Mentoring and Coaching (PDFDrive)

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Mentoring and
Coaching: A Literature
Review for the Rail
Industry
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Document:
CRC for Rail Innovation
Title: Mentoring and Coaching: A literature review for the rail industry
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Authors: Dr Tom Short
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Dr Ros Cameron
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Dr Anne Morrison (Editor)
Janene Piip
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Mehdi Ebrahimi
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Project No. P4.119
www.railcrc.net.au
Project Name: Mentoring and Coaching in Rail
Synopsis: This literature review contributes to the activities of the CRC for Rail Innovation’s
Workforce Development Program by reviewing current issues and developments in the areas of
formal mentoring and workplace coaching practice in Australia and internationally - informing the
development of a national framework for the Rail Industry. The review features commentary on
emerging practices in mentoring and coaching within a wider strategy on human resource
development and highlights the differences between each activity. Despite the increasing
popularity of mentoring and coaching, the review considers a range of ethical and organisational
issues surrounding professionalisation and the need for good-practice standards.
REVISION/CHECKING HISTORY
REVISION DATE ACADEMIC REVIEW INDUSTRY REVIEW APPROVAL

NUMBER (PROGRAM LEADER) (PROJECT CHAIR) (RESEARCH DIRECTOR)
1 16 January 2014 ROGER HARRIS CHRIS GOURLAY
DISTRIBUTION
REVISION
DESTINATION
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Industry x X
Participant for
Review
Established and supported under the Australian Government’s cooperative Research Centres
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Copyright © 2014 CRC for Rail Innovation

This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no
part may be reproduced by any process, nor may any other exclusive right be exercised,
without the permission of CRC for Rail Innovation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................. I

LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................... III
LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................................... III
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS .............................................................................. IV
CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW ............................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER 2: WORKPLACE MENTORING ........................................................................ 3
2.1 WHAT IS MENTORING? ..................................................................................................... 3
2.1.1 Mentoring and other developmental relationships in the workplace ................ 4
2.2 A BRIEF HISTORY OF WORKPLACE MENTORING ........................................................................ 5
2.2.1 Origins of the term ‘mentor’ ................................................................................ 5
2.2.2 Mentoring in the Renaissance and Industrial Revolution .................................... 6
2.2.3 Mentoring in current turbulent times.................................................................. 6
2.3 INFORMAL AND FORMAL MENTORING................................................................................... 8
2.3.1 Informal mentoring .............................................................................................. 8
2.4 ETHICAL ISSUES IN FORMAL MENTORING ............................................................................. 12
2.5 CONDUCTING A WORKPLACE MENTORING PROGRAM ............................................................. 14
2.5.1 Defining the purpose .......................................................................................... 15
2.5.2 Assessing organisational readiness .................................................................... 15
2.5.3 Selecting a program model ................................................................................ 16
2.5.4 Professional standards in mentoring programs ................................................. 18
2.5.6 Selection and training of participants ................................................................ 22
2.5.7 Matching participants ........................................................................................ 24
2.5.8 Facilitation and coordination ............................................................................. 24
2.5.9 Evaluating the organisational outcomes of a mentoring program .................... 24
2.5.10 Timelines of evaluation .................................................................................... 28
2.5.12 Level of evaluation within organisational settings .......................................... 30
2.5.13 Case study of an evaluation ............................................................................. 31
2.5.14 Mitigating the risk of negative experiences ..................................................... 32
2.6 EMERGING PRACTICES IN WORKPLACE MENTORING ............................................................... 34
2.6.1 e-Mentoring ....................................................................................................... 34
2.6.2 Emerging practices in workplace mentoring ..................................................... 38
2.7 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................... 38
2.7.1 Organisational culture ........................................................................................ 38
2.7.2 Emerging issues .................................................................................................. 39
2.7.3 Selection, training and matching of participants ............................................... 39
2.7.4 Benefits............................................................................................................... 40
CHAPTER 3: WORKPLACE COACHING ......................................................................... 41
3.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 41
3.2 WHAT IS COACHING? ...................................................................................................... 41
3.3 A BRIEF HISTORY OF WORKPLACE COACHING ........................................................................ 43
3.4 THE PROFESSIONALISATION OF COACHING ........................................................................... 45
3.4.1 Coaching organisations ...................................................................................... 48
3.4.2 Coaching standards ............................................................................................ 51
3.4.3 Coaching courses and qualifications .................................................................. 52
3.4.4 The nature of coaching ...................................................................................... 54
3.4.5 Benefits of coaching ........................................................................................... 55
3.5 TYPOLOGY OF COACHING ................................................................................................. 57
3.5.1 Executive coaching ............................................................................................. 57
3.5.2 Leadership coaching ........................................................................................... 60
3.5.3 Workplace coaching ........................................................................................... 63
3.5.4 Career coaching .................................................................................................. 66
3.5.5 Business coaching............................................................................................... 67
3.5.6 e-Coaching .......................................................................................................... 70
3.5.7 Developmental coaching .................................................................................... 72
3.5.9 Team coaching ................................................................................................... 74
3.5.10 Peer coaching ................................................................................................... 75
3.6 THEORETICAL MODELS OF COACHING ................................................................................. 80
3.7 DEVELOPING A COACHING CULTURE/CLIMATE ...................................................................... 83
3.8 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................... 87
3.9 FURTHER READING ......................................................................................................... 88
CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION ......................................................................................... 89
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 90
Mentoring and Coaching: A Literature Review for the Rail Industry
Executive Summary
This literature review is the first stage of a larger CRC research project that aims to develop a
national mentoring and coaching framework and learning resource for the rail industry. The
output of this research will examine the relevance of mentoring and coaching in the context
of rail and will contribute to the knowledge of how to achieve a uniform approach to
workforce development across Australia, using developmental tools within mentoring and
coaching techniques.
Mentoring and coaching are both subjects that have been around for a long time, but the
recent upsurge in business interest is driven by a pressing need for organisations to harness
tacit knowledge from valued employees, provide development in areas where formal
training may be inappropriate and find ways of engaging staff to aid retention and improve
performance.
Mentoring and coaching belong to the same family of learning activities contained within the
human resource development portfolio and sit somewhere in the middle of a longer
continuum between formal, public lectures at one end and personalised counselling or
therapy at the other. In an era when many employees complain of ‘training fatigue’,
mentoring and coaching may offer an alternative form of professional development that is
more individually tailored to the needs of people and less intrusive in terms of time away
from work.
This literature review takes a broad sweep of the vast amount of information available on
mentoring and coaching, while attempting to capture the essence of what rail organisations
will need to consider. Of prime importance, as with most learning and development
activities, is the sustained commitment and support of senior managers. Mentoring and
Coaching programs require not only solid financial support and a longer-term outlook on the
benefits, but also a healthy amount of emotional support and encouragement from
organisations’ most senior leaders.
Chapter 2 of this report deals with mentoring and reviews the progression of mentoring
from its early development to the latest applications using the Internet and smart
technologies. For hundreds, if not thousands of years, mentoring has been characterised by
six facets: an underpinning reason or goal, a valued relationship with one or many, the
transfer or development of knowledge, psychosocial development or support, mutual
benefit for those taking part and a desire for the mentee to grow. While mentoring attracts a
large number of positive reviews, within these facets, the literature reveals some hidden
issues that can weaken on the success of mentoring. The review considers each in turn and
these relate to: how an organisation first becomes aware of the need for mentoring, how a
mentoring program is designed and communicated; how mentors and mentees are selected,
matched and trained; ethical issues and standards of behaviour within a program and finally,
how mentoring is evaluated for results at individual and organisation level. The literature
makes an important point that the best type of mentoring arrangement is often informal
and self-selected; therefore, formal programs should aspire to achieve the same level of
credibility and engagement among participants.
Chapter 3 of this report considers coaching; in particular, coaching approaches, genres and
contexts most relevant to the rail industry. Coaching as a legitimate practice was first
researched and published in the late 1930s but was only substantially published in the
1990s. Today there is a substantial and growing body of literature and research available
CRC for Rail Innovation February 2012 Page i

across many disciplines (see Figure 3.1). This provides a significant amount of evidence-
based research upon which to base critically informed decision-making for those rail
organisations wishing to embark on or evaluate their current coaching activities. The field
now boasts three academic journals dedicated to coaching and two journals that cover both
coaching and mentoring. It has also seen the establishment of an array of international and
national professional bodies which in turn has seen the development of coaching standards
and certification and a growing number of university-based courses. The literature review on
coaching has unearthed a variety of approaches all with a mix of theoretical foundations and
underpinnings. Due to the limitations placed on this review we have only been able to
present a brief overview of each approach; nonetheless, we have provided a list of further
readings for those interested in more detailed reading. The key messages that have emerged
from the coaching literature review include:
 the array of coaching approaches and genres (and their related theoretical
foundations) provide both choice and challenge in terms of evaluating the option(s)
which will best suit organisational needs. This diversity provides a ‘smorgasbord of
choice’ and allows for the customised development of coaching interventions;
 the increasing professionalisation of coaching provides a safeguard for the rail industry
when evaluating the services of external coaches and coaching services, hence
increasing organisational risk mitigation, quality service provision and increasing the
likelihood of return on investment;
 the benefits of coaching, as evidenced by the research presented, can be significant for
a variety of staff at different stages of their respective careers. It is not only in the
exclusive domain of the executive or senior leadership but applicable to all staff. It also
proffers benefits for overall organisational performance through workforce
development initiatives;
 the development of a coaching culture is an imperative precursor to implementing a

coaching intervention or Human Resource Development (HRD) activity.
CRC for Rail Innovation February 2012 Page ii

List of Tables
1.1 Distribution of literature consulted 3
2.1 Informal and formal mentoring 15
2.2 Ethical considerations in formal mentoring 17
2.3 Guidelines for mentoring programs 22
2.4 ISMPE Six Core Standards 23
2.5 Drawbacks of mentoring programs 34
2.6 Reported strengths of existing mentoring programs 34
2.7 Reported weaknesses of existing mentoring programs 35
2.8 Reported obstacles to implementing a mentoring program 35
2.9 Would consider adding mentoring program to curriculum 35
2.10 Benefits and challenges of e-mentoring 40
3.1 Definitions of coaching 47
3.2 Professional coaching associations and bodies 54
3.3 Coaching theory matrix 87
List of Figures
2.1 The relationship between mentoring and coaching 8

2.2 Number of mentoring publications 10
2.3 Disciplinary focus of mentoring publications 10
2.4 Four phases of a best practice mentoring program 21
2.5 Factors affecting the quality of a mentoring program 24
2.6 Overall e-mentoring experience 39
2.7 Recommend e-mentoring to a colleague 39
3.1 Number of coaching publications 49
3.2 Disciplinary focus of coaching publications 49
3.3 The ACER coaching model 69
3.4 The coaching relationship 70
3.5 The coaching pyramid 74
CRC for Rail Innovation February 2012 Page iii

Abbreviations and Acronyms
ASCCANZ Association, Supervision, Coaching and Consultancy Australia and NZ

COF Cultural Orientations Framework
EI Emotional Intelligence
GCC Global Convention on Coaching
HRD Human Resource Development
ICF International Coaching Federation
ICRF International Coaching Research Forum
ISMPE International Standards for Mentoring Programmes in Employment
PD Professional Development
WABC Worldwide Association of Business Coaching
CRC for Rail Innovation February 2012 Page iv

Chapter 1: Overview
This review is the first section of a larger CRC research report (P4.119) which addresses how
formal mentoring and coaching techniques can be used to benefit the Australian rail
industry. When taken together, these separate, but closely related areas of human resource
development (HRD) are on the increase and making an important contribution to
contemporary workforce development strategies. According to a study in Fortune 500
companies (Hegstad & Wentling 2004, p. 421), mentoring [and coaching] programs help
organisations to ‘cope with the challenges of increased globalisation, technological
advancements, and the need to retain a high quality—and thus highly employable—
workforce’. The report further suggested that these two activities have an important role to
play in increasing employee engagement, job satisfaction and retention.
Modern organisations, including those within the Australian rail industry, are also facing a
range of internal challenges including deregulation, market competition, flatter
organisational structures and increased work complexity (Jacobs 2003, p. 37). Most
governments and many organisations see the need for ongoing workplace learning in order
to ensure sustainability (Darwin 2000, p. 198). In this context, mentoring and coaching are
often promoted in the HRD and professional development (PD) literature as useful processes
to facilitate learning, manage change, improve staff retention and optimise performance.
This review will seek to identify the benefits of such initiatives as well as potential challenges
that need to be addressed in order to maximise their chances of success.
This report offers a systematic review of literature and explains why and how mentoring and
coaching have developed to take different forms—from traditional one-to-one pairing of a
more experienced person with a junior colleague, to an emerging trend of group mentoring
and coaching processes in which a number of employees mentor or coach each other. The
report touches on e-learning processes where coaches or mentees use Internet, iPhone or
Tablet technologies to connect in an informal and often less-planned way to traditional
approaches.
In these new learning environments, the terms mentoring and coaching are closely related
and are often used interchangeably. However, this report will attempt to explain the
defining characteristic of each concept—discussing when and how both techniques can be
deployed in the rail environment. Above all, this report aims to offer a balanced review of
the mentoring and coaching literature, extracting insights and key issues from a large
amount of information available in both academic and professional publications. It draws on
information from a cross-section of research reports, journal articles and books—taken from
both Australian and international sources. The distribution of literature consulted is
indicated in Table 1.1.
CRC for Rail Innovation February 2012 Page 1

Table 1.1: Distribution of literature consulted
Publication Year Type Regional Focus Discipline

2007-2012 62 Journal 72 USA 58 Social Science 6
2000-2006 19 Book 21 Australia 9 Humanities 1
1990s 14 Report 4 Europe 31 Practitioner 90
1980s 3 Website 2 Asia 2 Education 2
Pre 1980 2 Other 1 Other 0 Health 1
Total (%) 100 100 100 100
1.1 Context
Since 2008, mentoring and coaching have been cited in several CRC reports that relate to
workforce development (P4.102, P4.104, P4.110 and P4.111) and both are recognised as
valuable learning techniques, especially when off-job training is limited by time or logistical
factors, or the learning is more long-term and developmental in nature. Rail reports further
indicate that blended learning (which includes coaching and/or mentoring) may be more
suitable in the rail environment where operational pressures and unforeseen events
frequently clash with formal training courses. Additionally, as the Australian rail industry
expands and competes with other modes of transportation to become the green alternative,
some rail organisations are struggling to retain older workers and capture valuable tacit
knowledge before it is lost. At the same time, the industry recognises a pressing need to
engage apprentices and orientate younger employees towards a future in rail (ARA 2008).
Mentoring and coaching may be highly relevant in meeting these strategic needs.
In order to understand the principles of mentoring and coaching and the relationship with
HRD in rail organisations, the report is divided into two sections. Chapter 2 will deal with
mentoring and this is followed by coaching in Chapter 3. Great care has been taken to
ensure the literature review is balanced, comprehensive and fair. Through a process of
critical reflection, it is hoped that both the researchers and industry readers will be able to
explore how mentoring and coaching techniques can be aligned with rail HRD strategies and
whether or not they are appropriate to all rail settings.
Broadly, each chapter will address:
- the background and contexts of mentoring and coaching
- how rail organisations might benefit
- approaches to mentoring and coaching
- applications such as professional development and use of technology
- strengths, weaknesses and other forms of evaluation.

Chapter 2: Workplace Mentoring
2.1 What is mentoring?
Despite numerous articles on mentoring across multiple disciplines including health,

education, business, psychology and social sciences, a definitive answer to the question
‘What is mentoring?’ remains elusive. Most definitions provided in the scholarly and
practitioner literature refer back to the seminal studies on workplace mentoring undertaken
by Kathy Kram in the 1980s. According to Kram (1985),
Mentoring is an intense long-term relationship between a senior, more

experienced individual (the mentor) and a more junior, less experienced
individual (the protégé). (Kram 1985, cited in Eby & Allen 2002, p. 456)
This early definition has been subsequently critiqued and expanded, so that today there is a
proliferation of definitions and discussions of the mentoring concept to be found in the
literature. Disputed themes include Can peers be mentors? Can a younger employee mentor
an older employee? Can a direct superior be a mentor? Can mentoring be formalised?
Regardless of terminological quibbles, mentoring is ‘a deeply human, normal and very

ordinary activity’ (Garvey 2004, p. 8) which occurs spontaneously in communities,
institutions and workplaces every day. Mentoring is potentially ‘an important vehicle by
which adults learn in our society’ (Merriam 1983, p. 161). Healthy mentoring relationships
are based on ‘encouragement, constructive comments, openness, mutual trust, respect and
a willingness to learn and share’ (Spencer 2004, p. 5). The characteristics of informal
mentoring are captured in this definition by Bozeman and Feeney (2007):
Mentoring: a process for the informal transmission of knowledge, social capital,

and psychosocial support perceived by the recipient as relevant to work, career,
or professional development; mentoring entails informal communication, usually
face-to-face and during a sustained period of time, between a person who is
perceived to have greater relevant knowledge, wisdom, or experience (the
mentor) and a person who is perceived to have less (the protégé). (p. 731)
Most contemporary literature identifies two significant dimensions to the workplace

mentoring relationship: career-related and psychosocial. For the mentee, reported career-
related benefits include promotions, higher earnings, improved levels of job satisfaction and
more optimistic career expectations. Reported psychosocial benefits for the mentee include
enhanced levels of engagement, increased self-esteem and an opportunity to share
experiences with a trusted role model (Hallam et al. 2003; Herrington et al. 2006; Lo &
Ramayah 2011). Mentoring may also be a useful buffer under adverse work conditions (van
Emmerik 2004a), such as when the mentee feels isolated or is new to the work environment
(Hallam et al. 2003). For the mentor, the relationship can also have positive outcomes
(Haggard et al. 2011) such as increased satisfaction from enabling others to learn, learning
the art of reflective dialogue and developing one’s own interpersonal skills (Institution of
Railway Operators).
These employee outcomes can also have positive implications for the organisation. In times
of increased workplace turbulence and mobility, mentoring can help to build morale (Lo &
Ramayah 2011) and improve the level of retention (Herrington et al. 2006). Mentoring can
promote good management-employee relations, thus improving overall job performance

(Burgess & Dyer 2009, p. 465). Furthermore, formal mentoring programs allow organisations
to utilise the skills of experienced staff by encouraging the transfer of tacit knowledge to
mentees who may be new to the organisation (Koc-Menard 2009).
It is important to recognise that none of the reported benefits of mentoring are assured,
whether for the mentee, the mentor or the organisation. Many aspects of workplace
mentoring relationships remain under-researched and inconclusive. For example, the issue
of causation has not yet been resolved: does mentoring build competence, or does
competence attract mentors (Chandler et al. 2011, p. 529)? Some recent studies suggest
that ‘effective mentoring is [as] much a function of protégés as it is of mentors (Chandler et
al. 2011, p. 529). Furthermore, as we shall see, not all relationships result in positive
outcomes. Nevertheless, workplace mentoring appears to be a ubiquitous phenomenon,
with different cultures emphasising various dimensions of the relationship. Literature from
the United States tends to focus on career implications of mentoring, while the European
literature emphasises personal development and learning (Megginson 2000; Klasen 2002;
Bright 2005; Poulsen 2006). Australia presumably borrows from both American and
European traditions.
Throughout the literature, the terms protégé or mentee are used interchangeably to refer to
the recipient of a mentoring process. For the sake of consistency, this review will use the
term mentee (except when quoting other writers).
In an effort to capitalise on the reported benefits of naturally occurring informal mentoring,

many organisations have introduced programs designed to ‘kick-start’ the mentoring
process. Formal or facilitated mentoring refers to ‘mentoring relationships that are
established, recognized, and managed by organizations and are not spontaneous’ (Bozeman
& Feeney 2007, p. 732). Some researchers and practitioners are dubious about the
effectiveness of such programs in achieving the desired outcomes (Megginson 2000, p. 257).
However, Bozeman and Feeney note that genuine mentoring relationships can and do arise
from formal programs:
Our decision to define mentoring in such a way as to disqualify formal mentoring

contains no judgment about the thousands of formal mentoring programs that
have been set up in organizations. We view formal mentoring programs as
sowing the seeds of relationships, many of which flower into useful and
productive mentor relationships. (p. 733)
This review is principally concerned with formal mentoring in the belief that it can, in
some cases, result in productive and satisfying mentoring relationships.
2.1.1 Mentoring and other developmental relationships in the workplace
This review considers mentoring alongside an equally popular HRD process—coaching. It is

important to evaluate both techniques in the context of the rail industry, recognising that
the concepts overlap in a number of ways (Figure 2.1). For example, both coaching and
mentoring are developmental interactions directed towards learning outcomes; both
techniques can have formal or informal dimensions, take place over a long or short period of
time and be applied irrespective of the recipient’s work role or position.

