Toward a Conceptual Understanding and Definition of Executive Coaching

This article succinctly reviews the recent literature available on executive coaching, demonstrating that there has been very little empirical research that has focused on these methods when used by consultants with managers and leaders in organizations. Within the frame work of a 17-dimensional model of systems and psychodynamic theory, it provides an overview of a conceptual approach to coaching activities that incorporates five identifiable components, plus an emphasis on goal setting, intervention methods, and hypothesized factors in negative consulting outcomes. A definition of executive coaching is offered as a way of summarizing the current literature and differentiating these consulting activities from others for the purposes of improving conceptual clarity and encouraging specific research on the concepts, methods, and outcomes of these consulting activities.