Shilpi Sahai examines the complex dynamics executive coaching within organisations through a theoretical lens, exploring its intended and implicit purposes within organisations. Drawing on established frameworks, she highlights the tensions between individual agency and organisational alignment, offering a nuanced perspective on how coaching contributes to leadership, culture and long-term performance.

The success of an organisation is often attributed to the quality of its leadership. Coaching, as a process to improve performance, lends itself to harnessing the potential of the individuals. Recognising this, most organisations offer coaching to their executives, to help them navigate the complexities of the workplace. Forbes survey corroborates this: “87% of respondents believed that executive coaching has a high ROI—one survey estimated that value at seven times the cost of employing a coach.”

Coaching takes a partnership approach, to support requisite changes to coachees work life, improving job satisfaction. It helps professional development by enhancing their executive presence. Being mindful of the organisational context and its impact on coachees ability to perform, a SMART plan is derived. By strengthening coping strategies, for events outside coachee’s control (e.g. emerging technology) and amplifying what is within their control (e.g. to lead by example) it builds capabilities for success.

Challenges and opportunities

While the purpose behind coaching is always clarified and agreed from the outset, the unspoken aim of the organisational offer of coaching and the subtext of the decision behind it, continues to be discussed with interest. This unspoken aim is best elucidated in Brockbank and McGill’s matrix, that seeks to answer whose view of reality prevails and what is the purpose of it (often unspoken).

To elaborate, in relation to functionalist coaching, the unspoken aim within the coaching environ, is not to challenge the status-quo but to adapt to the prescribed management development plan. The unspoken aim, in evolutionary coaching, on the other end, is to accord flexibility, where the coachee takes ownership for their learning. Thus, respecting coachee’s sense of agency, intellect and resourcefulness to develop.

The end goal is to develop transformational leadership skills for a holistic system wide impact

However, there still remains an element of management control and expectation of alignment of coaching goals with organisational requirements. For example, systems working requires a collaborative mindset for collective action and while the coachee may independently agree SMART goals, the end goal is to develop transformational leadership skills for a holistic system wide impact. 

Smart context

One of the pull factors in favour of coaching is its offer of confidentiality.  The honesty and objectivity of the discussions, in safe spaces makes it a popular choice, allowing executives to be vulnerable and ambitious in equal measures, as they agree SMART goals. However, some executives may instead choose mentoring over coaching, for e.g. to be mentored by an exemplary leader, who values and respects the leadership journey of their executives. By being acutely aware of the organisational context and knowing the executive well enough, mentoring interactions flow organically and safely with a growth mindset.

While accepting coaching and mentoring are distinct processes, one of the qualities of genuine leader, is to be both a good coach and a mentor. Their leadership credentials, like trustworthiness, may play an important role in executive’s decision to use them as a mentor. It does not necessarily require an elaborate plan and leaders influence and experience may be leveraged to executive’s advantage. Their behavioural repertoire builds trust and facilitates success through shared experiences, in a way that signing confidentiality clauses may not seem that necessary. The net gain is a high performing executive team and where executives can be both nuanced and loud in their mentoring interactions with their leader. The famous Jack Welch quote “Leadership is simply about two things; Truth and Trust, ceaselessly seeking the former, relentlessly building the latter’’best describes how strong leaders create safe spaces.

Suitability, sustainability, return on investment

Sustainability of the coaching outcomes can be challenging, with patchy and inconsistent implementation practices. While instant success within a regimented timeframe is not expected, a reasonable timeline is agreed and measured, dovetailing with organisational readiness, as an enabler to adopt learning. Equally important is the coachee’s awareness about organisations’ culture, the opportunities it might present and resource availability, to realistically deliver learning outcomes.

There is significant investment in coaching but measuring its impact is often light touch. Regardless of the evaluation method used, if the feedback is surface level, then the depth of progress made may be difficult to gauge. Kirkpatrick’s Model is widely used but can be labour intensive to tease out the tangible outcomes.

Other multilevel evaluation tools, unless used in a timely manner to capture outcome effectiveness, may prove to be a fruitless exercise. It does not help if a meaningful coaching effectiveness measurement is missing from the equation and may require recalibration of organisational leadership development strategies.

The measure and magnitude of success is an ongoing process, ranging from a small act of leadership that may profoundly impact staff engagement to a financial turn-around, impacting the future of the organisation. Both add value that may be attributable to effective coaching, as it builds people up, benefiting the organisation.

By Shilpi Sahai