While various systems of support and professional development are in place for teachers, there remains a distinct void when it comes to these same opportunities for beginning and especially, experienced principals. An emerging form of assistance for campus principals is leadership coaching: a confidential relationship between a professional coach and principal focused on capacity building and the provision of time and support for the school leader to thoughtfully reflect, plan, problem solve, and establish and achieve significant goals. Leadership coaching is an investment in campus principals, which seems to fill an immediate need for them to experience relevant, ongoing, job-embedded, and individualized professional development. This multiple-case qualitative study, using a grounded theory approach, was framed by the research questions: What are the experiences of middle and high school principals participating in leadership coaching and what benefits result from principal participation in leadership coaching? Through the constant comparative analysis of individual and collective data obtained through semi-structured interviews, observations, and documental evidence of principals participating in leadership coaching, principals’ perceptions of their leadership coaching experience and any benefits were revealed. Overall, findings suggested that participation in leadership coaching was perceived positively and led to principals taking time to pause from their stressful roles and responsibilities to reflect and plan. Principals described factors that accounted for initially connecting with their coaches, such as client readiness and the coach’s experience, as well as the conditions established by the coach that helped build and sustain a healthy coaching relationship: safety, flexibility, action-orientation, and skillful guidance. Additionally, principals reported personal, professional, and organizational benefits resulting from leadership coaching. Personal benefits included better self-care, reduced isolation, increased self-confidence, and heightened self-awareness. On a professional level, coaching resulted in the generation of plans/ideas, improved communication, individualized professional development, and an enhanced sense of efficacy. And finally, organizational benefits were identified in areas of staffing, solutions, student performance, and the extension of coaching to others. / text

Thesis (D. Ed. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2006. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes project proposal. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 110-113, 39-43).

Thesis (D. Ed. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2008, 2007. / Abstract and vita. Includes final project proposal. Description based on Print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 152-161, 52-60).

Thesis (D. Ed. Min.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2006. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes project proposal. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 110-113, 39-43).

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 and Executive Coaching Wits Business School November, 2016 / Despite the substantial investment in leadership development made by corporates around the world, limited research has focussed on the lived experience of leadership development, with the research available typically focussed on specific leadership development interventions. In South Africa effective leadership development is particularly critical given both the emigration of experienced leaders in the past twenty years, and the need to have a diversity of leadership which is representative of the population as a whole. The study explored executive development in South Africa through the lived experience of a sample of senior executives, all of whom had reached “C” suite positions in either a Group or business line capacity. The interview process was inductive in approach, so the narrative was not restricted by assumptions as to what development interventions would be described by the research participants. Eighteen senior executives were invited to participate in the research, and twelve were interviewed, at which point saturation was reached. Whilst no quota was established for racial diversity, the racial mix was representative of senior executives in South Africa corporates. A significant theme in the research findings was the importance of childhood experiences in developing the drive, resilience and ambition that would enable the foundations to be built for adult leadership development. Another key theme was that formal leadership development should be supplemented by experiential learning if it is to have significant impact. Despite mixed feedback on formal leadership development programmes, international executive programmes were seen to provide the participants with the opportunity both to network with others and learn from reflection, developing their life purpose and philosophy. The research participants found that coaching and mentoring were important in supporting the development of their leadership skills, as such interventions could focus on their specific development needs. The power of childhood influencers, workplace informal coaches and mentors and other influential counsellors also appears to have been significant. There was a view that successful leaders “breed” other successful leaders. Another key theme was that of self-confidence leading to self-determination. The self-confidence of the research participants appears to have been balanced by humility and a willingness to listen to and learn from others. All the executives had a strong sense of purpose, often developed initially in childhood, and strong values underpinned their leadership identity. The executives also stressed the importance of work-life balance in developing as effective leaders. A crucial finding of this research was that leaders face unique challenges of diversity and empowerment in South Africa, but that transformational leaders with a South African identity and Anglo-US educational and work experience can be highly successful. The challenge of international leadership development and work experience was found to be particularly beneficial in developing leadership skills which were appropriate for the South African corporate culture. The findings from this research therefore suggest that leadership development is a complex process based on some innate attributes, enhanced through critical childhood influences and trigger events, and developed to full potential through a combination of formal and informal leadership development interventions. Achieving full potential relies on readiness to learn and the opportunities to gain valuable experience, particularly in adversity. In the context of South Africa it appears that “western” leadership development experiences can be adapted by executives to enhance their effectiveness in a South African corporate culture. / MT2017

