Executive Coaching as an ‘Evidence Based Craft’

An interesting study that aimed to investigate whether personality change can occur on the basis of a specific, short-term coaching intervention.

There is a fairly general idea that personality remains relatively stable over the years. At the same time, there is increasing scope for the idea that personality can indeed be changed.

This research shows that a specific, relatively short coaching intervention can lead to personality change.

First of all, ‘personality’ is described in more detail in the study. Then it is briefly explained what the benefits of personality change can be. Research is cited that shows that, among other things, a decrease in ’emotional instability’ and an increase in ‘conscientiousness’ can have an effect on well-being and ‘happiness in life’.

In the study, 54 people were offered a 10-week coaching program in which possible personality change would be measured using the NEO-PI.

The components that the NEO-PI measures, being components from the Five Factor personality framework, were offered to the participants and they were allowed to decide for themselves which of these Five Factor components they wanted to work on.

They then received coaching for 10 weeks on the personality traits they had chosen and possible personality change was measured with the NEO-PI at the start, during the program and 3 months after the program.

Results:

The results showed that:

1. The participants more often chose to work on Emotional Instability, Conscientiousness and Extraversion than on Openness and Agreeableness.

2. Significant changes in personality were measured in (decrease in) Emotional Instability, (increase in) Conscientiousness and (increase in) Extraversion. No differences were measured for Openness and Agreeableness.

3. The largest changes were visible in the personality traits that the participants had most clearly ‘targeted’.

4. The changes in personality were still visible for most items after 3 months.

This research shows that a specific coaching-based intervention can lead to personality change.

At the same time, the study also has a number of methodological limitations. For example, only personality tests performed by the participants themselves were used, which can lead to bias. In addition, it was not measured longer than 3 months after the intervention whether the personality change persisted.

A very solid systematic literature study based on both quantitative and qualitative research into coaching within organizations. The study focuses from 117 studies on 7 common aspects in the studies:

• self-efficacy
• coaching motivation
• goal orientation
• trust (in the coach)
• interpersonal attraction
• feedback intervention
• and supervisory support

In addition, this study also looks at a number of methodological aspects of the studies examined. For example, whether a survey contains objective (‘third-party’) measurements, or whether the results of the surveys are provided by the coaches or coachees themselves.

Ultimately, this study (in a handy table) provides a good picture of the role (effectiveness) of the 7 variables within coaching, and at the same time it provides a good picture of the quality of the studies that have led to the ability to draw good conclusions about the role of the aforementioned variables.

This review is, in our opinion, very worthwhile for anyone who wants to know more about the effectiveness of Executive Coaching.

This PhD thesis is certainly of interest to those interested in Executive Coaching of Senior Managers in international contexts. In fact, the dissertation consists of three articles that aim to increase the understanding of international executive coaching. The author asked herself three questions:
1) How and why is coaching used in Global Talent Management programs in multinational organizations?
2) What factors are identified as critical to expat coaching success?
3) How does coaching support the development of the ‘career capital’ (possibilities of know-how, know-why, know-who) of expats?

Data was collected from coached international senior managers, internationally operating coaches and HR professionals.

A number of elements from the research:
Interestingly, organizations use international executive coaching as part of a leadership program, but not yet fully as an integrated part of a Talent Management Strategy.
The results of the research indicate that international executive coaching supports the development of career capital for expats.
There are various factors that influence the success of expat coaching, also in mutual interaction.

In conclusion, the author indicates that international executive coaching has been seen as a well-functioning development tool in an international context and can be recommended as a Human Resource Development tool for multinational organizations.

The importance of setting goals in coaching seems ‘obvious’. In organizations too, there is often a focus on clear results / goals.  But does setting goals only have benefits? Or can it also have disadvantages? Does the context play a role?

In this article, the authors initially provide a very practical overview of the pros and cons. A handy overview for anyone who wants to know a little more about the effects of goal setting in order to be able to anticipate desired optimization or negative side effects. Next, the authors describe a study they conducted among 194 coaches (45 European, 149 American) to gain more insight into goalsetting.