Mentoring Coaching
Figure 2.1: The relationship between mentoring and coaching
Haggard et al. (2011, p. 292) suggest that the core attributes that distinguish mentoring from
other work-related relationships, such as counselling, advising and supervising, are:
Reciprocity: involving a mutual, rather than one-way, social exchange
Developmental: benefits are often lasting benefits that go beyond strictly job-related skills
or protégé benefits required by the organisation
Regular/consistent interaction: typically of a longer term nature than other workplace

relationships.
2.2 A brief history of workplace mentoring
There are two principal reasons for including some background knowledge of mentoring in
this report. First, it highlights awareness of what has gone before and secondly, it enables us
to learn from the past and prevents policy makers from making decisions in ignorance of
previous experience.
2.2.1 Origins of the term ‘mentor’
The mentoring literature customarily turns to ancient Greece to locate the ‘archetypal’
mentoring relationship. In Homer’s Odyssey, a mythical poem written at least 3000 years
ago, Mentor was an older man whom King Odysseus entrusted to care for his household,
including his young son Telemachus, while he went to war. According to Homer’s plot,
Mentor actually lacked the caring, nurturing qualities that are typically associated with
mentoring today. Instead, Telemachus was guided by the goddess Athena, who took on
various disguises including that of Mentor (Colley 2002; Ragins & Kram 2007). The modern
connotations of mentor originate in a comparatively ‘recent’ work of fiction. In 1699, the
French writer and educator François Fénelon published Les Aventures de Telemaque, a tale
intentionally modelled on Homer’s Odyssey. In Fénelon’s ‘sequel’, Mentor was endowed
with the virtues that have come to be associated with mentoring today (Roberts 1999). From
Fenelon’s very popular book, the word mentor, with its current meaning, eventually found
its way into the English language.

2.2.2 Mentoring in the Renaissance and Industrial Revolution
Turning from literature to the real world, we find that mentoring played an important role in
apprenticeships as a key way in which skilled crafts and trades were learnt during pre-
industrial times. For example, in 16th century England, young people were indentured as
apprentices to business owners in an arrangement managed by the craft and trade Guilds.
The apprenticeship system served two purposes. Firstly, it enabled Guilds to control labour
supply because an indenture was binding and labour for the cost of producing the goods was
assured. Secondly, an apprenticeship assured a young person a livelihood for a number of
years while ensuring that skills were learnt in particular trades. Apprentices entered the
contract at the age of 14 and remained with the one employer until they were 21 years old.
During this time, the education and training of the young apprentice was conducted by a
number of people skilled in a given trade or craft. Typically, the main craftsperson passed on
knowledge and skills to ensure the apprentice developed competency. As well as the
transfer of skills and knowledge, apprenticeship enabled the individual to be socialised into
the cultural norms of the workplace. With the Industrial Revolution, the master-apprentice
relationship gave way to the employer-employee relationship (Murray 2001, p. 9).
Increasingly, training shifted off site to institutions which, although offering a more
structured learning environment, provided fewer opportunities for workplace mentors to
pass on their specialised skills and tacit organisational knowledge.
2.2.3 Mentoring in current turbulent times
More recently, significant changes in the economic and political environment during the
1980s and 1990s were accompanied with widespread organisational downsizing and a shift
in expenditure away from apprenticeship and training. These changes inevitably had
repercussions for mentoring; for example, reducing the number of experienced employees
available as mentors. At the same time, a change in gender balance and an increase in
diversity added new dimensions to workplace mentoring. According to Hezlett and Gibson
(2005, p. 446), books and articles on mentoring began appearing in the scholarly and
practitioner press in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and interest in the topic rapidly gained
momentum. This interest is illustrated in Figures 2.2 and 2.3. Drawing from the search
engine Scopus, Figure 2.2 shows the escalation in publications between 1980 and 2011.
Figure 2.3 illustrates a clear bias towards publications on mentoring the social sciences, with
business and management in second place.

Figure 2.2: Number of mentoring Figure 2.3: Disciplinary focus of mentoring

publications (from 1980 to the present) publications (from 1980 to the present)
Despite the enthusiasm demonstrated for workplace mentoring, some of the earlier studies
were qualitative in nature and lacked adequate control groups. As Underhill (2006, p. 294)
notes, ‘in most cases it is impossible to tell whether these [positive] outcomes were actually
the result of the mentoring itself or other confounding variables for which the study has not
accounted’. Contemporary studies are attempting to overcome these shortcomings and
provide a more robust analysis. Five recent meta-analyses have confirmed that mentoring
‘has positive small-to-moderate effect sizes on objective (e.g. promotions, salary) and
subjective (e.g. career and job satisfaction) outcomes’ (Chandler et al. 2011, p. 523).
Today, industries are faced with a number of simultaneous workforce challenges. With the
impending retirement of the ‘baby boomer’ generation, many organisations face the loss of
specialised skills and knowledge. Industries must compete for a declining labour supply of
talented individuals to fill these gaps. These issues are compounded by the pressures of
globalisation, rapidly changing technology, privatisation and a high level of competition. The
workforce is increasingly multigenerational (Houck 2011) with ‘populations previously
underrepresented in organizations becoming an integral part of the workforce’ (Stevens et
al. 2008, pp. 116-117).
Furthermore, there is ‘a widespread recognition of the limitations of formal classroom-based

teaching and training (Klasen 2002, p. 5). Contemporary approaches to facilitated mentoring
must take into account these workplace realities in order to optimise programs. At the same
time, they need to acknowledge the changing experiences and attitudes of employees.
Rather than anticipating a career for life, in today’s workplaces, ‘individuals will experience
mini-learning cycles as they transition between and within organizations’ (Chandler et al.
2011, p. 520). For all of these reasons, mentoring may be more important now than ever.

2.3 Informal and formal mentoring
When reports of workplace mentoring began to appear in the scholarly, practitioner and
popular press, it was rather indiscriminately hailed as a ‘must do’ practice, without which
one’s career was essentially doomed (see, for example, Levinson 1978). Since then,
researchers and practitioners have realised that the situation may in fact be far more
complex than first recognised. Simple dichotomies such as ‘mentoring-good, no mentoring-
bad’, or ‘informal-good, formal-bad’ are now being challenged. More attention is being paid
to bringing out the best of both informal and formal mentoring in organisational cultures.
2.3.1 Informal mentoring
Regardless of any planned intervention, informal mentoring will occur spontaneously in

many workplaces simply as a result of social interaction (Wanberg et al. 2006, p. 410).
According to Homitz and Berge (2008),
Good mentors are responsive, good at listening, open and honest, non-
judgmental and ethical, approachable and available, good at observing and
problem solving, and patient, and they set expectations and have a genuine
interest in helping the protégé. (p. 330).
Successful informal mentoring relationships can be highly satisfying and productive for both
the mentee and mentor, and ultimately the organisation. The Institute of Railway Operators,
a UK membership-based training organisation supported by the British rail industry,
Government and academic institutions, suggests the following benefits for mentors and
mentees:
For the mentor:
 gaining valuable experience from other groups within the sector
 developing interpersonal skills
 opportunity to nurture networks
 satisfaction from enabling others to develop
 learning the art of reflective dialogue
 achieving clear goals and direction
 learning
For the mentee:
 developing reflective learning
 developing wider network influence
 introduction to new ideas

 increased confidence and self-awareness
 increased creativity and innovation
 developing clearer goals and direction
 realising professional aspirations
Source: http://www.railwayoperators.org/LearningandDevelopment/Mentoring.aspx
In addition, a range of organisational benefits can accrue from mentoring, including:
 stabilising and reinforcing company values (Bamford 2011)
 improved communications across different organisational levels or between divisions

(Bamford 2011)
 professional development of both mentee and mentor (MacGregor 2000)
 Exchange of knowledge and skills from senior to junior partner in the dyad. In the case
of so-called reverse mentoring, hierarchically senior staff can learn valuable skills, such
as emerging communication technologies, from hierarchically junior staff (Chaudhuri &
Ghosh 2011)
 Identifying talent
 Increased organisational engagement and loyalty (Ragins 1997; Allen et al. 2005)
However, there is also a ‘dark side’ to mentoring (Long 1997, p. 115). Traditional informal
mentoring can be highly selective and elitist in nature (Ehrich & Hansford 1999, p. 94) with
the perception of ‘jobs for the boys’ leading to questions of workplace fairness and equity.
The quality of the relationships can vary, and naturally occurring pairings ‘tend to exclude
people who do not fit the mould, by virtue of their gender, race, culture or some other
differentiating factor’ (Clutterbuck 2004, p. 16).
Informal mentoring relationships can turn sour with negative outcomes for the mentee, the
mentor and/or the organisation (Eby, Butts, Durley & Ragins 2010). Mentors can have
various motives for engaging in mentoring relationships, ranging from altruistic (e.g., wishing
to leave a legacy and contribute to the community) to the selfish and manipulative (de
Janasz et al. 2003, p. 78). For example, in their study of mentors at manager level in the
finance sector, van Emmerick, Baugh and Euwema (2005) concluded that,
Individuals are more likely to engage in mentoring activities and to desire to

become a mentor if they have high career aspirations. This relationship may be
the result of an instrumental perspective on the part of the mentor, who sees
developing a cadre of loyal and supportive organizational members as having a
positive effect on his or her own career advancement. (p. 310)
The limited empirical data available suggests that the frequency of negative mentoring
experiences from the mentee’s perspective is not to be dismissed. In a survey of 156
mentees, Eby and colleagues (2000) found that 54 percent had been in at least one negative

mentoring relationship. Negative mentor behaviours include taking credit for the mentee’s
accomplishments, politicking and sabotage, abuse of power, mentee neglect, poor attitude
and inappropriate delegation (Eby et al. 2000). Likewise, mentors report their share of
problematic mentees. Negative mentee behaviours include exploitation of the mentor,
deception, over-dependence, sabotage and unwillingness to learn (Eby & McManus 2004).
2.3.2 Formal mentoring
Many organisations supplement naturally occurring informal mentoring with formal

programs. According to Clutterbuck (2004) ‘[O]ne of the goals of formal mentoring programs
is to bring the organization to the point where the majority of the mentoring is carried out
informally, without the need for substantial, structured support from HR and elsewhere’ (p.
16). Until recently, there has been a lack of research findings related to formal mentoring
outcomes. According to Eby and Lockwood (2005), ‘most of the empirical research is either
based on informal or spontaneously developed mentoring relationships or has failed to ask
protégés whether or not they are involved in formal or informal relationships’ (p. 442).
Presumably any of the mentor, mentee and organisational benefits of informal mentoring
can potentially arise from a mentoring program. In addition, proponents of organisational
mentoring programs cite some advantages of formal mentoring over informal relationships.
For example, when applied non-selectively across employee populations, programs may
counter the perception of bias which can accompany informal mentoring. As Ehrich and
Hansford (1999) point out, ‘The major advantage of formal mentorship is it ensures that
mentorship is extended to individuals and minorities who would not have been considered
previously within the organization’ (p. 95). Formal mentoring programs can also help to
attract and retain employees because, ‘when employees believe that the organization is
committed to them, they feel obligated to be committed to the organization’ (Baranik,
Roling & Eby 2010, p. 366).
Gibb (1999) outlines the following organisational reasons for introducing formal mentoring:
 better induction and socialization (e.g., new graduate trainees)
 complement formal learning processes (e.g., professional development)
 to improve performance (e.g., grooming for promotion)
 to realize potential (e.g. equal opportunities) (p. 1058)
However, any organisation intending to implement a formal or facilitated mentoring

program must consider the financial, logistical, practical and ethical perspectives of the
initiative. As Allen, Poteet and Finkelstein (2009) comment, ‘a formal mentoring
program may not be right for every organization or a program may be implemented for
the wrong reason’ (p. 4). Darwin (2000) sees ‘a contest between those who construct
mentoring within a functionalist perspective (where the task is to yield efficiency) and
others who consider it a matter of social justice’ (p. 199). If an organisation’s motives
are entirely pecuniary, for example to enable cuts in training budgets, or as a low-cost
way of socialising and retaining employees (Moberg & Velasquez 2004, p. 114), then the
results may disappoint. Lack of managerial commitment frequently results in failure:

All too often people in an organization that spends valuable time, energy and
resources in building a mentoring program end up feeling disappointed,
frustrated, and dissatisfied because of their inability to sustain either the
program or its results. Some viewed their mentoring program as a cure-all for
everything that had previously gone wrong and yet committed no funding to
supporting mentoring ... if a mentoring program is not sufficiently embedded in a
supportive organizational culture that values learning and development, it rarely
flourishes. The program may enjoy short-term success but then disappear. It
becomes the whipping-boy for other programs and initiatives and problems. It
competes for dollars, attention, participants. It becomes too easily expendable.
(Zachary 2005, p. xxii)
If a formal program is being considered in order to bring about cultural change in the
organisation, there are caveats to consider:
Do organisations wish to create a ‘new’ order where development is seen as the

way forward? Or is this just another case of management jargon aimed at
achieving its own ends with people as the means? If they subscribe to the first
question, there are many cultural, structural and management style challenges
ahead. If they subscribe to the second, mentoring is likely to fizzle away just like
other quick-fix managerial fads. (Garvey 1999, p. 41)
The existing culture within an organisation may inhibit the success of a program:
Unfortunately, corporations that undervalue personal and professional

development often see formal mentoring programs as a quick fix. Formal
mentoring programs may seem an ideal way to develop people without probing
the deep-seated cultural problems. (Kizilos 1990, p. 55)
Just as informal mentoring relationships can be unhelpful to the mentee, mentor or the
organisation, the literature also documents a range of negative mentoring experiences
which organisations should take into account when embarking on mentoring programs.
Apart from negative outcomes already documented for informal relationships, third party
matchings have added complications. For example, mentees in formal mentoring
relationships are more likely to report mentor lack of interest, self-absorption, neglect, lack
of job-related skills and interpersonal competence (Eby & Lockwood 2005, p. 444). In their
study of formal mentoring, Eby and Lockwood (2005) reported:
Little evidence that formal mentors act as public sponsors for protégés or take
active steps to enhance their promotability or visibility within the organization.
We also found that the benefits for mentors appear to be somewhat limited.
Further, there was little evidence that formal mentors played a key role in
protégés’ long-term career development. Formal mentors simply provided
advice, coaching, and perhaps some career planning assistance. We also found
little evidence of the deep, intense type of interpersonal relationship. (pp. 455-
456)
This suggests that participants in mentoring programs should not set their expectations too
high and should be alerted to the possibility of negative experiences so that they can seek
assistance from program facilitators should the need arise.

To summarise, participants cannot anticipate that formal mentoring relationships will

replicate naturally-occurring mentoring relationships. Table 2.1 outlines key differences
between informal and formal mentoring. Of course, given suitable conditions, a formal
mentoring relationship may well lead to a successful informal mentoring relationship, but
this cannot be guaranteed.
Table 2.1: Informal and formal mentoring (adapted from Blake-Beard et al. 2007)
Informal Formal
Initiated without organisational support Initiated by the organisation
Driving force usually similarity and attraction Driving force usually organisational agenda
Mentor and mentee self-select Mentor and mentee usually matched by third party
Initial emotions positive Initial emotions often apprehension, awkwardness
Often low organisational visibility Often high organisational visibility
Unstructured meetings as needed Meeting schedule structured by program facilitator
May be no explicit goals Explicit organisational goals
Can be long-term in duration Usually short-term, with a pre-determined endpoint
The impact and effectiveness of formal mentoring programs on mentees, mentors and
organisations remains an under-researched concern (Blake-Beard 2001; Baugh & Sullivan
2005, p. 331). Unfortunately, ‘many organizations are developing and implementing formal
mentoring programs without the benefit or guidance of empirical research’ (Blake-Beard
2001, p. 334). This is all the more reason for rail organisations in Australia to base formal
mentoring programs on sound principles which are supported by adequate funding and solid
organisational commitment.
2.4 Ethical issues in formal mentoring
As with any workplace intervention, there are ethical implications for an organisation
intending to embark on a mentoring program. While HRD may play a minimal role in
naturally occurring mentoring relationships (McDonald & Hite 2005, p. 574), it often falls on
HRD practitioners to develop and co-ordinate formal mentoring initiatives. Under these
circumstances, it is vital to be aware of potential ethical issues and to develop effective
strategies to counter them (McDonald & Hite 2005, p. 570).
The first question to be answered before initiating an ethical mentoring program is Why do
we wish to offer a mentoring program? McDonald and Hite (2005) suggest that it is
important for HRD practitioners to clarify with organisational leadership ‘that the intention
in establishing a mentoring program is to contribute to the development of mentors and
protégés, not simply to benefit the organization’s image or to ensure compliance with the
prevailing culture’ (p. 574). An ethically sound mentoring program cannot eventuate if the
underlying organisational motives are flawed.

The second question to be answered is Who do we intend to offer the program to? If
mentoring can improve career opportunities, then the selection criteria must ensure that
access to the program is equitable (McDonald & Hite 2005). According to McDonald and Hite
(2005) a program:
Should be made available to employees from traditionally underrepresented

groups as well as those from the existing majority. This is to counter the
potential for mentors to choose protégés who most resemble themselves, a
practice that perpetuates the traditional power structure and often marginalizes
those who could benefit most from having a mentor to guide them through the
organizational system. (p. 574)
In Australia, populations currently under-represented in the public sector workforce include

women, Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders, members of racial, ethnic and ethno-
religious minority groups, and people with a disability (Spencer 2004, p. 24). Presumably,
similar profiles may exist in some private organisations. For these demographic groups,
formal initiatives can offer transparent selection and more equitable access to mentoring
(Spencer 2004, p. 24).
Finally, HRD practitioners need to be aware that, whether formal or informal, most
mentoring relationships involve an unequal distribution of power (McDonald & Hite 2005, p.
572). Typically, mentors hold more organisational power than mentees, and ‘this basic
inequality means that mentors must assume greater responsibility for the course of the
relationship’ (Moberg & Velasquez 2004, p. 97). This suggests that participant training and
follow-up (discussed further below) should be built into the program design so that mentors
and mentees are mutually aware of their ethical obligations in terms of power and
confidentiality.
A summary of ethical considerations is provided in Table 2.2.

