2 Abstract This thesis submitted focuses on coaching as a style of leading people. The thesis analyzes the fundamental principles and tools of professional coaching which are subsequently interpreted from the perspective of their possible use in managerial practice with all benefits and potential difficulties. Due to its specificity, I deal with the role of the manager-coach as well. Given the focus of the thesis, I first dealt with the definition of coaching as such without any detailed specification, and with its possible use. I used the gained information for defining the managerial coaching in the context of leading people. In the second chapter I concentrated on coach and manager-coach as a person, their characteristics and competence which are necessary for coaching. In the third and fourth chapter I mainly dealt with coaching tools and their use in managerial practice. Finally, the thesis compares the results of an international research with the author's questionnaire survey, from the viewpoint of the use of coaching in organizations in the Czech Republic and world scale. Key words: coaching, leading people, managerial coaching, self-development, coaching techniques, potential.

The manager developement process is the anchor theme of the organisations and their HR departments. The quality manager is the key factor for the effective function of employees, teams within and the organisation as a whole, and facilitates the functioning process. This thesis deals with the problematics of manager developement, with a special focus on the training and other developing activities. The empirical part is orientated on three target groups participating on the manager developement. The qualitative part of the research was being realised through semi- structured interviews with lectors and HR managers. The quantitative part captures the interviews with the managers themselves. The manager skills are divided into four areas-Communication Skills, Presentation Skills, Management of People and Self-Management. In the requirement of quantitative research the Questionaire of the Developement of Manager Skills was constructed. The three hypotheses were being tested, first by Pearson correlation coefficient, the following two by dependent t-test for paired samples with a significance level of 0,05. Across the whole spectrum of skills, there is a noticeable contradiction between the opinion of lectors, HR managers and managers. The managers emphasize more the influence of working experience for...

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Business Executive Coaching Johannesburg, 2017 / A flow experience is described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the founding thought leader of the experience, as “the holistic sensation present when we act with total involvement” (1975, p.43). Flow experiences have been linked to positive outcomes for individuals and organisations (Csikszentmihalyi & LeFevre, 1989; Engeser & Rheinberg, 2008; Privette, 1983; Salanova, Bakker, & Llorens, 2006) suggesting that this is a desirable experience to facilitate in the workplace. Csikszentmihalyi states that there is much that can be done to introduce more flow to the day-to-day experiences of life, including at work (1999), yet, despite the documented role of organisational leaders as “climate engineers” (Linley, Woolston, & Biswas-Diener, 2009, p. 37) there has been no specific consideration of the flow experiences of executives as leaders. The possible relationship between coaching and flow experiences has to date received attention in mainstream literary circles, and superficial attention in academic literature (Britton, 2008; Wesson & Boniwell, 2007). Coaching executives to achieve flow has not been considered in existing literature in the Executive Coaching domain, but since Executive Coaching is still viewed as emerging (Hamlin, Ellinger, & Beattie, 2008), a confirmation that Executive Coaching can be applied to foster flow experiences in the workplace would add to the credibility of this field. The purpose of this study has been to identify how the emerging discipline of Executive Coaching can facilitate the creation of flow experiences in executive workplaces. The answer to this question has been sought through building an understanding of how flow is experienced by executives in the workplace, and then investigating how flow experiences can be facilitated in executive workplaces. The research study adopted a qualitative approach due to the known suitability of this method to consider the life experiences of participants. Face- to-face, semi-structured interviews were used as the core data collection method addressing a sample size of 16 respondents, made up of 13 executives and three executive coaches. This approach has previously been applied to collect rich narrative data on flow experiences. The study found that whilst executive flow experiences show some commonalities with the existing literature on flow and flow experiences at work, several distinct antecedents for and characteristics of executive flow were identifiable. These precursors and features of executive flow were attributed at three levels: a) at the level of the organisation; b) through the type of work, and c) at the individual level. Executive experiences of anti-flow, the opposite of flow, were also identified. These were typically characterised and initiated by opposite factors to those linked to flow experiences. The study outcomes identified the ability of executives to proactively pursue flow experiences, and further showed that self-awareness and an awareness and use of one’s strengths increase the likelihood of flow experiences. The study thus found that there clear focus areas exist which can be manipulated through interventions to increase likelihood of executive flow experiences. The study outcome that the three areas that impact executive flow experiences correlate to Executive Coaching focus areas introduces the possibility that coaching may be a suitable intervention to increase the likelihood of executive flow experiences. This developing hypothesis is subsequently supported by the final research theme that Executive Coaching may be able to support the executive in cultivating the respective individual, organisational and work conditions to increase the likelihood of flow experiences at work. / MT2017

