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This paper has the aim of exploring whether virtual coaching in an organisation may be facilitated and enabled by intranet technology for the creative dialogue of e‐coaching.

A review of the e‐coaching, the enabling role of technology, and intranet technology and intranets literature is undertaken. It is then argued that by adopting an autopoietic view of an intranet, virtual coaching may be facilitated and enabled by intranet technologies for the creative dialogue of e‐coaching in an organisation.

Rather than intranet technology and intranets being simply an add‐on to established processes in an organisation, technology and coaching are synthesised into something new and exciting in the e‐coaching domain.

The six implications for organisations suggested in the paper are not inclusive, but may provide an avenue for research in the evolving e‐coaching domain. A research entry point may be the development and validation of a theoretical framework for e‐coaching.

In order that e‐coaching may be seen as a development partnership, six implications for organisations are suggested.

E‐coaching can be seen as a developmental partnership in which much learning can take place using e‐mail but will be augmented by the enabling role of an intranet.

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 study is to explore the potential of coaching to develop female entrepreneurship by overcoming potential barriers. It sought to understand how entrepreneurial self-efficacy can be applied to development relationships, through on-line coaching, examining changes in the four key elements of entrepreneurial self-efficacy enactive mastery, vicarious experiences, social persuasion and psychological arousal. The study examines the impact of coaching relationships on female entrepreneurial self-efficacy compared to a control group. The participant group was matched with coaches and undertook a structured six months’ coaching programme.

This was a longitudinal study using a mixed methods approach. Questionnaires investigating entrepreneurial self-efficacy were collected at two time points for both the coaching and control group. After the first time point, the coaching group was supported through a six months coaching development programme. At the second time point, questionnaires were again completed by both groups and qualitative data gather via interviews with the coaching group.

The findings from this study showed that coaching relationships had a positive impact on coachees’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy, compared to the control group in terms of enactive mastery, vicarious experience, social persuasion and psychological arousal. This suggests that coaching is a development intervention which can be used to enhance self-efficacy beliefs of female entrepreneurs, thereby increasing their chances of engaging in successful business creation and operation.

The group size was a problem, with four of the coaching group and ten of the control group dropping out. The coaching participants left the intervention due to personal reasons but no reason could be established for the control group participants leaving the study. The problem of ‘Type II’ was considered and in an attempt to overcome this problem, data were shown at below 10% (p < 0.10). It would also have been useful to collect more qualitative data from the control group.

An online coaching programme provided by women for women, which is tailored to the individual, can support female entrepreneurs through the difficult stages of start-up and development phases of business development. Creating more successful women owned businesses will not only provide financial benefits, but should help provide additional entrepreneurial networks for women, as well as more positive female role models. Exposure to positive role models has been found to have a direct effect on entrepreneurial self-efficacy. This circular affect should in theory keep on increasing, if female entrepreneurs have access to the tailored support provided by coaching programmes such as the one used here.

Considering the current global economic climate, it is increasingly important for women to be supported in small business ownership (Denis, 2012). Countries which actively promote women entering into business ownership will ultimately share the gains in terms of wider issues, i.e. improving education and health, and economic growth (Harding, 2007). If female entrepreneurship is to be encouraged and supported, provision needs to be designed and developed based on female entrepreneurs’ needs and requirements, rather than simply conforming to traditional business support models.

This study contributes to learning and theoretical debates by providing an understanding of female entrepreneurs' needs with regard to business support and how this can be related to and supported by coaching. It also adds to the literature on entrepreneurial self-efficacy, coaching and learning by providing empirical evidence to illustrate how coaching interventions, including the use of online methods, can have a positive impact on female entrepreneurial self-efficacy.

The purpose of this paper and the contribution to this special issue is to build on Kim and Watkins’ (2018) recent finding that ‘leaders mentor and coach those they lead’ is the item in the Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ) that is most highly-correlated with performance. Given the criticality of providing strategic leadership for learning and, more specifically, the consistent associations between leaders who mentor and coach and work-related performance outcomes, a better understanding of the associations between the learning organization concept and managerial coaching is warranted. Watkins and Kim (2018, p. 22) contend that ‘future directions for learning organization research include a search for the elusive interventions that would create a learning organization’. In response to this call for research, a research agenda for assessing managerial coaching as a learning organization (LO) intervention is proposed.

This conceptual paper briefly reviews literature on the learning organization and the DLOQ instrument, followed by a more in-depth review of the managerial coaching literature and suggestions for how future research could be conducted that more closely integrates these two concepts.

