A SURVEY OF EXECUTIVE COACHING PRACTICES

TLDR

Executive coaching is widespread in business, yet its practices lack uniformity across assessment tools, approaches, activities, goals, and evaluation methods. The study aims to compare the practices of psychologist and nonpsychologist coaches, and of coaches from various psychological disciplines. The authors surveyed 428 coaches (256 nonpsychologists, 172 psychologists) to conduct this comparison. The survey revealed that differences between psychologists of different disciplines were as pronounced as those between psychologists and nonpsychologists, but these differences were generally small (average d = .26), and some variations existed in key competencies.

Abstract

Despite the ubiquity of executive coaching interventions in business organizations, there is little uniformity in the practices (e.g., assessment tools, scientific or philosophical approaches, activities, goals, and outcome evaluation methods) of executive coaches. Addressing the ongoing debate about the role of psychology in executive coaching, we compare the practices of psychologist and nonpsychologist coaches, as well as the practices of coaches from various psychological disciplines (e.g., counseling, clinical, and industrial/organizational). Results of surveys completed by 428 coaches (256 nonpsychologists, 172 psychologists) revealed as many differences between psychologists of differing disciplines as were found between psychologist and nonpsychologist coaches. Moreover, differences between psychologists and nonpsychologists were generally small (average d = .26). Our survey also revealed some differences in the key competencies identified by psychologist and nonpsychologist coaches.