Coaching cultures : what are they and how can they be developed?

Kapoutzis, Nikolaos (2024) Coaching cultures : what are they and how can they be developed? Doctoral thesis, Birkbeck, University of London.

Abstract

Coaching culture is an increasingly popular organisational development (OD) proposition and one that has sparked academic and practitioner interest. This thesis set out to explore what we know about coaching cultures and how they are developed, and two studies were conducted to address these aims. Firstly, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), consolidated definitions of coaching culture and their building blocks, identified through peer reviewed, empirical research. Results suggest that research in this area is still in developing stage. We have some initial evidence on antecedents such as leadership commitment; interventions ranging from executive and team coaching to development of managers-as-coaches and internal coaches; outcomes such as engagement, performance, and personal growth; and measures in the form of culture or engagement surveys. The SLR identified gaps in research, including the absence of the voice of the enacting stakeholder and the lack in our understanding of the assumptions, values, and behaviours that underpin coaching cultures. The second study addressed these gaps by interviewing 20 participants (10 OD practitioners and 10 coaches) with experience of coaching culture programmes. Four themes were constructed using Braun and Clarke’s Reflexive Thematic Analysis: 1. “it flows through the veins of the organisation” describes two cultural patterns embedded in organisational behaviour: psychological safety and learning and growth; 2. “more powerful than anything else is having that one-to-one time” constructs the role of practitioners, leaders and communities of practice, as change agents; 3. “the road map emerges” describes that the plan emerges adapting to circumstances and; 4. “a means to an end and an end in itself” discusses that impact is achieved both by providing a vision and a process to develop organisational culture. A definition of coaching culture is proposed as a dialogic space, developed on grounds of psychological safety, which empowers individuals and the organisation to learn and grow. A theoretical framework has been developed that sees coaching cultures as complex adaptive systems with distinct cultural patterns embedded by change agents. The findings add the practitioner perspective to our understanding of coaching cultures and offer an evidence-based blueprint and a behavioural framework to develop them.

Metadata

Statistics

DownloadsShow export options

Export as XMLJSONCSV

Activity Overview

6 month trend

47Downloads

6 month trend

26Hits

Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.

Archive Staff Only (login required)

Edit/View Item