Authentic Leaders are… Conscious, Competent, Confident, and Congruent: A Grounded Theory of Group Coaching and Authentic Leadership Development

Abstract

Introduction:This paper explores and merges two important fields of coaching; Group Coaching and Authentic Leadership Development (ALD). It develops a theory of group coaching and builds this into a conceptual and evidence-based method of ALD.Design:Four authentic leadership coaching groups were conducted over an 18-month period. Each group consisted of five or six senior leaders and were run once a month over a three-month period. After a three-month gap, recorded semi-structured interviews were conducted with all participants to capture the learning and behaviour change that these leaders had experienced as a result of the group-coaching programme.Results:A Grounded Theory approach was applied to the analysis of monthly diary and final interview data which resulted in a two-part theory. Firstly, how the process of a group-coaching approach to ALD works, and secondly, what the output of this approach is in terms of individual leadership. A model was developed comprising four core concepts of authentic leadership along with seven sub-categories of key leadership skills.Conclusion:This research brings together the two key areas of group coaching and leadership development and contributes to the field of leadership coaching by offering both amodeland amethodof ALD. It offers an underpinning theory of each and introduces a model of authentic leadership based on the core concepts of conscious, competent, confident and congruent leadership.