Marco te´ orico
1.2. La transposici´ on did´ actica
We developed the following table as part of the data collection and analysis process.
The table includes all executive coaching (EC) outcome studies (excluding internal coaching, workplace coaching, and manager-as-coach, since this would have been beyond the scope of this study) published up to December 2012. More specifically, the following details per study are included: name of author(s), the theme/purpose of the study, the research methodology of the study, what EC approach/techniques or tools were employed in the EC interventions under study, what are the key findings/
outcomes from the study, and finally, the publication outlet.
As part of the analysis, we use different font styles in the ‘Key Findings/Outcomes’
column depending on the type of outcome:
Plain text: if the observed EC outcomes are positive; Underline: if the EC outcomes are con-flicting or moderate; Bold: if the EC outcomes are negative; Italics: descriptive findings, with-out positive or negative connotation. The studies marked with an asterisk (*) are studies that are not empirical per se, but report earlier empirical evidence (see also Grant, 2011). The two studies marked with (**) (McGovern et al., 2001 and Kearns, 2006) have not been published in peer-reviewed journals but are among the very few outcome studies that calculate EC ROI, also, the McGovern et al. (2001) study is among the most heavily cited EC outcome studies (168 citations in Google Scholar), hence we decided to include them in this list.
168APPENDIX II 1 Foster &
Lendl (1996)
Study of the effects of eye movement
One to ten hours of coaching based on the EMDR technique to desensitize an upsetting event that impaired work performance.
– EMDR desensitized the disturbing incident.
– Participants’ negative view shifted to more positive.
– Work performance was restored or enhanced.
– Decrease of anxiety levels in 4th case.
Consulting Used the Hay/McBer Executive 360 assessment process and a competency-based programme including three-hour interview. Use of additional instruments (FIRO-B or Element B and the Strength Deployment Inventory, and 16PF) and ongoing data collection and looped feedback process.
– Learned to plan for both personal and business outcomes.
– Executive became more able to manage his need to dominate, and reward and develop others as opposed to just directing them. This tendency did not completely disappear, but was improved.
– Became more gentle and aware of others’ needs at work and more interpersonally sensitive and available in personal life.
– Post-EC, participant’s team or group management skills were still developing, considering his tendency to do it alone and on his own standards.
Consulting
EC programme consisted of three distinct phases: fact gathering (including psychological tests);
planning and consolidation;
implementation and development.
– Substantial positive changes in his interactions were observed by his colleagues.
– After EC, the participant joined a new and larger team, as part of a new job role, and was seen as a real team player among his peers and visionary (even ‘inspirational’) leader of his staff.
– Participant described the EC intervention as a
‘life-changing’ event.
Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice &
Research
APPENDIX II 169 (1997) a public sector
municipal agency (a health agency in a major north-eastern and a public presentation (not clarified in the article, but description fits the COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL).
significantly greater gain compared to training alone).
– All coaches and coachees reported favorable reactions (qualitative measurement).
NOT SPECIFIED Identified: the characteristics of coaches and coachees, what a typical EC intervention includes and types of assessments performed, typical issues requested to address through EC.
Business Horizons
6 Hall, Otazo, &
Hollen beck (1999)
Examine the way EC has been applied, issues covered in EC, EC effectiveness and lessons from EC practice.
NOT SPECIFIED – Most executives rated the overall effectiveness of their coaching experience as ‘very satisfactory’ (four on a five-point scale).
– EC produces a specific value-added: executives acquire new skills, abilities, and perspectives, which allow accomplishing things that they could not do before EC.
– Reported improved performance.
– Developed new attitudes and perspectives (e.g.
more patience).
– Executives had four types of ‘protean learning’: learning relating to performance and attitude perspective change (in the short-term) and adaptability and identity change (in the long-term).
– Positive outcomes for coaches, too: they learn more about the business and internal politics.
Organizational Dynamics
(continued)
0APPENDIX II of the EC practice and the extent
NOT APPLICABLE – Media coverage of EC has been growing.
– Favorable views of EC far exceed unfavorable views, with 88% of the articles presenting EC favourably.
– Psychology training is neither regularly nor universally recognized as useful or even relevant to practice EC. The percentage of EC articles that mentioned psychology dropped over time (period 1991–98). and refocus the participant’s skills) and 29% were growth-oriented (accelerate the learning curve for high-potential or recently promoted executives).
