BARRIERS TO T

EFFECTIVE
COACHING
ASSESSMENT
BY DR ALISON CARTER
AND DR ANNA BLACKMAN

here are many claims about the

benefits and practice of coaching.
Most research reflects the views of the
coaches rather than those coached. The
International Coaching Effectiveness
Research Study (2013) made a number of
claims about coaching. As researchers,
we decided to test empirically these
claims.
Our survey was different from others
previously conducted as we decided to
gather responses only from coachees.
In addition our survey was not limited
to coaching initiatives where all the
coaches use the same theoretical
approach or where all the coachees are
from the same company, industry sector
or country. Our study aimed to be an
international collaboration allowing for
coachee perspectives from around the
world and from different business and
coaching contexts.
The members of the international
research team were drawn from the
Institute for Employment Studies
(UK) and College of Business, Law &
Governance at James Cook University
(Queensland). The research team

collaborated with coaching associations,

universities, employers and networks
around the globe: in particular they
helped us by marketing the link to our
survey amongst coachees.
The results from our survey offers a rare
view from the coachee perspective which
has confirmed that, for the vast majority
of coachees, coaching is a success. We
surveyed 644 industry professionals
from 34 countries during 2013-14 who
had received, or were currently receiving,
coaching. Some 89% of coachees found
coaching worthwhile; just 11% said it was of
limited use or no use.
The study showed interesting barriers
to effective coaching. We found that
84% of coachees said they had faced
barriers along the way, with unclear
development goals or lack of agreement
with their coach as the most frequentlymentioned barrier.
The first claim about coaching we
explored was the widespread belief
amongst coaches that barriers are
nothing to worry about: barriers are
just issues that become part of the
coaching conversation, and the coach

Figure 1

References
Blackman A, Carter A & Hay R, 2014, Initial
findings from International Coaching
Effectiveness study, in Lindall P & Megginson
D (Eds) Book of Conference proceedings from
the 4th EMCC Research conference, European
Mentoring and Coaching Council.

WWW.AITD.COM.AU

Source: IES/JCU 2014

TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT | FEBRUARY 2015 | 21

helps the coachee to overcome them.

We asked our coachee respondents
if they felt they had faced significant
difficulties during coaching and if so
what they were. We conducted statistical
tests to identify which barriers, if any,
could predict less successful coaching
outcomes.

Barriers
Facing barriers is very common with
84% of coachees reporting barriers
and 16% facing no barriers. Individual
barriers encountered can be grouped
into six main barrier categories:
30% of barriers related to coachees
own readiness and engagement;
29% coaching model used;
14% organisation culture or
unsupportive boss;
10% coachs manner or skills;
9% external events;
5% coaching relationship/
incompatibility;
3% other.
The top five most common individual
barriers are shown in Figure 1. Unclear
development goals is the biggest issue,
but we do not know if this lack of clarity
is mainly an organisation issue (eg poor
communication between employee
and their boss, or changing priorities),
mainly a coach issue (eg poor or rigid
goal setting process), or a combination
of both.
Barriers differed for coachees from
different regions: for coachees outside
Europe, Australia and New Zealand it
was personal issues affecting readiness
for coaching that were the most
prevalent. This included the timing
was not right with respondents giving
examples such as too late in my career
or going on maternity leave. For
coachees in the UK, Australia and New
Zealand issues affecting their ability to
engage were more common, such as
emotions getting in the way and
feeling defensive.
Most coachees overcame barriers as
89% reported that their coaching was
effective. Was there a statistical link
between the 11% reporting limited/no

22 | FEBRUARY 2015 | TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT

success and the barriers they faced? We

found two predictors of limited success:
difficulties with the coach; and a difficult
organisational culture in particular an
unsupportive boss. Women were much
more likely than men to report that an
unsupportive boss had impacted on
their coaching outcomes with 40% of all
women respondents and only 26% of
men reporting this.

