Impact of Intergenerational Patterns on Coaching Effectiveness

This exploratory study examined the influence of intergenerational family patterns and transgenerational transmissions on coaching effectiveness. It specifically focused on the potential impact of coaches’ intergenerational patterns on their countertransference risks and development of coaching resources. Fifteen executive coaches were socioanalytically interviewed with a focused genogram and a self-as-instrument approach to understand the impact of intergenerational patterns and underlying family dynamics on coaching effectiveness. Results indicated a relationship between these factors and coaching effectiveness. This was especially the case with regard to the development of functional and adaptive coping behaviour rather than transmitting dysfunctional, maladaptive behaviour only. Analysing and debriefing live coaching situations with a focus on potential countertransference reactions would further validate these findings in future research. Given the results of this study, it seems essential to integrate the reflection of intergenerational patterns and related countertransference risks into the training and supervision of coaches.

Managers' responses to the initial stages of the Covid-19 pandemic: an executive coaching perspective

PurposeThis research investigates how the Covid-19 pandemic initially affected organisational managers, as seen from their executive coaches' perspective by asking: (1) What challenges did managers experience during the initial stages of the Covid-19 pandemic? and (2) How did coaching foster crisis management skills during this time? Executive coaches are in a unique, confidential and professionally intimate position to observe their clients' thoughts, emotions and behaviours.Design/methodology/approachUsing an interpretivist approach, interviews conducted with 26 executive coaches from the USA, UK, Australia and South Africa during the initial stages of the pandemic (first three weeks of April 2020) were analysed using thematic analysis.FindingsCoaches observed how the Covid-19 pandemic caused managers to experience a tension between managing their staff, their own bosses and themselves. Ranging from logistical challenges to personal fear, uncertainty and loss of identity, managers confided in and relied on their coaches to help them to reflect, provide support, but also challenge them to take a forward-looking stance. Findings were interpreted through the lenses of crisis management and coaching efficacy theory. Crisis management theory is extended by suggesting that greater priority must be given to managers' personal well-being and by adding coaching as a new intervention to develop crisis management skills. Coaching theory is extended by showing that executive coaching can foster certain crisis management skills and that the benefits of coaching in non-crisis times are also relevant during a crisis.Practical implicationsManagers, their leaders, executive coaches and purchasers of coaching services, such as human resource practitioners, should take note of the challenges managers face during crises. They should consider executive coaching as a support intervention to foster requisite crisis management skills.Originality/valueThe findings provide novel, empirical evidence suggesting that executive coaching could foster crisis management skills. The unique Covid-19 context provides rare insights into managerial thinking, emotions and behaviour during extreme crisis situations, contributing to the design of appropriate support interventions.

Organizational Change Management in Higher Education through the Lens of Executive Coaches

This study investigated perceptions of organizational change management among executive coaches working with British higher-education leaders and factors that make leaders effective when managing change. This basic qualitative research used semi-structured interviews with eight executive coaches selected through purposeful sampling. As main challenges to efficient, inclusive change management, participants mentioned leaders’ lack of a strategic vision or plan, lack of leadership and future leader development programs, and lack of clarity in decision-making. They recognized that leaders’ academic and professional profiles are positively viewed and said that, with coaching and support in leadership and strategic planning, these people can inspire the academic community and promote positive change. Additional emphasis was given to the role of coaching in the development of key soft skills (honesty, responsibility, resiliency, creativity, proactivity, and empathy, among others), which are necessary for effective change management and leadership in higher education. The paper’s implications have two aspects. First, the lessons of the actual explicit content of the coaches’ observations (challenges to efficient change management and views of leaders); second, the implications of these observations (how coaching can help and what leaders need).

When Commitments Conflict: Making Ethical Decisions Like a Funambulist

Given the complexity of organizations, individuals nowadays are handling an increasing number of commitments. When these commitments come into conflict, they can turn into ethical dilemmas. However, little is known about how individuals make ethical decisions in the face of such conflicting commitments. We investigated this issue within the context of executive coaching, since coaches often interact with multiple stakeholders as part of their assignments. We conducted 37 semi-structured interviews using the critical incident technique, that is, by asking executive coaches to share a situation that was ethically challenging for them. Based on our study, we derive the metaphor of funambulism to depict how individuals make decisions in the case of conflicting commitments. By building on the systemic framework, we show that executive coaches manage an equilibrium ‘along the way’ through an emergent system of practices, which involves making adjustments that can maintain or restore their system’s equilibrium (i.e., compatibility between commitments). This contribution alludes to the dynamic and constructed nature of ethics.