Table 2.2: Ethical considerations in formal mentoring
Ethical concern Possible consequence HRD response

Inappropriate cultural Diversity inhibited Ensure program goals are:
replication ethical
Jobs-for-the-boys reinforced
beneficial to all parties
conducive to good practice
Limited access Under-represented groups miss out Offer program equitably

on mentoring benefits (psychosocial
Use selection processes that result in
support, learning, career
equitable access to mentors
progression)
Organisational diversity goals
hampered
Abuse of power Dysfunctional behaviours (over- Discuss dysfunctional mentoring

dependency, exploitation, sabotage, behaviours in training and provide
jealousy, violation of confidences, assistance in troubleshooting.
harassment etc.)
Follow up dyads with periodic
meetings, interviews, and/or surveys
to determine satisfaction and
address issues that may arise
Provide ongoing coaching support
and training as needed
Adapted from McDonald and Hite (2005)
2.5 Conducting a workplace mentoring program
Having discussed the benefits and potential challenges of formal mentoring and the inherent
ethical implications, the subsequent discussion assumes that organisations are committed to
the process. Mentoring programs can succeed and achieve positive outcomes when careful
consideration is given to their design and implementation. Drawing on practitioner
recommendations (for example, Murray 2001; Megginson et al. 2006) several components
effective program design are suggested. These may include (but are not limited to):
 defining the purpose
 assessing organisational readiness
 selecting a suitable model that meets stakeholder needs
 promoting the program to potential participants
 recruiting and selecting participants
 training and orientation of participants
 matching participants

 facilitation and co-ordination
 consideration of standards
 evaluation.
Detailed guidelines for conducting successful mentoring programs are best obtained by
consulting with reputable professional practitioners or referring to materials published by
them (a selection of which is provided at the end of Chapter 2). Several considerations are
discussed further below.
2.5.1 Defining the purpose
At the outset, organisations need to be clear about their reasons for introducing a mentoring
program. Formal programs are developed in response to a need, and these needs can vary
greatly. Megginson et al. (2006) note:
One of the challenges raised by defining purpose is that the stakeholders ... may
not agree about what the purpose is. Indeed, lack of agreement / common
understanding of purpose may make the scheme prone to failure in the eyes of
many of the stakeholder groups due to the conflict and tensions that this may
raise. (p. 8)
Failure to clearly articulate the purpose of the mentoring program will also have
implications for evaluation (discussed further below).
2.5.2 Assessing organisational readiness
How does an organisation know it is ready to initiate a mentoring program? According to

Management Mentors, an American-based consultancy, organisations should not consider
embarking on a mentoring program unless they already have internal structures to support
success. Such internal structures include, but are not limited to:
 a performance management program
 a valued training function
 diversity training
 competence-based programs in place
 a commitment to succession planning
 a commitment to management development
 strategic business objective
Source: http://www.management-mentors.com

2.5.3 Selecting a program model
When designing a mentoring program, the balance between too much and too little
structure is delicate. Too much structure—such as over-detailed training guidelines, complex
questionnaires, and extensive paperwork—can be suffocating (Karallis & Sandelands 2009).
On the other hand, too little structure can lead to poor quality mentors, inadequate
communications, and mentees who operate under the false impression that ‘their mentor
will not only get them promoted, but solve all of their life’s problems’ (p. 203). It is
important to allow sufficient time for consultation, training and the development of trust
between participants (Lang 2010).
In the four examples that follow, practitioners suggest key considerations when
implementing a mentoring program.
Bamford (2011) and MacGregor (2000) recommend the following steps to establishing and
running a successful mentoring program:
 Secure adequate resources to ensure the program maintains momentum and risks are
minimised.
 Formalise the mentoring competences and arrange for professional development from
a reputable organisation such as a university business school.
 Consider starting with a small pilot program to test the organisation’s readiness for
mentoring.
 Take care in matching mentors with mentees.
 Prepare mentors, by providing all participants with a training handbook to help them
understand the mentoring process—with tips for mentors and mentees.
 Allow for a no fault ‘divorce’ if the mentoring relationship is not working effectively.
Pilot programs
Pilot programs provide organisations with a safe, planned, systematic and measured
approach to the implementation of mentoring. A steering group of 6-8 people, taken
from a cross-section of the organisation’s stakeholders can:
- determine the goals of the program
- choose an appropriate mentoring model
- select criteria for mentors and mentees
- interview and match potential candidates
- evaluate results at the end of the program.
Source: http://www.management-mentors.com
Clutterbuck Associates (http://www.generalphysics.co.uk/divisions/clutterbuck-associates/)

suggest a semi-structured process before embarking on a company-wide mentoring
program. This process translates into the following stages:

 Develop a strategic case for formal mentoring and win support from senior managers.
 Consult with all stakeholders to the design and promote the program among likely
participants.
 Set in place the HR systems, supporting materials and training resources to assist
participants.
 Check the program against Standards set by a leading body and adjust if necessary (see
below).
 Support the program with on-line mentoring spaces.
This process can be supplemented with the formation of a steering group who oversee the
implementation, especially the delicate task of matching mentors with mentees (Lang 2010).
The National Mentoring Association of Australia suggests that a responsible mentoring

program requires:
 a well-defined mission statement and established operating principles
 regular, consistent contact between mentor and mentee
 establishment under the auspices of a recognised organisation
 paid or volunteer staff with appropriate skills
 written role statements for all staff and volunteer positions
 adherence to Equal Employment Opportunity requirements
 inclusiveness in relation to ethnicity, culture, socio-economic background, gender and

sexuality as appropriate to the program
 adequate ongoing financial and in-kind resources
 written administrative and program procedures
 documented criteria which define eligibility for participation in the program
 program evaluation and ongoing assessment
 a program plan that has input from stakeholders
 risk management and confidentiality policies
 use of generally accepted accounting practices
 a rationale for staffing arrangements based on the needs of all parties.
http://www.mentoring-australia.org/benchmark.htm

Finally, Boags (2011) recommends four phases which will help organisations to ensure the
efficiency of a mentoring program and safeguard its longevity. These phases (summarised in
Figure 2.4) are:
 Start-up: Builds the foundation for implementation. Start-up requires a

considerable investment in time to meet people, research the topic, plan,
prepare materials and brief the stakeholders.
 Implementation: Involves promoting the program and inducting stakeholders

through written communication, leaflets, websites and employee forums. Boags
(2011) suggests that a one-year program can take up to 14 to 16 months to
implement.
 Monitoring and Evaluation: Evaluation is a critical process for any learning

program and intermediate check-points, or formative evaluation, help to
measure and monitor progress.
 Transition and Expansion: Once evaluation information has been gathered and
analysed, mentoring programs typically need revising in one way or another. If
the mentoring program creates interest in another part of the organisation, the
program may need revision, although should not need to go back to basics.
Phase 1 – Start-up Phase 2 – Implementation

Conduct assessments Conduct informal sessions
Enlist sponsors and champions Select and match participants
Team member training Train participants
Project and marketing plans Involve mentee’s manager
Prototype development
Phase 4 – Transition and Expansion Phase 3 – Monitor and Evaluate

Establish transition pilot Monitor participants’ progress
New participant workshops Focus group training workshops
‘Passing the torch’ activity Three evaluation checkpoints
Continuous improvement process Evaluate program (using questionnaires,
focus group and program report)
Figure 2.4: Four phases of a best practice mentoring program (from Boags 2011)
2.5.4 Professional standards in mentoring programs
Professional standards can be used to describe the abilities, knowledge, understanding and
professional values that a mentor demonstrates, but they can also outline the ethical
practices associated with mentoring as a process of human interaction. These standards
include the need for confidentiality, treatment of diverse groups and imbalances in power.

Standards orientate the behaviour of individuals and, in some professional settings, can
provide a means of registration or recognition. Until recently, there has been no unified
body of knowledge or professional institution to represent, recognise and accredit standards
of competence among mentors, resulting in significant issues relating to quality (Chao et al.
1992; Russell & Adams 1997; Clutterbuck 2008). Part of this reluctance to define a standard
may stem from the notion that mentoring is an individualistic activity between two people in
a unique context. Given that mentoring is being formalised in many organisations, this
notion may require revision.
Recently, several Australian public and private sector bodies have developed their own
codes of practice, using the Internet as a platform to communicate a range of development
materials, implementation checklists and evaluation frameworks. Eight recent examples of
these bodies are provided in Table 2.3.
Table 2.3: Guidelines for mentoring programs (Australian examples)
Organisation Title
New South Wales Dept. of Education and Training A checklist for mentoring programs
VicHealth, Victoria Setting up a mentoring program
La Trobe University, Victoria Developing a mentoring program in your school
Australian Womensport and Recreation Association The Mentoring Program (website)
Queensland Government Running a mentoring program (website)
Engineering Australia Women in Engineering Mentoring Guidelines
Planning Institute Australia 2012 Queensland Mentoring Program
Department of Finance and Deregulation Women in IT Executive Mentoring Program
In addition to these local initiatives, organisations may refer to the International Standards
for Mentoring in Employment (ISMPE), which was launched in 2003. These standards are
based on an extensive review of current literature and consultation with academics,
practitioners and program managers from Europe, Canada, Australia and the US. The ISMPE
have been introduced to provide a consistent and globally-acceptable benchmark of good
practice in mentoring program management. In particular, the standards (outlined in Table
2.4) aim to ensure that mentoring programs:
- are well designed and managed
- make a significant contribution to the development of participants
- contribute to the effectiveness of the host organisation.

Table 2.4: ISMPE Six Core Standards
Snapshot of ISMPE Standard
1 Clarity of purpose
Define clear outcomes and benefits
Outcomes become viable objectives
2 Stakeholder training and briefing

Concept and roles are fully understood
Participants are aware of skills they need
Skill gaps are identified
Support is available throughout the program
3 Processes for selecting and matching

Mentor is selected to meet needs of mentee
Relationship between mentor/mentee is mutual
Significant learning opportunities for mentee
Process for recognising poor matches
4 Effective processes for measurement and review

Program is measured and assessed frequently to identify problems and make adjustments
5 Maintain high standards of ethics and pastoral care

Code of Ethics and conduct are understood
Performance against code is monitored
Participants understand the hierarchy of interests
6 Support participant throughout the process/systems of program administration

Participants have adequate support
Program is managed professionally.
Why maintain quality standards? The terms quality and standards are often used
interchangeably in organisational development, especially in critical areas where auditable
measures of competence or compliance are required. The ISMPE Standards illustrate how a
quality framework can be used systematically to steer mentoring programs, and help ensure
that they remain professional and ethical. In mentoring, the term ‘quality’ can apply to a
range of internal and external characteristics as illustrated in Figure 2.5.

Training, Support, Follow-up
Mentor Mentee
Relationship
Outcomes
Organisational
Environment
Figure 2.5: Factors affecting the quality of a mentoring program
Organisational environment: Billett (2000, p. 15) suggests that successful mentoring

programs exist in supportive workplace environments that are ‘conducive to these kinds of
interactions’. This means that mentors and mentees must be ready and willing to
participate, and that the organisation leadership and climate provide training and time for
mentoring to take place. Billett notes that readiness may be located in how employees feel
about a number of organisational factors such as security of employment, levels of trust and
the existence of mentoring expertise.
The expertise to manage a mentoring project emanates from a project steering group,
established by human resource functions, to lead the program and ensure that quality and
standards are maintained (Lang 2010). The quality of advice provided to mentors is a critical
factor in building credibility (Emelo 2011) and a steering group further ensures that the
advice and training provided align with the agreed goals. Therefore, a successful mentoring
program begins at an early stage, with effective communication strategies aimed at
clarifying the goals and benefits of using mentoring as a developmental process (DiRenzo et
al. 2010).
Training, support and follow-up: Tailored training courses, designed to develop mentor or
mentee skills are no different from many other workforce development programs insofar as
quality is paramount (Whelan & Carcary 2011). In the case of mentoring, high quality
training programs develop both mentor and/or mentee competencies as appropriate to the
program design and goals. Given the three fundamental purposes of mentoring namely:

career progression, psychosocial support and personal development, it is possible that

mentors may come away from the training with a heightened sense of capability in providing
vocational support, but less able to deal with the challenges of providing psychological
support or role modelling (Weinberg & Lankau 2011). These insecurities can influence the
quality of the mentoring experience for both parties (Gibb 1994; Seibert 1999). In most
cases, quality implies:
- thoughtful preparation on the purpose of a mentoring program
- a process to recruit and train willing volunteers
- care in matching the mentor and mentee
- access to resources and on-going professional support
- high quality work assignments during the mentoring (Karallis & Sandelands 2009)
- an exit process with no blame
- a process of long-term evaluation.
Quality of relationships: There is much evidence in a wide selection of research reports to

support the importance of developing a solid relationship between the mentor and mentee
(Eby et al. 2000; Ragins et al. 2000; Weinberg & Lankau 2011). According to Kram and
Isabella (1985), mentoring is a deeply personal relationship that has great potential to
enhance the development of individuals, but embedded within these relationships are the
personal qualities of the mentors and their ability to stimulate a significant amount of trust
from the mentee (Crumpton 2011). Effective mentoring relies on positive relationships that
are developed in a professional manner since the mentor is, by the nature of their role, in a
position of trust, authority and influence. Moreover, for the mentee, a new mentoring
relationship is likely to be affected by the quality of a former mentoring relationship or the
quality of decision-making within the process (Eby et al. 2006; Bozionelos & Bozionelos
2010), while the mentor is more likely to recall to issues relating to low quality mentees (Eby
et al. 2006).
2.5.6 Selection and training of participants
Both mentors and mentees cannot be expected to enter a mentoring program pre-equipped
with the skills and behaviours that will ensure success. There is widespread
acknowledgement that mentors need to engage in programs of professional development,
supervision and possibly some form of registration process, either internally or by a
recognised external agency. According to Ragins et al. (2000, p. 1119) the degree of a
program’s success may depend on the level of ‘stringency in selecting, screening and training
mentors’, making sure that later there were valid processes put in place to monitor and
measure performance. One prerequisite to mentor training is the candidate’s willingness to
become involved in the first place. Parise and Forret (2008) found that, ‘mentors whose
participation in the program was more of a voluntary nature were more likely to perceive it
to be a rewarding experience’ (p. 236).

Selection of mentors: As Clutterbuck (2011) notes, ‘[n]ot everyone makes a good mentor’ (p.
5). While the selection of suitable mentors is critical to the success of a program, some
organisations could struggle to find a sufficient pool of suitable candidates willing to become
mentors (Armstrong, Allinson & Hayes 2002). It is important to select potential mentors on
the basis of their qualities, rather than their hierarchical position in an organisation:
Some companies have assumed that the qualities of a manager or leader are
such that they should automatically be able to perform the mentor’s role. In
practice, many managers are unable to escape from the habit of telling and
advising. Many also lack the depth of self-awareness that characterises an
effective mentor. (Clutterbuck 2011, p. 5)
Weinberg and Lankau (2011, p. 1531) suggest that selection processes would include an
assessment of a candidate’s
 previous experience as a mentor
 disposition
 motives
 interpersonal characteristics such as communication skills, being able to listen and

refer mentees to a wider network of support.
Training of mentors and mentees: Once a pool of mentors and mentees has been identified
and selected, training should be undertaken to ensure that all participants are fully informed
of their roles in the programme. According to Clutterbuck (2011):
The most successful in-company mentoring programmes train both mentors and
mentees and, at least, provide a detailed face-to-face briefing for line managers.
The figures are stark. Without any training at all, less than one in three pairings
will deliver significant results for either party. Training mentors alone raises the
success rate to around 65%. Training both and educating line managers about
the programme pushed the success rate above 90%, with both parties reporting
substantial gains. (p. 5)
Training may cover the following themes:
 providing a clear outline of the purpose of the mentoring initiative
 pros and cons of mentoring relationships
 how to set realistic relationship expectations
 building trust
 managing conflict effectively
 recognising problems and seeking help
Sources: Megginson, Clutterbuck, Garvey, Stokes & Garrett-Harris (2006); Eby et al. (2010)

2.5.7 Matching participants
In formal mentoring, matching refers to the process of pairing mentors with mentees to
create mentoring dyads. The literature indicates that organisations vary greatly in their
matching strategies (Blake-Beard et al. 2007, p. 622). Inappropriate matching impedes the
quality of a mentoring relationship and may render the process ineffective. Blake-Beard,
O’Neill and McGowan (2007, p. 623) identify three matching methods: administrator
assignment, choice-based and assessment-based. Each of these is described briefly.
Administrator assignment: Formal mentoring programs are often created to address

organisational goals and internal administrators, such as HR personnel, know the
participants well. In these situations, the mentors and mentees have less input into the
selection process, often relying on the knowledge and insight of the administrator. While
this approach may align neatly with the organisational goals, the participants may feel
excluded and lack ownership for the end result.
Choice-based: In choice-based arrangements, both mentor and mentee take part in a

process of mutual selection, or choose a favoured partner from an available list provided by
the administrator. Participants are allowed to invest in the process so there is a higher
likelihood of complementarity. On the other hand, there is a risk that candidates may select
one another based on similarity and comfort rather than development need.
Assessment-based: Though time consuming and costly, an assessment-based matching

process offers an impersonal goal-oriented approach to matching. A wide range of
psychological development instruments, such as MBTI®, can be used to match people with
similar traits or attributes. Not only does this increase the level of complementarity, but also
complements other human resource activities where increased self-awareness is an
imperative to development.
While acknowledging that matching is an important part of the mentoring process, the topic
is under-researched relative to other areas and it will be helpful to consider how rail
organisations with prior experience of mentoring programs have approached the issue.
Equally, the choice of matching technique may be dependent upon the unique goals of each
formal mentoring program and, in some organisations, all three approaches may have an
important role to play.
2.5.8 Facilitation and coordination
An effective mentoring program requires coordination by a trusted individual or team.