Features of a good coach

Our findings challenge another myth/
assumption that industry experience
is not necessary in a coach. According
to coachees responding to our survey,
the three most important factors for
a coach are to have experience in the
coachees industry, to be honest, and to
communicate clearly. This contradicts
the views of many coaches in surveys
by International Coach Federation and
others who say that a coach is not
meant to have to an expert in the
coachees field and that industry
experience is not important.
More important characteristics
for a coach to have according to
coaches include integrity, confidence,
credibility, experience in coaching,
knowledge, acute perception, sound
judgement and being able to resolve
conflicts. Our findings imply that coach
credibility in the eyes of coachees will
be acknowledged only if the coach is
seen to be knowledgeable and have
experience in the field or industry.

Other findings
As well as offering insights into barriers,
our study empirically confirmed what
everyone already knew: coaching works!
The process of being coached is tough,
and not all employees expect that. Our
results suggested that coachees must
put in the effort to be able to achieve the
results desired. We found that only 46%
of coaches consider that they put a lot of
effort into their coaching. Coachees also
need to be committed to the coaching
process and confident that they will be
able to achieve the outcomes they have
set for themselves.

Our results also suggested that

support from both the organisation
and family is important for a successful
coaching experience. As half of
respondents were self-employed it was
interesting to see that support was still
critical in the effectiveness of coaching
whether it came from organisation
or home environments. This can be
related back to the basic human needs
of wanting to feel recognised for the
choices we make and for these to
be supported in an honest and safe
environment.
As researchers we also wondered
whether the coaching context made
a difference. Fourteen percent of our
respondents said they had an internal
coach and 86% said that their coach was
external. Both groups said their coaching
was effective with 90% of those with an
external coach reporting their coaching
was effective and only slightly less (88%)
of those with an internal coach reporting
it to be effective. Eight per cent of our
respondents said it was mandatory for
them to participate in coaching whilst
for the rest it was a voluntary decision.
We found that almost 90% those who
participated in coaching mandatorily
were willing to participate in coaching
again. Although extrinsically motivated
to participate in coaching ie they were
made or paid to attend, the reward
from coaching, self-achievement
and organisation recognition was
intrinsically felt enough to motivate the
mandatory coachee to participate again.

Implications
For coaching scheme organisers we
suggest/re-affirm a few dos and donts for
improving the coaching experience of
your employees.
Do:
Expect managers to provide clarity
and honesty about the reasons for
nomination and what they want from
the coaching outcomes.
Ask employees for a description of
their coachs style and approach when
they have finished: this will help future
employees select coaches.

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 Brief employees on what to expect

from coaching and assess whether
they are ready. This is especially
important for employees residing
outside Australia/New Zealand/UK.
Dont:
Insist that all coachees set goals at the
outset.
Ignore coaches if they describe
problems with their coach or boss.
These two factors limit coaching
effectiveness and action is required!
Offer just one coach or one coaching
model. Choice is preferable.
For coaches, we suggest/re-affirm the
following for helping the organisation(s)
you work with and allowing a possibility
of greater impact and sophistication to
coaching engagements.
Do:
Encourage engagement by your
coachees bosses. They are key
stakeholders in any coaching process,

enabling transfer of learning from

coaching back into daily work and
supporting changes that their coached
staff want to make.
Encourage organisational learning
from all the coaching you do: for
example suggest regular coach gettogethers to identify opportunities and
challenges across the organisation.
Dont:
Rely rigidly on setting SMART goals.
Experienced coaches keep in mind
the advantages and limitations in their
coaching practice of goal pursuit.
Ignore an assessment of an
organisations readiness for coaching
(as well as employee readiness). A
difficult organisational culture can
limit coaching effectiveness.

Next steps for the research

During 2015 we plan to present our
results to management scholars in the
US and around the world. Meanwhile the

research team are delving deeper into the

survey data exploring what else makes a
difference to coachees. Currently we are
analysing other differences arising from
work context, coaching context and the
personal characteristics of coachees. We
are committed to sharing our findings
on an on-going basis with practitioners
to provide evidence for coaches,
organisations paying for coaching and
coachees seeking information on
using coaching.
Dr Alison Carter is an Associate Fellow
at Institute for Employment Studies in
UK and was co-chair of the 2nd Harvard
International Coaching Research Forum.
Contact via alisoncarterdba@aol.com
Dr Anna Blackman is a Senior Lecturer
in the College of Business Law and
Governance at James Cook University in
Townsville, Australia. Contact via anna.
blackman@jcu.edu.au

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