Executive Coaching

Abstract

This article challenges the prevailing understanding of executive coaching as an exclusively individual intervention. It discusses executive coaching as a complex and demanding process that encompasses multidimensional interrelationships among the individual, the organization, and the consultant. It presents four premises that guide the process, including the role of the unconscious in individual and group behavior, the interaction between the individual and the organization, multilevel organizational forces, and the consultant’s use of self as tool. It describes and analyzes three illustrative excerpts from actual executive coaching cases conducted by the author in the manner proposed by the article.