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This research study focused on the coaching practices of five internal Regional Learning and Development Managers in a multimedia organisation from 2009 to 2011. Twelve written narratives were initially used to gather information from both coaches and clients about their perceptions and experiences during a coaching session. Survey questionnaires were sent to all 135 managers who had completed the Coaching Programme since its inception in 2009, to supplement the information established from the narrative stage. Three problems were identified: employed Learning and Development Managers were expected to deliver a coaching programme in the workplace for which they were ill-equipped, unqualified and inexperienced; there was a lack of tangible benchmarks to demonstrate the success of the clients’ development; and an inconsistent standard of coaching was delivered potentially compromising ethical coaching practices and behaviour. Coaching is a specialised field of people development, which can have a noticeable impact on both employee performance and on achieving business aims. ‘Internal coaching’ has evolved from a necessity to develop people within the workplace using internal resources and a limited budget. The study reflects on an example of internal coaching and discusses the successes and failures of such a practice. According to the narratives and survey it is the coach who is the key to the success of coaching and a successful coach must be trustworthy with confidential matters; objective and able to understand the culture and operations of the company; have business credibility; is independent of the person being coached and, therefore, is not their line manager. A customised blend of appropriate styles including mentoring, instruction and coaching is recommended to achieve the best results in coaching.

Professional coaching is still considered an emerging field. Over the past 30 years, professional coaches and researchers have worked to further this profession by developing coaching competencies, exploring the nuances between various coaching modalities, and developing models to explain the role of coaching in organizations. There remains, however, a dearth of literature on coaching culture, including limited agreement on what it is and how it should look in an organization. This study aims to establish agreement by investigating the confluence of coaching culture definitions and models present in industry and scholarly literature, and garnering input from a sample of professionals from diverse industries. This multiphase multimethod study provides an essential step, which has been largely missing in literature, establishing an empirically derived foundation of important behaviorally-based attributes from which coaching culture can be measured.

The field of executive coaching has grown in popularity as a developmental tool for leaders. With the potential for a leadership continuity gap and the desire for organizations to strengthen leadership talent pools to prepare for succession planning, there is a need for empirical research regarding the effectiveness of executive coaching. The aim of this mixed method study was to explore the factors that contribute to successful coaching outcomes. The combination of an online survey of 68 high potential leaders and follow up interviews with 40 of those same leaders yielded information about the coaching experience. The results showed a correlation between the number of years a leader was with the company and his or her perception of a positive coaching experience. In addition, the total amount of time the coach and the leader spent together was correlated with the perception of a positive coaching experience. Finally, most leaders noted that exceptional coaches demonstrated professionalism in several ways, such as listening to the client, showing an interest in the client and their development, and providing advice and helpful suggestions. A better understanding of the factors that promote successful outcomes for high potential leaders will assist coaches in having positive impact on client and organizational performance. This study is unique in that it examines coaching in the context of a larger intervention, a leadership development program, using HR professionals as internal coaches with high potential leaders. For organizations using coaching in this fashion, this study addresses gaps in the literature, which was an impetus for this research. Additional research might be valuable on how coaching clients define a successful coaching outcome, a client's readiness to change, the coach-client relationship, and factors that promote sustained behavior change in a leader.