EXAMINING MANAGERIAL COACHING DYADS AND THE DEVELOPMENTAL LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR MANAGERS SERVING AS COACHES AND THE REVERSE COACHING BEHAVIORS OF THEIR SUBORDINATE COACHEES

Scholars and practitioners have acknowledged that managerial coaching has been linked to positive outcomes for the coachee and organization and have begun to examine the dual developmental outcomes for managerial coaches as well as the concept of reverse managerial coaching. The purpose of this study was to explore how the facilitation of learning (coaching) occurs within manager/employee dyads, such that the behaviors, beliefs, and learning outcomes for the “manager as coach” are identified when exemplary managers are engaged in coaching their respective employees. It also explored the behaviors, beliefs, and learning outcomes of managers’ respective employees, who may have also influenced their managers’ learning and development as “coaches” when employees engaged in the facilitation of their managers’ learning as a form of reverse managerial coaching. The design of the research study was a qualitative, multi-case study using an adaptation of the Critical Incident Technique and semi-structured interviews as the employees, who may have also influenced their managers’ learning and development as “coaches” when employees engaged in the facilitation of their managers’ learning as a form of reverse managerial coaching. The design of the research study was a qualitative, multi-case study using an adaptation of the Critical Incident Technique and semi-structured interviews as the primary methods of data collection. Six research questions guided this study. Twelve exemplary managers were nominated by third-party nominators, and the 12 managers nominated 1 employee each. In total, 12 managerial coaching dyads, representing 24 managers and employees, were nominated from 8 different organizations in 7 different industries. The research questions served as the a priori framework for creating the broad content categories. Within the broad content categories, the data were then analyzed using constant comparative analysis which resulted in themes and subthemes which were described using illustrative quotations. Themes and subthemes were found for behaviors enacted by managers when facilitating their employees’ learning. An outlying theme was the managers’ commitment to self-learning that was not a direct coaching behavior, but one that enhanced managers’ capacity to coach. Themes and subthemes were found for beliefs held by managers when facilitating their employees’ learning, and the learning outcomes for managers when facilitating their employees’ learning as well as outcomes for employees when serving as coachees. The perspectives from both the managers serving as coaches and the employees serving as coachees were collected, providing a more in-depth examination of the coaching phenomenon. Themes and subthemes were found for behaviors enacted by employees when facilitating their managers’ learning. The outlying theme of the employees’ commitment to self-learning was also found when the employees facilitated the learning of their managers. Themes and subthemes were found for beliefs held by employees when facilitating their managers’ learning, and the learning outcomes for managers when serving as coachees. The perspectives from both the employees serving as coaches and the managers serving as coachees were collected, providing a more in-depth examination of the coaching phenomenon. Themes pertaining to the beliefs, behaviors, and outcomes for the dyad as a whole also emerged