Competition and gender: Time’s up on essentialist knowledge production

This article is an intervention in current trends of thinking about competition and gender in essentialist and stereotypical ways. Such thinking has produced numerous comparative studies measuring competitiveness of women and men; ‘proving’ men as competitive and women as non-competitive. Based on experiments and written questionnaires, these studies reduce gender to perceived biological sex and treat competition as a ‘self-evident’, static and easily measurable phenomenon. To contribute new understandings and learning, we surface five fallacies of this comparative research, explaining why the approach is misleading, inequitable and socially harmful. Drawing upon gender as a social construction and women leaders’ narratives, we offer a blueprint for democratising knowledge production. We write differently, choosing not to provide a ‘balanced’ view of the field and construct competition as a processual, complex and contextually specific phenomenon with underlying gender dynamics, rather than a discrete, observable and fixed in time event. The article provides learning: for leaders and managers to resist automatic categorisation on the basis of perceived biological sex; for management educators to challenge the ways that leadership and management are traditionally taught; and, for executive coaches to support changes in practice, by embracing complexity of the contemporary contexts in which leaders operate.

Executive coaching explained: the beginnings of a contingency approach

PurposeIn this paper, we problematize the prevailing assumptions in the executive coaching literature that effective coaching is deliberative, trust-based and relational in nature, thereby requiring significant time investment before the focal leader might realize enacted benefits from the coaching. Contrary to these prevailing assumptions, we propose five contingencies wherein a more direct, performance-first approach to coaching may be more effective.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual paper reviews relevant literature to develop testable propositions regarding directive coaching contingencies.FindingsWe develop propositions that argue executive coaches will need to employ a more directive, urgent and accountable coaching relationship when the executive's career is in jeopardy, the organization is in distress, if the leader needs to signal legitimacy, if the coaching occurs within the boundaries of a high reliability organization or if the coach is working with an executive who has interim status.Originality/valueThis paper intends to advance the theory and practice of executive coaching by challenging executive coaching orthodoxy regarding the need for a deliberative, relational approach to coaching. Future research should broaden this theorizing and empirically test our propositions.

Introduction to the Special Issue of the SBM Mid-Career Leadership Institute: leadership and behavioral medicine in context

In 2016, we established the year-long Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) Mid-Career Leadership Institute. Individuals are often selected for leadership positions without intentional training in needed leadership skills, including strategic planning, building collaborative teams, goal setting, negotiation, and communication. The purpose of the Leadership Institute is to: (a) provide opportunities for mid-career professionals to build and sustain their leadership capacity; (b) create cohorts of connected fellows in behavioral medicine fields, disciplines, and institutions, who can support one another throughout their professional careers; and (c) enhance specific skills needed to navigate the challenges of mid-career. Over the first 4 years of the Institute, 139 fellows have participated, representing 35 states. Most of the fellows hold PhDs (93%) as a terminal degree. This special issue is dedicated to the leadership experiences of fellows, faculty, senior SBM mentors, peer mentors, and executive coaches.

Graduating With Honors in Resilience: Creating a Whole New Doctor

Background Although coaching programs have become a prominent piece of graduate medical education, they have yet to become an integral part of undergraduate medical education. A handful of medical schools have utilized longitudinal coaching experiences as a method for professional identity formation, developing emotional intelligence and leadership. Objective We developed A Whole New Doctor (AWND), a medical student leadership development and coaching program at Georgetown University, with the aim of fostering resilience, leadership, and emotional intelligence at the nascent stage of physician training. To our knowledge, ours is the only program that is largely student-managed and uses certified executive coaches in the medical student population. Methods Cohort 1 of AWND started in October 2016. For each cohort, we hold a kickoff workshop that is highly interactive, fast-paced and covers coaching, complex thinking, reflective writing, and a coaching panel for Q&A. Following the workshop, students work with coaches individually to address self-identified weaknesses, tensions, and areas of conflict. We believe the program’s student-driven nature provides a new structural approach to professional development and leadership programs, offering students a simultaneously reflective and growth-oriented opportunity to develop essential non-technical skills for physician leaders. Results Of the 132 students in the program, 107 have worked with one of our coaches (81%). Student testimonials have been uniformly positive with students remarking on an increased sense of presence, improvements in communication, and more specific direction in their careers. Conclusion Our pilot coaching program has received positive feedback from students early in their medical training. It will be important to further scale the program to reach an increasing number of students and quantitatively evaluate participants for the long-term effects of our interventions.