Abstract:
The utilisation of executive coaching in organisations as a leader development
strategy has increased in popularity over the last three decades. Its success as a
practice is a result of positive outcomes. How these outcomes are realised in a
coaching process is still an area that requires further research, as coaching theory
advancement is lagging behind practice. There is agreement amongst most scholars
that coaching facilitates learning, and some suggest that learning in a coaching
context is transformative. However, the limited studies that have investigated the
relationship between executive coaching and transformative learning remain
unsubstantiated.
A multiple case study merged with a realist evaluation design was adopted to assess
how, under what contexts, and for whom does an executive coaching programme
foster transformative learning amongst individual executives. A purposive sample of
executives in public-sector organisations in South Africa participated in a longitudinal
coaching intervention. This intervention occurred during extreme socio-political and
economic turbulence, presenting a peculiar contextual environment for the study.
The study makes four main contributions to the field of executive coaching and adult
learning. Firstly, it proposes a theoretical model of how transformative learning occurs
in executive coaching based on empirical evidence. Secondly, it extends the utilisation
of Mezirow’s theory of transformative learning to executive coaching. Thirdly, it serves
as a methodological contribution on how to evaluate transformative learning in an
executive coaching programme. At a practice level, the study provides a framework
for transformative executive coaching and proposes the requisite coaching
competencies for transformative learning.