Program coordinators administer the program, distribute the promotional materials, train
the participants, supervise the matching process, monitor the progress of dyads, provide
support and coaching where needed, conduct any activities such as group meetings where
all participants are brought together for sharing ideas or feedback, and finally, evaluate the
outcomes.
2.5.9 Evaluating the organisational outcomes of a mentoring program
As with any major investment in HRD, it is critical to find empirical data that verifies whether
a mentoring program is actually leading to positive outcomes for both mentors and
mentees:

If organizations are to enjoy any benefits from formal mentoring programs, it is

important to establish that mentoring is actually taking place within the
relationships facilitated by the programs. If protégés do not believe that the
traditional mentoring functions are actually being provided to them, then
organizations can hardly expect that any of the benefits of formal mentoring
programs will materialize. (Baugh & Fagenson-Eland 2007, p. 254)
Yet evaluating the benefits of mentoring is not a straightforward process, largely because
each mentoring program or individual relationship is unique. Furthermore, there are four
key perspectives to evaluating a mentoring program:
(1) the mentee
(2) the mentor
(3) the program facilitator(s)
(4) the organisation.
A full evaluation may require each of these perspectives to be considered, and cover an
assessment of the program itself (to inform future iterations of the program) and the
program outcomes (to ascertain if, what and how the goals were reached). Generally, this
report takes a work-related perspective, but the literature also recognises that the beneficial
or adverse effects of a formal mentoring program are not contained solely within the
workplace setting; and, aspects of evaluation can extend beyond organisational life. The
value of psychosocial support is one example of how mentoring can influence the ‘holistic’
wellbeing of a mentor or mentee not only at work, but also in their time away from the job.
In terms of evaluation, it is not always possible to measure causation—that is, to attribute

the mentor or mentee outcomes directly to the mentoring program (Lumpkin 2011).
Moreover, mentoring uses personalised and subtle interpersonal communication techniques
to improve self-awareness and adopts methods not always found in other workplace
interventions. In practice, most mentoring programs, both overseas and in Australia, are not
formally evaluated and few studies provide concrete and measurable evidence of mentoring
effectiveness. However, where evaluation does take place, external evaluations are thought
to be preferable to internal evaluations for a number of reasons (Wilczynski et al. 2003):
- They provide a more reliable and independent assessment of the program and have
extra credibility.
- People skills in evaluation techniques can be employed.
- It is easier for all parties involved to provide data to an independent evaluator,

particularly where negative views are being provided.
Why is evaluation so often lacking? The reasons may include:
- a strong reliance on subjective observation of participants
- the long-term nature of maturation of mentoring relationships

- the voluntary nature of participants
- the difficulty in separating the impact of mentoring from other workplace

interventions
- interpreting from small samples
- shortages of funding to support an external evaluation, especially when evaluation is

considered as a lower priority.
Using findings from MacGregor (2000) and Wilding and Marias-Strydom (2002), three
perspectives of mentoring evaluation are considered: learning, business and wellbeing.
Evaluating from a workplace learning perspective: Evaluating the extent to which formal
mentoring has contributed to the education and development of a mentee can include the
following:
- Assessing the acquisition of new knowledge: This assessment might include a

progressive testing of whether the mentee has received the knowledge, understood it,
can describe how the knowledge might be used and can give practical examples of
application.
- Observing increased levels of skill: According to Parry (1997), skill development can be
evaluated by various strategies including observing actual operations, simulation, role
play, case studies, in-box activities and problem solving activities.
- Identifying increased technical competences: Competencies, and the assessment of

competency, are areas of learning and development that extend far beyond the
process of mentoring and are better reflected in the way mentoring schemes blend
with other forms of human resource development in an increasingly technological
society (Sparrow 2004; Bierema & Hill 2005). Competence-based evaluation requires
the assessment of not only the mentee’s knowledge and skill, but also a measure of
their attitudes, or ways, in which they carry out their work. Combined, these elements
contribute to performance improvement (Parry 1997).
- Measuring reduction in time spent on formal learning programs: Critics argue that
coaching and mentoring programs are increasingly used as an alternative to formal
training, especially when training budgets are limited or taking time away from the job
is not possible. Of course, mentoring programs take time and resources albeit in a non-
classroom or formal setting, though a new concept of group mentoring is reported to
combine both techniques. It is argued that ‘group mentoring is emerging as best
practice in the training and development world’ (Emelo 2011, p. 221) largely because it
offers a cost-effective way of ‘leveraging and multiplying internal expertise’ (p. 223).
See also Carvin (2011).
Evaluating from a business perspective: Evaluating the extent to which formal mentoring
has contributed to individual changes in behaviour and created a favourable outcome for the
business can include but is not limited to:

- Employee engagement, satisfaction and retention: Studies show that when employees
are committed to their organisation, job satisfaction increases, people become
attached to their organisation and are less inclined to leave. Mentoring plays an
important part in influencing employees’ attitudes and aids retention, especially when
the outcomes of mentoring offer career development and advancement opportunities
(Emelo 2009; Lo & Ramayah 2011; Weinberg & Lankau 2011).
- Reduced absence: In an ever-changing workplace, reactions to uncertainty can include

feelings of unfairness, attempts to leave the organisation, reduce productivity, and
increase absence (Judge & Kammeyer-Mueller 2011). On the other hand, employees
who can successfully adapt to changes in an organisation’s landscape may find
opportunities for growth and development.
- Effective utilisation of talent: The identification and engagement of talent is becoming

a significant priority for rail organisations (PricewaterhouseCoopers 2006; ARA 2008).
Mentoring is a convenient process for evaluating the development of talented
employees. Although considered by some to be yet another management fashion (Iles,
Preece & Chuai 2010), Francis (2009) comments on how one communication and
aviation electronics organisation in North America used talent management to reshape
traditional mentoring. They offered a range of mentoring programs that addressed
numerous initiatives and learning needs, ranging from directed programs for
developing leadership to e-mentoring based on self-selection targeting the
development of talent across the whole enterprise.
- Focussed deployment of resources: Formal mentoring requires the organisation to

invest in resources such as training and follow-up, appointment of a coordinator and
provision of materials. It is therefore important to evaluate the extent to which this
investment is more cost effective than other workforce development initiatives.
Evaluating ‘soft-skill’ development is notoriously difficult, largely because of the many
variables involved, but one-to-one mentoring programs may offer more tangible
outcomes and value for money.
- Improved team work, extended work-related networks and building of social capital:
There are at least three ways mentoring could be evaluated in relation to how they
affect the performance of a team or contribute to building social capital. First, Bamford
(2011) suggests that mentoring programs can improve team-work by helping to
address interpersonal issues that impede team performance, while Bozeman and
Feeney (2007) consider the concept of team mentoring whereby team members help
others, either in the inter- or intra-team environment. Thirdly, the nature of mentoring
frequently includes or involves team leaders taking an active role—either as volunteer
mentors or supporters of a mentoring program (Holland 2009).
Evaluating from a wellbeing perspective: Evaluating the extent to which mentoring may
contribute to a reduction in stress, work anxiety, feelings of security or recognition of
contribution/potential is more complex:
- Improvements in self-esteem and self-awareness. Much is made in the literature about

how mentoring can contribute to an individual’s self-esteem, self-worth and self-
confidence. These beliefs, attitudes and attendant behaviours are thought to come
from the combined effects of psychosocial support, career development and a focus
on self-evaluation, including insights into the mentee’s emotional intelligence (Kram

1983; Kram & Isabella 1985; Seibert 1999; Crumpton 2011; Emelo 2011; Weinberg &
Lankau 2011). It has been suggested that ‘core- self-evaluation’ is an important process
for enabling people to identify how they relate to their environments, drawing on
characteristics that differentiate one person from another. It is further claimed that
people who self-evaluate themselves in a positive way are ‘capable of solving problems
and have higher self-efficacy, higher self-esteem and higher emotional stability’ (Judge
& Kammeyer-Mueller 2011, p. 332).
- Confidence to apply for new positions and motivation to create a career plan: Since the
introduction of neo-liberal policies in workplace practices during the early 1990s
(Jesson 2005), employees are taking increased responsibility for management of their
careers. On-going employability has become connected with both job mobility and
career orientation (Simmonds & Lupi 2010; Kong et al. 2012) making mentoring and
coaching useful tools for advancing individual progression. For the purposes of
evaluation, one measure might be the extent to which mentoring has advanced
employees and contributed to a long-term career plan. Of course, this advancement
may not be within the host organisation.
- Clarity of goals and work-related projects: Mentoring programs often complement

other HRD projects and thus contribute to wider communication processes within an
organisation. Successful mentoring relationships can increase understanding of the
organisation’s goals and help secure commitment to strategic or succession planning.
As a result, the mentee’s confidence and self-esteem are enhanced (Lo & Ramayah
2011).
2.5.10 Timelines of evaluation
Pre-commencement stage: The first stage of evaluation takes place before mentoring
commences to evaluate if the organisation and individuals are ready for mentoring. Key
evaluation considerations for program administrators, mentors and mentees include:
 what each participant hopes to achieve from the mentoring program and whether the
outcomes are achievable, realistic and measurable
 what the stakeholders need to know before commencing the program
 what organisational factors will enable or inhibit the success of the program
 what resources exist to enable the program to operate effectively
 what are the costs of the program in relation to any planned benefits.
Formative stage: Formative evaluations should be completed at regular intervals by the

program coordinator to check how things are progressing for each dyad (Lang 2010; Lumpkin
2011).Not only do these evaluations monitor progress and troubleshoot potential problems,
they can also capture positive feedback and affirm successes. Feedback may be sought
through email, survey, telephone discussion or face-to-face meetings. Measures of success
may include:

- frequency and regularity of dyad meetings
- perceived relevance of topics under discussion
- sharing of benefits
- absence of problems
- reported quality of relationship
- keeping within allocated time and budget.
Summative stage: On completion of a program, summative evaluations determine if the

outcomes have been achieved. These evaluations may include a range of quantitative and
qualitative measures to determine if the program goals have been met overall and for each
participant. Additionally, these evaluations can demonstrate the overall impact of the
program and advise changes needed to improve future outcomes (Lumpkin 2011).
Evaluations can include:
- the extent to which mentees advanced their careers (in the case of longer-term
programs)
- changes in work-related performance
- reductions in absence or employee turnover
- aspects of professional development.
Post-summative: Post-summative evaluations take place some time after the program’s
completion—say three to six months—and provide an opportunity to reflect on the
mentoring experience. Retrospective evaluation allows participants to consider the holistic
value of mentoring, including how mentoring has complemented other HRD activities.
Evaluations can include:
- whether the mentoring relationship continued beyond the formal program
- whether mentees themselves became mentors to others
- to what extent participants would advocate for mentoring over the longer-term
- what aspects of mentoring proved to be the most useful.

2.5.12 Level of evaluation within organisational settings
The evaluation of HRD initiatives such as mentoring considers the impact of the activity on
the individual, the work team and the wider organisation. Satisfied individuals can help to
build team morale and in doing so improve the organisational environment. On the other
hand, a flawed mentoring program can have negative consequences for individuals, teams
and the organisation. Mentoring program outcomes can be evaluated at each structural
level:
Individual benefits:
- Lo and Ramayah (2011) claim there is a positive relationship between career

mentoring and all dimensions of job satisfaction.
- Mentoring is closely associated with career enhancement and development (Kram &
Isabella 1985; MacGregor 2000; Weinberg & Lankau 2011).
- Mentoring can assist mentees to evaluate their current competencies, identify gaps,
and develop strategies to gain new or required competencies (Lo & Ramayah 2011).
- Mentors may use their organisational influence to provide opportunities for the
mentees to gain exposure and visibility in the organisation, at the same time, coaching
and protecting their mentees. Employees with mentors report higher levels of learning
on the job than those without mentors (Lo & Ramayah 2011).
- Mentorship can also go beyond assistance in developing competencies and can

provide the mentee with direction in other areas, such as networking.
- Mentoring can decrease feelings of isolation and increase confidence, self-esteem and
communication skills (Hallam et al. 2003).
Work team benefits:
- Group mentoring techniques utilise multiple learners (mentees) in a group setting and
provide a safe venue for those who are uncomfortable with one-to-one meetings and
prefer to learn among peers. Additional learning comes through group projects and
activities (Carvin 2011).
Organisational benefits:
- Mentoring can enhance employee engagement, reduce levels of dissatisfaction and

improve morale (Lo & Ramayah 2011).
- Mentoring can reduce levels of disenchantment and improve retention rates

(Herrington et al. 2006).
- Mentoring programs allow organisations to deploy long-serving and experienced staff

as workplace mentors to convey important tacit knowledge to mentees. Mentees can
tap into these insights and ensure the organisation retains its core competencies (Koc-
Menard 2009).

It should be remembered that all mentoring—formal or informal—‘relies largely on the

virtues of mentors’ (Moberg & Velasquez 2004, p. 115), with the mentees and organisation
being the primary beneficiaries. This imbalance is concerning, especially if mentors are
expected to do ‘more with less’ and integrate mentoring into their normal work
arrangements. In this regard, organisations have a moral responsibility to consider the needs
and expectations of mentors and evaluate the extent to which these needs are being met.
Furthermore, mentoring does not always result in positive outcomes for individuals, teams
or the organisation. Ehrich and Hansford (1999) indicate a range of drawbacks summarised
in Table 2.5. Negative mentoring experiences are more likely to arise when the organisation
does not, or cannot, align the cost of implementation with the downstream benefits or
outcomes. A delay in capturing this information is often the main cause of poor evaluation
and is compounded by the challenge of separating the benefits of mentoring from other HR
projects, a situation referred to ‘learning bleed’ (Short 2009, p. 16). At a personal level, both
mentor and mentee can be hurt by a poorly planned and implemented program where
unrealistic expectations are set.
Table 2.5: Drawbacks of mentoring programs
Organisation Mentee Mentor
Lack of organisational support Neglect of core job Lack of time

Potential for climate of dependency Negative experiences Negative experiences
Co-ordination difficulties Unrealistic expectations Lack of perceived benefits
Costs and resources Over dependency Lack of skills needed
Administrative workload Boss/mentor role conflict Pressure to be a mentor
2.5.13 Case study of an evaluation
Small-scale quantitative research into the prevalence and practice of mentoring in the dental
education sector (Blanchard & Blanchard 2006) yielded the following evaluations (in Tables
2.6-2.8 respondents could select all that applied):
Table 2.6: Reported strengths of existing mentoring programs (n=36)
n %
Real-life experiences 25 69.4
Networking [opportunity] 14 38.9
Professional/Socialisation 13 36.1
Support 7 19.4
Employment opportunities 2 5.6
Strengths not reported 3 8.3

Table 2.7: Reported weaknesses of existing mentoring programs (n=36)
n %
Lack for formal structure 12 33.3
No weaknesses 9 25.0
Inadequate time 7 19.4
Variable mentor quality 5 13.9
Lack of support [community/faculty] 3 8.3
Weaknesses not reported 6 16.7
Table 2.8: Reported obstacles to implementing a mentoring program (n=70)
n %
No time in curriculum 46 65.7
Lack of faculty/overcommitted faculty 21 30.0
Lack of mentors 14 20.0
No perceived need for the program 10 14.3
Tried in past and discontinued 6 8.6
Concerns about mentor quality 3 4.3
Table 2.9: Would consider adding mentoring program to curriculum (n=103)
n %
Yes 43 41.7
No 36 35.0
Maybe 20 19.4
No response 4 3.9
In this sample of findings, the overriding cause of negative mentoring experiences was in the
way programs were established, resourced and communicated to participants, resulting in
35 percent of people not wanting to take part. In particular, mentoring appears to founder
when there are insufficient funds and other resources allocated to the programs or funding
terminates before the program has been successfully brought to a close (Hansford, Ehrich &
Tennent 2004). Additional setbacks include lack of support from top management or a lack
of ongoing communication provided by a dedicated program coordinator.
2.5.14 Mitigating the risk of negative experiences
To conclude this section, we summarise from the work of Ehrich and Hansford (1999) who
analysed six publications to identify key elements which help to mitigate the risk of negative
experiences in mentoring programs:
 Articulate the goals, objectives and purposes at the beginning of a mentoring program.
 Establish monitoring systems and evaluate opportunities for ongoing improvement in

the program.
 At the outset, have a clear exposition of roles, expectations and responsibilities.
 Ensure adequate resources are allocated.
 Gain long-term support from senior management.
 Establish selection criteria for recruitment and selection of mentors.
 Develop a thorough training program for participants.
 Establish a realistic timeline for planning, implementation and evaluation of results.
 Appoint a program coordinator to manage the program and keep participants

engaged.
 Provide visible recognition and rewards for those who partake.
 Develop compatibility criteria for matching mentor and mentee.
It is clear then that formal mentoring can offer many advantages, but organisations face
several challenges and these include asking:
 How successful will a mentoring program be if there are few opportunities for
advancement within an organisation?
 Should organisations allow a formal mentoring program to proceed when there is not
complete organisational commitment to the program?
 Is there a budget to attract and support someone who can coordinate the training
programs and integrate mentoring into other human resource development activities?
 Will it be possible to sustain the commitment of senior managers without hard data
justifying the effectiveness of mentoring programs?
 Is the organisation willing to invest time to administer the processes associated with
mentoring, such as pairing mentors and mentees?
 How will the organisation deal with those people left out of mentoring programs if the
business cannot afford to implement programs in all areas?
Source: Murray and Owen (1991) cited in Ehrich and Hansford (1999)

2.6 Emerging practices in workplace mentoring
2.6.1 e-Mentoring
Modern technology, such as the Internet and smart phones, offers new opportunities for
mentoring in the 21st century, helping to close geographic distances, make mentoring more
accessible in isolated areas and also remove any interpersonal barriers associated with
formal face-to-face meetings, including power differences, gender and race issues (Hunt
2005; Bamford 2011). Some reports suggest the widespread use of technology in learning
will open up mentoring for the masses and significantly reshape traditional mentoring
programs previously constrained by location, silo mentality and departmental structures.
Analysis of websites reveals the growing popularity of technology in raising awareness of

mentoring and providing self-help tools to guide mentors and mentees. Web-based
mentoring applications allow those involved to access help at a time and place appropriate
to their needs, while remaining relatively anonymous during the early stages of
development when lower levels of self-efficacy may be an issue due to mentoring
inexperience. Such websites include innovative ideas including:
- video clips of a typical mentoring session
- fact sheets for mentor and mentee
- links to other mentoring websites and/or organisations
- case studies and Storyboards of good practice
- Facebook and Twitter links for sharing experiences
- Internet Blogs
- on-line chat rooms for support and reflection
- on-line self-assessment for evaluation and building of self-efficacy.
Experts suggest that while different in application, e-mentoring has the potential to achieve
the same benefits as traditional programs (Hunt 2005; Francis 2009). In particular, e-
mentoring offers two opportunities for human resource development practice in
organisations. Firstly, e-mentoring (sometimes called cyber-mentoring, telementoring or
virtual mentoring) has the potential to increase the number of people who may not
otherwise engage in learning. Secondly, it may help to sustain interest in workplace learning
undertaken by distance training and education (Homitz & Berge 2008; Simmonds & Lupi
2010). In North America a growing number of organisations have taken up e-mentoring as a
learning platform because it appears to offer a lower cost and more effective alternative to
traditional forms of training, although set-up costs can be high as good e-mentoring
infrastructure is reliant on specialised software (Simmonds & Lupi 2010; O’Neill 2011).
E-mentoring is not the same as e-learning. Although research indicates that e-learning is the
least preferred choice of training for new skills, the choice of mentoring combined with
social learning increases productivity and helps create a social environment. E-mentoring can
add a human element to an otherwise remote e-learning activity (Homitz & Berge 2008).

Furthermore, ‘the holistic nature of the social learning relationships created through e-
mentoring enables learning in ways that cannot be duplicated in e-learning or classroom
environments’ (Emelo 2010, p. 206).
Research suggests that most employees view e-learning as the least effective
form of development, while coaching, mentoring, and on-the-job training rank as
the most effective strategies. Why? In short, [it is] because people prefer to learn
directly from other people. (Emelo 2010, p. 203)
E-mentoring also fits with the notion of a ‘boundaryless career’ (Arthur & Rousseau 1996)
and since the widespread introduction of social networking, people have become more
comfortable about communicating through electronic media such as Facebook and other
web-based products. According to Bamford (2011, p. 150), ‘the Internet has given birth to an
explosion of networking sites’. Bamford further suggests that the use of technology enables
‘speed learning’, a concept that involves learning just enough, just in time and when you
want it. This concept is otherwise known as ‘instant mentoring’ where the mentee gets
online advice from a mentor who is prepared to share wisdom and experience without
notice (Lipscomb 2010). In environments such as these, the traditional forms of mentoring
give way to a wide range of new possibilities not constrained by formality, structure and
advanced planning. Technologies used include:
- Skype/webcam
- desktop video conferencing
- laptop computer with 3G capability
- integrated notebooks, PDAs, tablets and applications
- email
- mobile phones or teleconferencing.
A case study reported by Bamford (2011) highlights the need for transparency among users
and consideration of the users’ experiences with new technology. In particular, the
participant’s age may play an important part in determining readiness to work with
technology. For example, Baby Boomers (born 1945-1965) use technology to supplement
other forms of face-to-face communication; Generation X (born 1965-1982) are familiar with
technology, but mainly in a work setting, while Generation Y (born 1983 onward) have
grown up in a digital age and have integrated technology into their lifestyle. Therefore these
preferences have some bearing on which technology is most appropriate for a given
mentoring relationship. Of the respondents who took part in Bamford’s research, 79 percent
agreed or strongly agreed that e-mentoring contributed to their development, 83 percent
agreed or strongly agreed that the mentoring programme developed their skills as
mentors/mentees, and 84 percent agreed or strongly agreed that e-mentoring supported
their continuing professional development. A total of 90 percent would recommend e-
mentoring to a colleague. Figures 2.6 and 2.7 from Bamford (2011) show the respondents’
overall experience of mentoring and level of recommendation.

