Renae Jones

The executive coaching trend: towards more flexible executives

Purpose – This paper proposes to investigate the influence of executive coaching on managerial flexibility in order to build a stronger theoretical and empirical basis for executive coaching research.Design/methodology/approach – A repeated measures design was adopted. About 11 leaders participated in a leadership development program and received executive coaching over a three‐month period. Leaders were surveyed prior to coaching, during coaching, and post coaching.Findings – Repeated measures analysis revealed that self‐reported managerial flexibility increased throughout the duration of executive coaching.Research limitations/implications – This exploratory study provides initial support for the argument that executive coaching positively impacts on managerial flexibility. Several areas for future research are discussed including examining the influence of executive coaching on the dimensions of managerial flexibility.Originality/value – This study provides a detailed overview of how to develop an exec...