Coaching-based development is growing in prominence as a means of enhancing the achievement of leadership outcomes in Australian business. This article seeks to demonstrate how the application of the practices associated with action learning can be applied to support the achievement of practical outcomes within group-based executive coaching, namely a more rigorous focus on business results. The work draws on an illustrative case study: a group-coaching program conducted with the executive leadership team of an industry-based service organisation. The theoretical and methodological basis of coaching and action learning are explored and contrasted with the conclusion that an integrated approach has the capacity to support coaching participants to achieve extensive developmental and practical outcomes.
DotlichD. L. & CairoP. C. (1999) Action coaching: How to leverage individual performance for company success, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc.
6.
DotlichD. L., & NoelJ. L. (1998) Action learning: How the world's top companies are re-creating their leaders and themselves, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc.
7.
EggersJ. H., & ClarkD. (2000). ‘Executive coaching that wins.’IVEY Business Journal, September/October, 66–70.
8.
FlahertyJ. (1999) Coaching: Evoking excellence in others, Butterworth-Heinemann, Woburn.
9.
GoglioL., DiamanteT., & UrbanJ. M. (1998). Coaching a leader: Leveraging change at the top, Journal of Management Development, 17(2), 93–105.
10.
GolemanD. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ, London; Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
11.
GolemanD., BoyatzisR., & McKeeA. (2002). The new leaders: Transforming the art of leadership into the science of results, London: Time Warner Books.
GubaE. G., & LincolnY. S. (1990). ‘Can there be a human science? Constructivism as an alternative.’Person-Centred Review, 5(2), 130–154.
14.
JayM. R. (1999). Coach2 the bottom line: An executive guide to coaching performance, change and transformation in organizations, Victoria: Trafford Publishing.
15.
KayesD. C. (2002). Experiential learning and its critics: Preserving the role of experience in management learning and education, Academy of Management Learning and Education, 1(2), 137–149.
16.
KeysL. (1994) Action learning: Executive development of choice for the 1990s, Journal of Management Development, 13(8), 50–56.
17.
LandsbergM. (1996) The Tao of Coaching, London: HarperCollins Publishers.
18.
LooR. (2002) ‘A meta-analytic examination of Kolb's learning style preferences among business majors.’Journal of Education for Business (May/June), 252–256.
19.
MarquardtM. J. (1999) Action learning in action: Transforming problems and people for world-class organizational learning, Palo Alto: Davies-Black Publishing.
20.
MarsickV. J., & O'NeilJ. (1999). ‘The many faces of action learning.’Management Learning, 30(2), 159–176.
21.
MaturanaH. (1988). Ontology of observing: The biological foundations of self consciousness and the physical domain of existence, http://www.inteco.cl/biology/ontology/index.html. [Accessed 12/02/01]
22.
McGovernJ., LindemannM., VergaraM., MurphyS., BarkerL., & WarrenfeltzR. (2001). ‘Maximising the impact of executive coaching: Behavioural change, organizational outcomes, and return on investment.’The Manchester Review, 6(1), 3–11.
23.
MorganG., & SmircichL. (1980) The case for qualitative research, Academy of Management Review, 5(4), 491–500.
24.
MoutonJ. (1996). Understanding social research, Pretoria: J. L. Van Schaik Publishers.
25.
MumfordA. (1995). ‘Learning in action.’Industrial and Commercial Training, 27(8), 36–40.
26.
PaigeH. (2002). ‘Examining the effectiveness of executive coaching on executives.’International Education Journal, 3(2), 61–69.
27.
PassfieldR. (1996) Action learning: A paradigm whose time has come, 6th National Vocational and Educational Conference, Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia.
28.
PassfieldR. (2001). ‘Action learning for personal and organisational transformation.’Effective change management using action learning and action research, SankaranS., DickB., PassfieldR., and SwepsonP., eds. Lismore: Southern Cross University Press.
29.
RaelinJ. A. (1997). ‘Action learning and action science: Are they different?’Organizational Dynamics (Summer), 21–34.
30.
RevansR. W. (1982) What is action learning?Journal of Management Development, 1(3).
31.
RevansR. (1990) The concept, origin and growth of action learning’The First World Congress on Action Research and Process Management, Brisbane, Australia.
32.
ShermanS., & FreasA. (2004) ‘The wild west of executive coaching.’Harvard Business Review, November, 82–90.
33.
SielerA. (2003). Coaching to the human soul: Ontological coaching and deep change, Newfield Australia, Blackburn, Victoria.
34.
SmithP. A. C. (1998). ‘Action learning: Praxiology of variants.’Industrial and Commercial Training, 30(7), 246–254.
35.
SmithP. A. C. (2001). ‘Action learning and reflective practice in project environments that are related to leadership development.’Management Learning, 32(1), 31–38.
36.
SwansonR. A. (2001). ‘Human resource development and its underlying theory.’Human Resource Development International, 4(3), 299–312.
37.
WhitworthL., Kimsey-HouseH., & SandahlP. (1998). Co-active coaching: New skills for coaching people toward success in work and life, Palo Alto: Davies-Black Publishing.
38.
Zuber-SkerrittO. (2001). ‘Action learning and action research: Paradigm, praxis and programs.’Effective change management using action learning and action research, SankaranS., DickB., PassfieldR., and SwepsonP., eds., Lismore: Southern Cross University Press.
