Executive Coaching,

Effectiveness

HRD

and

Organisational

March 3, 2015 at 1:53pm

One of the several academic essays i submitted many years ago, to earn a degree from the
University of Newcastle (2007)
Executive Coaching, HRD and Organisational Effectiveness
Introduction:
Coaching has been upheld as a significant training and development tool as it tackles distinctive
issues experienced by individuals in an organisational setting. Executive coaching, a fairly novel
concept, is considered as one of the fastest rising executive development courses in adult
learning; yet there tends to be limited studies, empirical and/or theoretical, verifying its
effectiveness as a human resource development tool linked to organisational effectiveness
(Bowles Cunnigham, dela Rosa and Picano, 2007; Rafferty and Griffin, 2006; Joo, 2005; Natale
and Diamante, 2005; Weller and Weller, 2004; Grant, 2003; Paige, 2002; Thach, 2002). Several
descriptive and case study articles (e.g Orenstein, 2002; Paige, 2002) implicated its professed
effectiveness using cases and analyses illustrative of its role in enhancing leaders skills and how
these impact on organisational performance. Very few empirical studies however, were
conducted and one notable exception is the study of Olivero, Bane and Kopelman (1997)
reporting that productivity levels increase after coaching.
With the perceived effectiveness of executive coaching in improving leaders and managers in
terms of enhancing personal skills purported by scholars in the field, this paper aims to look at
this method as a valuable adult-learning tool. Similarly, this will look at its purpose and how the
process relates to the enhancement of organisational performance. It seeks to answer the
question that if executives improve on their leadership and individual performance, does it relate
to improving bottom-line, and if so, what are the indicators and measurements utilised.
Executive Coaching, HRD and Organisational Effectiveness
Coaching has become a significant part of many organisations learning and development
strategy (Joo, 2005). Likewise, Giglio, Diamante and Urban (1998) emphasise that coaching is a
critical part of the organisational development process. They claim contend that lack of coaching
makes the executive appear as though s/he is focused on individual and organisational
objectives and goals, yet in reality, is directionless acts not in conjunction with the needs of the
organisation. If this happens, the executive needs professional help from an outside coach who
can help him/her set objectives and manage them.
Kilburg (1996 cited in Thach 2002) defines executive coaching as
a helping relationship between a client who has managerial authority in an organisation and a
consultant who uses a wide variety of behavioural techniques and methods who help the client
achieve a mutually identified set of goals within a defined coaching agreement.

As Joo (2005) explains, executive coaching is a one-on-one approach with the objective of
enhancing behavioural change on the executive through self-awareness and learning, and
ultimately aiming for the success of individual and organisation. Barner and Higgins (2007) echo
that it is commonly accepted as a procedure that supports individual development and
organisational effectiveness. Apparently, there is a defined need to enhance capabilities and
competencies of executives, a there is growing awareness if the necessity of engaging them with
personalised coaching and counselling (Arnaud, 2003). The change in the executives behaviour
as a result of the coaching process is a manifestation of the acquired learning. This implies the
conscious effort to learn and be aware of personal potential and problems from the point of view
of the executive. Witherspoon and White (1998 cited in Joo, 2005) identified learning,
development, performance and leadership agenda as the four areas of executive coaching.
These areas are focused on the personal growth of executives, with an end view that the process
addresses specific skills deficits, enhances performance and helps managers grow into
expanded leadership roles (Joo, 2005). The areas identified fall within the realm of HRD, and
should be given more attention by HR practitioners and professional coaches, to identify
executive coachings strengths as a developmental and remedial tool.
With the achievement of both professional and personal goals as among the main objectives of
the executive coaching process, organisations are convinced that it is imperative to develop the
executive in order to link his/her performance to organisational development. There is a common
sentiment that coaching is not just about the person, on a grander scale it is also an investment
for organisations. The return on investments, its measurements, or indicators, are not clearly
defined, and this reflects a gap between the effectiveness of the coaching process and its
relationship to the achievement of organisational goals.
Similarly, executive coaching is viewed as a potential means to help executives engage in
ongoing self-development (Jones et al, 2006). On the individual level, executive coaching is
aimed to produce learning, behavioral change and growth in the executive (Freas, 2004 cited in
Joo, 2005). It is a personalised method of enhancing propensity for learning that engages
enhancing and building upon the strengths of an executive and providing the avenue for
identifying and overcoming weak points. Moreover, Weller and Weller (2004) indicate that
organisations resort to executive coaching to address the two Ps: potential and problems. When
the individual identifies strengths, s/he is able to adjust to the needs of the organisation by
maximising personal capabilities as means to achieve personal and organisational objectives. It
must be noted that executive coaching is not instituted solely to tackle problematic and ineffective
executives. Rather, it is a means to spot potential and build on existing abilities. On the other
hand, it is an accepted method to express the organisations ability to handle problems or areas
for improvement of executives.
Jones et al (2006) point out that executive coaching is a developmental tool that increases
managerial flexibility. As executives are exposed to longer coaching time, they tend to improve on
their level of managerial flexibility. This reveals that with a longer exposure to the coaching
process, executives exhibit higher adaptability to change, explore a wider variety of approaches
to problem solving, enhance planning skills, maintain productivity, and easily cope with workrelated stress. By being more flexible as a result of the coaching process, the executive learns to

