The Center for Creative Leadership Handbook of Leadership Development, Third Edition

Chapter 4. Leadership Coaching

Candice C. Frankovelgia

Douglas D. Riddle

Leadership coaching is a potentially powerful means of development in its own right and can be particularly powerful when used to amplify other learning experiences. Growing confidence in the power of coaching has dramatically expanded its use. The number of professional coaches globally doubled between 2001 and 2006 and was estimated at thirty thousand in 2008 (International Coach Federation, 2008). Another recent survey found that nearly two-thirds of responding organizations planned to increase their use of coaching over the next five years, and 92 percent of leaders being coached said they planned to use a coach again (Bolt, 2008). Parallel to this growth in the use of professional coaches is an increased emphasis on the role of managers as coaches and developers of others in their own organizations. As a result, we have witnessed a striking increase in requests for programs and processes that help leaders and human resource professionals become better coaches of their direct reports, peers, and even bosses.

Despite the popularity of coaching, its power, like that of any other method used to develop leaders, depends on the quality of its design and execution. Over the years, much of the Center for Creative Leadership's (CCL) leadership coaching practice has focused on the craft of coaching individual leaders and expanding the capacity to deliver coaching services around the world. The first part of this chapter ...