QUT MGN441: Coaching Principles and Leadership Development Essay

This essay delves into the principles of coaching and their crucial role in fostering leadership development within organizations. It begins by defining leadership development as a succession planning process aimed at cultivating high-caliber leaders. The essay then outlines key coaching principles, including observation, active listening, clear communication, addressing knowledge gaps through training, and providing continuous feedback. It uses examples from companies like Amazon and Woolworths to illustrate how leadership development programs, often incorporating transformational leadership approaches, can enhance employee performance, improve customer satisfaction, and facilitate rapid responses to business changes. The essay emphasizes the importance of leadership development in attracting and retaining talent, improving employee morale, and driving overall organizational success, concluding that effective coaching is essential for creating a positive work environment and achieving productive results. The essay is based on the assignment brief of MGN441 Coaching for Leadership Development from QUT Business School.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction
The essay throws light in analyzing the principles of coaching and impact of the same on
enhancing the leadership development in a successful manner. As commented by Pitcher,
Beveridge and Leahy (2019, p.496), the leadership development is considered to be the common
process in the succession planning that aims in producing the high-calibre leaders for taking over
the senior positions when there is vacancy. Through the proper leadership development
opportunities, it will be capable of improving morale and profitability of the company and
employees. The aim and purpose of the essay is to understand the impact of the coaching on the
enhancement of development of proper and effective leadership practices successfully. With the
help of the organization, the literature on the coaching for leadership development needs to be
analyzed.
Discussion
Though the different companies in the entire world utilize the leadership development
programs, such coaching and programs are helpful in developing the effective leaders in different
companies. As commented by Milner and Armour (2017, p.147), the need for the leaders as well
as the leadership are beneficial for the companies, as the effective and strong leadership is highly
integral to both the individuals as well as companywide success. In addition, as opined by
McGill, Clarke and Sheffield (2019, p. 1), providing of the leadership development opportunities
can be improving morale, profit and loyalty. In addition, as commented by Markus (2016,
p.230), the main principles of the development of the leadership include the following aspects
that are described as follows:

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Observe- It is the first and foremost aspect wherein the different coaches are required to
be adopting at getting information from the different employees without making the employees
feel that they are being spied on. Talking to the employees and observing them at work will be
helpful for them in identifying the deficiencies in their skills which might needs proper focus
(Lefstein et al., 2018, p.222).
Listen- As described by Korotov (2016, p.158), while talking to employees, the listening
is the other key element which is needed to be implemented by the employer for determining the
concerns of employees as they are the crucial assets of the company and it will be making the
employees feel that they are being noticed.
Communicate- As commented by Guthrie and Meriwether (2018, p.110), the most
essential part of coaching is communication wherein the managers need to communicate often
with the employees on a regular basis and be available for them for answering their questions. It
will be beneficial in building trust and learning what is going on in the workplace successfully.
Filling knowledge gaps- As defined by Fusco, O’Riordan and Palmer (2016, p.128),
when the employers will be understanding the different lacks in the skills of employees, in such
scenario, providing training and development is the key aspect which is needed to be followed
for mastering the new abilities which will be making the employees feel that they can be able to
handle the different assignments in challenging business circumstances.
Giving constant feedback- According to Cable and Graham (2018, p. 612), the offering
of the constant feedback is appropriate which will be capable of motivating the employees and
making them realize their mistake successfully. Showing the employees that the employers have
confidence in them is the other essential aspect.

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As opined by Bureau and Lawhead (2018, p. 85), leadership is one of the essential
components in the workplace for guiding as well as to work towards the vision of the company.
To grow, expand along with making the business in the profitable, it is highly important to
follow and utilize the different methods, strategies with team. In addition, as opined by Korotov
(2016, p. 157), these are the different strategies include identification of the new business scaling
ideas for helping the customers in a quick manner. On the other hand, as opined by Bureau and
Lawhead (2018, p. 85), coaching is training and development which increases the potential of the
employees in improving their morale and generate high productivity effectively.
For instance- At Amazon, with the assistance of the transformational leadership
approach of Jeff Bezos, there has been inclusion of the different leadership development
programs which provides the people with important skills as well as attributes that includes
communication skills and decision-making skills and ability which enhances the performance of
the employees on the effective manner (Amazon.com, 2020). At Amazon, the employees are
happy with the working environment as there are different scopes of training and development as
to become highly efficient in solving the different tasks successfully. Moreover, the different
managers at Amazon raise the performance bar with every hire and promotion. They try to
recognize the exceptional talent and there are different mechanisms such as training and
development arrangements which make them feel that they are able to perform efficiently and
their opinions are valued.
From the analysis of the example of Amazon, it has been opined by Korotov et al. (2016,
p.139), through the investing in the leadership development, it is capable of improving the
bottom line performance financially. In Amazon, leadership development helps in building
capacity for reducing costs, driving new lines of revenue and improves the customer satisfaction