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 and Executive Coaching Johannesburg, 2017 / This qualitative study explored the leadership journeys of black women executives (BWEs), to understand those elements they perceived to enable and those they perceived to inhibit their career progression, as well as to establish implications for coaching. Eighteen participants were interviewed. The sample included BWEs who had been coached, those who had not, human resources managers, and line managers to create some triangulation. The BWEs were all in the top two organisational levels, as defined by the Employment Equity Act. A semi-structured interview guide was utilised for the BWEs and another for HR and line managers. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and uploaded into ATLAS.ti analysis software. Coding was conducted inductively to identify themes that emerged. The study highlighted the importance of ensuring that all parties to the coaching intervention are fully briefed, aligned, and coaching-ready before implementation. If readiness is not ensured, the process can be negatively affected. A key finding was that a minimum of a bachelor’s degree, but preferably a postgraduate degree, enabled the career progression of BWEs. Once in the workplace BWEs need to continue with self-development. Elements that were found to enable career progression for BWEs were hard work, networking, self-development, and access to mentors. Resilience was found to be important in managing the challenges the BWEs’ experience in the workplace. Elements that inhibit BWEs’ career progression were found to be lack of implementation of employment equity (EE) or transformation in the workplace. It was also found that BWEs operate in challenging work environments where they experience marginalisation, stereotyping, and racism. Work-life integration is an issue as they are the homemakers. Another key finding was that coaching could contribute to BWEs’ career progression. It is important that all parties in the process are coaching-ready. It was also found that coaching heightened resilience for BWEs. Coaching was shown to be utilised for leadership development, including improving communication skills. Line managers were unsure of the objectives for which their BWE charges were being coached. This highlighted the importance of aligning all parties and ensuring coaching readiness before coaching implementation. This point is also important because to be successful, coaching needs the support of organisational leadership. It was encouraging to realise that the line managers viewed coaching as confidential between coach and coachee; however, they appeared to have had no input into development needs identification. This could point to a missed opportunity to align coaching with business needs. The intrapersonal skills of self-confidence and self-awareness were shown to have been developed through coaching. These skills are vital to effective leadership. The BWEs’ experiences of coaching were found to be challenging, and uncomfortable, and BWEs found that the coach did not understand or trivialised the coachee’s issues. Coaching conversations are meant to be challenging, however too much challenge can derail the process. BWEs experienced coaching as uncomfortable because the conversation delved directly into deep personal issues without preparing the coachee or building rapport and a trusting relationship. Two BWEs felt that their coaches had trivialised or misunderstood their issues. The finding that line managers were unaware of the development needs being addressed in their BWEs’ coaching, the BWEs’ experiences of discomfort in the coaching process, and coachees feeling that the coach had trivialised the coachee’s issues, highlights the important matter of coaching readiness. Coaching readiness is important to the success of any coaching engagement. Without participants being fully ready for coaching, the process might be compromised. Coaching was found to be an appropriate tool for leadership development and improving the career progression prospects of BWEs. It was also found that it is important to ensure that every party to the coaching is coaching ready. / MT2017

Approximately 93% of Fortune 1000 companies in the United States rely upon executive coaching to accelerate executive performance. However, there is a lack of empirical research identifying effective executive coaching competencies. In this modified Delphi study, a panel of 17 executive coaching experts was purposefully selected from the International Coach Federation and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Participant selection criteria included training in executive coaching, executive coaching credentialing, and -?¥3 years practicing executive coaching or purchasing executive coaching services. Participants used a 5 point Likert-type questionnaire to provide their expert opinion regarding essential executive coaching competencies for enhancing executive on-the-job performance. In an iterative 3-round process, a consensus between these experts was determined when the mean of respondent ratings reached 4.0 or higher. Data received from the panel of experts were calculated for means and standard deviations. This analysis showed key executive coaching competencies such as trustworthiness, adherence to a code of ethics, executive coaching certification, and 19 others. This list of competencies may be used to inform future research on coaching effectiveness, and may serve as criteria for HR managers when selecting coaches. Coach training entities could benefit by integrating these findings in their teaching curriculum. More effective executive coaching is important because of its potential to improve organizational efficiency, profitability, and work environment, positively impacting the lives of employees.