Existing literature suggests that to ‘provide strategic leadership for learning’, a dimension in the DLOQ, is one of the most pivotal dimensions for creating learning cultures that build learning organizations. Specifically, an item within this dimension, ‘leaders who mentor and coach’ has been recently identified as one of the most critical aspects associated with strategic leadership for learning.

The extant managerial coaching literature offers a solid foundation for more closely integrating and mainstreaming the developmental intervention of managerial coaching into learning organizations. Directions for future research that identifies fine-grained perspectives of the discrete facets of managerial coaching in learning organization contexts are suggested.

This paper seeks to examine the effectiveness of an innovative e‐mentoring programme introduced in an international group of luxury hotels.

The paper employs the survey method, with quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The research model was developed from a literature review.

While mentoring programmes have generally gained increasing popularity in various organisations, in the recent past the success of e‐mentoring has attracted little empirical research. E‐mentoring is a vehicle for providing a guided mentoring relationship over large distances, largely through e‐mail, but also by using technology, including the voice over internet protocol (VOIP). Questionnaires were administered to 193 mentors and mentees engaged in a pilot e‐mentoring programme. A unique model was developed and now needs to be applied to a range of organisations and their e‐mentoring programmes. There are three key elements to the model: first, the introduction of weighted criteria, which allows mentees to select those elements that are most important in the achievement of their personal learning objectives in the mentoring programme. Second, the mentee is encouraged to interview potential mentors before making a final choice. If global mentoring is to be successful, this interview will require web conferencing facilities so that the proposed matched pairs can also observe each another. The third aspect is the evaluation by both mentor and mentee at the end of the relationship in order to close the communications loop and to be able to assess the overall effectiveness of the matching practice and so encourage continuous development and enhancement of the process.

The model should be further tested, applied and refined as necessary across a range of different organisations.

A novel and innovative model was developed from a literature review and tested in a large international group of luxury hotels. It will be of value to managers and HRD researchers.

Across K–12 settings, instructional coaching continues to flourish as an approach to teacher professional development intended to address long-standing inequities in student achievement. Yet, coaching models differ in how to conceptualize change or transformation as a result of coaching efforts.

This case study problematizes the concept of change within one practice-based coaching program, by positing the possibilities of striving for transformational change directed at addressing educational inequities.

Qualitative methods reveal how coaching belief statements guide the burgeoning identities of beginning coaches to align to (and at times extend beyond) coaching for change through the lens of teacher practice.

Implications describe ways that coaching programs might utilize reflection and analysis activities to foster more equity-oriented coaching identities, regardless of coaching model.

Designing and facilitating authentic learning opportunities for coaches to reflect, rehearse, connect, and apply knowledge to practice as they develop their own understanding of what it means to coach for change is crucial.

Leadership coaching is an increasingly popular development tool for school principals. However, specific coaching behaviors are rarely conceptualized or examined in prior research. This study presents a coaching behavior framework and then analyzes actual coaching conversations between principals and coaches to illustrate how specific coaching behaviors create opportunities for principals to reflect and think critically about their leadership.

Building on theories of interpersonal learning, the authors develop a framework of coaching behaviors to distinguish coaching inquiries and assertions that facilitate critique and reflection and, therefore, activate opportunities for learning. The authors use this framework to code transcripts of 55 principal coaching sessions. The authors analyze the prevalence of certain coaching behaviors and then examine qualitative patterns in how the use of certain behaviors shapes the nature of coaching conversations.

Only about one-third of coded coaching behaviors in the analytic sample are categorized as coaching inquiries and assertions that activate opportunities for learning. In the qualitative comparisons of extracts from coaching conversations, the authors find coaches' use of these behaviors produced richer, more meaningful dialogue.

Unlike much of the past research on leadership coaching, this analysis examines what happens in conversations between coaches and principals. This framework could be applied to a broad range of coaching programs intended to promote professional learning.

The purpose of this study was to identify if and how K–6 teachers perceive that their literacy instructional coaches influence their writing teaching.

The authors employed a parallel convergent mixed-methods design with survey data. The authors used thematic analysis to identify patterns within short-answer responses.

K–6 teachers receive little literacy coaching specific to writing. However, when they do receive coaching, they believe it benefits their writing instruction. Sustained coaching through the coaching cycle, frequent collaborations, and support with writing instructional resources and strategies were reported as the most influential writing coaching practices.

Sample size was a limitation to this study. Of the 66 participants, 41 (62%) completed the entire survey.

This research provides coaches with valuable insights about coaching practices that teachers find to be the most effective in influencing their writing instruction. The increase in teachers' competence in writing instruction due to coaching provides evidence to administrators and stakeholders that coaching in writing is an area in need of attention.

This study adds to research specific to the coaching of writing within the K–6 context, which currently is sparse.