Determinants of coaching success: a systematic review

Abstract

PurposeThe major contribution of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework to coachee success and to identify the most relevant resources for coachee success.Design/methodology/approachThis article attempts to determine the constructs of coaching success through a systematic literature review. The review identified 1,048,880 papers. From these, the authors selected 39 articles for the research. From these articles, the main elements of coaching success were identified.FindingsThe main elements of coaching success are coach quality, coachee engagement, coaching process, coaching reflection, behaviors resulting from coaching and coachee success. Coach quality, coaching process and coachee are often considered as key variables to success. Coachee's behavior is linked to performance but approaches to effectful coaching vary.Practical implicationsCoachee success is connected with the coach's emotional skills and the formality process. Success requires communication, interpersonal relationship, planning, goal setting and progress monitoring. An interplay between the coach and the coachee's emotional skills and the formality process enables success. In business, where employees usually work in their chosen profession, coaching is a tool for education and improvement that brings positive results to the organization.Social implicationsOn a personal level, it can lead to greater self-knowledge and to improvement in the quality of life. Coaching as a facilitator of the coachee's success must be more than a process in itself. It is a way of allowing the coachee to make a critical contribution in a broader context to an organizational culture that values human capital.Originality/valueIt contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms that lead to success in coaching. This systematic review adds to the few articles found on coachee success from over a million papers analyzed. It offers a proposed theoretical framework to coachee success, through a holistic approach.