The role of the Strength & Conditioning coach (SCC) has increased dramatically in collegiate athletics over the past 30 years. The SCC now spends more time with the athletes than even the individual sport coaches do because of NCAA rules. Despite the importance of the SCC, little is known as to what makes a good SCC and what a typical SCC is like currently. Limited amounts of research have been conducted to determine the characteristics and opinions of this specific population. The main role of a SCC is to enhance athletic performance of the athletes at a university. They achieve this goal by enhancing strength, power, speed, agility, conditioning, flexibility, among other things. In addition, a good SCC will also help "toughen" up a team mentally, consult athletes on nutrition facts, and serve a variety of roles during team practices. The purpose of this study was to survey NCAA Division I (bowl subdivision) SCCs to assess what characteristics they possess as well as what characteristics they deem to be important for other SCCs to possess. The questions asked ranged from education level to current activity level. The results of the current study supported the hypotheses. SCCs come from a variety of backgrounds in regards to their education, certifications, past experiences, physical activity level, and physical size. The coaches also tended to favor other coaches similar to themselves. With the findings from this study, prospective SCCs will have a better understanding of the hiring practices of prospective employers. Current SCCs will gain a better knowledge of their peers and the field in general. Future research is needed in the field regarding race and gender, two topics only briefly discussed in the current investigation.

In this thesis, I share stories of my experiences as a high school science teacher, gymnastics coach, and track and field coach and I explore my discovery of the importance of making connections in my vocation. Written in Scholarly Personal Narrative format, I reflect on my own experiences with high school and college athletics I and discuss the lessons that I learned which I find to be most important to coaches and teachers. This thesis centers around making connections with athletes and students as a coach and educator. I dive into my career and highlight the lessons that I find to be most important for myself and other teaching and coaching professionals. The strongest take-away message that I would like my readers to recognize is that teachers who express genuine interest in students’ lives can help them open up and feel like they belong. In turn, a cooperative, collaborative community can form.

A team's performance in any sport can be predicted by many factors. Some of these factors include team collective efficacy, team cohesiveness, and coaching competency. Currently, there is little research investigating the relationships among teams' beliefs about their capabilities, their level of cohesion, and their perceptions of coaching competency on overall sport performance. The purpose of this study was to document the relationship among collective efficacy, cohesion, and coaching on sport performance in a sample of university athletes. The objectives of this study were to identify the level of cohesion, collective efficacy, and perceptions of coaching competency by each athletic team at the university, and to identify the relationships among each of these variables in regard to sport performance. Participants were 163 collegiate athletes involved in eight sports at Utah State University during the 2005-2006 academic year. Correlational analysis revealed significant positive relationships with collective efficacy, cohesion, and coaching competency. Multi-level modeling and linear regression analyses revealed that collective efficacy was a significant predictor of win/loss percentage, whereas some aspects of cohesion and coaching competency were seen as predictors of collective efficacy.

