Managing Research: Evaluating Leadership Coaching and Development

This research article evaluates the effectiveness of leadership coaching and development in improving leader role efficacy and trust in subordinates. The literature review focuses on the assessment of leadership coaching and its utilization as a major leadership development tool. The methods used for data collection and analysis are justified and described. The outcomes of the research prove that the stated objectives are achieved.

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Managing research
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Table of Contents
1. Evaluate the literature review conducted for this research article...............................................3
2. Are the methods used to collect data (e.g. focus group and questionnaires) sufficiently justified
and described? What further information (if any) do you require?.................................................4
3. Evaluate the data analysis strategy used in the quantitative part of the research...........................6
4. Critique the outcomes of this research article. Did the researchers’ achieve the stated research
objective?.........................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................9

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1. Evaluate the literature review conducted for this research article.
The literature review was done for prioritising on the leadership coaching, efficiency of the
roles of leaders and trust in the subordinates and employees. It focused on the assessment of
leadership coaching and its utilisation as a major leadership development tool to improve the
coordination among staffs and business effectiveness. The leadership development interventions
have assisted in establishing a sense of trust and loyalty among the subordinates and kept them
motivated and encouraged to perform to their potential as well. Robertson (2016) stated that
leadership coaching helps in maintaining the efficiency of the roles of leaders. It has also helped
in creating scopes for the leaders to promote teamwork, communication and coordination among
the employees. The leadership coaching enabled coaching or training the leaders, executives and
managers of the organisations and making them competent enough to lead the staffs in the right
direction as well as reduce chances of mental stress, lack of health and well being and depression
faced by people within the workplace. Likewise, Ladegard and Gjerde (2013) stated that
development of leadership through coaching is aimed at guiding the staffs in the right direction
and thereby take steps to ensure the fair return on investments through the smooth performance
of the workforce. Robertson (2016) stated that leadership coaching helps in maintaining the
different standards of the changes in the organizational performance. Based on various figures
and tables, records show that with the support of leadership coaching, the return on investments
is more than 500 percent and is one of the major reasons due to which, the staffs of the
companies have gained trust on the leaders. The leadership coaching has allowed the managers
and leaders to work as a role model for them and kept the staffs motivated and encouraged to
perform to their potential and achieve the desired business outcomes.

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Few of the most prominent leadership coaching methods are longitudinal leadership
coaching studies based on the pre post activities and control group design. Ladegard and Gjerde
(2013) stated that the leadership coaching facilitated the improvement of skills, knowledge and
expertise among the managers and leaders as well as created trust, rapport and commitment,
which made the subordinates, follow the leaders effectively. There is also formation of coach
client relationship that created a role between the coaching and training sessions received and the
development of leadership self-efficiency. It is found that the goals and objectives required to be
achieved often change due to self reflection and higher level of self awareness. Reiss (2015)
stated that leadership coaching helps in enhancing the skills and abilities of individuals to
motivate and encourage the staffs. It has also helped in empowering the workforce while
considering the objectives of the business. Similarly, Ladegard and Gjerde (2013) stated that the
leadership coaching has also influenced the behaviours of the leaders and created a positive
mindset among them to face obstacles rather than get away from those to ensure self efficacy and
self reliance.
2. Are the methods used to collect data (e.g. focus group and questionnaires) sufficiently
justified and described? What further information (if any) do you require?
There are different kinds of methods used to collect data and information and
conduct a research appropriately. There can be focus group interviews, survey questionnaires
and other ways of collecting data through the assessment of secondary sources of data and
information. To collect data and information, a small coaching company has been approached
to understand the roles of leaders and their opinions regarding the effect of leadership

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coaching on their skills and knowledge along with the leader role efficacy. The main motive
behind the data collection was to evaluate the various aspects of leadership coaching, leader
role efficacy and trust in subordinates. The mixed methods study allowed for assessing the
leadership coaching as an effective leadership development tool. To collect relevant data and
information, a leadership questionnaire has been formed and distributed to 34 participants of
the research prior to the beginning of the leadership coaching programs. Because of the
absence of few of the participants, the questionnaires were sent to 30 individuals, among
whom 24 responded and the other 6 remained neutral in their responses. The responses were
gathered before and after the commencement of the leadership coaching sessions to check the
different responses and views regarding its impact on leadership development and leader role
efficacy. The response rate is recorded as 73 percent, which is quite good and the other
questionnaires have been sent to the subordinates by emails.
Ladegard and Gjerde (2013) stated that the focus group interviews helped in interviewing
the individuals and obtaining data regarding their views and opinions on leadership coaching and
leader role efficacy. The data collection was possible by selecting a sample size of 30 where six
of the leaders were top level managers, 21 were middle level managers and the remaining three
hold important management positions including the role of project manager and other managerial
positions. The survey questionnaires helped in obtaining quantitative data, the focus group
interviews mainly focused on the collection of qualitative data. It is used for qualitative market
research and the participants have been allowed to discuss about the research topic among
themselves. Based on the discussions, the results were obtained and generalised to provide an
appropriate justification regarding the worth of the research topic.