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successfully. On the contrary, as commented by McGill, Clarke and Sheffield (2019, p.1),
through the usage of the leadership development program, there can be attraction as well as
retention of talent which is suitable for boosting the engagement among employees. Great
leaders try to attract and retain the talents and they are capable of inspiring great people.
For instance- In Woolworths, the managers have been capable of bringing in the change
in the process of check-out system. The different managers were planning to bring in the self-
check-out system in the organization for making the company highly technologically advanced
and improve the satisfaction level of customers successfully (Woolworths.com.au, 2020). In such
scenario, the leadership development process is the main aspect which was being noticed that
increased the success in navigating the change. It helped the employees to respond to the change
quickly as they were aware regarding such aspects during the training and development
programs.
From the instance of Woolworths, Australia, Markus et al. (2019, p. 229), has
commented that leadership development through coaching plays a vital role in enhancing and
improving the ability of the different people in responding rapidly in unpredictable business
environment. From the different surveys, it has been noticed that more than 86% of the
organizations with the strategic leadership development programs have been successfully
responding to the changes quickly. On the other hand, as commented by Milner and Armour
(2017, p. 144), the sophisticated leadership program develop the deeper along with richer
pipeline of talent wherein the companies are unlocking the full potential of the talent pools at
different levels. The leadership development can and will be addressing the different aspects and
it will be sustaining success for the companies in the entire world.

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According to Markus et al. (2019, p. 229), based on the different skills along with
involvement, the leader can be making the work environment better. The different strong leaders
are essential for the growth and success and they are taking strides for facilitating the necessary
skills which is the important step towards improved culture along with productivity of the
company. With the proper and effective leadership delivered by the CEOs of the company, the
end result or the output will be beneficial for the company and employees as a whole.
As opined by Markus et al. (2019, p. 229), through the effective leadership program, the
main element which can be seen is related to the satisfaction among the different employees
which will be developing positive relationship between employers and employees. Moreover, as
commented by McGill, Clarke and Sheffield (2019, p.1), the cultivating of positive relationship
between them can be improving the attitudes as well as productivity that will be permitting the
new kind of opportunities for rewards which will be suiting the group or environment that will be
creating the willingness to learn as well as grow for the sake of the organization.
On the other hand, as commented by Markus et al. (2019, p. 229), the company is
requiring the different leaders who have the capability in generating productive results through
improving the morale of employees performing within the company. Leadership development
programs can be helpful in deriving optimally in the productivity from their work peers and
make them feel that they are the crucial asset of the company. Through such kind of attitude and
behavior, the employees will be able to showcase their opinions and it will be developing and
enhancing the productivity level of the company in the near future.
Conclusion

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Therefore, it can be concluded that the coaching is highly essential in the leadership
development in the different companies as it helps in success of the company as a whole.
Incorporation of the coaching in the leadership development will be helping the different
managers to become highly effective in motivating the team and connecting with them in the
deeper level. As the authors have commented, it assists the different leaders in developing the
high level of trust among the team members and create the emotionally centered work
environment that will be taking into consideration the motives of the employees and their
suggestions which will be suitable for gaining success and high level of productivity in the
company as a whole. From the different instances of Amazon and Woolworths, the main aspect
which have been made clear is the fact that company needs leader who have the capability in
driving towards the productive results achievement.

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References
Amazon.com (2020) Amazon.com (Online) Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com [Accessed
on 23rd March 2020]
Bureau, D. A., & Lawhead, J. (2018). Assessing student leadership development from
mentoring, coaching, and advising. New directions for student leadership, 2018(158), 73-
85.
Cable, S., & Graham, E. (2018). “Leading Better Care”: An evaluation of an accelerated
coaching intervention for clinical nursing leadership development. Journal of nursing
management, 26(5), 605-612.
Fusco, T., O’Riordan, S., & Palmer, S. (2016). Assessing the efficacy of authentic leadership
group-coaching. International Coaching Psychology Review, 11(2), 118-128.
Guthrie, K. L., & Meriwether, J. L. (2018). Leadership development in digital spaces through
mentoring, coaching, and advising. New directions for student leadership, 2018(158), 99-
110.
Korotov, K. (2016). Coaching for leadership development. The SAGE handbook of coaching,
139-158.
Lefstein, A., Vedder-Weiss, D., Tabak, I., & Segal, A. (2018). Learner agency in scaffolding:
The case of coaching teacher leadership. International Journal of Educational
Research, 90, 209-222.
Markus, I. (2016). Efficacy of immunity-to-change coaching for leadership development. The
Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 52(2), 215-230.

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McGill, P., Clarke, P., & Sheffield, D. (2019). From" blind elation" to" oh my goodness, what
have I gotten into"... Exploring the experience of executive coaching during leadership
transitions into C-suite roles. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching &
Mentoring, 17(1).
Milner, J., & Armour, M. (2017). Leadership coaching: An Australian context. In Coaching and
Mentoring in the Asia Pacific (pp. 140-147). Routledge.
Pitcher, T., Beveridge, A., & Leahy, R. (2019). The interplay of clarity, tension, trust and the
coach’s competence: Team coaching on a leadership development programme. In The
Practitioner’s Handbook of Team Coaching (pp. 490-496). Routledge.
Woolworths.com.au (2020) Woolworths Supermarket (onlin) Retrieved from
https://www.Woolworths.com.au [Accessed on 23rd March 2020]