Figure 2.6: Overall e-mentoring experience
Figure 2.7: Recommend e-mentoring to a colleague
In a survey reported by (Emelo 2009), participation in a traditional ‘paper-based’ mentoring

program rose from 108 to 764 when a web-based customised mentoring tool was
introduced. The mentoring component was embedded in a pre-existing online development
suite. Not only was e-mentoring was well-received by participants, it reportedly reduced the
costs of the paper-driven mentoring program by 96 percent.
Benefits and challenges of e-Mentoring: The relative ease of e-mentoring has the potential
to benefit both formal and informal mentoring arrangements. Bierema and Hill (2005) and
Simmons and Lupi (2010) recognise the emergence of virtual mentoring as a viable
alternative to traditional mentoring. These reports stress the ease, low costs and potential to
work across cultural boundaries and geographic borders. They identify the main benefits and
challenges summarised in Table 2.10.

Table 2.10: Benefits and challenges of e-mentoring
Benefits Challenges
Anytime and anyplace Dependent on availability of technology
Continued professional development enabling Overcoming a lack of online communication
peak performance skills
Writing, teamwork and communication skill Maintaining privacy and confidentiality
development
Connects cross-cultural and minority groups Training to keep up with the latest technology
Promotes continuous learning Appropriate matching
Enables learning communities Sustaining the relationship
More time for mentor to think about possible Undertones are sometimes missed in written
outcomes communication
Textual dialogue is easier to review Harder to engage if the other person cannot be
seen
Allows a quicker response because face-to-face Harder to mirror rapport-building behaviours
meetings take time to organise
More frequent communication on a regular Cannot benefit from the observation of visible
basis clues to help mentee progress
Broadens the supply for potential mentors Mentee needs to be driven and willing to take
the lead
One of the main advantages of e-mentoring over traditional mentoring is convenience—

especially where the mentee cannot meet in person or requires immediate help. However,
this approach to mentoring downplays the significance of the interpersonal relationship that
develops between the mentor and mentee across face-to-face meetings. E-mentoring is not
identical to traditional mentoring when it comes to establishing and maintaining a
relationship (Bierema & Hill 2005). As a consequence, Hunt (2005) suggests that an e-
mentoring program requires:
 Marketing: Be clear about who the program is aimed at, explain the technique of using
technology and consider levels of e-literacy when recruiting mentors.
 Matching: What’s in it for the participants and are they comfortable with using
technology to communicate and learn?
 Managing: How will participants get to know each other and build rapport if they
never meet? How will the flow of communication be monitored and evaluated?
 Merging: How will the knowledge, experience and wisdom merge as the relationship
matures?
 Measuring: What measures will evaluate success at the various stages?
Developmental context of e-mentoring: Given the contribution of mentoring to professional

development activities and its role in helping to consolidate learning programs, e-mentoring

may have an important part to play in early career development, especially during induction.
Retaining professional staff is a major priority for rail organisations. A report into the
Australian education sector found that 25 percent of new teachers left the profession within
the first five years due to feelings of alienation, isolation and denigration of personal
interests (DEST 2002). The report stressed the benefits of getting off to a good start in
employment and while the allocation of a work-based mentor was advantageous, electronic
support helped to build wider networking communities, bodies of professional knowledge
and opportunities to engage in reflective practices.
2.6.2 Emerging practices in workplace mentoring
New research continues to expand our understanding of the opportunities and limitations of
formal and informal workplace mentoring. Recent reports suggest that employees benefit
from multiple ‘development relationships’ and may have several mentors in different
dimensions of their working life (van Emmerik 2004b; Dobrow et al. 2012). Furthermore,
alternative forms of mentoring, such as group mentoring (Emelo 2009), peer mentoring
(Bryant & Terborg 2008; Cureton et al. 2010) and mentoring circles (Fridkis-Hareli 2011) aid
the sharing of specialised knowledge and build collegiality among individuals with a shared
interest in much the same way as other forms of situated learning such as a Community of
Practice (Lave & Wenger 1990; Ambrose 2003).
2.7 Summary
This snapshot of the academic and practitioner literature has shown that mentoring is a
complex and evolving interpersonal process, not least because of the heavy reliance on
developing a healthy and productive relationship between the mentor and mentee. The
significance of this relationship is captured by Garvey (2004):
... a central feature of all mentoring activity is the relationship between the
mentee and the mentor. This relationship can make a significant contribution to
professional, academic and personal development and learning as the mentee
integrates prior and current experience through supportive and challenging
dialogue. The relationship can also do the opposite. (2004, p. 8)
2.7.1 Organisational culture
The upshot of this realisation is that organisations should not consider mentoring programs
lightly, or because other forms of learning and development have failed. Rather, mentoring
is a complementary process of learning to assist people to develop and grow as individuals.
An all-important feature of mentoring relates to the formal or informal nature of the

arrangement. The literature regards informal mentoring as the most effective arrangement,
not least because it nurtures a longer-term and voluntary partnership where the relationship
is already established. Informal mentoring is thought to outlast formal mentoring and often
people remain connected for long periods of time. Therefore, rail organisations will be faced
with the challenge of developing a culture that supports both formal and informal
mentoring. One key success factor will be the extent to which mentoring continues after the
formal arrangements have ended.

Can organisations do anything to foster an informal mentoring culture? While

acknowledging that he is ‘not aware of an organisation that has proactively developed such
an environment’, Clutterbuck (2004, p. 17) suggests that the following elements would be
desirable:
 an on-line registration and self-selection matching system with appropriate guidelines

provided
 visible role-models of good mentoring practice, preferably at high organisational levels
 a selection of voluntary training activities and resources
 encouragement for mentors and mentees to undertake voluntary training
 opportunities for mentors to meet informally for mutual support and learning
 regular good practice ‘snippets’ to raise awareness of mentoring.
2.7.2 Emerging issues
In recent years, mentoring has evolved further from its traditional foundations of an older,
more experienced person leading a younger mentee, to an idea with postmodern traits that
transcends age, gender and one-to-one perceptions. Today e-mentoring can cross
boundaries and borders through the use of technology. Alternatively, several people may be
mentored at the same time and by each other. The extent to which these new definitions of
‘group mentoring’ blur the edges with other forms of workplace learning, such as coaching
and training, is debatable. Critical HRD commentators argue that human resource
development practitioners all too frequently borrow terms and phrases to suit the evolving
contexts of the day (Sambrook 2004). Therefore, in an era of increased vocationalism
(Bullock & Stallybrass 1977), where training has become an expensive commodity and a
process to ensure compliance, one might ask if the term mentoring has become too
interchangeable and confusing. One key imperative for practitioners might well be to
understand fully the fundamental difference between mentoring, coaching and training.
2.7.3 Selection, training and matching of participants
The literature also comments on the selection, training and matching of participants, as
unhealthy relationships can have a profound effect on mentees, mentors and the
organisation. The selection of mentors is crucial to success as some people may be
unsuitable for the challenges of mentoring or may not see any compelling benefits. Most
programs reviewed in this study indicated that mentor training lasted for one to two days
and was based on a range of competencies derived from the literature and commercial
websites.
At the present time, there is no unified national Standard for the practice of mentoring. The
literature has indicated that the ethical issues surrounding mentoring and the awareness of
power differentials within the mentoring relationship may impede overall effectiveness. For
these reasons, mentoring is not normally undertaken by the mentee’s immediate supervisor.
Conversely, in a knowledge and information-based workplace, mentoring may be possible

among peers who have mutual respect for, or need guidance from, a trusted colleague who
is ‘in the know’.
The importance of matching is critical to the success of formal mentoring relationships and is
linked not only with the ongoing continuance of a positive mentoring arrangement, but also
with the value of the outcomes as perceived by the mentor and mentee.
2.7.4 Benefits
Finally, the review cites many examples of how good mentoring programs have benefitted
individuals and their organisations. In an era of work uncertainty, skills mobility and
increased individual development, mentoring appears to offer a process that can influence
job satisfaction, engagement and retention. Equally, the literature recognises the role of
mentoring in the transfer of tacit knowledge. Rail reports indicate that the impending
retirement of experienced staff poses a major threat to the industry and mentoring
processes offer one way of dealing with this transfer of knowledge.
2.8 Further reading
Allen, TD, Poteet, ML & Finkelstein, L 2009, Designing workplace mentoring programs: an
evidence based approach, Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, UK.
Clutterbuck, D & Ragins, BR (eds) 2001, Mentoring and diversity: an international

perspective, Butterworth-Heinemann Oxford.
Garvey, B, Stokes, P & Megginson, D 2009, Coaching and mentoring: theory and practice,
Sage, London.
Klasen, N 2002, Implementing mentoring schemes: a practical guide to successful programs,

Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.
Megginson, D 2006, Mentoring in action: a practical guide, 2nd edn, Kogan Page, London.
Murray, M 2001, Beyond the myths and magic of mentoring: how to facilitate an effective
mentoring process, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Ragins, BR & Kram, KE (eds) 2007, The handbook of mentoring at work: theory, research, and
practice, Sage, Los Angeles.
Zachary, LJ 2005, Creating a mentoring culture: the organization’s guide, John Wiley & Sons.

Chapter 3: Workplace Coaching
3.1 Introduction
A critical human resource and workforce development issue for today’s companies is the
attraction, recruitment, development and retention of quality employees. Not only is the
race for talent affecting the rail industry with increasing pressure to find competitive
advantage through strategies to attract highly talented people, the industry is also
experiencing the loss of high performers and talent, often to the competition. In some
organisations, there appears to be a severe and worsening shortage of available mission-
critical staff, and in many industry sectors there is a war for talent, which will likely become a
crucial success factor for organisations competing successfully in the future.
Organisations need to minimise the risk of losing high performers, to prevent

misunderstanding and conflicts between employees and co-workers in organisations, to
keep employees motivated and to encourage them to stay with the company and to increase
the level of job satisfaction among all employees in all departments. Organisations also need
to develop strategies to ease the process of transferring knowledge, to assist with personal
and career development, succession planning, produce leaders for the future and to help
retain their key people when there is a major change including restructure and mergers.
Coaching is one of the strategies that will assist the rail industry to attract and retain talent
of those staff who play critical roles in the organisation and who possess skills sets vital to
organisational operations and performance. It is also a strategy and intervention which can
develop staff at all levels of the organisation, not only executives and future leaders.
There are an array of coaching types, approaches, models and theories and the main
purpose of this literature review is to provide a synthesis of the coaching field and to present
evidence of its effectiveness and utility through a discussion of rigorous research that has
investigated the theory and practice of coaching as it has been applied in authentic
organisational settings.
3.2 What is coaching?
Coaching is an emerging profession which draws upon an array of theoretical foundations,

approaches and contexts; consequently, defining coaching is not a straightforward exercise.
For the purposes of this report we have identified the main definitions to offer an overview
of coaching theory, models and practice most pertinent to the Australian rail industry. Most
of the definitions listed in Table 3.1 refer to a one-to-one practice, however this review has
identified coaching practices which involve teams and peers.
The term coaching comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning carriage, in other words,
something that takes you from where you are now to where you want to be. Kennedy (2009,
p. 4) lists the following definitions from the literature:
 the art of facilitating the performance, learning and development of another

 unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance
 closing the gap between thinking about doing and doing

 Coaching is about performing at your best through the individual and private
assistance of someone who will challenge, stimulate and guide you to keep
growing.
 Coaching is about getting results and helping clients understand their way of
generating problems.
Coaching assists a client in defining what they want, removing obstacles, setting goals, and
striving for balance and fulfilment.
Table: 3.1 Definitions of coaching
Source Definition
Passmore & Fillery-Travis (2011, ‘A Socratic based dialogue between a facilitator (coach) and a
p. 74) participant (client) where the majority of interventions used by
the facilitator are open questions which are aimed at stimulating
the self-awareness and personal responsibility of the participant’.
Peterson & Hicks (1996, p. 14) ‘Coaching is the process of equipping people with the tools,
knowledge, and opportunities they need to develop themselves
and become more effective.’
Kennedy (2009, p. 2) ‘Coaching is the art of facilitating the performance, learning and
development of another’.
Clutterbuck (1998, p.19) ‘Coaching is a pragmatic approach to helping people manage their
acquisition or improvement of skills’.
Pousa & Mathieu (2010, p. 34) Coaching is largely associated with a one-to-one process of
helping others to improve, to grow and to get to a higher level of
performance, by providing focused feedback, encouragement and
raising awareness.
Some researchers and authors who have described team coaching also use terms such as
team effectiveness and development and facilitation. Dunlop (2006) makes the comparison
between sporting and business coaching:
In the sporting world, the coach is often seen as a technical expert through
providing advice to the team or imparting skills based on their own experience as
a sportsperson (Gallwey 2003). In the business world, the coach has not
necessarily worked in a similar role to the teams as the focus is on exploring the
issue and getting them to come up with the most appropriate solution. Further,
defining effective performance appears more complex in the business than the
sporting world. Often, it is not as simple as winning or losing a game or series
over a season. Is it about profit, net margin, share price (p. 25).
Counselling examines past experiences and aims to explain and rationalise them. Coaching is
about the present and the future, accepting we are who we are, shaped by our past history
and deciding what we want now. The emphasis is on action and not just coping (Kennedy
2009). A one-to-one coaching relationship is somewhat triangular—the coach, the coached
and the client organisation (normally the human resources department and the coached
executive's boss) (Anonymous 2006).

In defining coaching, many researchers discuss the differences between coaching and
counselling. Hawkins and Smith (2006) believe that the first significant difference between
these two activities lies not in the areas they might explore but in the frame in which the
exploration takes place. ‘Coaching begins with a live work-related issue or challenge’
(Hawkins & Smith 2006, p. 36). In exploring this issue a coach may well have to explore some
personal issues and patterns of the coachee, but the work should always lead back to its
prime focus: ‘how the coachee can better handle the issue or challenge that is rooted in the
workplace’ (Hawkins & Smith 2006, p. 36) This distinction does not hold for life coaching,
where the focus is not on managing a work situation, but on how the individual manages
their own life. Clearly life coaching is much closer to counselling than executive coaching or
other forms of work coaching. Counselling is more focused on the client’s emotional
responses to what is happening in their life; life coaching is focused on developing better
ways of managing oneself and one's life. The second main difference between coaching and
counselling is articulated by Hawkins and Smith (2006, p. 37) who argue that ‘coaching is
based upon premises and principles of coaching as a modality that works with people who
are healthy, have plenty of ego-strength and whose basic attitude is that of a change-
embracer, what researchers call self-actualizer’. This contrasts with therapy, which serves
people who experience themselves as coming from a place of deficiency. ‘They expect
change to be both hard and painful’ (Hall & Duval 2005, cited in Hawkins & Smith 2006, p.
37).
3.3 A brief history of workplace coaching
According to Passmore and Fillery-Travis (2011) the period from 1937 (the date of the first
identified coaching study) to 1999, was a period of slow progress in terms of literature and
research into the field of coaching. During the last ten years of this period there were more
published papers than in the preceding fifty. In the years between 1937 and 1999 a total of
93 articles, PhDs and empirical studies were published. The 1937 and 1938 papers were
followed by a slow trickle of papers. One research paper was published in the 1940s (Lewis
1947) and this was followed by nine studies in the 1950s, the majority concentred in the
latter half of the decade. This was followed by three studies in the 1960s and three in the
1970s. It was not until the 1980s that the first signs of growth in coaching literature and
research were seen.
In the 1990s coaching research papers became more frequent with 41 papers and PhDs cited
by PsycINFO and Dissertation Abstracts International. By 2000 the initial exploration of the
field had provided various definitions of coaching and attempted to delineate what
constituted coaching within the leadership development portfolio (Judge & Cowell 1997;
Thach & Heinselman 1999).
In the most recent years several papers have debated the nature of coaching and its
boundaries with counselling (Bachkirova & Cox 2004), as well as the emerging domain of
coaching psychology (Stewart et al. 2008; Sperry 2008). The number of papers published in
various areas of coaching has increased substantially and the demand by industry and
organisations has also increased at the same time. It seems that coaching and its impacts on
employee performance, retention, succession, a better teamwork culture, work-life balance
and employee satisfaction are now more important than ever to companies and
organisations.

