The impact of leadership coaching on leadership behaviors

Abstract

Purpose Leadership coaching has received increased popularity over the past decade; however, there is a paucity of research that has examined its impact on leader behaviors within organizations. Drawing upon transformational leadership theory, the purpose of this paper is to understand the benefits provided to followers when leaders experience leadership coaching. Design/methodology/approach This cross-sectional study collected data from 75 mid- to senior-level organizational leaders and 188 followers. Findings The results of this study reveal that leadership coaching is positively associated with leaders engaging in individualized consideration toward their followers, and in turn, leaders engage in constructive leadership behaviors (i.e. more delegation and less close supervision). Research limitations/implications While this study contributes to our understanding of leadership coaching for organizational leaders, it, however, focuses on a specific set of leadership behaviors and does not examine the practices embedded in the coaching process. Practical implications Leadership coaching facilitates the leader’s aspiration to provide their followers with more individual support. Organizations, in turn, need to promote more opportunities and practices for this interaction to continue. Originality/value This is the first study to empirically demonstrate the relationship between leadership coaching and constructive leadership behaviors.