Life coaching in the workplace

Abstract

Objectives:There is increasing recognition of coaching’s situated nature. Different emphases in coaching are being utilised in different contexts with differing performance expectations. Life coaching has witnessed rapid growth within the last five years, primarily outside but increasingly within the workplace. The objective of this research is to establish the understanding, utilisation, and outcomes associated with life coaching in the workplace. Procurement practices within organisations are also explored.Design:A cross-sectional survey of organisations is undertaken. Practices and reported outcomes are explored within small- and medium-sized organisations together with large organisations. Private, public and community and voluntary sector organisations aresampled.Methodology:A postal questionnaire assessing 39 potential organisational outcomes, 93 potential individual outcomes and 21 potential procurement criteria for bothperformance and life coaching was developed. Responses from 51 organisations were obtained.Results:Life coaching is found to be less well understood than performance coaching. Significant differences between organisational sizes and sectors in practices and perceived outcomes are identified. Coaching has significantly less impact upon entrepreneurship and social purpose outcomes than more general organisational outcomes. The outcomes more typically associated with life coaching are not secured to the same extent as outcomes typically associated with performance coaching. Both coaching in general and life coaching secure rectification outcomes to a greater extent than positive well-being outcomes. There are significant differences in procurement criteria for performance and life coaching.Conclusions:A potential role for a life dimension in workplace coaching may be evolving. The contribution of the current study and other prospective research towards the development of theory and practice are discussed.