Critical Perspectives on Coaching and Leadership

Introduction

The ideas of coaching and leadership have never been more important in the context of modern organizations than they are today, a time of rapid change, global interconnectedness, and shifting societal values. Organizations today face complex problems that call for creative, flexible, and moral approaches to coaching and leadership. The goal of this chapter is to unravel the complex web of power, ethics, culture, and equity that runs through these fundamental pillars of organizational dynamics through an exploration of critical perspectives that cast a critical eye on them. The once-exclusive domain of sports, coaching has become a dominant force in business, providing both individuals and teams with a framework for growth and development. Like how traditional hierarchical structures have evolved, leadership has become a dynamic and collaborative force that directs organizations toward their objectives. However, these ostensibly well-established ideas conceal a wealth of complexities that demand scrutiny from a critical perspective. Today's higher education leadership faculty members are largely self-taught. According to Seemiller and Priest (2018), the path to becoming a leadership educator is largely self-directed and varies greatly depending on the field and profession. Gaining knowledge or a degree in a related field, such as management, public policy, organizational development, or educational leadership, can help leadership educators or professionals. However, there is still variation in who participates in leadership-related work and how they are prepared to do so (Jenkins & Owen, 2016). In fact, most teachers lack the necessary credentials, and there is little research to back up any specific pedagogical approach to teaching leadership or knowledge, as of 2018 (Kellerman). There are no requirements or necessary certifications that would ensure a standardization of knowledge and expertise among campus-based leadership educators and professionals, even though the International Leadership Association (2009) published guiding questions for developing, reorganizing, or evaluating a leadership education program.

Non-educational fields such as business (Anthony, 2017) and the military provide examples of coaching for leadership development. Indeed, leadership coaching has been a common practice in corporations for many years, as it is found in both public and private organizations of all sizes use coaching alone or in conjunction with other forms of professional development in their review of the coaching literature. Education has only recently started to emphasize executive or leadership coaching as a strategy for leadership development. Coaching has transformed over the past 30 years from a profession that was practically non-existent to a booming industry, especially in Western economies (Segers et al., 2011). Coaches advertise their services under terms like executive, performance, and life coaching (ICF, 2012), and practitioners frequently incorporate coaching terminologies and methods into well-established professions like social work, training, and counselling (Grant, 2017). The lack of recognition of coaching as a social process persists despite the industry's explosive growth. In a review of the various coaching contexts, senior managers are the ones who receive coaching most frequently in organizational settings, mostly in Western-based businesses (Grant, 2011). In these situations, coaching is frequently provided with the assurance of increased productivity and performance. Most of the coaching research, according to Fillery-Travis and Cox (2014), consists of outcome studies, in which case studies are presented to support coaching interventions. Many of these studies “prove” the effectiveness of coaching in a particular workplace setting using quantitative techniques. As a result, the questions of whether coaching is effective and what coaching models and techniques make it most effective are frequently discussed in the coaching literature.