In more recent years, several studies have investigated the nature of coaching and
boundaries with the field of counselling. The focus on distinguishing mentoring and coaching
has also increased as well as a growth in the number of studies on the emerging domain of
coaching psychology. The demand for coaching by industry and organisations also started to
have an impact on the growing number of published papers in various areas of coaching. A
considerably large number of papers have been published describing how coaching can play
a key role in organisations and have an impact on the overall performance and success of
the organisations. Figures 3.1 and 3.2 illustrate the recent growth in published coaching
literature and the disciplinary focus, using data obtained via the bibliographic search engine
SCOPUS.
Social Sciences
Psychology
Business/ Mgt.
Medicine
Health professionals
Engineering
Figure 3.1: Number of coaching publications Figure 3.2: Disciplinary focus of coaching
(from 1980 to the present) publications (from 1980 to the present)
In our everyday interactions and conversations with each other, we use some basic features
of coaching such as clarifying values, and supporting, encouraging and planning new ways of
action. Zeus and Skiffington (2000) explain that, on a more formal level, the root of coaching
and many of its principles are derived from psychology, especially sports psychology and
education. So the principles of coaching are not new. Perhaps what is new is how coaching
today (business, executive, career, leadership and life skills coaching) has become a
synthesis of these disciplines.
There are currently four academic journals dedicated to coaching literature and research
and a fifth journal was launched in 2012:
International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring: This journal was
established in 2003 and publishes two issues per year. The journal is an online free
access, international peer reviewed journal, which aims to provide evidence-based
resources for students, professionals, corporate clients, managers and academic
specialists; and to offer an accessible discussion platform for the growing number of
coaching and mentoring practitioners seeking to validate their practice. The journal is

hosted by the International Centre for Coaching and Leadership Development at Oxford
Brookes University Business School in the UK.
Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice: This journal,

published in collaboration with the Association for Coaching, was first published in 2008
and also has two issues per year.
International Coaching Psychology Review: The ICPR is an international publication

focusing on the theory, practice and research in the field of coaching psychology and was
established in 2006.
The Coaching Psychologist: TCP has been publishing articles on all aspects of research,
theory, practice and case studies in the area of coaching psychology since 2005.
A new journal, the International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, was
launched in 2012. This journal intends to publish cutting edge research, substantial in-
process reports and theoretical accounts of mentoring and coaching in educational contexts,
including schools, colleges and universities.
Conferences dedicated to coaching include:
 The 3rd European Coaching Psychology Conference, conducted in 2011. This

conference is run by the Special Group in Coaching Psychology of the British
Psychological Society.
 The 8th Annual Coaching and Mentoring Research Conference, held in January 2012.
This conference is organised by the Oxford Brookes Coaching and Mentoring Society,
UK.
 The 2012 ICF Australasian Coaching Conference, Sydney 13-15 June 2012.
3.4 The professionalisation of coaching
According to Rostron (2009), ‘[t]he escalating demand for coaching worldwide has motivated
practitioners, consumers and educators of coaching to advocate professionalisation of the
industry to safeguard quality, effectiveness and ethical integrity’. (p. 76). Drake (2008)
argues that coaching is at a crossroads as it moves into its second decade as an emergent
profession. He offers an historical framework of the evolution of the coaching profession
across four eras: the pre-professional, the scientist-practitioner, the professional, and the
post-professional. These four eras are based on the historical development of psychology (a
discipline which coaching is built on) and the relationship between science and practice. The
following briefly describes each era:

Pre-professional era (1880-1945)
‘Coaches can benefit from a deeper understanding of and respect for the basic and applied
sciences that underpin coaching. At the same time, coaching would gain more credibility if
coaches would make more explicit and transparent the connections between their
theoretical base, practice methods and client results’ (Drake 2008, p. 19).
Scientist-practitioner era (1945-1970)
‘Coaches can benefit from a greater proficiency as consumers, evaluators, and producers of
research and scholarship in guiding their practice. While the latter is the least likely for most
coaches, all three are important in raising the bar on coaching and ensuring its ongoing
survival and success. In true coaching fashion, coaches can benefit from naming the
distinctions between science and practice made in this era in order to break through to a
new approach that is more fitting for both the discipline and the times’ (Drake 2008, p. 19).
Professional era (1970-1990)
‘In order to mature as a recognized professional practice, ‘the proverbial ‘black box’ of
coaching interventions needs to be explicated so that what occurs in coaching can be more
openly and thoroughly studied. It would also encourage coaches to claim and evaluate their
theories-in-use (Argyris, 1994) ... While some have rightfully questioned coaching’s status as
a profession ... there is still much to be learned by taking the demands of this era more
seriously in shaping coaching’s future’ (Drake 2008, p. 19).
Post-professional era (1990-2007)
‘One of the most critical needs for the coaching profession is to come to a consensus about
its desired relationship to evidence and to the [evidence based practice] (EBP) paradigm
itself. The attraction for many people within coaching to EBP as a model is understandable in
that it provides language and tools with which to address many of the early limitations in the
field ... However, there is an urgent need to discern how the EBP framework best fits with
and serves the coaching profession and how to resolve differences in opinion about what
constitutes ‘evidence’ and what role it should have in practice. In order to be accountable
for their practices and remain credible in a fast-changing world, coaches would be well
served by a strong, inclusive and generative stance on evidence’ (Drake 2008, p. 20).
Whitmore (2006) investigated the challenges for the coaching profession and found that the
majority of workplace coaches come from three areas: sport, psychotherapy or corporate
life (consultants, trainers, HR professionals or executives). Those coming from sport bring
expertise in high performance, while those from psychotherapy contribute in the areas of
life coaching, stress management, and personal psycho-spiritual development.
HR people are strong on career development and ex-corporate consultants or

executives often combine coaching with mentoring in their areas of expertise. Of
course the divisions have become blurred over time and many coaches move
comfortably in all of these areas in line with the coaching principle that you do
not have to be an expert in a field to coach in it. More coaches with less history
are now entering the profession, and coaching schools to meet their needs have

sprung up, ranging from the on-line instant coach variety to modular courses
leading to an academic diploma or degree’ (Whitmore 2006, p. 91).
Reviewing current debates in the UK, Lane (2010) concluded that coaching is generating
important developments in education, research and professionalism:
Coaching is rapidly increasing as a valued intervention. This has led to key

debates on professionalism, its evidence base, boundaries with other
interventions and the underpinning knowledge base. (Lane 2010, p. 155)
Similarly, Brennan (2008), who at that time was president of the International Coach
Federation (ICF), discussed the coaching industry in the USA:
Coaching as an industry is thriving in the USA. Coaches who work with individuals
and teams are increasingly recognised in both public and private organizations.
Individuals hire a coach for both professional and personal work. Educational
offerings have increased in recent years and now include a growing number of
university programs. The quality of and collaboration among coaching programs
have also increased over the past several years, adding value and depth to the
educational offerings. Coaching is occurring in many parts of society, and there is
a growing focus on documenting the effectiveness and value of coaching.
(Brennan 2008, p. 186)
In Australia, the coaching profession is also flourishing. Grant (2008) reviewed the Australian
coaching field and claimed it was reaching an important period of maturation exemplified by
an increasing number of postgraduate courses in coaching and mentoring being offered
across Australian universities.
Australian commercial coach training organisations are also increasingly offering

government accredited coach training (vocational) programs under the
Australian Qualifications Framework. In addition there is an increasing output of
Australian coaching-related research. Arguably, some of this research is
genuinely cutting edge and world leading. (Grant 2008 p. 93)
Rostron (2009) refers to the consultative dialogue that has emerged around the
professionalisation of coaching, and notes the following global initiatives in the coaching
field:
 the Global Convention on Coaching (GCC), which began in July 2007 in New York
 the Dublin Declaration on Coaching of 2008 which recommends establishment of a

common understanding of the profession through shared codes of ethics, standards of
practice and educational guidelines; acknowledgement of the multi-disciplinary roots
and nature of coaching; and moving beyond self-interest to address core critical areas
in on-going consultative dialogue
 in September 2008, the International Coaching Research Forum (ICRF) consisting of

internationally recognised researchers, coaching professionals and other stakeholders
met at Harvard to produce research proposal outlines to advance coaching as an
evidence-based discipline

 the GCC and ICRF have initiated a process that is seeking to clarify what coaching is, to
measure and study its effectiveness, and to identify what role practitioners, academics
and other stakeholders have to play.
Lane, Stelter and Rostron (2010), in their piece on the future of coaching as a profession,
reiterate the key points expressed in the majority of the literature that the popularity and
escalating demand for coaching services requires commonly agreed-to criteria for accepting
coaching as a profession. It is perhaps significant to end this chapterof the report with a
recent quote from Gray (2011) on the current state of play:
Claims for professional status and the emergence of standards and awards are
typical of the journey that occupations make (or attempt to make) towards
professionalisation. However, some occupations fall short of the mark or, at best,
become semi-professions with shorter training, less specialised knowledge; and
more societal (state) control. If coaching is to become a profession it must adopt
criteria such as the development of an agreed and unified body of knowledge,
professional standards and qualifications, and codes of ethics and behaviour.
While some of these are already completed or in development, the continuation
of a growing multiplicity of coaching associations suggests that the pathway of
coaching to professionalisation may be at best bumpy, and at worst derailed.
(Gray 2011 p. 4)
3.4.1 Coaching organisations
There is no doubt that coaching has become a more accessible form of training. At one time
it was reserved for senior managers and company directors, now it is available to all as a
professional or personal development tool. Furthermore, coaching can provide the added
edge to an individual’s performance and be the difference between a career stepping up a
gear or continuing in cruise control.
The International Coaching Federation estimates that there are 30,000 coaches worldwide,
the big questions are: Can coaching achieve what other forms of learning and development
training cannot? What do you want coaching to achieve?’ and ‘how do you know you are
achieving it? There are a large number of coaching organisations working through answering
these questions, designing and implementing professional coaching courses and programs,
training professional coaches, and researching on different aspects of coaching in different
fields and in different countries.
A large number of coaching organisations have been established in several countries; the
majority of coaching organisations were based in the USA and UK. It was not until early 2000
that other countries started holding coaching events, seminars, workshops and also training
coaches and coaching professionals under the umbrella of their own coaching federations,
associations, institutes, and independent coaching consultancy organisations and agencies.
One of the leading global coaching organisations, the International Coaching Federation, has
over 19,000 members, and is dedicated to advancing the coaching profession by setting high
professional standards, providing independent certification, and building a network of
credentialed coaches. The ICF was formed in 1995, and in 1997 the Worldwide Association
of Business Coaching (WABC) was launched as the first international professional association
dedicated exclusively to the business coaching industry and the only association of its kind
with advanced membership standards based on business experience, coaching experience

and client references. WABC also offers a doctorate program in Professional Studies in
Business Coaching. The DProf in Business Coaching is a unique opportunity for business
coaches seeking the highest level of professional development. WABC offers this fully
accredited doctorate through their UK-based partner Middlesex University, an international
leader in developing work-based programs.
In Australia, the Association, Supervision, Coaching and Consultancy Australia and NZ

(ASCCANZ) is a major professional coaching association based in Sydney. This association
holds annual conferences and professional events and provides several types of membership
to its members in Australia and New Zealand. Table 3.2 summarises some on the major
coaching organisations and associations that have been established worldwide.
Table 3.2: Professional coaching associations and bodies (information adapted from the
respective web-sites)
Organisation Description
International Coaching Research Forum http://qualityoflife101.com/WordPress/

The goal of the International Coaching Research Forum
(ICRF) is to foster progress and community in coaching
research.
Institute of Coaching (USA) http://www.instituteofcoaching.org

The Institute of Coaching is affiliated to Harvard
University. Established in early 2009, the institute grew
out of a partnership between the Coaching and Positive
Psychology Initiative at McLean Hospital and the
Foundation of Coaching.
The International Coach Federation http://www.coachfederation.org/

(USA)
Formed in 1995, the ICF is a key global organization, with
over 19,000 members, dedicated to advancing the
coaching profession by setting high professional
standards, providing independent certification, and
building a network of credentialed coaches.
The International Association of http://www.certifiedcoach.org/

Coaching, New Mexico
The IAC was established in 2003 as a non-profit
organisation. To date, more than 13.000 coaches in over
80 countries have subscribed to the newsletter and they
have more than 800 active members worldwide. An
increasing number of coaches aspire to IAC certification.
Worldwide Association of Business http://www.wabccoaches.com/

Coaching (Canada)
Formed in 1997, the WABC is an international professional
association dedicated exclusively to the business coaching
industry and the only association of its kind with advanced
membership standards based on business experience,
coaching experience and client references.

The Canadian Alliance of Sales Skills http://calsca.com/

Coaches (Canada)
The Canadian Alliance of Life Skills Coaches and
Associations is committed to the belief that all individuals
are entitled to learn the Life Skills necessary for personal
and social development. We support and promote
professional excellence in Life Skills Coaching - Personally,
Regionally and Nationally". CALSCA is a voluntary non-
profit organization.
Association for Coaching (UK) http://www.associationforcoaching.com/home/index.htm

Launched in 2002, the Association for Coaching aims to
inspire and champion coaching excellence, by being pro-
active, collaborative and purposeful, in order to advance
the coaching profession.
European Association for Supervision & http://www.supervision-eas.org/

Coaching (Europe)
The EASC is a European trade association for supervisors
and coaches whose objectives are the promotion,
application and quality assurance of supervision and
coaching. In The EASC, the training is offered by institutes
in Europe that are recognised by EASC. They work with
supervisors that have comprehensive practical experience
as well as degrees from further training as trainers. The
EASC organises an exchange and the evaluation of
standards and requirements for further training within
Europe so that a high quality training is assured.
European Mentoring & Coaching http://www.emccouncil.org/

Council (UK)
EMCC’s vision with an international central member
service based in UK and several branches and offices in
Denmark, Deutschland, Luxemburg, Poland, Sweden, and
Serbia is to promote good practice and the expectation of
good practice in mentoring and coaching across Europe.
The EMCC holds two conferences a year - our annual
coaching and mentoring conference each November and
our research conference in July.
Association, Supervision, Coaching & http://www.asccanz.org/

Consultancy Australia & NZ (Australia) ASCCANZ is one of the major professional coaching
associations based in Sydney-Australia which holds annual
conferences and professional events and provides several
types of membership to its members in Australia and New
Zealand. ASCCANZ also provides courses which are in the
form of short but intensive courses which are available on
the ASCCANZ website ‘’Introduction to Supervision,
Coaching and Consulting courses’’.

The Association for Professional http://www.apecs.org

Executive Coaching and Supervision
APECS based in the UK, is the top level professional body
for the accreditation of Executive Coaches and Supervisors
of Executive Coaches. It also provides in depth guidance
and information for its Corporate members. APECS
safeguards and develops the standards of professional
coaching and supervision and provides a stimulating forum
for individuals engaged in buying or delivering professional
coaching.
Coaching Commons http://coachingcommons.org/

The Coaching Commons was an online news source for
executive, business and life coaches from January 2008
through March 2011. Check this site for archived coaching
news, original reporting, and provocative reader
commentary.
The Commons relied on a network of professional
coaches, journalists and readers to cover and discuss the
coaching industry during this growth period. In addition,
you'll find stories about the history of coaching
The Harnisch Foundation was the founding funder of the
Coaching Commons, along with numerous ground-
breaking non-profits dedicated to the advancement of
professional coaching.
The Foundation of Coaching http://thefoundationofcoaching.org/
3.4.2 Coaching standards
In December 2010, Standards Australia released a draft handbook titled Coaching in

Organisations. The handbook offers thorough guidelines for coaching practice in
organisations and acknowledges the emerging nature of the coaching profession and its
multi-disciplinary foundations. The handbook is designed to be used by all key stakeholders,
including those purchasing coaching services; coaches and coaching organisations; coaching
trainers; universities researching or teaching coaching, and professional organisations
interested in the governance, ethics and continuing professional development of coaches.
The handbook is a useful resource for the Australian rail industry and contains wide
coverage of the issues involved in assisting an organisation/industry contemplating the
adoption or purchase of coaching as a workforce development strategy.
ICF Australasia makes the following statements in terms of professional standards:
ICF Australasia is committed to encouraging high professional standards of ethics

and conduct by its members by developing and promoting an industry wide Code
of Professional Standards and a universally accepted Accreditation process which
preserves the integrity of coaching through internationally credible and ethical
self-regulation.

The mission of the International Coach Federation is to be the global forum for
the art and science of coaching, where we inspire transformational
conversations, advocate excellence, and expand awareness of the contribution
coaching is to the future of humankind. The ICF’s internationally recognized
standards of excellence, professionalism and code of ethics establish a strong
foundation for self-governance of the coaching profession.
(http://www.icfaustralasia.com/)
The ICF has established the ICF Code of Ethics, and has also worked with coaching
organisations to develop the Model Codes of Conduct which are to be used with the ICF Code
of Ethics. The aim of these Codes is to establish a set of guidelines whose goal is to establish
a benchmark for ethics and good practice in coaching and mentoring. These Codes are
available online.
3.4.3 Coaching courses and qualifications
A large number of professional organisations, universities and educational institutions

provide not only coaching courses but also qualifications and degrees from Advanced
Diploma and Undergraduate level to Postgraduate and even Doctoral level. Below is a
summary of the coaching courses and qualifications offered globally. The growth of coaching
and the demand of the market in having qualified and well-educated coaches is increasing
the volume of coaching courses provided by professional institutions or universities all
around the world.
Stalinski (2004) explains that, at the time of writing his paper, ‘few coach training programs
[were] delivered at the university level. The professional coach certification program at
Georgetown University and the Academy of Management at Babson College in the US, MA
programs in Coaching and Mentoring at UK universities (Oxford Brookes, Sheffield Hallam
and Wolverhampton) and the Coaching Psychology at the University of Sydney, were among
only a few coach training programs grounded in university level academic theory’ (p. 77).
According to Stalinski (2004), the growth and spread of non-academic privately owned
training schools in the US was a prime impetus for the growth in popularity of the practice of
coaching. The need for well-designed and comprehensive coaching programs and courses
has been increased substantially by the growth of coaching and the large number of
organisations which rely on external qualified coaches who can provide effective one-to-one
or group coaching to their leaders, executives and employees to move the organisation
toward success.
There is clearly a need for such coach training to be designed to include solid
theoretical foundations in the sciences and/or psychological sciences (including
group dynamics) as well as relevant grounding in systems thinking focusing on
complex, evolutionary systems design. Likewise, such coach training would
provide coaches with experiential practice and not mandate ‘billable client
hours’ as a requirement to demonstrate coaching skills. (Stalinski 2004, p. 77)
The ICF has a set of coaching credentials which are highly recognised coaching qualifications
with credibility around the world. Credentialing applications world-wide are processed by
ICF’s North American Office. There are three ICF Credentials:

 Associate Certified Coach: for the practised coach with at least 100 hours of
client coaching experience.
 Professional Certified Coach: for the proven coach with at least 750 hours of
client coaching experience.
 Master Certified Coach: for the expert coach with at least 2,500 hours of
client coaching experience
The current well-known university-based coaching qualifications are listed below:
Doctor of Coaching & Mentoring

Provider: Oxford Brookes University
Sector: Higher education- UK
Cost: Part-time (3-year programme): £19,100 (UK/EU and Non-EU)
Part-time (5-year programme): £33,150 (UK/EU and Non-EU)
Details: 3-5 years Part Time
Professional Doctorate in Coaching

Provider: Professional Development Foundation Educate
Sector: Private Training Provider (UK)
Cost: In Consultation
Details: 3-4 years- Entry requirement: Must be experienced coach with minimum 5 years’
experience, Flexible delivery
Master of Executive Coaching & Consultancy

Provider: Abla University, The Netherlands
Sector: Higher education (The Netherlands)
Details: Refer to: http://www.alba-university.eu/
Master of Business Coaching

Provider: The University of Wollongong, Australia
Sector: Higher education (Australia)
Cost: 48 x $427 = $20,500
Details: 2 years full time, 6 core subjects, 1 core research paper, On-campus in Sydney &
Wollongong

Master of Organizational Coaching

Provider: The University of Sydney, Australia
Sector: Higher education (Australia)
Cost: 48 x $500 = $24,000
Details: 2 years full time/1 year part time
Total of 8 units of study, on-campus in Sydney
Bachelor of Applied Social Science (Coaching)

Provider: Australian College of Applied Psychology
Sector: Private Training Provider (Australia)
Cost: 24x$1955= $46.920
Details: 3 years full-time
24 modules on-campus in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or via Flexible delivery
Certificate 4 in Coaching Skills for the Workplace

Provider: Institute of Executive Coaching
Sector: Private Training Provider (Australia)
Cost: 8x$600= $4800
Details: 4-5 months, part-time, 8 units, online & workshops, in Sydney, Melbourne or Canberra
3.4.4 The nature of coaching
Du Toit (2006) has researched how the management of change over the long term is more
likely to be sustained through coaching. Her longitudinal research was focused on a local
government authority in the UK and she concludes that it is the very nature of coaching
which enables it to assist with organisational change management:
The success of coaching is related to the nature of coaching as it addresses the

values and beliefs of the individual or team involved in the coaching process. In
order to bring about change and transformation, the coach facilitates the process
of understanding what it is that drives the behaviours and actions of the client
and the client organisation. (Du Toit 2006, p. 45)
Du Toit discusses why coaching as a practice and process focuses on the skill of managing
self and others:
Coaching provides the coachee with access to non-judgemental support in

reflecting on critical issues and exploring the complexities with which managers
of contemporary organisations have to deal. Access to such impartial support is
not often available within organisations. Managers do not necessarily obtain
open and honest feedback from peers and subordinates and coaching provides
the mirror managers need to understand the impact they have on others and
how their actions and behaviours are perceived by others within the
organisation. The coach is in the position of being able to ask the questions no
one else in the organisation would necessarily have the courage to ask. Through
the coaching process the coachee increases self-awareness and improves their
communication with others. (Du Toit 2006, p. 52)
Du Toit (2006) highlights the following key aspects of coaching:
 the ability to increase and improve the sensitivity and awareness the client has both of
themselves and of others. In order to develop self-awareness the individual must have
access to honest feedback and this is sometimes difficult to obtain within the
organisation, particularly if the client is in a senior position within the organisation. (Du
Toit 2006, p. 53)
 challenging the assumptions of the coachee, to provide feedback and to offer support
in exploring and creating options and identifying the consequences of those options.
(Du Toit 2006, p. 52)
 providing open and honest feedback within a supportive environment. The coach
needs knowledge and experience in both psychological models to help the client
develop self-awareness and understand their personal drivers as well as a knowledge
and understanding of how they impact on their organisational environment and
performance. Personal change wrought through coaching extends beyond an increase
in personal awareness and includes behavioural changes and the ability to build
stronger relationships. (Du Toit 2006, p. 53).
A more detailed discussion on the nature of coaching is beyond the scope of this report,
however, the information from the coaching literature provided can be a reliable starting
point to begin a more detailed exploration for a systematic coaching framework for the
Australian Rail Industry. The report now highlights some key benefits of coaching and
coaching programs in the next chapter and will present a synthesis on the diverse range of
coaching types (coaching typology) and specifically those which are most relevant to the
Australian Rail Industry.
3.4.5 Benefits of coaching
According to Passmore (2010), in the early years of the millennium, coaching grew because it
was fashionable to have a coach. At first there was very little evidence to empirically support
the effectiveness of coaching, although personal testimonies revealed that senior executives
valued the confidential nature of the conversation and being able to have a sounding board.
The author highlights that, in the past ten years research has shown that coaching can offer
significant benefits to all individuals, not only senior executives. ‘Coaching is excellent as a
tool to support skills transfer from training programmers’ (Passmore 2010, p. 40). Coaching
seems to be very useful in managing transitions and helping staff cope with stressful times,
improving communication, resilience and hopefulness. Coaching benefits industries such as
rail by increasing: self-esteem; work performance; collaboration and loyalty from its senior
managers and leaders; talent retention; job satisfaction; career development and; work-life
balance. Coaching is also beneficial for new employees who might be the younger
generation (Gen Y) and recently graduated who are willing to apply their newly-acquired
knowledge toward the rail industry’s success.