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 Wits Business School March 2015 / The extensive training that goes into developing engineering professionals is part of the price society pays for infrastructure development. Yet when it comes to developing young engineering managers, their education is often left to chance. Organisations rely on a combination of manager’s intuition and chance to recognise potential new managers and then they are expected to find their own way through the maze of policies, financial reporting, and stakeholder management politics after their appointment. This study was based in a State Owned Company where a group of new engineering managers were interviewed on their experiences as they moved into management in order to identify the challenges they experienced during the transition. The findings in the course of this research contribute to the understanding of the managerial competencies needed in a multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary engineering environment in order to guide new managers and the way in which coaching can contribute to their successful transition into engineering management. This study used a deductive approach to establish the transition challenges based on selected literature and compared the themes to the data from thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with 16 engineering professionals working in a State Owned Company engineering company. The role of new managers as talent trustees and containers of corporate memory is an essential part of skills retention strategy. This implies that dysfunctional behaviour at this level will affect future engineering skills retention and development. The cost of coaching should be offset by the risk of management failure when the new managers do not negotiate the transition challenges successfully. South African companies integrate coaching with the talent or business strategy and they use internal coaches to coach up-and-coming talent and graduates (Steenkamp, 2013). There is an urgent and important need to develop engineers into managers and therefore the assistance given to new managers would be an advantage not just in terms of the general management competencies but also the transition competencies needed in the developing countries, such as South Africa (Denton & Vloeberghs, 2003). The challenges of the transition are exacerbated by the heterogeneous nature of the business world where multiple cultures and generations complicate information exchange in the engineering labour environment. This research uses some of the insights gained from the international management competencies and applies the differences found in the South African context to identify transitionery management competencies for the developing world. The research goes on to determine how organisations and coaches can facilitate the transition of managers in South Africa.

Professional coaching has extended from the C-Suite's upper echelons to the mainstream and emerged as a viable customizable human capital management initiative democratizing professional coaching (Colletta, 2020; Joo, 2005; Kampa-Kokesch & Anderson, 2001). Experienced professional coaches often refer to "coachability," which is a component of a successful coaching engagement. However, the term needs to be researched and expanded upon in the current professional coaching literature. Current research on coachability follows within sports, sales performance, entrepreneurship, and workplace/employee.This mixed-method (survey and semi-structured interviews) exploratory study identified that professional development coachability exists and possesses identified specific associated attributes. This understanding was essential in establishing a professional development coachability construct, definition, and profile. Professional development coachability (PDC) is a complex system or construct that intersects in personal traits, coach and coachee dynamics, and social, environmental, and psychological components. PDC has been defined as an amalgamation of external and internal factors that align at a specific moment under specific circumstances. It is complex, malleable, and impacted by the circumstances and conditions in and around the coaching engagement. Study 1 (survey, n=209) identified the internal/intrinsic behavioral factors that influenced professional development coachability through the eyes of experienced professional coaches. This study resulted in a five-item coachability profile established by quantitative [(N of Items=5) Cronbach's Alpha .75, Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized Items of 0.76 and a valid n=40] and supported qualitatively. Study 2 (semi-structured interviews/mini survey, n=44) was conducted with experienced professional coaches, a subset of the survey participants, almost one year after the initial Study 1. Based on the results of the five-item survey in Study 2, the five-attributes profile from Study 1 was supported quantitatively by Study 2 [(N of Items=5) Cronbach's Alpha .70, Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized Items of .70 and a valid n=44]. The profile presents critical attributes or factors that a client/coachee intrinsically brings (perception of coachability) to support the coaching process. Subsequently, the five attributes/factors profile and identified external factors inductively derived from Study 2 set the foundation for an initial definition and theoretical framework for professional development coachability. Keywords: coachability, executive coaching, professional coaches, leadership development, definition, personal and professional development, internal and external factors, theoretical framework, exploratory mixed-method / Business Administration/Human Resource Management

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