Coaching: from challenge to opportunity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present coaching opportunities and applications in the workplace as well as to point out that organizations that want to leverage the benefits of coaching must be mature enough to have certain processes and practices in place. A further purpose of this paper is to gain some insight regarding several critical success factors are not well understood by organizations and to identify possible areas for improvement for them. Design/methodology/approach – The authors first presents the environment in which coaching was developed, from which disciplines was it affected, and how it was shaped into its current form. Then the authors focus on coaching used as a business development tool and critical factors that play an important role in the effectiveness of coaching from the organizations’ side are presented. The paper ends with some qualitative conclusions. Findings – The value that organizations realize form coaching is proportional to the quality of coaching delivered. Organizations that invest in quality coaches, have, themselves, a clear understanding of what coaching really is and actively support coaching initiatives at every aspect of coaching’s procedure, can reap the greatest benefits from it. Originality/value – Several studies have been conducted to determine the organization-dependent factors that affect coaching and the quality of the result. However, do date it has not been highlighted that organizations that want to leverage the benefits of coaching must be mature enough to have certain processes and practices in place. Furthermore, possible areas for improvement for companies are identified regarding several critical success factors that are not well understood by them.