The characteristics of dyadic trust in executive coaching

This qualitative study explores the development of trust in executive coaching relationships. Interviews were conducted with 27 high‐level executives who were voluntarily engaged in executive coaching for the purpose of leadership development. The theory that emerged from these findings, as expressed in an integrated model of sequential, interdependent trust development, was that interplay of relational, situational, and behavioral factors influenced the development of trust in executive coaching. Trust was highest when (a) the client was willing to disclose honest feelings and thoughts to the coach and was met with a supportive, nonjudgmental reaction from the coach; (b) the organization was supportive of the positive leadership development that could occur in executive coaching; (c) the coach and client were clear about expectations of confidentiality and outcomes; and (d) the coach supportively confirmed the client's developmental needs, and challenged the client's leadership behaviors. These multiple, interdependent factors manifested throughout the coaching relationship to result in bonds of trust.     

The effect of management changes on winning in professional sports: Analysis using a dynamic lag adjustment model

This paper examines whether coaching and general manager (GM) changes among three professional sports leagues—the National Football League (NFL), the Major League Baseball (MLB), and the National Basketball Association (NBA)—effect on‐field performance. Our empirical methodology uses team‐level data by season and adapts a lag adjustment econometric approach designed to resolve several statistical challenges that arise both in general managerial settings and in sports settings. Our main finding is that coaching changes in the NFL boost the number of wins per season by between 0.5 and 1.2 in each of the first five seasons. Coaching changes have smaller, but still positive, impacts in the MLB and NBA. For all the three leagues, we find that GM changes have no discernable impact on performance. A separate cross‐sectional analysis suggests that those small impacts stem from coaches and GMs having extremely compressed talent distributions. The data indicate that coaches and GMs, en masse, are important, but changing the people who occupy those positions rarely seems to move teams to different locations on the performance distribution.     

Increasing transformational leadership by developing leaders' information‐processing systems

According to the cognitive‐experiential self theory (CEST), all behavior is guided by two information‐processing systems: the rational system and the experiential. Previous research with school leaders has shown that the rational system and constructive elements of the experiential system have a strong positive relationship with transformational leadership, as outlined in the Full‐Range Leadership Theory. This article reports a pretest, posttest study using an intervention and control group to test whether changes to CEST information‐processing systems could bring about changes in transformational leadership. The results of a 10‐week, individually delivered coaching intervention program with a small group of school principals showed that there was a significant increase in transformational leadership scores between the pretest and posttest for the intervention group, as rated by school staff. The control group remained unchanged. Qualitative results from interviews indicated that school principals in the intervention group became more aware and reflective about their leadership practice. This study yields initial evidence that increasing rational and constructive thinking can develop the use of transformational leadership techniques.     

A conscious‐authentic leadership approach in the workplace: Leading from within

This study combines components of the relatively nascent concepts of conscious leadership and authentic leadership. It is a synopsis of a recent empirical study comparing two groups of companies and their respective CEOs. Each group is comprised of three companies. Group I is led by CEOs who use a conscious‐authentic leadership approach in the workplace. They infuse their personal values, beliefs, and relational leadership behavior into the policies, practices, and employee programs within their respective organizations to achieve specific organizational outcomes. Group II CEOs do not use this leadership approach. The companies selected for study were categorized by disinterested third parties in the business community. This study explores the perceptions of the employees of both groups and the impact of the conscious‐authentic leadership model on organizational behavior and specific organizational outcomes in the workplace. The organizational outcomes tested in this study are voluntary employee‐withdrawal behavior and absenteeism during the period 2003–2005. An employee questionnaire was administered to the employees of both groups to measure organizational behavior. The same questionnaire was administered to the CEOs to determine their level of self‐awareness and their sense of the reality of the human condition within their respective organization. A separate leadership questionnaire was administered to the CEOs for a self‐assessment of personal attributes and leadership style. The findings provide a working definition of conscious‐authentic leadership behavior and a working model of the components of this approach as implemented by Group I CEOs in the workplace.     

