2018 Research: Chapter 5 - Internal Support / Internal Coaching

CoachSource is pleased to provide the sixth in a series of seven blog posts featuring chapters from our 2018 Executive Coaching Research Study. In this post, we feature Chapter 5 of the report, "Internal Support / Internal Coaching," which encompasses:

  • Role of Leadership Development and Human Resources
  • Role of Boss
  • Internal Coaching
  • Internal vs. External Coaching Experience
  • Choice of Internal Versus External Coaches
  • Challenges of Internal Coaches

To read prior chapters, please visit our blog. To stay informed on CoachSource, our research, and news, please subscribe to our newsletter.

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Chapter 5: Internal Support / Internal Coaching

Role of Leadership Development and Human Resources

Leadership Development (LD) and Human Resources (HR) staff are often involved in supporting and staffing coaching assignments. We asked organizations and leaders about the role that LD and HR plays, and provided them 6 answer options. We instructed respondents to select all options that apply. See Figure 34 below.

Notably, there are wide discrepancies between the leaders' view of LD/HR involvement versus organizations. It appears that organizations believe they are much more involved in the coaching process than leaders perceive. For example, 80% of organizations reported that LD/HR is involved in the matching process, whereas only 23% of leaders reported this. Likewise, 83% of organizations also reported that LD/HR identifies that coaching is appropriate at the outset [of an assignment] while only 18% of leaders reported the same. As another example, only 13% of organizations stated that LD/HR plays a minimal role in the assignment, but 51% of leaders reported this. Similar discrepancies were seen in our 2005 and 2013 studies, where trends in the data for this question were almost identical. This wide difference indicates that leaders being coaches are underestimating how involved LD and HR are in the process.

Executives we've met over the years seem to prefer regular involvement from LD and HR, beyond just the initial identification and assignment matching. As one executive in 2005 told us, "They have been really terrific - my training and development people - about checking in and asking about milestones during the process. So, I give them very high marks for that." In addition, coaches feel better supported when there is an active involvement by LD and HR. 

To read the rest of Chapter 5 "Internal Support / Internal Coaching," please click here for the PDF.

Please note: This material is copyrighted by CoachSource, LLC.

Our next blog post is Chapter 6:  Future Trends / Innovations / Fees + Conclusion, which ends our series with:

  • Region Versus Coaching Trends
  • Innovation in Coaching
  • Dollars Spent Per Executive
  • Coaching Fees
  • Conclusion /Acknowledgments / About the Researchers

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