The results can be summarized as follows:

• Coaches in the US are more goal-oriented than their European counterparts.
• Those who have taken longer coaching training are more focused on goals than those who have learned from experience only.
• Goal orientation decreases for more experienced European coaches, but not for American coaches.

Finally, the authors provide a number of possible explanations for the observed differences and effects.

A challenging article, in which the author tries to identify, by means of interviews with 12 Senior Human Resource Directors at companies in Australia, which variables are important in successfully coaching Senior Leaders.

The author initially identifies a number of critical success factors:

• a ‘vertical focus’ on development (including the ability to take up different perspectives, to think in terms of leadership in complex adaptive systems, effective relationship development and influencing, and finally, a greater self-regulating ability to handle the previous three elements well)
• aligning development with business needs and stakeholder expectations
• targeted learning, delivered in an experiential learning manner
• working from the context of the leader
• selective advice by qualified coaches

The author then elaborates on the ‘characteristics’ of effective Executive Coaching of Senior Leaders. In addition to a number of characteristics that are relatively well-known, the interviews reveal a challenging aspect. Many of the 12 Senior HR Directors interviewed indicate that the really good coaches are able to selectively provide their clients with high-quality advice ánd are able to challenge their clients. In this way, the interviewees go significantly further than the ‘classic’ image that coaches often adopt a non-directive attitude.

Based on a case study, the author gradually takes us into a vision on ‘change’ and ‘culture’ in a rapidly changing organizational environment.

In a small Australian multinational organization (with offices in Australia, Asia and USA) it is decided to start a 2-year program to develop a stronger coaching culture. The program mainly consisted of executive coaching for leaders and coaching skills workshops. Leaders from multiple layers of the organization participated in the program.

The desired development of a coaching culture turned out to be very difficult. A number of factors seemed to play a role in this:
A very practical one: it was difficult to experience ‘joint action’ in change from different locations
There were a relatively large number of personnel changes, including the CEO and the OD Manager, which put the ‘sponsorship’ for the process under pressure.
The speed of organizational change in the organization was very high.

Are there other explanations possible?

Based on this case study, the author provides a concise but interesting vision on (cultural) change:
Given the speed of change in organizations, a ‘blueprint’ approach (say a plan with a clear end goal) is no longer effective. A blueprint plan is constantly being overtaken by reality. Also, a top-down approach doesn’t seem effective in these types of processes.

But what then?

The author indicates that working on (cultural) change should be seen as a ‘never-ending’ process, which requires continuous good dialogue. So, according to the author, the question about cultural change is actually:

Does an organization have its ‘dialogue processes’ in order to ensure that culture and strategy remain aligned, while changes are constantly taking place?

This qualitative research focused on the question of what a coaching program should look like for leaders who are promoted to a Senior Management position.

Eight leaders were selected who were promoted to the senior position and who received coaching. The coaches, HR and a line manager also participated in the survey. Data were collected on the basis of the grounded theory method.

A main conclusion drawn by the researchers is that ‘transition coaching’ is still relatively little structural part of promotion processes. According to the researchers, this may have to do with the costs of Executive Coaching, possibly also with the fact that the phenomenon of ‘transition coaching’ is relatively unknown..

On the basis of the research, the researchers make recommendations about, among other things: optimal moment to start the coaching, duration of the coaching, selection of coaches. Recommendations are also made on the importance of formulating goals / desired outcomes, the use of models and theories and assessments, and involving the client’s organization in the coaching.

Although, of course, somewhat outdated (ed: since 2008 the service provision around coaching may have changed a lot), the study nevertheless provides a number of interesting insights into various aspects of coaches’ professional practice’. A digital questionnaire was conducted among 2231 coaches. The coaches were questioned on a large number (42) topics (120 items). One of the questions the researchers asked themselves was whether an academic background of the coaches would lead to a different professional practice.
See the study for a complete overview of the results.
In terms of the ‘academic background’, the researchers did indeed find differences with other groups of coaches. Academically trained coaches (mostly psychologists) worked more than other coaches in ‘corporate settings’, presented themselves as Executive Coach, Consultant or comparable. They were less interested in specific certifications for coaching, possibly because they perceived coaching more as an ‘extension’ of their normal activities. This group also experienced more competition in the ‘sector’ in which they worked.