Coaching SME managers: business development or personal therapy? A mixed methods study

While a growing number of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are making use of coaching, little is known about the impact such coaching has within this sector. This study sought to identify the factors that influence managers' decision to engage with coaching, their perceptions of the coaching ‘journey’ and the kinds of benefits accruing from coaching: organisational, personal or both. As part of a mixed methods approach, a survey tool was developed based upon a range of relevant management competencies from the UK's Management Occupational Standards and responses analysed using importance-performance analysis, an approach first used in the marketing sector to evaluate customer satisfaction. Results indicate that coaching had a significant impact on personal attributes such as ‘Managing Self-Cognition’ and ‘Managing Self-Emotional’, whereas the impact on business-oriented attributes was weaker. Managers' choice of coaches with psychotherapeutic rather than non-psychotherapeutic backgrounds was also statistically significant. We conclude that even in the competitive business environment of SMEs, coaching was used as a largely personal, therapeutic intervention rather than to build business-oriented competencies.     

Leadership development in selected leading Thai companies

This research examined leadership development (LD) and leadership development programs (LDPs) in three selected Thai businesses. The research purpose was to identify and explore the features, leaders' competencies, activities and programs, key elements, and critical issues of LDP in these organizations. A case‐study approach was employed as the research method. The data were collected through company documents, questionnaires, and interviews of managers who were directly responsible for leadership development in their organization. Three levels of LDPs were commonly found among the studied companies: those organized for supervisors, managers, and executives. Leaders' competencies were derived from the companies' vision, mission, and values, business drivers, and top management judgment. Development activities included formal training, development activities, and self‐initiative undertakings. Common key elements of LDPs were support from top management, adherence to human resource development (HRD) and business strategic plans, and emphasis on coaching and mentoring. The critical issues included top management trust in employees' abilities; competence and independence of local internal staff; evaluation of LDP effectiveness; level of engagement by potential company leaders; and costs of building, executing, and evaluating LDP.     

An Instrument to Measure Level 5 Leadership

The objective of this research project was to develop a validated scale to measure Level 5 Leadership using the Collins ( 2005 ) Level 5 attributes. An expert panel reduced the 99 attributes from Collins to 74. The 349 participants evaluated their bosses on a 10‐point semantic differential scale for each attribute. A review of the literature suggested that Level 5 leadership and servant leadership represent the same concept; thus the study used a 10‐item servant leadership scale to check for concurrent validity. Additionally, Collins proposed eight untested questions to determine if individuals qualify as Level 5 leaders. Principal component analysis resulted in two factors that explained 55.2% of the variance; these factors matched Collins's proposed personal humility and professional will constructs. The final instrument contains five attributes of personal humility and five attributes of professional will that yield Cronbach alphas of .83 and .83, respectively. The analysis also revealed statistically significant positive relationships between the Level 5 attributes, servant leadership, and a single factor that represented Collins's eight questions.     

Reducing Organizational Politics in Performance Appraisal: The Role of Coaching Leaders for Age‐Diverse Employees

We examined whether a supervisor's coaching leadership style predicts the perception of organizational politics in performance appraisal (OPPA) reported by the collaborators. Additionally, we drew on social cognition and motivational life‐span development theories to hypothesize age‐related differences in perceived OPPA and its link with the coaching leadership style. Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) on a sample of 576 employees and 112 leaders, we found that coaching leaders are perceived as less manipulative in their performance ratings, especially by older employees. This article includes a discussion of the implications these results have for performance management of an age‐diverse workforce. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

What Coaches Believe are Best Practices for Coaching: A Qualitative Study of Interviews from Coaches Residing in Asia and Europe

The industry of executive and leadership coaching has grown over the past decade, becoming an integral part of many leadership and executive training and development initiatives globally. As a result, research focusing on coaches in Asia and Europe may uncover useful best practices that could inform the field. Such knowledge would enable coaches to better understand how to work better with their client–leaders and can also inform and develop coaching practice and research. The purpose of our qualitative study was to understand, through the interviews of 12 practicing coaches residing in Asia and 19 practicing coaches residing in Europe, what their best practices are in one‐to‐one coaching engagements. Ten best practices from the coaches in Asia and six best practices from the coaches in Europe emerged. Each best practice is discussed as well as limitations, future research, and implications from the findings of our study.     

