The state of executive coaching research: What does the current literature tell us and what’s the next for coaching research?

This paper asks the question; what do coaching psychologists bring to the developing market of executive coaching? While psychologists are trained in human behaviour, this paper argues that their real unique contribution may be their ability to undertake high quality research.The paper moves to summarise executive coaching research to date, and to suggest new areas for study, drawing from a review of counselling research history over the past five decades. Finally, the paper calls for coaching psychologists to address three key research strands, with the objectives of: evidencing the impact of coaching on performance, improving coaching practice and assisting in identifying the key components required for effective coaching training.

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