16% combined the two orientations.
EC duration of six to twelve months. Assessment procedures included personality instruments, multi-rater surveys, and interviews with members of the multi-rater survey sample.
– 86% of participants and 74 % of stakeholders were ‘very satisfied’ or ‘extremely satisfied’ with the EC process.
– Participants considered that 73 % of their goals have been achieved ‘very effectively’ or ‘extremely effectively’.
– In only twelve cases participants did not sustain at least one of their developmental priorities.
– The most frequently reported factor detracting EC effectiveness was participant’s availability (44%) and the most frequently reported factor enhancing EC effectiveness was the coach/participant relationship (87%).
– Forty-three of the executives were able to provide an estimate of EC ROI in dollars:
Initial ROI estimates, before adjustment, were between $100,000 and $1 million. Conservative ROI was on average nearly $100,000 or 5.7 times the initial EC investment. Conclusion: EC is a particularly valuable investment.
The Manchester Review
# Author(s) Theme/Purpose Methodology EC Approach/ Technique Key Findings/Outcomes Publication
APPENDIX II 171
‘far greater’ than money and time invested.
9 Anderson
REBT is a very useful EC approach and particularly appropriate in: assessment, personal counseling, anger management, confrontation, relationship problems, lack of self-worth, procrastination, indecisiveness in decision making and problem-solving and perfectionism. (Based on description of approach, not clearly stated as such by the author).
– EC as a complex and demanding process with multidimensional interrelationships among the individual, the organization and the consultant.
– Four premises guide EC: the role of the unconscious in individual and group behaviour;
the interaction between the individual and the organization; multilevel organizational forces; and the consultant’s use of self as tool.
The Journal of Three phases over a period of three years: first phase: develop and pilot 360 feedback process (eight months); second phase: implement year one 360 feedback with coaching (twelve months); third phase: implement year two 360 feedback with coaching (twelve months).
– Participation rates were higher than anticipated with more participants volunteering to complete the EC process than the corporate budget allowed.
– The perceived (by others) overall impact on leadership effectiveness after the six-month coaching and 360-feedback equaled to an average increase of 55% with Phase 2 executives and 60%
with Phase 3 executives.
– Completing three to five EC sessions appears to have a much more positive impact on self-reported per cent increase in leadership effectiveness than only one or two EC sessions.
Leadership &
Organization Development J ournal
(continued)
2APPENDIX II number of ‘ready
now’ succession planning candidates for the firm’s top sixty strategic positions.
appears that all coaching happened in 1 session)
– The effectiveness of 360-degree feedback can be improved by combining it with coaching that focuses on enhanced self-awareness and behavioural management.
Study the effects of EC on multisource
– Managers who worked with an executive coach were more likely than other managers to set specific (rather than vague) goals and solicit ideas for improvement from their supervisors.
– Managers who worked with an EC improved more than other managers in terms of direct report and supervisor ratings, but the effect size was small.
– 86.3% of senior managers who had EC, wanted to work with a coach again. 78.5% wanted with the same one.
Personnel Psychology
# Author(s) Theme/Purpose Methodology EC Approach/ Technique Key Findings/Outcomes Publication
APPENDIX II 173
– Senior managers had favorable reactions towards their executive coach and the coaching process.
14 Wales a major UK clearing bank. Author was the coach.
Each manager received one hour of coaching every fortnight, for over a year.
– Coaching substantially increases the effectiveness of the links between self-development, management development and organizational effectiveness.
Reported areas of improvement due to EC:
Increased self-awareness, self-confidence and/
or self-esteem, improved motivation, objective setting and leadership skills, increased business performance, greater ability to understand systems and analyse situations, better understanding of difference, paradox and ambiguity, better stress management, taking ownership of decisions about themselves and close relations (take decisions, previously seen as difficult) and improved communication skills.
Journal of Change Management planning candidates
for the firm’s top sixty strategic positions.
appears that all coaching happened in 1 session)
– The effectiveness of 360-degree feedback can be improved by combining it with coaching that focuses on enhanced self-awareness and behavioural management.
Study the effects of EC on multisource
– Managers who worked with an executive coach were more likely than other managers to set specific (rather than vague) goals and solicit ideas for improvement from their supervisors.