This non-randomized control study examined the effectiveness of executive coaching from the perspective of the coachee’s characteristics. A control group was used.

The main findings were that positive relationships were found between the outcome of Executive Coaching (increased work performance as experienced by the coachees) and, among other things: learning goal orientation of the coachee, motivation of the coachee prior to the training; the coachee’s receptivity to feedback and the coachee’s ‘belief in their own development potential’. It therefore seems that coachees characteristics influence the effectiveness of Executive Coaching.
The authors suggest that these outcomes can be helpful in building development programs aimed at sustainable development.

This article shows, through a case study, how two psychological assessments, namely the Hogan Personality Inventory and the Hogan Development Survey, can be used to coach a senior manager on possible ‘dark side behavior’. Dark-side behavior can be described as behavior that becomes visible when managers are under great pressure, are very tired or do not properly monitor their behavior.
This behavior can then have a strong (negative) impact on the effectiveness or reputation of a leader.
The benefits and pitfalls of using psychological assessments in a coaching process are also discussed at the end of the article.

A meta-analysis aimed at the effectiveness of Executive (referred to in the study as ‘workplace coaching’).

First of all, criteria were defined for ‘results of coaching’. Initially, 54 studies into the effectiveness of Executive Coaching were selected, which focused exclusively on coaching within an organizational setting and in which coaches were ‘practicing’ coaches (and not managers or peer coaches). Ultimately, 17 studies (N = 2267) were included in the meta-analysis.In the study, ‘benefits / outcomes’ were divided into cognitive / skills / affective / personal, in analogy with research from learning and development. A number of ‘moderators’ of Executive Coaching were also specifically looked at, namely the use of multi-source feedback, internal vs external coaches and medium (face to face vs telephone / on-line).

The research showed that Executive Coaching shows a positive effect on all outcomes mentioned, with variations in the strength of the positive effects.

The research concludes with a number of practical recommendations regarding the use of multi-source feedback, the use of internal vs external coaches and the use of mediums for coaching (face to face etc.).

This case study shows how the dynamics of the coaching relationship can be understood as a repetition of unconscious processes by the client in the organization.

Andrew Day describes -from a psychodynamic perspective- how unconscious dynamics in the client’s organization contributed to the shaping of the experience of his role, and thus evoked feelings of powerlessness and anger. Initially, the coach identified with the client’s feelings because of the coach’s own experiences. As a result, the coaching relationship got stuck for some time. After the coach revealed his own experiences and associated emotions in the coaching, the coaching relationship started again. Based on this ‘disclosure’, further exploring the dynamics in the coaching relationship helped the client to understand his struggles within the organization at a deeper level and to position himself again within the organizational dynamics.

Although this study had a limited number of participants (3), it still provides a very interesting picture of the nature of the relationship between the internal coach and client. The background of the research was also a literature study, which also looked at parallels between psychotherapy and coaching.

Through analysis of transcripts, the author arrives at 7 themes that characterize the relationship between the internal coach and the client, and which are further explained:

1. Special nature of the coaching relationship
2. Trust
3. Psychological depth
4. Challenge and ‘holding to account’
5. Person of the coach
6. Person of the client
7. Coaching framework and proces

This research was part of Simon Machin’s MA in Coaching and Mentoring Practice at Oxford Brookes University, which was awarded the prize by APECS for the best research dissertation relevant to executive coaching.