Transformational Instructor‐Leadership in Higher Education Teaching: A Meta‐Analytic Review and Research Agenda

Researchers have shown that transformational leadership is applicable to higher education teaching, that is, transformational instructor‐leadership. However, such research is fractionated across diverse fields. To address the fractionated literature, the purpose of the current study was to conduct a meta‐analytic review of transformational instructor‐leadership and to analyze research in which such leadership has been empirically associated with student outcomes. For the meta‐analysis, the Hunter–Schmidt approach was adopted, and thus, correlations were corrected for attenuation due to measurement error. The findings indicated that transformational instructor‐leadership was positively associated with students’ motivation, satisfaction, perceptions of instructor credibility, academic performance, affective learning, and cognitive learning. Moderator analyses revealed that culture, course delivery, instrument, and gender were all significant moderators of the relationship between transformational instructor‐leadership and specific student outcomes. The findings also showed that there were significant differences between the transformational leadership dimensions, thus supporting the notion that each dimension is conceptually distinct. The present meta‐analysis drew from varied disciplines in contributing the first integrative review on transformational instructor‐leadership. Future research needs to extend the literature with regard to context sensitivity, common method variance, causal conclusions, mechanisms, outcome measures, and control variables. Practically, higher education institutions should consider training transformational instructor‐leaders.     

Gender and managerial coaching across cultures: female managers are coaching more

Despite the increasing popularity of managerial coaching in organizations worldwide, little is known with regard to how gender and culture may affect managerial behavior. The present study is the first empirical study on managerial coaching on a global scale. Based on social role theory, role congruity theory, and cross-cultural theory, we first expect female leaders to engage in more coaching behavior than male leaders. Second, we expect that male leadership, particularly coaching behavior, is more influenced by societal culture than female leadership. Survey data were obtained from more than 600,000 employees, assessing coaching behavior of more than 130,000 practicing managers from 51 countries/areas. Results support both expectations. Taken together, this study has advanced our empirical and theoretical understanding of managerial coaching on a global scale.     

About and beyond leading uniqueness and belongingness: A systematic review of inclusive leadership research

The purpose of this systematic review of 107 papers is to address the conceptual confusion about what inclusive leadership (IL) behavior entails and understand the theoretical development of IL. Synthesizing the divergent conceptualizations of inclusive leader behaviors, we propose a multi-level (i.e., employee, team, organizational) model of IL behavior consisting of four dimensions namely, fostering employee's uniqueness (e.g., promoting diversity); strengthening belongingness within a team (e.g., building relationships); showing appreciation (e.g., recognizing efforts and contributions); and supporting organizational efforts (e.g., promoting organizational mission on inclusion). Further, we provide a summary of studied variables as a nomological network in relation to inclusive leadership and an overview of the different theories (e.g., social exchange, intrinsic motivation) supporting the respective relationships and explaining the underlying mechanisms (e.g., reciprocity, motivation). We propose future research to empirically test the multi-level model of IL and examine the predictive value in terms of employee and organizational outcomes.     

A global perspective on diversity and inclusion in work organisations

This Academy of Management, Human Resources Division, Ambassadors' Programme special issue presents a collection of empirical papers examining workplace diversity and inclusion in a global context. We introduce this topic raising three overarching challenges: to develop more context-specific definitions of diversity and inclusion; to include dimensions pertinent to a global context in the definition of diversity and inclusion; and to consider the impact of diversity and inclusion practices on performance outcomes across countries as well as within multinational corporations. We explore these challenges through three diversity and inclusion lenses – gender, age and nationality – exploring global perspectives at the national, organisational and team levels of analysis. In conclusion, we present an agenda for future research.     

