Executive Coaching applications' procedures and strategies: a case study with a sports manager

Abstract

Continuous development of a manager within the organization is a premise for achieving efficiency and for improving organizational and individual performance. In this regard, Executive Coaching has been one of the possibilities of training and development in organizations from different areas, and its application in different contexts has been evaluated and addressed in academic research and scientific literature. However, although Human Resources management literature in sports organizations mentions about Executive Coaching, processes and results obtained in interventions are not cited nor described. This article aims to present elements related to the applicability and approaches’, methods’ and research strategies’ relevance indicated by the Coaching and Executive Coaching literature through an Executive Coaching process carried out with a manager from a private non-profit organization that develops a sport program. The original study was a case study, carried out through action research, covering the following steps: Diagnosis, Executive Coaching Intervention and Evaluation. This article is descriptive, in which the procedures, instruments, the characterization of the coach and the coachee, and the treatment and analysis of information are described and analyzed. The triangulation of the obtained results indicates that strategies, methods and coaching approach applied led to the achievement of positive results both in the manager's individual and organizational performance. It was concluded that Executive Coaching can be applied in the context of Sports Management, with a sports program manager, following structured procedures and based on literature and research from other areas. Considering the process applied in the original study, limitations are pointed out, as well as suggestions and recommendations for the Executive Coaching application and for future studies on this subject.