– Managers who worked with an EC improved more than other managers in terms of direct report and supervisor ratings, but the effect size was small.
– 86.3% of senior managers who had EC, wanted to work with a coach again. 78.5% wanted with the same one.
Personnel Psychology
(continued)
4APPENDIX II rate from the initial sample of 106 executives).
NOT SPECIFIED
(But included list of typical EC activities and allocated hours).
– 76% reacted positively to working with an executive coach.
– But more than a third of sample reported a
‘guarded’ or negative response.
– 100% of respondents indicated a positive response in favor of external coaches and 70% indicated a strong positive response in favor of internal coaches.
– Top three indications of successful coaching were: sustained behaviour change (63%); increased self-awareness and understanding (48%), and more effective leadership (45%).
– Sustainability of executives’ learning and/or behaviour change as a result of EC: over half of executives reported sustainability level between 6 and 8 and over a third between 9 and 10 (in a 1–10 scale).
Consulting
The focus was on executive, workplace and life coaching.
The field is weak in measuring effectiveness: Only 31.8% of coaches use client satisfaction surveys
‘often’.
Most frequent measure of effectiveness is informal client feedback (55.3%).
Most coaches claim to use some quantitative measures (61.9%), but only a few use them often (19.1%).
# Author(s) Theme/Purpose Methodology EC Approach/ Technique Key Findings/Outcomes Publication
APPENDIX II 175 out within an
evidence-based framework.
Calculates the coaching ROI but in terms of behavioural
developmental level) guaranteed that it could be sustained over time.
– Such positive behavioural change could occur in the absence of a developmental advance, but without the benefit of being sustainable.
– When the developmental level remained unchanged over the period of coaching, behaviour also tended to remain unchanged.
– Lack of developmental advance could manifest as behavioural regression, where resistance or immunity to change increases over the coaching period.
Two studies: The first involved thirty MBA in the external and peer conditions to either external or peer or self-coaching.
– In the first study, those coached by an external coach exhibited higher team-playing behaviour than those coached by peers.
– In the second study, those who were either coached by an external coach or were self-coached had significantly higher grades than those who were coached by a peer.
– In both studies, an external coach was perceived by the participants to have higher credibility than their peers.
– In the second study, self-coaching was perceived to be more credible than coaching from peers.
– Satisfaction with the coaching process was highest among managers who had external coach.
6APPENDIX II EC helps to create better leaders—and
NOT SPECIFIED but refers to EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE Use of 360-degree-feedback instrument. Coaching intervention lasted between six months and a year.
– Significant gains as a result of EC, especially with regards to ‘soft skills’ seen as essential to leaders’
success: i.e., building and mending relationships, composure, and participative management. Also improvements in career derailers, in problem areas regarding interpersonal relationships and difficulty changing or adapting.
– Initially biweekly coaching sessions.
– Focus on encouragement (executive facing job difficulties).
– Self-awareness and learning new skills.
– DISC assessment to measure natural and adapted style.
– Became more self-confident and relaxed.
– Learned new skills.
– Felt more comfortable with new environment (because of change of roles/job within the organization) and more powerful.
– Improved interactions with customers and collaboration with peers and staff.
Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research
# Author(s) Theme/Purpose Methodology EC Approach/ Technique Key Findings/Outcomes Publication
APPENDIX II 177 business coaching. Royal Mail corporate
purchasers of EC and data drawn from a
for five to six coaching sessions at approximately monthly intervals. Use of 180-degree feedback inventory (not 360-degree).
good, believe in myself, morale, grow; (b) Support, guidance, encouragement, valued; (c) Career, promotion, future.
– Interesting discrepancy observed when comparing EC purchasers’ answers on what constitutes business coaching success with coachees’ views on their EC experience: EC purchasers perceived contribution to business results as the most important success criterion, whereas this was the 9th most frequent response among coachees.
Evidence Based each from their own perspective.
NOT SPECIFIED (but description of the process fits to the experiential learning and cognitive-behavioural approaches).
Coaching process included five half-day sessions and use of 360-degree feedback and a coaching tool titled
‘development pipeline’ for diagnosis of the five necessary conditions for development (i.e., motivation, capabilities, real world practice, accountability and insight).