A school district in Utah implemented an instructional coaching program intended to increase student achievement in reading and mathematics. Program administrators wished to determine the degree to which certain elements of instructional coaching (time, activities, context, and content) affected student achievement. Student achievement data were collected using state reading and math assessments; coaching data were collected using coaching time logs; other data were obtained from the district. Data were analyzed to determine which predictors could appropriately be included in a hierarchical linear model (HLM) predicting student achievement. A threelevel fully unconditional model was applied to determine the relative effect of grouped factors at the student, class, and school levels. Approximately 90% of the total variance in student achievement (both explained and unexplained by the model) was observed at the student level. Unconditional growth models were constructed to determine whether student-level factors varied significantly across classes and whether class-level factors varied significantly across schools. Each identified factor was included (as random or fixed) in one of eight explanatory HLMs to measure the effect of specific coaching factors on predicted student achievement. Noncoaching factors were included in the models to reduce extraneous variance and strengthen the models’ ability to describe the effect of coaching factors. Inclusion of factors reduced unexplained student-level variance by approximately 45% in the language arts models and 54% in the math models. There was no evidence that coaching time had a direct effect on student achievement. Some of the coaching activities, contexts, and contents did affect predicted achievement significantly. This report outlines those observed effects in detail. The most notable finding was that students in classrooms where coaches spend more time conferencing with teachers about student achievement data had higher predicted scores. Due to the nature of the dependent variable (achievement) and inherent methodological challenges associated with measuring the effect of class-level interventions, effect sizes observed in this study were relatively small. The resulting recommendations for practice were that coaches focus less on the quantity of time they spend with teachers and more on selecting activities, context, and content that are likely to yield the greatest results.

Behavioral coaching procedures have been evaluated and enhanced over the years to find the most effective interventions for athletic performance in a variety of sports settings. Different types of feedback have been evaluated for effectiveness in teaching and improving skills. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of video modeling and video feedback to improve technique for three novice individuals in a fitness program incorporating Olympic weightlifting. Two weightlifting events, the clean and jerk and snatch, were targeted for intervention. Each lift was broken down into a task analysis, and trainers used the task analysis to score each lift. Video modeling and video feedback was effective in improving all three participant's lifts from baseline. Annie's lifts improved from 37% in baseline to 79% in intervention for the clean and jerk, and 24% to 75% for the snatch. Rich's lifts improved from 79% in baseline to 95% following intervention for clean and jerk, and 58% to 89% for the snatch. Fran improved from 60% to 87% on the clean and jerk, and from 51% to 84% on the snatch.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Although the field of coaching psychology has witnessed some theoretical and empirical advances in recent years, this has yet to translate into a commonly accepted theoretical and empirical foundation for coaching practice. Rather, coaching practice has run well ahead of related theory and research, and resulted in the establishment of an industry that lacks firm foundations. This doctoral dissertation reports on a series of reviews and empirical studies designed to further the development of evidence-based coaching practice (EBCP). A review of the relevant literature revealed that the development of solid evidence-based foundations is critical if coaching is to realise its promise and potential. As events surrounding the decline of the human potential movement (HPM) in the 1960s and 1970s indicate, the absence of theoretically-based rationales and solid research support may be a reliable predictor of decline for particular treatment modalities. Whilst the development of EBCP has important implications for the formal preparation of coaches, pedagogical recommendations to industry educators are difficult whilst the characteristics of the coaching industry remain hidden. In order to develop the profile of the Australian coaching industry, a survey was conducted of 148 practicing coaches. The results of this study revealed the presence of a diverse local industry. Despite the existence of a small core of highly experienced practitioners, the majority of coaches appeared to have little coaching experience and greatly varied skills and experience. Interestingly, only 20% of respondents reported any formal training in psychology or the other helping professions. Given recent data that suggests mental health issues may sometimes be encountered in coaching (Green, Oades, & Grant, 2006; Spence & Grant, in press), it is concluded that the majority of coaches lack the skills and knowledge to identify and deal effectively with such eventualities. As the development of an informed strategy for dealing with mental health issues would move the practice of coaching onto a more professional footing, it is recommended that coaches receive basic training in the identification and appropriate referral of such issues. Much of the work presented in this dissertation is based on the presupposition that client outcomes can be optimised through the use of EBCP. However, as this assumption has yet to be empirically tested, a total of 63 participants took part in a 10-week life coaching program. The results showed that when life coaching was conducted by coaches trained in cognitive-behavioural solution-focused (CB-SF) coaching methods (i.e. professional coaching), as opposed to untrained peers (i.e. peer coaching), participants were more engaged in coaching and reported significantly greater goal attainment, goal commitment and environmental mastery. Effective goal-directed self-regulation requires that individuals remain focused on their goals overtime, whilst managing a steady stream of disturbances that can destabilise goal directed effort. In this regard, the construct of mindfulness has much conceptual relevance. Mindfulness reflects the unique human capacity for directing conscious awareness via the controlled deployment of attention. After an extensive review of the scholarly literature, three alternative conceptualisations are presented (i.e. Eastern religious, socio-cognitive and cognitive-attentional perspectives), accompanied by a description of the mindfulness skills training practices associated with each. A total of 72 participants then took part in a study to assess the impact of three mindfulness training (MT) programs on mindfulness, goal-directed self-regulation, mental health and wellbeing. The results revealed that all the MT programs were effective in significantly increasing mindfulness and a variety of mental health and wellbeing indicators. Importantly, MT was also found to significantly increase goal attainment; suggesting that MT may be a valuable addition to EBCP. Goal attainment is a key dependent variable in coaching research. However, the measurement of goal attainment has yet to receive much attention in the coaching literature. As most empirical coaching studies have reported findings based on measures that rely exclusively on subjective measures of performance (measures that are susceptible to several forms of distortion and bias), some key issues relating to the measurement of goal attainment are reviewed and explored in detail. From this review, goal attainment scaling (GAS) is identified as a potentially useful methodology with which both researchers and practitioners can document and evaluate coaching outcomes. The final study pulls together the threads from work presented to that point, and integrates them into a practice framework for coaching. A total of 42 participants took part in this study, which investigated the efficacy of using MT and CB-SF coaching to facilitate the attainment of health goals. The results showed that the delivery of MT prior to (rather than after) CB-SF coaching was more effective in facilitating these outcomes. This suggests MT may be important in coaching for helping people prepare for change.