There is some excellent research around the role coaching can play in helping people
transfer learning from formal learning environments back to the workplace. Passmore (2010)
highlights a number of studies which suggest that we transfer to work between 10-20
percent of the knowledge provided on a course. One of the reasons for this is that managers
find it difficult to think about how they apply the new knowledge in the context of the work
environment.
Coaching is a perfect tool for helping managers to translate that knowledge to

their situation and secondly coaching helps to support them as they use this new
knowledge. Thirdly when the manager slips back to old ways, the coach is there
to challenge and encourage them to use the new behaviours or knowledge
(Passmore 2010, p. 40).
There is evidence that one of the benefits of coaching and a key factor in today’s workplace
is the reduction of work based stress. As Gyllensten and Palmer (2005) explain, workplace
stress is increasing, and the British Health and Safety Executive has estimated that work-
related stress, depression, and anxiety account for the loss of approximately thirteen million
working days per year in Britain. Stress is a factor that can be reduced following coaching
despite the fact that stress is not specifically targeted in the intervention. It can be
considered as one of the benefits of the coaching programs especially in current work
environments where, in most cases, employees are under pressure and they face difficulties
in achieving a work-life balance.
Coaching is gaining increased attention with coaching psychology becoming established in

Britain. As Gyllensten and Palmer (2005, p. 76) note, ‘coaching psychology is for enhancing
wellbeing and performance in personal life and work domains with normal, non-clinical
populations, underpinned by models of coaching grounded in established adult learning or
psychological approaches’. Organisations and individuals are using coaching to improve
performance, achieve goals, and manage stress. There is evidence that coaching can be
useful in reducing stress by assisting to identify factors that are causing stress, develop
effective strategies for change, and uncover lasting solutions. As well as tackling stress
directly, coaching could reduce stress indirectly by helping an individual to reach their
personal goals (e.g., improve performance, efficiency, or communication), and thereby
decrease any stress caused by the perceived deficiency in the area targeted in coaching.
A large number of studies conducted in the coaching area identify the benefits of coaching.
According to Rossett and Marino (2005), a number of studies establish a link between
coaching and improved performance, and make a convincing argument for the benefits
coaching provides. Rossett and Marino (2005) also highlight the benefit of coaching for
increasing productivity. They describe a training intervention followed by eight weeks of
one-to-one executive coaching aimed to complete a project chosen by the “coachee” which
resulted in a substantial increase in productivity.
One of the benefits of coaching programs from the company perspective has been identified
in the form of employee and coach relationships. In fact, some research explains that most
employees like coaching and find it easier to have a relationship based on sense of honesty
with their coach without worrying about any kind of attacks after their coaching sessions.
Employees like coaching too. Rossett and Marino (2005) explain that some employees like
what is perceived as the external coaches’ objectivity and focus. Employees feel they can be
honest with their external coach, and they know it won’t come back to them on a
performance review. Consequently, they may experience significant developmental growth

that they wouldn’t have had as an individual or with the assistance of an internal coaching
process.
3.5 Typology of coaching
There is a diverse range of coaching types, many of which are not relevant to the rail
industry, such as sports coaching. We examine in further detail the types of coaching most
relevant to organisations and industries wishing to employ coaching as a workforce
development strategy: executive coaching, leadership coaching, workplace coaching, career
coaching, business coaching, e-coaching, remedial coaching, developmental coaching, peer
coaching and cross-cultural coaching.
3.5.1 Executive coaching
In order to have a broad understanding of executive coaching and its contribution to the
development of senior managers, the following discussion will present a very brief history of
executive coaching, followed by a discussion of executive coaching with links to current
trends and HR practices in the Australian rail industry.
Organisations and businesses today feel the need for C-suite managers including CEOs,
COOs, CFOs and executives more than ever. Often new senior executives will recruit outside
their organisations to enable them to create a new team. Some senior executives believe
that people won’t change and that the company is better off replacing seemingly
unsatisfactory performers. Stephenson (2000) argues there must be a better way to manage
intellectual capital given the large cost associated with ‘fire and hire’, including the time and
cost for new people to get up to speed and the erosion of employee trust and morale.
Instead, executive and non-executive staff need to understand better what is expected of
them at work and they can be coached to help them generate greater organisational and
personal outcomes. Coaching assists an organisation’s most valuable resource—its staff—to
continuously develop, remain motivated and more importantly, stay with the organisation.
According to Natale and Diamante (2005, p.362),’executive coaching began in the 198Os
with Thomas J., a financial planner in Seattle who first offered his clients life planning
consultations and in 1992 started Coach University, a training program for professionals’.
They claim that there have always been coaches but they have not been formally recognised
as a body of independent professionals. Rather, they have been described as consultants,
mentors, managers, or friends helping others to solve problems and plan for the future,
which is the way coaching defines itself traditionally. However, today, executives, business
owners, entrepreneurs and professionals can and do seek the services of an executive coach
to meet job requirements, to manage stress and interpersonal relationships, or to improve
overall business performance.
Natale and Diamante (2005) note that leading organisations such as Alcoa, American Red
Cross, AT&T, Ford, Northwestern Mutual Life, 3M and United Parcel Service all offer
executive coaching as part of their development and productivity programs which has
increased their level of success and the quality of management in their organisations. Other
organisations, such as Motorola and IBM, deploy executive coaching services regularly.
‘According to the International Coach Federation, there are 10,000 executive coaches in the
United States and over 7000 internationally’ (Natale & Diamante 2005, p.362). Gladis (2007)

identifies executive coaching as a powerful, cost-effective way to provide support for leaders
and to leverage their strengths for the benefit of themselves and the entire organisation.
When combined with training, executive coaching can significantly boost talent
development in any company.
According to Kennedy (2009), many organisations have started to use coaching as a one of
the main developmental and support strategies for their senior managers. In most
companies, however, coaching remains an exception rather than the norm. Kennedy (2009)
highlights the point that coaching is a co-created process. One of the main factors
mentioned by many executive coaches is the fact that coaching involves not only the
willingness, but also the motivation of the client to engage fully and start doing things
differently.
In defining executive coaching, Gladis (2007, p. 60) states:
Unlike consultants and other business professionals with specific expertise in

finance, law, or accounting, executive coaches enter organizations asking probing
questions rather than offering judgments.
According to Gladis (2007), executive coaching is a powerful, cost-effective way to provide

support for leaders and leverage their strengths for the benefit of themselves and the entire
organisation. When combined with training, executive coaching can significantly boost talent
development in any company.
Brooks and Wright (2007) note that executive coaching has experienced rapid growth over
the last decade and is now firmly regarded as a mainstream management development
practice overseas and in New Zealand. They define executive coaching as:
a A helping relationship between a client who has managerial authority and

responsibility in an organization and a consultant who uses a wide variety of
behavioural techniques and methods to help the client achieve a mutually
identified set of goals to improve his or her professional performance and
personal satisfaction and, consequently, to improve the effectiveness of the
client’s organization within a formally defined coaching agreement. (Brooks &
Wright 2007, p. 30)
Brooks and Wright (2007) investigated the programs and practices of executive coaching in
New Zealand. They did this through a survey of fifty-nine executive coaches. The survey
gathered data on the demographics of coaches; their backgrounds, qualifications and
training; their coaching method; and aspects of their practice, including typical fees charged,
number of client sessions, method of marketing, ethical standards and professional
insurance.
As a result of the research, Brooks and Wright (2007) state that the typical executive coach
could be either male or female, is in their late forties, is university educated but with limited
coach-specific training, and comes from a business or management background. The most
striking feature is the age of coaches, where ‘Not a single coach in this survey was under the
age of 25 years, and 86.5% of them were over 40 years’ (Brooks & Wright 2007, p. 37). This
age profile would not be found in professions such as law, accountancy, engineering,
psychology, or counselling, so why amongst coaches?

There could possibly be two reasons behind this issue. The first is that potential coaches in
their twenties and thirties might feel they lack the life/organisational experience or
credibility to attract clients, and so they self-select themselves out by not becoming coaches.
The second explanation, and a corollary of the first, is that organisational clients are
unwilling to be coached by people who they feel lack business credibility. Age on its own
does not explain all of this perception however, because managers are willing to be advised
by young lawyers, stockbrokers and accountants. Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that
these other professions offer technical advice which young talented graduates are equipped
to provide, whereas coaching is more likely to involve problems and issues which are less
rational and more subjective. Each of us has a set of criteria which defines who we are
prepared to take problems to, and perhaps relevant work/life experience is the prerequisite
for a successful coach. After reviewing this aspect of the literature, it is suggested that the
‘choice-of-coach’ process is a worthy area of further research and perhaps more research
needs to be conducted in this area to provide some valid evidence and information on this
aspect of coaching.
In a recent paper, Visser (2010) discusses how executive coaching has become a blossoming
field of activity in the past decade. With the advent of post-industrial forms of organisation
and increasing levels of employee work competence and demands, CEOs and senior
managers have become aware of the importance of their ‘people skills’ and networking
capabilities to maintain their positions and to prosper in their careers. ‘Increasingly they
engage executive coaches to help them develop these skills and capabilities, increase their
organizational effectiveness, and consider appropriate career steps’ (Visser 2010, p. 892).
According to Baron and Morin (2009), executive coaching involves the teaching of skills in
the context of a personal relationship with the learner, and providing feedback on the
executive’s interpersonal relations and skills. They see executive coaching as an ongoing
series of activities which is tailored to the individual’s current issues or relevant problem and
is designed by the coach to assist the executive in maintaining a consistent, confident focus
as he or she tunes strengths and manages shortcomings.
In organisational settings, executive coaching has become an increasingly common skill-

development method. However, ‘[m]any authors have noted the lack of scientific studies on
the process and the outcome of executive coaching and others have argued that this
development approach is overused considering the paucity of research on the subject’
(Baron & Morin 2009, p.85). Nevertheless, ‘the results from empirical studies also indicate
that executive coaching is positively associated with self-efficacy, leadership and
performance’ (Baron & Morin 2009, p.85).
According to Gray (2006, p. 479), ‘[c]oaching for the executive’s agenda can involve a very
broad range of issues’. He suggests that these issues often include productivity and quality
improvement, mergers and acquisitions, coping with growth and change management.
After defining and explaining executive coaching in short, in this chapter we will briefly
discuss the importance of the coaching programme and process with overall HR and
performance management within an organisation. It is a key factor for the Australian rail
industry and its HR department to align HR processes with its coaching programmes. To
discuss this matter, we are referring to Chidiac (2006) who states:

In the past, coaching was only perceived as a developmental tool for a handful of
the most senior managers in the business. Increasingly this is not the case as
coaching interventions are more focused and seen as a cost-efficient way of
achieving personal learning at all levels of management. (p. 13)
Chidiac (2006) also explains that coaching often involves making use of 360 degree feedback
to ensure a clear starting point for the coaching process. So what HR departments and
managers should ask is, is your organisation used to 360 degree feedback and, more
importantly, is the culture and environment supportive enough for constructive feedback to
be given? It is important that, before designing and implementing any coaching programme,
these questions have been answered and the HR managers ensure that the coaching process
is going to align with the overall HR and performance management processes within their
organisation.
There are several key elements to make executive coaching programmes successful and to
help senior managers and leaders to increase their performance and, as a result, to increase
the overall performance, profitability and productivity of organisations. The process of
executive coaching has been researched and discussed by a large number of researchers.
Natale and Diamante (2005) describe five stages in executive coaching: alliance check,
credibility assessment, likability link, dialogue/skill acquisition, and cue-based action plans.
According to this schema, ‘the alliance check represents the executive’s uncertainty
regarding what is ‘about to happen’ and perhaps even ‘why’ (Natale & Diamante 2005, p.
363). They add that, during this stage the coach states what is known by all parties and what
will not be known. If the executive did not voluntarily engage the work, the agreements
made by the coach with others should be exposed.
Stage two is centered on the executive’s desire to gain control and determine whether the
coach has anything to offer. ‘The coach is to be examined in terms of background,
credentials and experience, describing past success stories is a useful way to place the
executive at some degree of ease’ (Natale & Diamante 2005, p. 364). Stage three relates to
likability. This link is established when the executive compares his preferred style with the
coach’s style. ‘At this stage, the executive is measuring your self-confidence, knowledge (or
at least articulation of that knowledge) and intensity or business focus’ (Natale & Diamante
2005, p. 364). Stage four involves dialogue and skill acquisition, which is focused on
identification of the four factors and their integration in order to prepare the executive for
change. ‘Stage four is a stage of discovery, analysis, verification and application’ (Natale &
Diamante 2005, p. 364). Finally, stage five is action planning which involves ‘delineation, in
behaviourally specific or cognitively specific terms, of what the executive needs to do and
when’ (Natale & Diamante 2005, p. 366).
3.5.2 Leadership coaching
Stalinski (2004) states that, traditionally, job skills training has been the method of choice in
developing competencies required for individuals to perform well within their organisational
roles. Such training has evolved to include soft skills training in addition to more traditional
hard skills training. Training from a traditional and even contemporary perspective involves
the transfer of knowledge from a teacher or trainer to training participants or students. Even
training designed around adult learning styles maintains this foundational transfer of
learning model. Whether implemented in a training room, a classroom, or in on-line
environments through e-learning technologies, training and development continue to play
an important role in helping workers learn new information, and gain broader conceptual
understanding of their work roles and needs.
Besides traditional training, organisations often seek the advice and guidance of external
consultants to assist with organisational development and the mission critical employees
who are ultimately guardians of the organisation’s ongoing success. Stalinski (2004) states
that:
The focus of leadership coaching is to engage individuals or groups in learning

arrangements that enable them to develop leadership competencies, skills and
knowledge.
This definition allows that such participants may include stakeholders at all levels
of an organizational system, and that such leadership skills and competencies are
not necessarily exclusive of personal goals and aspirations. Such coaching with a
focus on leadership development could potentially help provide the skills,
knowledge and competencies for individuals at all levels of an organization to
effectively and authentically participate in the ongoing design and development
of the organisations and systems in which they work and live. (Stalinski 2004, p.
76, emphasis in original)
There is evidence that for many of the executives in the study there was an over reliance on
‘an antiquated paradigm of management—a business model that comes from out-dated
thinking and ‘old school’ principles, where command and control ruled’ (Xavier 2005, p. 35).
There is also a critical factor for leaders in learning how to ‘play smarter’ to stay on top of
their own professional practice and competence. Xavier (2005, p. 37) explains how
incorporating the principles of Emotional Intelligence can be ‘one of the most innovative
tools for executives to accomplish their goals in the corporate environment and in their own
professional development’. Coaching can play a key role in developing emotional intelligence
for leadership and enhancing a leader’s performance and success. Xavier (2005) identifies
four domains of EI as:
1. Self-awareness
Awareness and acknowledgement of weaknesses. ‘These leaders recognize their

emotions and the impact these emotions have on the environment’ (p. 38).
2. Self-management
It refers to ‘... being able to manage one’s emotions and is an important trait of
competent leaders. Most employees have experienced the opposite type of executive-
the one who flies off the handle at the drop of a hat’ (p. 38).
3. Social Awareness
As an important factor in leadership, while effective leaders meticulously ‘recognize

their own emotions, it’s important to recognize the feelings and emotions of others
when interacting with them ... can assess situations from their employee’s point of
view, which contributes to greater employee satisfaction and decreased turnover’ (p.
38).

4. Relationship Management
Successful leaders always ‘interact with their co-workers ... how they do that divides
effective leaders from the ineffective ones. ‘Effective leaders not only work
constructively (versus destructively) with others, but they understand the importance
of moving their teams towards desired outcomes’. (p. 38)
Coaching plays an undeniable role in assisting leaders to gain higher levels of EI.
According to Ely, Boyce, Nelson, Zaccaro, Hernez-Broome and Whyman (2010, p. 586)
leadership coaching differs from traditional leadership development in four ways: (a)
leadership coaching focuses on the needs of the individual client as well as the client's
organisation and the unique characteristics each brings, (b) leadership coaching requires
coaches to have unique skill sets, (c) leadership coaching places a premium on the client–
coach relationship, and (d) leadership coaching demands process flexibility to achieve
desired results. These four (client, coach, client–coach relationship, and coaching process)
provide a foundation for understanding the unique nature of leadership coaching, the
resulting framework, and implications for its evaluation.
Client Needs
In coaching, ‘client’ refers to individuals formally involved in a coaching relationship for the
specific purpose of becoming a more effective leader, manager or team member in an
organisation. Client needs reflect a variety of inputs to coaching process, ranging from the
reasons for engaging in coaching to the characteristics of clients and their organisations (Ely
et al. 2010).
Coach Characteristics
A coach is a trained professional who has a formal one-to-one relationship with a client for
the purpose of improving his or her performance. Coaches require a broad and adaptive set
of skills, depending on the particular area that they are coaching, to effectively meet the
diverse needs of individuals and their organisations. For instance, a leadership coach may
require several core competencies, including communication skills, analytical skills,
assessment and feedback skills, planning skills, goal setting skills, organisational skills,
creativity and resourcefulness, an ability to motivate, empower and encourage or challenge
and confront others as appropriate. Other characteristics include integrity, result-orientation
and accountability, with personable qualities of empathy, caring, approachability, flexibility
and trustworthiness (Ely et al. 2010).
Client-Coach Relationship
Perhaps the most critical aspect of a coaching program is the relationship between coach
and coachee or client. Baron & Morin (2009) suggest three characteristics which are
important to this relationship: rapport, collaboration and commitment. Rapport includes the
mutual understanding, agreement and liking between the client and coach that allow each
other to appreciate, recognize and respect each other as individuals. Collaboration is the
cooperation that occurs between the client and coach that permits and requires both to
contribute in directing the developmental experience. Commitment reflects the dedication

of both the client and coach to perform the work associated with the boundaries, and
develop open and honest dialogue between client and coach (Ely et al. 2010).
The working relationship established between the coach and the coachee appears to be a
key process variable. Numerous authors have suggested that a good working relationship
constitutes an essential condition for the success of coaching programmes (Baron & Morin
2009).
Coaching Process
The coaching process is directly linked and related to the coaching framework that is used in
a coaching programme. There are a variety of frameworks and models and several phases
and various assessment techniques and instruments. As an example, a leadership
development model designed by Ely et al. (2010) includes three core elements: assessment,
challenge and support. In this particular example of the coaching process, assessment
provides insight on current and future development needs of the client. Challenge creates
the disequilibrium or imbalance between current skills and demand to stretch beyond
current comfort levels. Support can be manifested by maintaining motivation, accessing
sources and strategies, celebrating wins and managing setbacks, and creating a sustainable
learning agenda.
3.5.3 Workplace coaching
The workplace is a site of daily and ongoing adult learning. Workplace coaching focuses on
learning that requires the support of a more knowledgeable human partner. Traditionally,
managers would serve some of the functions of coaches. In fact, in the past, frontline
supervisors and managers were held responsible for performing many human resource
management tasks. Today, human resource management enables managers, executives and
supervisors to focus on functions beyond workplace learning. Qualified and experienced
coaches can help organisations and companies to reduce the risk of losing their high
performing employees, to identify the knowledge or skill gaps of current or new employees,
and to suggest appropriate solutions.
In a phenomenological case study into the UK rail industry conducted by Hannah (2004) the
research question centred around whether workplace coaching could improve individual
staff member performance, and at the same time raise the levels of customer satisfaction.
Focusing on an intercity rail operator, a team of 13 regionally-based workplace coaches were
set the task of increasing customer service levels of a population of approximately 350
customer hosts. The coaching program was set to a 52 week timeframe between September
2002 and May 2003. The team members were originally employed as Service Quality
Managers as part of another service customer service improvement initiative, where they
were responsible for ensuring that customer service standards were being delivered.
This team’s role was primarily to achieve customer service standards through command and
control compliance and by reporting poor performers to the management. As part of the
People Strategy these service quality roles were placed into a learning framework where
coaching was the vehicle for delivering consistent standards. The existing team role was
redefined and renamed ‘Coach/Assessors’ (Hannah 2004, p. 20). The model of workplace
coaching used—the ACER model—is depicted in Figure 3.3.

