ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an ethnographic account of the authors experiences of coaching senior executives in India's IT and business process management (IT/BPM) industry. It demonstrates the key leadership behaviours developed through coaching that are critical in exploring and exploiting the human capital opportunities in the Indian IT industry. Of more interest is the increasing importance of coaching in the field of human resource (HR) management or workplace coaching, as an applied field of practice. External executive coaches are often employed by an organisation for a short- to medium-term engagement to coach leaders and executives on very specific aspects of their personal ineffectiveness. The behaviours conducive to exploitative learning are: action orientation, task and resource planning, active engagement, valuing metrics, managing emotions, clear communication and information sharing, tough love, and celebrating wins and achievements. The chapter concludes with implications for practitioners and policymakers for new, technologically disruptive, and innovative IT landscape that is set to unfold and shape future growth trajectories.