Agricultural Leadership Education: Past History,Present Reality,and Future Directions

The article explores the past, present, and projected future of agricultural leadership education. Beginning with roots in youth leadership development and grounded in land‐grant universities, agricultural leadership education has undergone a shift from working primarily with rural youth to a new focus on also educating undergraduate and graduate students to empower community members and create change. The renewed focus has encouraged recent growth and in the last 10 years, the profession has added three leadership majors, six leadership minors, seven leadership focus areas, seven undergraduate leadership programs, and four graduate leadership programs. Research exploring the student impact of agricultural leadership education revealed that nationwide a total of 7,904 students are exposed to 208 agricultural leadership education courses. As the discipline continues to mature, recommendations are made for continued program development. Discussion highlights prior research examining potential courses to include types of experiences, program objectives, and career connectedness relating to agricultural leadership education. Programs have ample opportunity for future growth and recommendations are made to continue the development of innovative leadership opportunities and consistent pedagogical practices across institutions.     

Chance Events and Executive Career Rebranding: Implications For Career Coaches and Nonprofit HRM

We conducted and analyzed interviews with 20 executives from the for‐profit sector who had transitioned into second careers in the nonprofit sector. Our qualitative study provides an in‐depth analysis of the critical events that triggered career agency and stimulated the change process. At each stage of transition, the executives revisited their personal brands, deciding how to best position their skills, knowledge, and values within the context of their new nonprofit organizations. This research contributes to academic and practitioner knowledge of new career paths open to mid‐ and late‐career executives and insights for nonprofit leadership, as many nonprofits can anticipate major shortages of qualified executives. Each stage in the career transition process provides opportunities for human resource professionals to contribute to successful nonprofit leadership change: first, by creating opportunities for “chance events” motivating transition, followed by career coaching opportunities before and throughout the transition. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Managing global projects: A structured approach for better performance

The purpose of this research effort is to develop a model for improving the performance of global projects using the underlying relations among the important enablers and barriers of global project performance. A number of factors are identified in the study, using a literature review to develop the model. A survey was used to determine the impact of these factors on global project performance. The model suggests different management practices for global projects versus traditional, co‐located projects. Different from the outcomes of traditional projects, research results suggest that leadership and establishing trust is a first step in the initial stages of the global project.     

Supervisors as good coaches: influences of coaching on employees’ in-role behaviors and proactive career behaviors

Coaching as an effective leadership initiative in organizations has gained increasing attention from scholars. This study investigates the effects of coaching on employees’ in-role behaviors (IRBs) and proactive career behaviors (PCBs), while also exploring the mediating role of psychological empowerment. Data were collected from a sample of 324 employee–supervisor pairs from 11 service companies in Taiwan. The results show that coaching was positively related to both IRBs and PCBs. Moreover, psychological empowerment fully mediated the coaching–IRB relationship and partially mediated the coaching–PCB relationship. Implications for managerial practices and future research are derived from these findings.     

Entrepreneurial Leadership in the Context of Company Start‐Up and Growth

Starting a new business is easy. Leading a start‐up and transitioning from founder to CEO is hard. As a result, less than 1 in 25 new companies will grow to have 50 or more employees. This article examines three important challenges faced by entrepreneurial leaders at start‐up: developing a vision, achieving optimal persistence, and executing through chaos. The article also considers three capabilities needed by founders who seek to continue to lead their companies during the growth stage of the entrepreneurial process: strategic thinking, coaching, and self‐evaluation. The Siegfried Group, LLP, a leading national CPA firm that provides Leadership Advisory and Talent Delivery services to Fortune 1000 organizations, is used as a brief case study to illustrate key challenges and capabilities associated with entrepreneurial leadership.     

Climate control? The relationship between leadership,climate for change,and work outcomes

Transformational leadership is seen as one of the most effective leadership styles from which the dynamic context of temporary work agencies may benefit. The current paper presents a theoretical framework that introduces participative leadership as an additional appropriate leadership style. The prediction is that transformational leadership and participative leadership both impact work outcomes via a climate for change. Data from 258 employees working for a large Dutch employment agency support these hypotheses. Results show that transformational leadership and participative leadership are both independently related to work outcomes. Moreover, results support an indirect process from participative leadership to work outcomes, via a climate for change.