Why Does Coaching Work? An Examination of Inputs and Process Variables in an Employee Coaching Program

The efficacy of leadership coaching to improve leader and organizational outcomes cannot be overstated. However, a thorough understanding of some of the inputs and process variables involved in coaching has not been empirically established to date. To address this issue in the leader development and coaching literature, I examined the characteristics of the coaches and the coachees and their relationships with two relational variables potentially involved in coaching relationships (i.e., leader-member exchange and trust). The importance of leadership to work outcomes and leader development is highlighted, followed by a discussion of the specific leader development technique of coaching. The discussion then moves to the relational variables of interest involved in coaching, namely leader-member exchange (LMX) and trust, drawing from research on team and leadership phenomena. Specific inputs (e.g., coach and coachee characteristics) and their impacts on the relationships of interest are discussed. This work focuses on hypotheses in three streams of research: characteristics of coaches and coachees, LMX, and trust. The findings from this research indicate that a coach\u27s experience, specifically operationalized as the activities he or she has experience in, positively predicts LMX, and self-efficacy positively predicts LMX and trust in the coaching relationships. The theoretical and practical implications of this project are noted