject of coaching on a four point strongly agree to strongly disagree scale and references previous research in the discussion.

Key findings include that participant managers consider: coaching to be critical to their success and the success of their employees; coaching requires individualized strategies based on the employee's ability and motivation; employees do not always receive the coaching they want and need; and managers believe that they have considerable room for development in this critical leadership practice.

The primary limitation of this descriptive study is the use of a targeted convenience sample which might restrict the generalizability of these findings.

Implications of this research include: organizations placing greater effort in assisting managers to develop their coaching talents; managers tailor‐making coaching strategies for individual employees; and creating a better understanding of the factors that drive employee performance and what managers can and should do to impact these factors.

This paper moves away from the concept of “generic” coaching and makes a very strong case for “individualized approaches” to employee coaching and for managers to give coaching greater time and priority on a daily basis as leaders.

Organization development is focused on implementing a planned process of positive humanistic change in organizations through the use of social science theory, action research, and data-based feedback methods. The role of personality in that change process, however, has historically been ignored or relegated to a limited set of interventions. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a conceptual overview of the linkages between personality and OD, discuss the current state of personality in the field including key trends in talent management, and offer a new multi-level framework for conceptualizing applications of personality for different types of OD efforts. The chapter concludes with implications for research and practice.

In the light of the financial crisis and the radically changed conditions in the market place, international leadership development is facing new demands. The Danish-based International Leadership Institute Mannaz has researched the new conditions in collaboration with the Institute of Executive Development in the United States.

The research, conducted in 2008 and 2009, combines, in an innovative way, quantitative and qualitative inputs, from both current and future perspectives, from some 111 senior Corporate Executives, Heads of Human Resources and of Learning and Organisational Development in large international corporations headquartered in Europe and the United States; together with the thoughts of some 50 experienced practitioners involved in executive coaching as well as in designing, developing and facilitating leadership development programmes. Also we include a section summarising the key findings from recently published research from other leadership development surveys. Conclusions reveal that the crisis has propelled a long-awaited decline of the traditional classroom-based educational approach to leadership development. Instead, effective leadership development is suggested to build on experiential learning approaches rooted in real life, real time and allowing for more immediate impact and providing for considerably higher relevance and motivation. Coaching, leaders teaching leaders, stretch assignments, action learning, peer networking, customer insights and selective use of technology are seen as important contributors to the leadership development process going forward.

This paper aims to outline the steps and process used by the American Cancer Society, a not for profit organization, when creating and implementing an internal coaching capacity.

The paper examines in detail the design, implementation, successes, and key learning points of the creation of an internal coaching program.

Organizations can build an internal coaching capacity utilizing current talent and limited external resources to benefit the development of targeted staff.

The paper details steps to build a coaching cadre.

The paper provides an alternative to buying coaching for an organization and outlines the multiple benefits to building an internal capacity.

This article aims to propose a three‐stage framework for on‐going professional development of aspirant and incumbent heads that is designed to increase their own self‐efficacy. It is suggested that continuity and progression in self‐efficacy development can be addressed via processes pertaining to acculturation, assimilation and actualisation. The on‐going work of Fletcher augments this conceptual framework with a new approach to action research ensuring an evidence‐based foundation to the growth of self‐efficacy.

The article offers an analysis of existing research evidence in coaching, mentoring, talent management, leadership development and self‐efficacy to propose a framework useful in research and in the development of self‐efficacy that may help secure transition between the potential to lead and high performance in leadership incumbency in schools.

The article points to the importance of coaching and mentoring as potential scaffolds to create an appreciation of self‐efficacy's value at all stages of the headship journey. It is suggested that active development of individual's self‐efficacy through mentoring and coaching relationships may serve to ensure that the loss of human potential of those who could lead but never completed the journey is reduced.

The article identifies new questions pertaining to the practice of high quality coaching and mentoring in the journey to leadership in schools and raises further questions pertaining to the conceptualisation of learning relationships and the interactions and feelings involved in such learning relationships.

