The nature of executive coaching: An exploration of the executive's experience

Over the past decade there has been a remarkable growth in Executive Coaching. The rise in this developmental strategy may be in part fueled by what has been termed as a "crisis of leadership" at the very top of American corporations and the need to ensure on-going excellent leadership.; Although, this developmental methodology has been widely used, little is known about it. What little literature there is has been mostly written by practicing coaches and reflects their perspective. This study explores the nature of executive coaching from the executive's experience. A phenomenological approach was employed in order to provide an understanding of the meaning executives make of their coaching experience.; This phenomenological study used in-depth interviews as the method of data collection. This qualitative methodology provided rich, thick descriptions and through a process of inductive analysis produced findings that describe the fundamental structure of how executives experience coaching. This fundamental structure is comprised of seven essential elements: (1) Path to Achievement; (2) Unique to Self; (3) Ownership; (4) Confrontation with Self; (5) Array of Emotion; (6) Bond with Coach; and (7) Achievement.; This study concludes with recommendations for the key constituencies involved in coaching: the human resource professional, the executive's boss, the executive and the coach, as well as suggestions for future research.