link the process to their development initiatives and improved leadership skills. Resiliency is the
outcome of executive coaching (Jones et al, 2006). Yet, again, this is about the executive, and
not the whole organisation. There still exists a gap between the development of the individual and
organisational effectiveness.
Weller and Weller (2004) surmise that one popular way for firms to build up leaders is though
executive coaching. An indication of its effectiveness is the ability of the leader to productively
engage in behaviour significant in attaining organisational goals which includes mission planning,
time management, prioritising tasks and utilising existing management tools and effectual
leadership behaviours (Bowles et al, 2007).
Another aspect of executive coaching that gains considerable support is the notion that it is
necessary to train and coach executives so they too, can become coach of their own teams
(Arnaud, 2003). This reflects the transfer of learning and the utilisation of knowledge and skills.
While this area reflects the need of the firm to be cost-efficient when it comes to investments on
training and development, this provides an avenue for executives to be aware of their
responsibility to lead, mentor and coach others. With this, it can be assumed that once an
executive has experienced the process, s/he would be more competent and capable to perform
the managerial function of attending to the needs of individuals and teams, specifically in the
area of HRD. This is also reflective of Senges concept of team learning, in which as individuals
learn, teams also learn. In effect, there is sense making, knowledge sharing application and more
importantly, decision making that benefits executives, employees, teams and the organisation.
Arnaud (2003) contends that executive coaching traditionally function on the explicit association
that managers have with the professional reality. Needless to say, executive coaching is
anticipated to smooth the progress of the managers adjustment to the economic world, that
includes becoming effective personally and professionally. Executive coaching is oriented
towards obtaining satisfying results and it is manifested by the way executives partake of the
coaching process and use it to their personal advantage to gain considerable successes for the
organisation.
According to Barner and Higgins (2007), the goal of coaching is to improve an individuals
effectiveness at work in ways that are connected to the organisations business strategies. As the
executive improves performance, there is an implication that it is associated to organisational
strategies. It is a common notion that there is a link between individual action with the directions,
mission and the accomplishment of organisational objectives. This infers that as individuals, in
this case the executives grow, the organisation grows as well. From the executives personal
mastery of work, (not just the technical aspects of it, but the management and the ability to adjust
to present and future demands of the job) s/he commits to the achievement of personal and
organisational objectives.
While some literature suggests that coaching is an effective intervention to aid executives
enhance their performance and penultimately contribute to improved organisational performance,
there is an apparent absence or lack of empirical data to support this claim. The empirical study
conducted by Olivero et al (1997) shows that there is 22.4% increase in productivity among
executives after they have undergone training. After taking part in the coaching process,
productivity rises to 88%. These data reflect the effectiveness of the coaching process as HRD

tool, in which executives increase their productivity almost four times. This, however, is still
focused on the individual, and is not substantially linked to the attainment of organisational goals
and objectives, leading to the improvement of bottom-line, which is apparently one of the main
focuses of modern organisations.
Likewise, Weller and Weller (2004) estimate that up to 45% of an organisations performance is
linked to the quality of its executive leadership. This reveals that there is an obvious indication
that leaders are considered as major player to gaining and maintaining competitive advantage.
As such, it is imperative to ensure that leaders are fully equipped with organisational tools so they
can contribute to organisational effectiveness. Since executive coaching advances performance
of managers, there is an underlying belief that this translates into desired bottom-line results.
Once bottom-line results are improved, one aspect of organisational effectiveness is achieved.
Conclusion:
Various articles review executive coaching as an effective HRD tool to achieve organisational
effectiveness. This has been supported by claims of coaches and authors who have been part of
the coaching process and have witnessed the change among executives in areas of leadership,
behavioural change, improved decision-making facilities and enhanced management flexibility.
However, there is an apparent absence of empirical data supporting this, as most are case study
analyses of experiences of professional coaches.
The main objective of executive coaching is to identify and strengthen potential as well as aid in
identifying problems of executives and in the long view, that of the organisation. Despite being
widely claimed to be a strong developmental tool, executive coaching remains to be ill-defined
(Joo, 2005), and thus there is difficulty in establishing its relationship to meeting organisational
objectives. There is an existing view that the process is still more focused on individual
development and how leaders are able to adjust to change and enhance their competencies so
as to become better leaders. There are contentions that the method helps leaders change
behaviours, and become more flexible, clearly more adept in decision making and in managing
time. If these factors will be viewed as indicators of organisational effectiveness, then it is easy to
claim that it is substantially linked to the achievement of goals. However, this is not the case,
since organisational effectiveness is not solely measured by leadership. It is an accepted dictum
that effective leadership is a source of competitive advantage, yet there is still a host of factors
relating to organisational effectiveness.
On the individual level, executive coaching proves to be a potent instrument to effect behavioural
change, improve competencies and aid in the acquisition and application of knowledge. There
lies an underlying implication for HRD professionals and practitioners to maximise the potential of
coaching to enhance the development of leaders and make them agents of change within the
organisation.
While it is easy to confirm the usability of executive coaching in HRD, it is necessary to provide
empirical data to substantiate its perceived link to meeting challenges and achieve organisational
effectiveness.

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