Executive Coaching as a Change Process: An Analysis of the Readiness for Coaching

Abstract

ABSTRACT Coaching gained interest as an effective action on change and development, whose results depend on coachee's participation and involvement in the process. Individual's receptivity to coaching may vary, and developmental needs may be different depending on the management level. The present research follows up the readiness for coaching through the application of the transtheoretical model of change to managers at all levels and the developmental needs for coaching. The transtheoretical model was used to assess the stages of behaviour change and the perceived, key developmental needs of 87 executives and managers from top management to lower management. The results indicated differences between the top, middle and lower level managers in terms of stages of change and the perceived developmental needs. Differences were also found between the managers who have been the beneficiaries of coaching and the potential coachees. By using the stages of change and perceived developmental needs pattern, this study can be useful in the assessment of the readiness for coaching of potential clients, tailoring the content and determining the effective approaches depending on these particular characteristics. KEYWORDS: executive coaching, stages of change, developmental needs, readiness for coaching INTRODUCTION The economically and socially dynamic and complex environment entailed significant changes in leadership. Thus, integrated vision and understanding organizational complexity have become a priority (Burnes, 2004; Choi & Ruona, 2011). In the face of a constantly increasing competitive environment, organizations focus on creating an innovative culture to promote leadership development, clientfocused approach and development strategies (Stokes & Jolly, 2009). The ubiquitous nature of these changes put pressure on the whole organization and hence it followed the need for analyzing the changes and the leaders as key initiators in the process of change. Leadership is defined less as power based on the position in the organizational hierarchy and more as an ability to influence and motivate the subordinates through enhanced communication to achieve organizational objectives (Humphreys & Walter, 2003). Considering these trends, the executive coaching is becoming the leadership professional development process in order to respond to the rapidly changing business environment (Boyce & Hernez-Broome, 2011; De Meuse, Dai, & Lee, 2009; Gray, Ekinci, & Goregaokar, 2011; Joo, 2005). According to CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2010), two-third of organizations report using coaching along with learning activities, training and other development methods, especially at management levels. There is a distinctive aspect of coaching versus other forms of intervention, i.e., the tailored approach focusing on development, in which the coach acts as a facilitator of learning, change and peak performance for the coachee-manager (Clutterbuck & Megginson, 2005; Grant, 2010; Jay, 2003). Procedural approach to coaching recommends the assessment of readiness for change of the coachee in the early stage of the process (Boyce & Hernez- Broome, 2011). The pattern of characteristics integrated into the readiness for coaching concept varies; however the authors agree to include readiness for change as an essential variable (Boyce, Zaccaro, & Wisecarver, 2010; Goldsmith, 2009). Owing to the fact that research on coachees does not have a long tradition, studying readiness should incorporate the research findings on a person's stage of change by applying the transtheoretical model of change (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1994). This model was developed in health psychology for changing addictive behaviors, extended its application to other types of behaviors, as well as to online and coaching interventions (Prochaska & Norcross, 2010; Prochaska, Prochaska, & Levesque, 2001). …

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 5 citations exist upstream.