At the personal level findings suggest that leadership coaching outcomes triggered some new thinking among individuals in the wider organisation. Unpredictable responses reflected some of the dilemmas faced by individuals experiencing radical changes instigated by revitalised leaders. In this study leaders’ needs for engagement and contributions from others also became apparent as part of a whole dynamic that seemed to create misunderstandings and concerns, despite positive intentions and mutual bonds. This complex interplay had the potential to affect the mutual endeavour of the whole organisation based on a genuine commitment to client service and small company ‘family’ values.
The specific leadership coaching outcomes associated with this study seemed to indirectly affect individuals in the wider team in ways related to personal values, aspects of confidence and individuals’ sense of connection with the organisation. Findings seem to indicate the level of resilience people need to have during constant change. Whilst alternative reasons for ‘awakening personal needs’ may have related to a challenging working environment, a tough economic climate and perhaps private aspects of home life, it seemed that coaching outcomes created some emotional energies in the wider team that produced important questions for individuals concerning their future working life.
In this light it could be argued that a ripple effect represents the many aspects of flux associated with ‘whole’ change (Morgan, 1997, p283) following leadership coaching. In relation to personal needs responses to flux could be seen in the personal dilemmas
uncovered by this study associated with ‘awakening personal needs’: work/life balance
and the need for the stimulus of personal challenge, individual frustrations and coping
with the drive to re-energise the business, and also a need for reassurance and experiencing challenges to confidence from newcomers and competitors. These dilemmas seemed to combine a personal search for harmony with a sense of being in a cradle of change that required balancing. This combination seemed to resonate with the following picture of flux and transformation:
Opposites are intertwined in a state of tension that also defines a state of harmony and wholeness. Could this tension lie at the basis of all change? Could flux and transformation be a manifestation of contradictory tendencies through which phenomena change themselves? (Morgan, 1997, p283).
This study has also identified the scope for mild confusion in relation to this picture of flux. For example, whilst the leaders were enthusiastic about greater participation, there seemed to be a sense of expectation and of looming change in the wider team. This differing energy seemed to involve some collective frustration. This confusion appeared to resonate with a view of widening participation in organisational plans as an ‘inevitably frustrating and awkward process’ (Kegan, 1994, p323). These findings suggest that reciprocal aspects of personal needs are part of a dynamic involving the whole organisation that had the potential for collective understanding, learning and change if unlocked.
In my experience leadership coaching typically begins with 360 degree feedback on the leader to be coached and performance criteria related to the individual’s capacity to contribute to organisational aims. After coaching, further 360 degree feedback shows if positive change has occurred in the leader. Client organisations are then likely to use shorter term ROI measurements to try to quantify results. This approach aligns with a view of leadership coaching that sees change coming from developing competencies in individual leaders. However, by seeing leaders as just one ‘component’ of a greater whole this study begins to see some limitations in this approach. The potential appears to exist for longer term benefits from coaching that tackles important relational aspects that may be holding an organisation back.
At this point I would emphasise that this study does not disregard the significant benefits of individual centred coaching. However by itself, an approach that focuses on individuals ‘at the top’ appears to have unintended consequences leading to a potential imbalance in the development of the whole organisation. For example, it seems that whilst energy and enthusiasm at the top creates pace and vigour this may not reach all parts of an organisation. Additionally an emphasis on the business dimension appears to constrain opportunities to develop aspects of the human dimension of the whole organisation.
Organisation focused coaching, a concept that I propose and will introduce later in the chapter, would offer a way of working from a profound understanding of the interconnected nature of an organisation. In this way an agenda that starts with awareness of where an organisation may be ‘stuck’ in terms of the capacity to meet today’s complex challenges, or is simply not benefitting from understanding its strengths, would become a context in which to support the collective team. The organisation focused coach would work with individuals as interrelated members of the ‘whole’ organisation.
I acknowledge that the influences from leadership coaching outcomes in this study are in part related to the prominence of the leaders’ role in an SME environment and to the typical expectations and responsibilities of leaders at the top of organisations. It is difficult to ignore the reality of different responsibilities according to hierarchical positions in organisations. However findings from this study imply that noticing patterns of influence and relationships would enhance leaders’ overall capacity even more in a world of unpredictable consequences. This could be done through coaching that explored future scenarios and their implications for the whole organisation.
An approach that used dialogue to place leaders ‘in team members’ shoes’ might also be beneficial. Then to mirror this activity, coaching in the wider organisation might bring insight into the challenges of leadership and place individuals in ‘leaders’ shoes.’ To begin with, selected coachees might be those who are deemed to be independent thinkers in different parts and at different levels of the organisation, providing an opportunity for creating leadership ‘ripples’ in the organisation as a whole.
Where leader centred coaching is an organisation’s starting point, leaders might be encouraged to produce reflexive diaries before, during and after coaching. These diaries could reveal their own progression and also those areas where the wider team might be struggling without the benefit of similar motivational support. Whilst these suggestions are in the context of coaching ‘at the top’, they offer a potential way of overcoming potential tensions in the ripples from leadership coaching and of creating an even better flow amongst the wider team.
This study suggests that coaching at the top stimulates emotions, perceptions of leadership and cultural concerns more widely than previously understood. I would suggest that a wide repertoire of coaching interventions is needed to support all individuals coping in dynamic organisational space. The personal needs of individuals outside the focus of leader centred coaching appear to be responses to flux and at the same time experiences of flux. Furthermore the characteristics of a ripple effect at this personal level appear to communicate important features of an environment where
individuals can be at their best: a sense of belonging, genuine relationships and a blend of challenge at work and work/life balance.
A challenge for this study has been to understand the dynamic nature of a ripple effect from ‘separate’ components of the organisational ‘whole’: leaders and team members. Whilst this holistic study has not intended to explore any hierarchically based disconnection between leaders and followers, findings have illuminated some aspects of a ‘leader/follower’ dynamic discussed in previous literature. One of these aspects is an idea of ‘servant leadership’ (Greenleaf, 2002), which emphasises the leader’s role in helping to meet followers’ needs. Similarly leadership studies discuss the need for leaders to support individuals during turbulent phases, like the drive for growth at Quantum, by offering ‘emotional connection and inspiration’ (Sandler, 2009, pp30-35) and ‘predictability, understanding, control and compassion’ (Sutton, 2009, p49).
In contrast to these aspects emphasising the leader’s role, this study reveals reciprocal personal needs: the leaders’ restlessness and desire for change alongside the differing personal needs of the wider team. From this mutual perspective the whole organisation may be seen to have complex interrelated needs requiring support. Mutual needs among leaders and followers appear to represent an important feature of an organisation’s development agenda. Opportunities for future research might include investigation into the balance of the business and human dimension at work and how coaching might help to integrate these aspects more fully.