ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors provide an overview of the training evaluation theory and evidence and translate how this can be applied to evaluating coaching. This framework of coaching outcomes reports the multiple levels with which coaching can be evaluated. The authors present recommendations regarding the tools and techniques that can be utilized in evaluating coaching at each of these levels. There are a number of reasons why the unsystematic evaluation of coaching as evidenced by the wide variety of outcome measures used by coaching scholars is problematic. D. L. Kirkpatrick’s classic model of evaluation criteria proposes that the evaluation of training should be performed at four levels: reaction, learning, behavior, and results. Reaction to training is the most frequently collected form of evaluation in training, because they are extremely straightforward to measure and generally easy to collect. The highly individualized nature of each coaching intervention means that these evaluation methods would need to be created on a case-by-case basis.
