What Are Executive Coaches Actually Doing and When Are They Doing It? A Systematic Review of Coaching Behavior

In recent years there has been an increase in research about factors that make executive coaching effective. These are termed success factors and shape the coaching process as well as different coaching outcomes. The current review aims to contribute to this stream of research by specifying (a) the actual behaviors underlying success factors and (b) the temporal order in which they should be implemented over the course of the coaching process. Coaching behaviors are influenced by success factors and describe what coaches actually do during the coaching process. Specifically, actual behavior constitutes the visible and observable part of success factors. We contend that it is not sufficient to know which success factors are important because it remains unclear "how" and "when" they are implemented. We found 19 empirical studies that assessed actual coaching behavior in the context of executive coaching. The identified behaviors were summarized and classified into common themes using thematic analysis and in the next step arranged in a temporal order to specific coaching phases. The temporal order was informed by the GROW model by Whitmore (1996). The resulting temporal model of executive coaching behavior includes five categories: contact phase, exploration phase, operationalization phase, conclusion phase, and recurring coaching behavior category. Results indicate that coaching behavior differs across phases. Our findings contribute to a more detailed picture of what happens within executive coaching on a behavioral level. Moreover, understanding the underlying mechanisms of effectiveness helps identify the coaching behaviors that need further investigation.