Coaching as a Means of Leadership Development - Essay Example

A CRITICAL REVIEW OF COACHING AS A MEANS OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Contents Introduction 3 Coaching and Leadership Development 3 Benefits of Coaching5 Challenges in Coaching 6 Conclusion 8 Bibliography 10 Introduction This paper is presented to the Journal of Leadership and Management. It discusses the role of coaching in developing the leaders of tomorrow. To this end, the paper will discuss the benefits and advantages of using coaching as a means of developing leaders in an organisation. The paper will critique the potential challenges of coaching as a method of developing leaders. Coaching and Leadership Development There is no agreed definition of coaching. However, different scholars have put forward different definitions for the concept of coaching. One definition states that “coaching is the process of helping someone to identify their own solution to work issues in order to improve their performance” (Ryan, 2013, p. 52). This implies that coaching is about helping people to develop creative and independent views to issues and matters at the work place. Independent thought and independent analysis is the main end that coaching seeks to attain. Another view of coaching indicates that it is a face-to-face interaction between a superior and a subordinate with the view of getting the subordinate to perform in a way that is desirable as opposed to an undesirable behaviour (Werner & DeSimone, 2012). This implies that coaching involves some kind of direction and guidance to junior staff members to ensure they do the right things. It involves interpersonal discussions between managers and subordinates in a way and manner that enables them to analyse and review sensitive issues and matters (London, 2012). Coaching is designed in such a way that it meets the needs and objectives of an organisation and hence, the leaders can put in place different processes and systems that will be executed in order to attain specified ends (Greif, 2007). Coaching fundamentally differs from mentoring because coaching is based on the attainment of specific ends and specific objectives that are clearly identified before the whole process commences (Renton, 2009). Coaching in the work environment focuses on major and fundamental career issues and it is aimed at providing the right foundation and guidance to junior staff members (Brimrose, 2006). Career coaching is specifically put together in a way and manner in which specific skill sets are linked to business and strategic objectives in order to find the ways and means of dealing with the needs of certain workers in the organisation (Yates, 2013). Coaching is also important and vital for the raising of new executive leaders because it involves the setting of goals, identification of intervention methods, hypothesising, implementation and evaluation of outcomes (Kilburg, 1996). This indicates that coaching can be used and modified in a way and manner to meet the needs and expectations of a given firm in attaining its ends. Therefore, the managers of a company can identify their leadership goals and expectations and from there, they can find ways and means of defining methods of attaining these ends through coaching and implementing them in order to attain the ends that they need. Due to this, coaching is a major process and a major system through which a firm can get definite and specified ends through which leaders’ competencies can be identified and attained through the creation of a bespoke system and process for coaching (Horner, 2012). In Winston’s landmark research into coaching, indicated that there are some soft contents which when employed, can enable the firm to build a strong and sustained culture and this include: 1. Humility 2. Concern for others 3. Controlled discipline 4. Seeking the best for the organisation 5. Showing flexibility in beliefs 6. Focus on people 7. Creating sustained peace (Winston, 2002) These things will enable a firm to attain and retain its systems for the transmission of cultures and beliefs in new and junior staff members. This can therefore form a propitious and appropriate system through which the grooming and the raising of new managers can be done in an organisation. This will be complemented with the hard and specified ends that an organisation might seek to attain including the identification of the goals and targets of the organisation. Benefits of Coaching There are numerous benefits that accrue to a firm if it pursues coaching as a means of developing its leaders. An empirical study involved 360 organisations and this showed that firms that used coaching attained a 60% increase in effectiveness (Thach, 2002). Based on this, executive coaching is identified to be a fundamental method of career development and career enhancement and this is done in conjunction with a conscious set of targets for career growth and career development amongst junior managers. Passmore identifies that coaching has an inherent benefit of being a tool for the direct transfer of knowledge from senior managers to junior managers (Passmore, 2013). This is because coaching enables an organisation to create personalised materials that can be utilised in the coaching process. Secondly, coaching enhances the skills of subordinates and enables subordinate leaders to develop unique skills and competencies as a means of becoming better managers (Passmore, 2013). This enables managers to build competencies and enhance and build on their prior abilities through the processes of improving themselves in the technical sense of the job. Additionally, coaching is identified to be a means of developing self-awareness (Passmore, 2013). This is because a subordinate in a coaching programme is always aware of the fact that he is accountable to another person and there is the possibility of his actions and inactions being recorded and documented for further review. This encourages trainees to become more sensitive to what they do and more careful in their activities in the firm. It is also identified that coaching enables a firm to promote consistency and this enhances control and management (Kouzes, Posner, & Beich, 2012). This is because every firm and organisation has its culture and processes for doing this and analysing things. In doing this, there is the need for some kind of consistency to be attained in order to ensure that a firm is able to attain its results and objectives. Consistency ensures better supervision and control in a firm. All in all, coaching helps a firm to improve productivity in the