The coachee learned: (a) how to work better with
‘herself’, be more clear about her goals and keep the goal in sight; (b) to ‘slow down to go fast’, i.e., taking time to reflect.
– Also, improved the quality of communication and credibility with others and learned to manage the interaction instead of going with the flow.
– Learned new skills and techniques such as how to be a better listener, strategic thinking, influence, managing politics, etc.
8APPENDIX II
NOT SPECIFIED – All participants agreed that EC is a helping process that enables to better meet their role obligations and responsibilities. faltering in his role as the head of a regional division of a Fortune 500 company.
NOT SPECIFIED
(But the description fits to the systems approach.)
Included 360-degree feedback, regular one-on-one meetings with the executive, four-way conference (with coach, coachee, executive’s manager and HR). Also, interviews with members of the management team and six and twelve month follow-up after the EC.
– Increased executive’s credibility, respect and effectiveness as well as self-awareness regarding the impact of his decisions and actions on others.
– His colleagues’ perceptions of him as a leader and manager improved.
– The morale among the coachee’s direct reports and RBT improved. life and sales staff productivity (US
NOT SPECIFIED – There was a self-reported negative relationship between goal achievement and the quality of recruitment productivity among personnel.
– Managers who more frequently applied coaching advice reported more work satisfaction and a tendency toward more life satisfaction.
Consulting Psychology Journal:
Practice &
Research
# Author(s) Theme/Purpose Methodology EC Approach/ Technique Key Findings/Outcomes Publication
APPENDIX II 179 coaching intensity,
involvement in the coaching process, participants’ quality of life, experience of stress, life satisfaction, and productivity.
26 Dagley (2006) Recorded HR professionals’
perceptions of EC.
Structured face-to-face interviews with seventeen HR professionals in Melbourne, Australia, responsible for more than 1,000 individual EC programmes in preceding two years.
NOT SPECIFIED – Practitioners indicated strong support for the use of coaching in the future.
– All rated their EC programmes as at least moderately successful (at least 3.5 of a 5 scale measure).
– Estimate that 11% of programmes are
outstandingly successful and 14% marginally or not successful.
– Practitioners identified a large range of benefits for individual executives and a smaller range for organizations. Most frequently reported individual benefit: ‘clearer understanding of own style, automatic responses, and the issues arising from these’. Most frequently reported organizational benefit: development of the talent pool and organizational capability.
– Practitioners indicated that benefits exceeded costs.
– Five of seventeen professionals reported engaging in ROI analysis, but four do so informally and only one formally.
– Only one of seventeen perceived the costs as being larger than the returns and two thought that they are about equal.
International Coaching Psychology Review
(continued)
0APPENDIX II
Coaching aimed at improving outcome expectancies and self-efficacy beliefs of the participating managers (experimental group).
– The coached group scored significantly higher than the control group on two variables: outcome expectancies to act in a balanced way and self-efficacy beliefs to set one’s own goals.
Consulting
NOT APPLICABLE – All the reviewed empirical studies conclude that people like to be coached and coaching is perceived to positively impact upon their effectiveness.
– Across all studies on external executive coaching, the improvement in coachees’ behaviours post-coaching was consistent, whether the coachees self-reported or the quantification was through 360-degree feedback.
International Coaching, Psychology Review
# Author(s) Theme/Purpose Methodology EC Approach/ Technique Key Findings/Outcomes Publication
APPENDIX II 181 Griffin (2006) on managerial
flexibility.
feedback workshop and surveys. Two groups of leaders were studied: Group 1 (twelve participants) and Group 2 (eleven participants) received
one session of approximately an hour scheduled each fortnight for three months.
A seventh session scheduled six months later.
NOT SPECIFIED – 97.2 % of coachees reported being very satisfied with the process.
– In the cases where coaches established monetary, business objectives from the start of the coaching, and measured the results 6 months later, in terms of return on investment (ROI) the net benefit was calculated to 200%, over one year (in other investments, typically a ‘normal’ return on capital is between 15–25%).
Also, if repeated over three years, assuming that the benefit gained from the coaching would continue at least into years 2 and 3, the extrapolated ROI would be 801%.
– Coaches believe that coaching made a big difference: Post-coaching estimation by coaches of the extent to which coaching contributed to the ROI ranged between 50% and 100%.
2. Training Journal
(continued)