The benefits of horse riding for people with disabilities have been recognised for centuries, however, there has been very little research that explores the significance and meaning of Riding for the Disabled (RDA) for riders and there are no studies of parents of riders. This thesis is based upon ethnography and interviews with riders and riders' parents at a Riding for the Disabled Centre in Sydney, Australia. It explores the perceptions and experiences of riders and also analyses the role of parents in influencing their child's experience of the RDA. It examines parents' experiences of the RDA and the impact that it has had on them and their family. This thesis is premised on three research questions. The three questions are; 'how do riders perceive and experience the RDA and how and why do these perceptions differ?', 'how do parents perceive the RDA and its impact on their child with an impairment' and 'how do parents perceive the RDA's impact on their family and themselves?' The study draws on a feminist framework and utilises the work of feminist theorists working in Disability Studies to 'broaden' the social model of disability. This framework facilitates the exploration of personal experiences of riding as it privileges the voice of the participants and also acknowledges the diversity of RDA experiences that exist amongst them. It also allows room for the physical, bodily experience of riding to be investigated. Furthermore, this research responds to Shakespeare's (2006) call for further research on the 'social relations of disability' - it investigates the relationships between volunteers who do not have an impairment, and the riders who have an impairment. The central argument that emerges is that Riding for the Disabled is a unique individual experience that holds varied meanings for riders. For some Riding for the Disabled is a central feature of their lives and has altered their world. For others, it is one activity among many and its impact is limited. The type of impairment an individual rider had was often a key determinant of how they experienced the RDA. For parents of riders the RDA exposes them to parents with similar experiences and enables practical knowledge and information to be exchanged.