short-run and the long-run (Fairley & Stout, 2012). This is steeped in the fact that coaching enables the subordinates of a firm to become more committed and they become fairly satisfied with the processes and systems in the firm. This leads to better processes and the integration of corporate strategy and corporate targets into the operations of lower and junior staff members in an organisation. Challenges in Coaching There are numerous limitations and disadvantages of coaching in career development. Basically, most executives have a background in their field of work and specialisation like management in most cases, however coaching demands some degree of psychological awareness and processes (Izod, 2012). The lack of these psychological competencies implies that most managers tend to make significant mistakes in the coaching process. This means that there will be a major problem with the attainment of results and objectives. As a downside to the failure to understand and evaluate the psychological aspects of executive coaching, there is a general problem and issue with the way some trainees perceive certain processes. Some trainees and trainers tend to view coaching as a negative process and a negative situation in which the negative aspects of the coaching processes are taken personally. This implies that they tend to become upset and take various conflicts in a negative way and a negative sense. This causes so many personal and destructive conflicts that leads to numerous obstacles in learning and attaining results in the organisation. Also, executive coaching is not a regulated field and a regulated process (Yedreshteyn, 2012). This is because most managers are mainly MBA holders and in most of these programs, are not arranged in such a way and manner that focuses on coaching. Rather, in most MBAs, coaching is done as a small isolated module which tends to be very shallow in outlook and scope. Therefore, with varied experiences and credentials, there are numerous results and expectations that will be attained through the process. This is because different coaches will have different results and this will not necessarily be the best or the most ideal in every setting and process. A firm’s expectations and needs are constantly changing. Thus, there are numerous changes in the training and leadership objectives of organisations. Hence, there is the need for the auditing and upgrading of coaching targets and processes. However, in practice, most of these changes and processes of improving and enhancing coaching objectives to meet changes in the external environment is rather slow (Yedreshteyn, 2012). Therefore, coaching can be said to be a less effective solution to the training needs of leaders than an emergent process or system. Ethical issues that come up with coaching are difficult to be assessed and addressed. This is because coaching comes with major problems and issues that relates to the needs and expectations of managers. However, addressing these ethical issues are mainly complicated in firms. Finally, the metrics indicate that coaching is an expensive option in the development of managers. An empirical study indicated that coaching comes with major costs like the interruption of senior managers and other problems and issues that tend to slow down the processes and systems of doing more important things (Yedreshteyn, 2012). The study identified that a six-month coaching process will typically cost a firm in the range of $10,000 to $20,000 due to this, firms are always going to lose important aspects of their operations and make sacrifices that come with major direct and indirect costs and restrictions. Conclusion Coaching is a system through which a firm’s junior managers are given guidance and direction in a structured programme by their superiors. Due to this, coaching involves a system and process through which specific and direct actions are taken in relation to various junior managers by senior managers. Coaching is structured and more direct than mentoring. Also, coaching is flexible and can be modified to suit the circumstances and conditions within which a firm operates. This enables the firm to get better and more superior results that meets its specific goals and ends. Coaching is specific and can be tuned to meet specific circumstances and conditions. Coaching promotes consistency as it is a tool that directly transmits the competencies and abilities of senior managers to junior managers. Coaching improves self awareness and this goes on to improve short-term and long-term productivity in a firm. On the other hand, coaching is seen as an unregulated activity and could be expensive and provide major ethical challenges that could harm productivity. Bibliography Brimrose, J. (2006). The Changing Context of Career Practice: Guidance, Counselling or Coaching? London: Derby Press. Fairley, S., & Stout, C. E. (2012). Getting Started in Personal and Executive Coaching. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. Greif, S. (2007). Advances in Research on Coaching Outcomes. International Coaching Psychology Review , 222-249. Horner, C. (2012). Executive Coaching: The Leadership Development Tool of the Future? Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, MBA Dissertation , 1-35. Izod, K. (2012). Mind-ful Consulting. London: Karnac Books. Kilburg, R. R. (1996). Toward a conceptual understanding and definition of executive coaching. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research , 134-144. Kouzes, J. M., Posner, B. Z., & Beich, M. (2012). A Coachs Guide to Developing Exemplary Leaders . Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. London, M. (2012). Leadership Development: Paths to Self-Insight and Professional Growth. New York: Psychology Press. Passmore, J. (2013). Leadership Coaching: Working with Leaders to Develop Elite Performance. London: Kogan Page. Renton, J. (2009). Coaching and Mentoring: What They Are and How to Make the Most of Them. The Economist Newspaper , 8-27. Ryan, R. (2013). Leadership Development . London: Routledge. Thach, E. A. (2002). The impact of executive coaching and 360 feedback on leadership effectiveness. Leadership & Organization Development Journal , 205-214. Werner, J., & DeSimone, R. (2012). Human Resource Development. Mason, OH: Cengage. Winston, B. E. (2002). Be a Good Leader. Virginia Beach, VA: Regent University School of Leadership Studies. Yates, J. (2013). The Career Coaching Handbook. London: Routledge. Yedreshteyn, S. (2012). A Qualitative Investigation of the Implementation of Executive Coaching. Santa Barbara: ProQuest. Read More