“The power of coaching: a meta-analytic investigation” by Sonesh, S. C., Coultas, C. W., Lacerenza, C. N., Marlow, S. L., Benishek, L. E., & Salas, E. (2015) Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 8(2), 73-95.

Article Summary
This research examines 847 publications. The 24 that met criteria were systematically examined and the data was extracted in order to evaluate – if we look at these studies collectively – what does the research say about the impact of coaching? Each study analyzed its own data. The authors then analyzed all the studies together, which is called a “meta-analysis.”  This kind of research report is much more powerful than any one study.

The research shows:

• Coaching is an effective way to change client behaviors and improve leadership skills, job performance and skill development.
• It also improves personal and work attitudes including self efficacy, commitment to the organization and reducing stress.
• The coaching process can elicit a strong bond, which in turn facilitates joint goal setting, and may be the mechanism through which goals are reached.
• It is generally easier to achieve behavioral change than deep attitude shifts which have a longer development runway.
• For leadership coaching, they found having a mix of business and psychology background is effective; one does not have to be an advanced expert.

Other contributions and highlights:
One unique aspect of this study is it looked beyond what tools and techniques and explored the overall impact of coaching and the quality of the relationships created. It suggests how these are connected to outcomes.  The authors also offer a complex and good conceptualization of how coaching works.

You may want to find a buddy and study this article which is available to our members on our website.  It lists many areas where coaching has made a difference. For those of you who want to know more about a foundation for Evidence Based Marketing and a deeper understanding of what we do, the top research studies are noted in the article and you can read the bibliography to find them. If you are not a member of the IOC, you can buy the pdf of the above article.