is an honorary research fellow at
Birmingham University; also
a Visiting Professor for Riinvest Vlere College, Kosovo, in partnership
with Staffordshire University and Visiting Lecturer for the Anglia Ruskin University (London), University of Wolverhampton (Hubei, China campus), University of Chester and Leeds Trinity University (Scholars Birmingham Campus). These positions involve him in a
range of academic activities relating to HR, leadership, organisational change,
strategy and research, primarily a PhD research programme on
Organisational Coaching (BCU), the abstract is below.
ALIGNING ORGANISATIONAL COACHING WITH LEADERSHIP
BEHAVIOUR
ABSTRACT
This case study investigated ways in which a coaching culture can improve
organisational effectiveness and had six objectives: (i) explore the view that
coaching in the workplace, supported by a strategic coaching framework, is an
effective means of enhancing employee engagement and performance; (ii) identify
key characteristics and barriers to building a management coaching capability
able to deliver an improved quality of performance in the workplace; (iii)
develop a model of conducive attributes, initiatives and management
capabilities that enhance coaching effectiveness; (iv) understand the nature of
coaching within an organisation; (v) establish the most effective ways in which
coaching can achieve an improved quality of performance and (vi) evaluate the
effect of a ‘strategic coaching approach’ on engagement and individual
performance. The research study was primarily based on data obtained from
a UK building society. A multiple methodological approach utilising
data gathered from surveys, interviews and discussion groups was designed to
reflect the organisational nature of the research, the views of the
participants and to facilitate generalisation to similar organisational
contexts. This research study was undertaken over a seven-year period, to
enable contextualisation of the research activity within a realistic corporate
planning cycle. The research time span resulted in the research
stance undergoing two stages of evolution/perspective; from employee/researcher
with an ‘insider’ understanding; to the position of researcher with an
‘ex-insider/outsider’ perspective, the researcher having left the organisation
before the research was completed. Many participants also
contributed to the research from both perspectives since their career paths
followed similar trajectories. The longitudinal nature of the study
combined with the ‘insider/outsider’ research stance has highlighted new insights
into evidence-based learning providing an enhanced understanding of culture,
leadership, management skills and performance in an organisational coaching
context and which evidenced that organisational coaching has the potential to
increase statistically significantly both employee engagement and
performance. In doing so the thesis challenges the skills driven
competency paradigm (often utilised singularly in organisations with the aim of
achieving immediate behavioural change) and argues that an ambietic, holistic
approach encompassing a range of organisational driven interventions focused on
leadership development acknowledging the importance of emotional intelligence,
employee engagement, HR alignment, evaluation and continuous improvement is
needed to achieve a sustainable coaching culture and the related performance
benefits.