The Process of Transformative Learning in Executive Coaching : a Realist Evaluation

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.