ABSTRACT
John and Phil were at a crossroads. John, as the chief learning executive for this global information technology consulting firm, was arguing for a company-wide rollout of coaching. Phil was chair of the partner development committee responsible for developing the bench strength of leaders for the future. Phil’s experience with coaching was mixed. Some people really liked it and some people were left scratching their heads about why they were being coached and what kind of value they were supposed to get out of coaching. John pointed to the multitude of voices that supported coaching as evidence that coaching was a powerful developmental tool for building leadership. Phil heard those voices and yet, as a key business leader, his inner voice was asking about the business value of the coaching experience. John and Phil argued their points and neither budged. In a sense, both were right. John was right in that many, if not most, leaders found tremendous value in their coaching experience. Phil was right in the sense that coaching success seemed hit or miss, and it was not clear how the individual value leaders gained translated into business value.
