Coaching for sustained desired change

The Leadership Lab for Women: Advancing and Retaining Women in STEM through Professional Development

Innovative professional development approaches are needed to address the ongoing lack of women leaders in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers. Developed from the research on women who persist in engineering and computing professions and essential elements of women’s leadership development, the Leadership Lab for Women in STEM Program was launched in 2014. The Leadership Lab was created as a research-based leadership development program, offering 360-degree feedback, coaching, and practical strategies aimed at increasing the advancement and retention of women in the STEM professions. The goal is to provide women with knowledge, tools and a supportive learning environment to help them navigate, achieve, flourish, and catalyze organizational change in male-dominated and technology-driven organizations. This article describes the importance of creating unique development experiences for women in STEM fields, the genesis of the Leadership Lab, the design and content of the program, and the outcomes for the participants.

A Holistic View of Employee Coaching

This study uses regulatory focus theory to take a holistic perspective on employee coaching. The contrasting effects of facilitative versus pressure-based coaching on changes in team effectiveness were examined over a 54-month period of time. Results of growth curve analysis on a sample of 714 managers and their teams indicated that facilitative and pressure-based coaching had opposing direct and indirect effects on long-term changes in team performance, with team commitment playing a critical role in this process. Specifically, facilitative coaching positively influenced team commitment and, in turn, team effectiveness. In contrast, pressure-based coaching hindered team functioning by negatively influencing team commitment through heightened levels of tension within the team. Limitations and areas for future research are discussed.

A Framework for Developing Women Leaders

Informed by extant literature, we develop a framework of women’s leadership development that integrates the key factors affecting women’s leadership development (challenging organizational contexts, work–life integration and career/life-stage concerns) and the characteristics of women’s leadership presence. We define leadership presence as a combination of a woman’s unique voice, style of engagement, and positive contributions—composed of her self-confidence, self-efficacy, influence, and authenticity. We apply the framework to three composite executive coaching scenarios developed from our collective executive coaching experiences. The applications illustrate how a coach’s guiding questions, focused on appropriate combinations of key factors and leadership presence developmental needs, can effectively facilitate women’s leadership development. Practical implications for executive coaching practice as well as directions for future research are discussed.

Examining the Relationships Among Coaching, Trustworthiness, and Role Behaviors

There is little evidence regarding what makes managerial coaching effective. To explore this topic more deeply, we looked at coaching relationship and performance behavior. We examined the associations between managerial coaching and employee in-role performance, organizational citizenship behavior–individual (OCBI), and organizational citizenship behavior–organization (OCBO), with the mediating effect of manager’s trustworthiness as perceived by employees. Using 280 dyad surveys, we found that managerial coaching had a direct impact on employee performance behavior of OCBI and OCBO as well as employee perception of manager’s trustworthiness. Bootstrapping analytic findings revealed that managerial coaching also indirectly influenced employee in-role performance, OCBI, and OCBO through employee perception of manager’s trustworthiness. The current study findings offer an initial endorsement for coaching effectiveness in this largely uncharted topic area and further provide empirical support to the theoretical underpinnings of managerial coaching based on social exchange theory. Limitations are discussed and directions for future studies are suggested.

A Relational Communication Approach to Peer Coaching

In this article, we discuss peer coaching as a relatively new form of coaching practice that expands the relational resources available to individuals focused on change. Peer coaching is a helping relationship that facilitates mutual learning and development to accomplish specific tasks or goals. It is most effective when participants establish high-quality relationships and connections by focusing on both content and process. To enhance such capability we integrate the theory of coordinated management of meaning, a relational communication approach that emphasizes how meaning and learning are created through interpersonal interactions. Coordinated management of meaning models applied in our three-step model of peer coaching demonstrate the value of their application. We then assume a balcony perspective to deepen understanding by incorporating conceptual and empirical work. We conclude by inviting scholars and practitioners to adopt our integrated model to enhance positive outcomes for both individuals and organizations.

Coaching With Compassion

Compassion involves noticing another’s need, empathizing, and acting to enhance their well-being. In response to another’s pain, the motivation is to increase hedonic well-being or the absence of pain. In response to another’s desire to grow, the motivation is to increase eudaimonic well-being or helping them develop. We argue that compassion includes both. Our expanded view suggests that coaching with compassion will lead to desired change, enhanced health, and well-being. We propose a model saying coaching with compassion invokes a psychophysiological state that enables a person to be open to new possibilities and learning. In contrast, coaching for compliance (i.e., toward how the coach or the organization believe the person should act) and deficiency-based coaching invoke the opposite state—resulting in a person being defensive, reducing cognitive functioning. We theorize how coaching with compassion can enhance adaptability of the organization through creating norms and relationships of caring and development.