This article, in which the author bases her conclusions mainly on literature studies, provides a practical overview of factors that can be of importance for the design and evaluation of effective coaching programs. It briefly describes nine principles and their possible relevance to coaching programs:

1. The learning relationship is at the heart of change:
2. The context is work:
3. The client sets the agenda and is resourceful:  4.
4. The coach facilitates learning and development:
5. The outcome is change:
6. The framework for the change process provides movement and direction:
7. The skills develop insight, release potential and deliver results:
8. The qualities of the coach affirm, enable and sustain the client: .
9. Ethical practice safeguards and enhances coaching

This study investigated whether Executive Coaching is effective in times of Organizational Change. The participants were 38 managers within a Global Company with a portfolio in “strategic consulting, engineering and project delivery”. The company had offices on all continents. The research was both qualitative and quantitative in design.

The results show that Executive Coaching did indeed provide a wide range of positive effects, namely in the field of:

• achieving goals and results
• solution-oriented thinking
• increase willingness to change
• increasing self-efficacy
• increase resilience
• reduced feelings of depression

Positive effects were also measured  in the private domain, such as in the family situation.

This study investigated the impact leadership coaching has on changes in leadership behavior, more specifically on individual consideration to team members, delegation and close supervision (control) of team members. The survey was conducted among 75 middle and senior managers and 188 team members.

Leadership coaching was found to be positively correlated with more individual consideration of the leader to the team members, more delegation and less close supervision (control) of the team members. In other words, if you start from a transformational leadership vision (in which the development of team members is an important pillar), leadership coaching appears to contribute to empowering team members through different behavior of the leader.

The article describes a number of developments within the field of Executive Coaching, Consulting Psychology and Leadership Assessment. The author sees an increasing importance of Executive Coaching and argues for more interdependence and professionalization in the three areas mentioned.

This article shows the results of a highly structured coaching program on the development of emotional competence and leadership in a global company. It describes quite precisely how the development program is set up. The results can be called very positive, the participants and the other parties in the program perceive a lasting change in emotional competence in a large number of participants. The article also includes a number of interesting appendices with examples of parts of the program.

This article extensively reports on two surveys on two different continents (Canada, Australia) among MBA students (including managers). The relative effectiveness of external, peer, and self-coaching in this setting was investigated. The outcome was that external coaching turned out to be more effective than peer and self-coaching. Interestingly, participating managers found self-coaching to be more effective than peer coaching. The researchers state that the results provide strong empirical indications for the greater effectiveness of external coaching.

This study explores whether personality traits in the client are a predictor of successful coaching. A number of personality traits from the 5-factor model plus ‘self-efficacy’ were related to (sustainable) transfer of coaching. The results show that there are significant links between personality traits and (sustainable) transfer of coaching. However, the correlations are relatively low. This means that the personal personality characteristics are not a good predictor of (sustainable) transfer of coaching. The researchers therefore argue that whether or not to ‘assign’ coaching to people on the basis of the personality characteristics (based on the 5-factor model) is not useful, but that certain outcomes on the measured characteristics do indicate additional support interventions to make the coaching effective.

This study explored whether Executive Coaching can help improve leadership behavior, specifically with regard to meeting leadership. First of all, a theoretical framework was developed (MLMS) on the basis of which the research was carried out. The participants were generally highly trained leaders. The results show (based on measurements before and after the coaching) a significant and relatively strong relationship between the coaching and the skills and attitudes required to effectively lead meetings.

The aim of this research was to gain insight into the relationship between Executive Coaching and ‘Self-efficacy’ in relation to management soft skills. The research took place in a large production company, in the context of a management development program for junior and middle management. The program consisted of classroom seminars (8 days in total), action learning groups (7 x 1.5 days) and executive coaching (14 times 1.5 hours), where the coaching was performed by internal coaches. The number of participants in the program was 127.
The study found a positive relationship between Executive Coaching and Self-efficacy in relation to management soft skills. A connection was also found between the number of coaching sessions and the increase in Self-efficacy. Based on this research, the authors therefore argue that it is useful to include multiple coaching sessions over a longer period of time in management development programs in which Self-efficacy is important.