This article suggests a phased approach, an integrated vision of mentoring and coaching for headteacher development that can span their professional lifetime. This generative approach is what distinguishes the authors’ proposal from others. An emphasis is placed on self‐study integrated in an Appreciative Inquiry approach, however, the authors’ proposal goes further in that they have realised that aspirant headteachers should be taught how to undertake self study integrated with action research not only for their own benefit as they journey towards incumbency but also so that they can become coach and mentor for others; for their staff, pupils and other aspirant headteachers.

In this paper, we provide a brief understanding of the field of managerial coaching, specifically, offering insights on what has been studied and ideas on where the field can move forward.

We review managerial coaching research, focusing in particular on its consequences and determinants. Based on the review, we uncover three areas that will help advance the development of managerial coaching research.

Our review indicates that both individual and contextual factors influence managerial coaching. Managerial coaching is beneficial not only for employees but also for managers who engage in coaching and the teams they manage. Despite the overwhelmingly positive view of managerial coaching, emerging research addresses the detrimental effects of coaching on managers who engage in coaching. We call on researchers to undertake more work on the factors that reduce managers’ inclination to coach, dark side outcomes of coaching, and role of individual and contextual factors in influencing the effects of coaching.

By reviewing extant managerial coaching research as well as suggesting fruitful avenues for researchers to explore, this paper serves as a useful guide for scholars interested in contributing to the emerging body of research on managerial coaching.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss several obstacles that can reduce the effectiveness of managerial coaching. Furthermore, the paper highlights the role played by various stakeholders [i.e. the organization, senior leaders, the human resources (HR) function and managers] in overcoming or reducing the potency of such obstacles.

The views presented here have been derived from the authors’ professional experience in managerial coaching and a review of the literature on managerial coaching.

The authors discuss six common obstacles to effective managerial coaching: time for coaching, willingness to coach, ability to coach, employees’ ability and willingness, societal expectations and the intrusion of technology. They describe the critical role of various stakeholders (i.e. the organization, senior leaders, the HR function and line managers) in overcoming or mitigating the impact of such obstacles, thus contributing to effective managerial coaching.

A discussion of the obstacles to effective managerial coaching and the role of stakeholders in managerial coaching is valuable for organizations that seek to enhance the performance of employees through managerial coaching.

The purpose of this paper is to present an innovative, research-based approach for stimulating self-awareness, reflection and intentional leadership development and address a call from the academic and business community to educate and prepare graduate students for leadership in contemporary complex workplaces. Building on previous research findings and recommendations, the authors suggest that leadership potential is understood and facilitated through leadership assessment, increased self-awareness and faculty coach-supported reflection and development planning by MBA students. Based on three key constructs in leadership development, a conceptual model depicts the approach to developing potential leaders at this juncture in their professional development.

New MBA students completed a leadership potential assessment instrument designed to target areas for focused leadership development throughout their MBA program and beyond. The assessment process is followed by faculty coach-supported reflection and development planning as an assignment during the students’ MBA orientation course. To explore the impact of this innovative approach to accelerating the development of leadership potential, reflection papers from students who completed the process were analyzed. Data analysis consisted of content coding with an inter-rater reliability of 0.99 to classify the responses into four key categories. Survey data were also collected from 504 MBA students who attended an on-campus orientation course to measure students’ increasing understanding and awareness of the value of the leadership development opportunity.

Quantitative and qualitative results provide initial support for this approach to developing leadership potential. Results suggest that the integrative model stimulates a process of awareness, reflection and intentional development, and supports the identification and pursuit of goal-directed learning opportunities throughout students’ MBA program.

Graduate business school students are at a leadership inflection point in their trajectory as leaders. Business colleges play a key role in closing the leadership gap during the development cycle of the students’ MBA program. The innovative approach in this paper, which facilitates self-awareness, reflection and intentional leadership development, offers a model for business colleges exploring how to foster these necessary leadership insights and capabilities.