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The further information is required and it is more likely based on the secondary sources
of data. The useful data and information related to the research topic are obtained by the
assessment of relevant secondary data sources like journals, articles, documents and internet
websites that contained information about the leadership coaching and its impact on leader role
efficacy and leadership development tool. Therefore, it could be believed that methods used for
data collection are justified and described.
3. Evaluate the data analysis strategy used in the quantitative part of the research.
The analysis of data followed the collection of data and ensured manifestation of data and
information presented as numerical data. It is quite easy to analyse the data by representing the
numerical data in graphs, tables, charts, etc. In this case, the researcher has made sure to convert
the collected data and information into numerical data for making those understand with ease and
effectiveness. The quantitative data analysis has helped in finding evidences for supporting as
well as contradicting the idea or hypothesis that has been generated. It has also assisted in
predicting the right answers to the questions and helped in achieving the desired objectives
accurately. Based on the data collected from the 30 respondents of the research, the analysis of
data reflected varied opinions of the individuals engaged in the research regarding the Leader
role efficacy. Some of the respondents believed that that they have mastered or possessed every
major aspects of the job as a leader with excellence and higher competence level while few
others stated that they have been aware of the strengths possessed by them while working as a
leader. Some of the respondents were goal oriented while performing the job role as a leader
while the others took immediate actions in case problems arise and even have been confident
while making any business decisions. The seven point Likert scale is used where the responses

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are ranged from 1 to 7, i.e., strongly disagree to strongly agree. The Leader’s trust in his
subordinates is assessed to understand the level of trust the leaders have in the subordinates,
which has enabled delegating the tasks and right responsibilities to them with ease and
efficiency. The data analysis provided explanation about the four major items responsible for
measuring the level of trust that leaders have on the subordinates. Few of the responses recorded
were that the subordinates could take the responsibilities in absence of the leader and also solve
issues that might be associated with the job role. From the analysis, it was found that the leaders’
perceptions are positive and they believe handing the responsibilities to the subordinates because
of the presence of high level of trust. The analysis of data is managed by including the control
variables including the assigned coach, gender and tenure of the leaders in the current job. The
behaviours of coach are assessed with the evaluation of Cronbach’s alpha score, i.e., 0.88 and it
defined a correlation between the leader role efficacy and development of self esteem and self
reflection properly. Thus, the data analysis provided information and results that prove that the
leadership coaching and trust in subordinates are interrelated. The hypothesis testing has been
facilitated and it showed that with the management of leadership coaching, the skill and
knowledge improved and it influenced the psychological empowerment and reduced the turnover
rate of employees at the organisations.
4. Critique the outcomes of this research article. Did the researchers’ achieve the stated
research objective?
The outcomes of the research article are mainly positive and these have been true to the
fact that the leadership coaching and leadership development have good impacts on the
performance of the staffs and it has helped in managing trust on them. Leadership is an important

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aspect of the leadership development practice, which is essential for creating positive impact on
the productivity of the organization as well as for keeping the staffs motivated and believing in
them. From the focus group discussions it has been found that the outcomes match the objectives
presented during the research study. The objective was to contribute to the substantive theory
building on leadership coaching and considering it as a n effective leadership tool. From the
research, it could be understood that the leadership coaching has enhanced the level of skills and
knowledge of leaders and even enabled them to gain trust on the subordinates. The analysis of
data further showed that the leaders were well aware of the skills and capabilities of the
subordinates, because of which, few of the tasks were handled by them in absence of the leaders.
Based on the quantitative survey, it has been found that the respondents mostly provided positive
responses regarding the leadership and the impact of leader role efficacy on the development of
trust among the individuals. With the management of leadership coaching and development
sessions, a positive relationship is established between the leaders and subordinates, which
further helped in understanding the roles and responsibilities properly and accomplish the
business goals and objectives easily.
The leader role efficacy or LRE also created higher level of awareness among the
leaders, thereby raised their confidence level and finally made them carry out their roles as a
successful leader based on the organisational context. It is believed that with the improvement in
leader role efficacy, the production has increased and there have been higher employee
engagement and maintaining a positive psychological mindset to achieve the desired outcomes.
Other objectives were to set proper goals and make the subordinates understand their tasks
delegated to them properly. The leaders managed influence the psychological response of the

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subordinates and even made them focus on one tasks at a time. The leadership coaching not only
improved the leadership skills, but also created a positive impact on the transactional and
transformational leadership by establishing a positive relationship between mentoring and leader
efficacy. The leaders managed to set proper goals and objectives and allocated the right task to
the employees, which further guided them in the right direction and ensure maintenance of inter-
trust factors between the leaders and subordinates. Thus, it is proved that the stated objectives are
achieved and the leadership development tool has contributed to the management of staffs and
establishing trust and loyalty among the subordinates too.

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References
Ladegard, G. and Gjerde, S., 2014. Leadership coaching, leader role-efficacy, and trust in
subordinates. A mixed methods study assessing leadership coaching as a leadership development
tool. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(4), pp.631-646.
Reiss, K. ed., 2015. Leadership coaching for educators: Bringing out the best in school
administrators. Corwin Press.
Robertson, J., 2016. Coaching leadership: Building educational leadership capacity through
partnership. New Zealand Council for Educational Research. PO Box 3237, Wellington 6140
New Zealand.