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Coaching Concepts and their Importance

Coaching has become a widely used developmental practice in the international business environment for many years due to the numerous benefits associated with it. The contemporary approach to coaching is relatively new in terms of leader development and organizational growth (Bowles, Cunningham, Gabriel M De La, & Picano, 2007).

The practice of coaching evolved from executive development or developmental counseling which can be traced back to the late 1980s (Bowles et al., 2007).

Often referred to as a meme, coaching has evolved rapidly in an ever changing socioeconomic and business arena over the past few decades (Mihiotis & Argirou, 2016). Essentially, the coaching intervention that we know today has been designed to foster developmental opportunities to participants in middle and executive management positions (Bowles et al., 2007).

Executive coaching encompasses practical concepts that, if well-followed and applied consistently, can be beneficial not only to the individual being coached (coachee) but also to the overall success of the organization (Bergquist & Mura, 2011).

Communicate the Purpose of Coaching

A clear-cut definition of the coaching effort being embraced by the organization must be communicated to the leaders to ensure that everyone has a positive perspective of the purpose and intent. Human Resource Development (HRD) and Leadership development (LD) can play a vital role in communicating why the organization is hiring coaches for its leaders (Underhill, McAnally & Koriath, 2007).

Since coaching can be used for various purposes to include enhancing career development, remedying underachievement, aiding with transitioning, and retaining high potentials, effective communication is essential to avoiding confusion as coaching can sometimes be views with mixed feelings (Underhill et al., 2007).

In line with the HRD effort, corporations must strive to make leadership development their primary goal for using coaches whenever necessary, to help boost motivation and ensure a positive reception.

Avoid Using Coaching as Remedial Tool

Many leaders dread the idea of being assigned a coach which is usually a sign that their performance may be unsatisfactory. In fact, the early days of organizational coaching focused mainly on leaders that were having performance issues (Underhill et al., 2007).

Coaching was then used as a remedial tool to get underachieving leaders back on track (Underhill et al., 2007). In recent times, however, companies have scrapped the idea of using coaching to correct poor performance and have rather reserved it to develop their star performers.

It has been observed that performance management practices are more suited for correcting underperformance with leadership (Underhill et al., 2007). It is important that the organization institutes policies that strictly preserves executive coaching for the very best of their leaders. Companies that continue to utilize coaching for underachievers may find it difficult for have their best leaders embrace the coaching idea.

Use Coaching for Transitions

Coaching is a great and necessary tool for leaders in transition. Oftentimes, transitioning vertically, laterally, or geographically can be challenging for the leader, especially in the initial stages of the move. Executive coaching is important at this crucial time in the leader's career when a great deal of learning and adapting is needed to keep the leader on track (Underhill et al., 2007).

Furthermore, onboarding of leaders, another tricky move, is a good time for the organization to assign the new executive a coach to help with smooth assimilation and understanding of the corporate culture and other important functions. The executive coach offers the necessary reinforcement at a time when the leader could be vulnerable to failure. The executive coach therefore becomes a secondary support system or a safety net of sorts for the coachee during the transitional period when many things can go wrong (Underhill et al., 2007).

Coaching Promotes High Potential Retention

Attracting and retaining high caliber human capital has been a problem for corporations around the world. As the only asset the firm cannot place full claim of ownership, human asset is bound to move from one organization to another depending of their motivational level and other factors.

Leader developmental coaching is a great way to retain top class executives since the executives see and appreciate the commitment and investment the company is making towards their improvement.

In the end, both the executive and the business win. The leader wins in terms of gaining higher developmental opportunity while the company wins through the successes it enjoys presently and, in the future, based on sound decisions made by high quality leadership (Bergquist & Mura, 2011).

Leader Support is Necessary

For coaching to be effective, it must be fully supported by top leaders in the organization without which the system may be unsuccessful. Coaching initiatives that have the full endorsement of top executives tend to sustain and thrive due to leadership influence. Many CEOs of successful corporations have been known to receive coaching which they have openly lauded as worthwhile.

If a highly respected and charismatic leader engages the help of a coach, other top and mid-level managers may have a positive view of the practice and thereby willingly embrace the idea of coaching to benefit themselves and the corporation.

Executive coaching may be received with mixed feelings among corporate leadership, but it has been demonstrated to be critically beneficial to both the leader and organization. Coaching has a broader scope and goes beyond counseling and consulting as it combines the mind, heart, and guts in a unified direction (Bergquist & Mura, 2011).

Skills are often difficult to transfer from a single training to the workplace and training alone cannot be depended upon to unearth the maximum potential of a leader (Mihiotis & Argirou, 2016). Coaching can therefore make up for the void by encouraging the practice of leadership skills while fully developing those skills through self-awareness, continuous learning, and feedback.

References

Bergquist, W., & Mura, A. (2011). Coachbook: A guide to organizational coaching strategies and practices. Seattle, WA: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN: 9781456562953.

Bowles, S., Christopher J.L. Cunningham, Gabriel M De La, R., & Picano, J. (2007). Coaching leaders in middle and executive management: Goals, performance, buy-in. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 28(5), 388-408.

Mihiotis, A., & Argirou, N. (2016). Coaching: From challenge to opportunity. The Journal of Management Development, 35(4), 448-463.

Underhill, B. O., McAnally, K., & Koriath, J. J. (2007). Executive coaching for results: The definitive guide to developing organizational leaders. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. ISBN: 9781576754481.