In this article, Professor Erik de Haan describes a number of conflict areas, inherent to leadership, whereby leaders run the risk of becoming overconfident in their behavior, going too far and / or derailing their behavior. De Haan calls these potential risks ‘The Shadow Side of Leadership’, a ‘phenomenon’ that is increasingly occurring due to the enormous pressure on leadership. De Haan also offers a number of suggestions for recognizing and avoiding the shadow side of leadership.
If you are interested in the subject ‘Shadow side of Leadership’, we would also like to refer to the book written by Erik de Haan and Anthony Kasozi (now published in the second edition) with the same title:
In English: ‘The Leadership Shadow – How to Recognise and Avoid Derailment, Hubris’

A very interesting study. In the first place because of the scale of the research, in the second place because research is being done into so-called ‘active ingredients’ in coaching: which elements determine the effectiveness of coaching? Data was collected from 1,895 coach-client pairs (366 different coaches) and 96 ‘clients’ in 34 countries with a total of 3882 ‘matching surveys’. Specific research was conducted into a number of assumed active ingredients, namely the coach-coachee relationship, self-efficacy, and personality matching (the influence of personality types coach and coachee on the effectiveness of coaching). A strong point of this research is that it was also possible to look at relationships between the active ingredients mentioned.

We summarize the results as follows (it is certainly worthwhile to read the entire research thoroughly): The quality of the relationship between coach and coachee is important for a good outcome of the coaching. This also applies to the coachee’s self-efficacy. At the same time, the quality of the relationship also seems to have an impact on the coachee’s self-efficacy. And a strong emphasis on ‘goals’ in the working alliance may partly be a compensation for a low self-efficacy. The authors indicate that a strong coach-coachee relationship ánd appropriate goal-setting appear to be the fundamental aspects of effective coaching.

Finally, the authors offer suggestions for further research, including examining in more detail the role of ‘relationship’ and ‘goal-setting’.

Thorough study in which the “Shadow Side of Personality” (measured with 320 senior leaders) was compared with four leadership characteristics (scored by 4,906 employees of the mentioned leaders). The shadow side of personality refers to (simply stated) behavior that becomes visible under pressure or fatigue and that often leads to counterproductive behavior (such as strong anger or strong avoidance).

The Shadow Side was measured with the HDS of the Hogan Assessment Systems, the four leadership traits (strong leadership, empowering leadership, strategic and operational leadership) with the Leadership Versatility Index.

Positive relationships were found for almost all Leadership Behaviors with Traits of the Dark Side of Personality. Interestingly, however, in most cases scores on the shadow side median correlated positively with good leadership. In other words: both high and low scores on the dark side suggest less good leadership.

Expressed in an example: a good leader shows neither very much nor very little narcissism. A moderate amount of narcissism (or an average on most other traits of the dark side) appears to be positive for leadership.

In addition, it was found that Emotional Stability (in the sense of, among other things, calm behavior and resilience) has a moderating effect between high scores on shadow personality (the risk that extreme behavior will become visible) and leadership behavior (actually visible leadership behavior).

In this article, when the third decade of this century was just around the corner, the author identifies the serious challenge of the rapidly changing organizational context. Change leaders face ever-increasing tasks. The author advocates supporting Change Leaders with Executive Coaching, so that they in turn can help others with upcoming changes. The author bases her plea substantively on a literature study into various interesting aspects and effects of Executive Coaching.

Career development and career change support are becoming increasingly important because the nature of work changes. At the same time, the researcher notes that little research has been done into factors that are important in supporting ‘career transitions’.
In this study, based on interviews with 27 managers (all working in South African companies) it was examined which factors in career coaching they considered to be of significant (transformative!) value. In other words, which career coaching techniques facilitated learning that had a lasting impact?
Of the 13 techniques studied, 5 scored higher on appreciation than others: active experimentation, questioning, reflection, challenging viewpoints and assumptions, and the use of theories and frameworks.
It was also found (in contrast to the more common view on coaching) that managers in transition value a directive, knowledge-sharing coach and that managers also confirm that reflection and experiential learning are important keys to success in a new role.