Figure 3.3: The ACER coaching model (Hannah 2004, p. 21)
The system used to test the coaching relationship is shown in Figure 3.4. Data was collected
through a series of one-to-one semi-structured 30 minute interviews with 15 randomly
selected individuals. In the research, employee competence was assessed through a
‘mystery shopper’ who was employed by an independent research company to ensure
validity and reliability of the research and to evaluate whether individual staff members
were meeting company standards. Customer Monitor was another key section of the
research. ‘Delivery of consistent customer service standards within the population group
would have a positive impact on the level of customer satisfaction’ (Hannah 2004, p. 27).

Identify patterns
Define purpose Identify
with other new
of interview Questions
data analysis
Coach/Coachee
Analyse raw
interview data
Relationship Pilot Questions
Undertake Best field Identify random

interviews researcher sample
Figure 3.4: The coaching relationship
Following the data series collection and analysis, the results showed that there
had been an increase in employee competence levels and an improvement in the
Mystery Shopper and Customer Monitor results over the length of the case study
... Throughout the research incremental improvements in the overall coaching
relationship were found and these correlated in timeframe with the increased
vocational skills of the population. (Hannah 2004, p.28)
In the context of the UK Rail Industry, Hannah (2004) identifies the following characteristics
of a good coach:
Integrated Reliable
Genuine Discreet
Warm Sensitive
Courteous Enthusiastic
Firm when necessary Sense of humour
Values the client for his/herself A good listener
Knows the relevant literature Good practical experience
Helps the client to focus Really tries to understand
Honest and straightforward Asks probing questions
Trustworthy Not sexist, racist or ageist
Open to different views/experience Positive about the potential knowledge of people
Pollitt (2009) conducted research on the role of coaching and its contribution to
development and training in a rail company in the UK. Managers at a UK train operator
became role models for their employees, who now have more power to take direct

responsibility and reach their full potential. The change took place following a management-
development program at train operator Southern, working with a professional coaching and
training company on a program that reached 300 managers.
According to Pollitt (2009), Southern continues to be a very successful business, consistently

delivering high standards of service to their passengers. Perhaps an element of this is
attributable to their focus on changing the leadership and management style. A significant
contributory factor to this was their coaching program, and the learning and essence of
coaching they have applied to their management training. The program was seen as a key
part of developing their business. The company adopted its first formal coaching program in
2005 and, the following year, formalised it within the overall HR strategy and made
developing a coaching and facilitative leadership style a key objective. The feedback and
evaluation of the coaching program were good indicators for the company to assess its
coaching program’s effectiveness and its impact on its employees.
The HR manager of this UK rail company, who also took part in the program claimed: ‘It was
the most rounded, fun and exciting development program I have come across in my career’
(Pollitt 2009, p. 18). A revenue manager who took part in this program described it as a
journey of self-awareness. The research highlights the positive impact of the coaching
program on this particular UK rail company and identifies one of the outcomes of the
program:
In 2008, numbers of grievances, disciplinarians and tribunals were all down. In

the same year service performance and train reliability both rose. In the recent
employee engagement survey, a significant statistical correlation was discovered
between managers who had attended the coaching program and their individual
engagement scores with their direct reports. (Pollitt 2009, p.118)
3.5.4 Career coaching
Career coaching is a relatively new practice that is increasingly used by managers and
employees in a variety of work settings. It combines the concepts of career counselling,
organisational counselling and employee development. According to Chung and Gfroerer
(2003) there are currently 10,000 full time personal and career coaches in the United States,
a large increase from 1,000 in 1995. In the near future career coaches are expected to be as
much a part of life as personal fitness trainers. Despite its increasing popularity, the concept
of career coaching has been addressed only sparsely in the career development literature.
Consequently, the relationship between career coaching and career counselling and the
various issues related to the development of career coaching as a profession have not been
adequately addressed in the current literature. Given the fact that there seems to be a lack
of a large number of studies on career coaching, we will focus on the available information in
the literature and will investigate this form of coaching from different aspects to have a
broader understanding of it and its potential contribution to managing human resources in
Australian Rail industry. There also seems to be a link between executive coaching and
career coaching that will be highlighted in this section.
The general goal of career coaching is to assist clients’ personal development within the
context of work and career so that clients can ‘ (a) better identify their skills, (b) make better
career choices, and (c) be more productive and valuable workers’ (Hube, 1996, cited in
Chung & Gfroerer 2003). Career coaches serve as personal consultants for any work-related

concerns such as work-life balance, learning interviewing skills, developing better managerial
skills, executive personal and career development and even managerial training to help
managers become career coaches to their employees. Career coaches help their clients get
more of they want out of life, whether it’s business success, financial independence,
academic excellence, personal success, physical health, interpersonal relationships, or career
planning. Therefore, career coaches have been described as sounding boards, support
systems, cheerleaders, and teammates combined into one.
Career coaches perform a variety of services, depending on the needs of the clients. These
services may include building job skills, business planning, balancing personal and work life,
helping clients achieve project implementation and completion, decision making and
strategic planning, prioritising, leadership and managerial training, generating sales
increases, and problem solving. Career coaching may take long term commitments to work
with clients as the clients move through job and life transitions, acting as an advisor during
the transitions and helping clients reach full career potential. The delivery of service in
career coaching may also have a similarity to E-coaching. ‘Many career coaches work with
clients by telephone or via the internet’ (Leonard 1999, cited in Chung & Gfroerer 2003, p.
145); others still prefer one-to-one personal contact with their clients.
In a study conducted by Chung and Gfroerer (2003), executive coaching is considered a

special form of career coaching defined as:
a helping relationship formed between a client who has managerial authority

and responsibility in an organization and a consultant who uses a wide variety of
behavioural techniques and methods to help the client achieve a mutually
identified set of goals to improve his or her professional performance and
personal satisfaction and, consequently, to improve the effectiveness of the
client’s organization within a formally defined coaching agreement. (Chung &
Gfroerer 2003, p. 145)
Although executive coaching, like career coaching, is used to develop an employee

personally and professionally, it seems to differ from career coaching in that it deals
primarily with high-ranking professionals and is often carried out by trained psychologists.
Executive coaches can be ‘internal’ - that is hired from within the organisation and may
include such personnel as human resource managers or sales managers. Executive coaches
may also be ‘external’ to the company. In this case, the executive is the client rather than
the organisation or management being the client.
3.5.5 Business coaching
Business coaching, like many other forms of coaching, is gaining in popularity and use across
a diverse range of industries. As Leedham (2005) explains:
businesses are becoming more and more conscious of competitive pressures,

and seeking to maximise returns on all investment made in employee
development. What is surprising therefore is that there appears to be little
empirical research on the efficacy of business coaching ... The increasing
popularity of business coaching means it is absorbing a substantial proportion of
company budgets. Business coaching, although relatively new still needs to rise
to the challenge and prove its worth. (p. 30)

Leedham (2005) undertook research to investigate the key benefits derived from business
coaching. His study involved a small case study of six purchasers of external business
coaching and a questionnaire of coachees. The research identifies six main factors which
influence the purchase of a coaching service from the perspective of the purchaser:
 evidence of having done similar coaching work previously
 personal capability and relevant organisational experience of the coach, as perceived

by the user
 flexibility of the coach and their organisation, the use of a range of models, tools and
techniques, willingness to work alongside other coaching organisations and with a
variety of individuals in a wide variety of situations
 focus on delivering or improving a business result
 cost effectiveness. Interestingly this did not mean the cheapest, in fact suppliers who
were ‘too cheap’ i.e. well below market rate would be looked on with a suspicion of
being low quality
 qualifications and professionalism. Membership of professional bodies (Leedham

2005, p. 31).
The questionnaire was administered to coachees on professional development courses with

the Oxford School of Coaching and Mentoring (OSC&M) with 224 surveys returned. As a
result of the research Leedham (2005) concluded that the analysis of stakeholder benefit
and the impact of coaching are:
Internal Feelings:
 increased confidence, feeling good, believe in myself, higher morale, growth (9.9%)
 received support, guidance, and encouragement, feel valued (8.3%)
More tangible and visible behaviours:
 enhanced career, and promotion prospects, helped with my future (7.8%)
 techniques and skills development (7.2%)
Clarity and focus, inward and outward:
 clarity of purpose, logical, clear goals, provided focus (6.3%)
 awareness and insights, self-analysis, strengths and weaknesses (5.9%)
Time and space for thinking and reflecting:
 helped me reflect to see the big picture, time for myself, time to concentrate (5.5%)
The most common benefits associated with business results were:

 confidence (23%)
 techniques and skills (15%)
 improved relationships (10%)
 clarity of purpose (9%) (Leedham 2005, p. 36).
Leedham (2005) discusses the Holistic Evaluation model of business coaching and explains,
‘for any holistic evaluation model to be valid, some additional inter-relationship between the
various benefits needs to be accommodated. The current drive, in business coaching
contracts, is for proof of a tangible return on investment’ (Leedham 2005, p. 37). The author
concludes that,
one practical way of effectively evaluating business coaching would be to

concentrate on the measurable factors of the coaching process, the qualities of
the coach, the feelings and behaviours of the coachee and their improved
performance and capability. By doing this it would not be necessary to try to
measure the impact of the coaching directly on the business results because it
would be an inevitable consequence. (p. 37)
Figure 3.5 below, shows a coaching pyramid model based on the research conducted by
(Leedham 2005).
Figure 3.5: The coaching pyramid
The model is based on the principle that to be fully effective a business coaching relationship
needs to be built on the firm foundation of four key factors:
 the skills of the coach such as: listening, questioning, giving clear feedback, establishing
rapport, providing support

 the personal attributes of the coach such as: knowledge, experience,

qualifications, being inspirational, having belief in the coachee’s potential
 the coaching process including: clear structure and discipline, being mentally
challenging and stretching
 the coaching environment providing: a safe, supportive place to discuss confidential

and sensitive issues, providing time and space to think and reflect.
The next stage of the model suggests that, when those four foundation factors are in place,
the coachee is enabled to realise the level of inner personal benefits:
 clarity and focus providing personal insights and exploration of themselves, their
values and beliefs, providing a clear purpose and sense of direction
 confidence to believe in themselves, to feel more relaxed and less stressed, to raise
their morale
 motivated to achieve, to improve both themselves and their organisation, inspired to

drive things through (Leedham 2005, p. 39).
Once the coachee has developed the inner benefits for themselves as listed above they are
then ready to produce the outer personal benefits, which are witnessed by their colleagues,
superiors and peers:
 enhanced skills, knowledge and understanding in both job related skills and the ability
to learn and develop themselves
 improved behaviours with individuals and teams in all forms of relationship (Leedham
2005, p. 39).
The ultimate aim is to reach results positioned at the top of the pyramid:
 business results such as: improvements in performance, being more productive,

enhanced career progression, resolution of specific problems or issues (Leedham 2005,
p. 39).
3.5.6 e-Coaching
With the growth of technology and the dramatic increase in popularity of the internet,
internet platforms and modern devices which enables us to exchange any type of data and
information within seconds it’s not very surprising that the process of transferring
knowledge, the learning process and also coaching programs have engaged with this online
technology. These trends have taken the form of e-Learning, e-Mentoring and e-Coaching.
Given the fact that e-Coaching is a very new area there are not yet a large number of studies
and evaluation of e-Coaching programs. Nonetheless some studies have been undertaken in
this area and have explained the process as a growing area of coaching. Rossett and Marino
(2005) assert that:

E-coaching moves the coaching process online and expands the possibilities.
Some e-coaches call what they do “distance coaching,” “distance mentoring,” or
even “telecoaching.” What’s interesting here is that online experiences and tools
are the fundamental way of supporting the coaching relationship, not an
afterthought. Today most coaches use electronic means to communicate, if only
to set up or alter an appointment. But an e-coach goes further, typically using
the Internet strategically. In some cases, the entire relationship happens online—
using IM with voice and even video to sharpen personnel selection questions or
to shape a job search effort. (Rossett & Marino, p. 47)
E-coaching has its critics and some place grave doubts as to whether e-Coaching is a credible
practice. Some experienced coaches prefer to coach by telephone. They believe that
coaching by email or instant messenger leads to misunderstandings. ‘Voice communication
makes it easier to build rapport and adds fluidity to the conversation. It also allows an
experienced coach to ‘hear’ what’s not being said. Most coaches find it hard to get that
flexibility and those insights through most online channels’ (Rossett & Marino 2005, p. 49).
Rossett and Marino (2005) explain that the success of an e-coaching program is based on
several key components which make any coaching program successful, plus a few elements
related to the technology being utilised. Benefits of e-coaching include:
 location scarcely matters
 coaching online lingers
 coaching matches needs and resources
 coaching expands the role of the manager and supervisor
 coaching goes where the action is
 technology scales support and expertise
 technology makes coaching more affordable (Rossett & Marino 2005, pp. 47-48).
Rossett and Marino (2005) believe that the future will see a growth in e-coaching:
Matchmaking will happen online as companies with many and far-flung

employees establish pairings by needs and interests, no matter where people are
located. The technology will make it possible to seek metrics on engagement,
use, and satisfaction, as coaching is ever more integrated into work and life
through laptop and mobile systems. (p. 49)
There are currently sufficient studies in this area to provide valid evidence to support the
use of e-coaching as a workforce development tool. ‘Today, with improved and more
accessible communications, effective coaching requires at least an initial videoconference or
face-to-face meeting’ (Rossett & Marino 2005, p. 49). There might be very positive factors in
using e-coaching programs in organisations but the effectiveness of these programs and the
strength and weaknesses must be studied and addressed more specifically.

3.5.7 Developmental coaching
There is no doubt that all coaching is developmental. All coaching makes a contribution to a
client’s adult development. But the way coaching is typically done at present does not
always meet the client where the client is developmentally, because a notion of the "where"
of development (developmental level) is absent in the coach. The coach may also not be
aware of his or her own present developmental level. For coaching to be consciously
"developmental," a particular mental model of the client needs to be fashioned, one that
accounts for where the client is developmentally, in his or her journey across the life span.
In research conducted by Hudson (1999) it is asserted that the notion of development still
leaves open two very different approaches to adult development. The first one, phasic,
centres around the (age-related) "phase" of development a client may be said to be in (e.g.,
early vs. middle adulthood). The second one, constructivist, focuses on the age-related but
not age-determined meaning-making a client habitually engages in. Meaning-making regards
a client’s central tendency of making sense of experiences, not only in thinking, but in feeling
and acting as well. This central tendency is often called a "stage," not only of meaning-
making, but also of being in the world. The developmental sciences have elaborated our
intuitive knowledge about how adults move across the life span in terms of research-based
theories and assessment methods that can help us as coaches to have a better grasp on
"where the client is developmentally."
Developmental coaching is assessment based or "instrumented" coaching. "The goal of

developmental coaching is to work on the basis of deeper insight into the place from where
clients make meaning of their personal or organisational experiences. This contrasts with the
phasic view of development, which sees a client’s issues as determined by life style, present
social conditions, and "renewal phase" (Hudson 1999, p. 37). It is believed that
developmental coaching is "instrumented" for the purpose of assisting clients in reaching a
subsequent level of mental growth and a more balanced process profile in periods not
shorter than a year. Such coaching is based on assessments that lead to customised coaching
strategies (fitted to the needs of the particular client). The coaching aims to assess
effectiveness in assisting clients reach a higher developmental level. It is based on a
methodology geared to producing outcome research on the effectiveness of entire coaching
and development programs.
In a study conducted by Agarwal, Angst & Magni (2009), the focus is on the effects of
managers’ coaching intensity on the performance of staff they supervise; they used a
developmental coaching theoretical framework for their investigation. They highlighted that
'developmental coaching occurs in the on-going and persistent interaction between a
supervisor and employee in which the supervisor provides constructive and developmental
feedback, helps subordinates handle difficult problems or situations, and creates
opportunities for practising complex procedures before using them in the work setting in
order to improve employees’ (Agarwal et al.2009, p. 2112).
Hawkins and Smith (2006 p. 24) highlight that ‘development coaching is more centred on the
coachee's long term development and thus has some aspects of mentoring’. Besides helping
the coachee develop competencies and capabilities, it will include more focus on the
development of the whole person and their human capacities and how they can use their
current role to develop their capacity for future roles and challenges; development learning,
however, tends to focus on increasing the coachee’s capacity within one level of the life
stage. Action logic transformation will be more involved with enabling the coachee to shift
levels and transition from one level of functioning to a higher order level.
3.5.8 Remedial coaching
Barner (2006) makes a succinct comparison between developmental and remedial coaching:
While transitional and developmental coaching are frequently used to help

managers prepare for future work challenges, remedial coaching takes a
corrective stance in helping clients get their performance back on track.
Remedial coaches tend to focus their efforts on exploring leadership style issues
that are related to shortfalls in the client’s performance. Leadership style issues
frequently center on such ‘career derailment factors’ as arrogance, insensitivity
to others, or the failure to build a strong base of influence in the organization.
(Barner 2006, p. 103)
The remedial coach’s role is one of devil’s advocate and trusted advisor (Barner 2006, p.
103):
As devil’s advocates, coaches encourage clients to step back and examine their
performance and behaviour from the perspective of other organizational
members. When needed, they also challenge the assumptions or beliefs that a
client may hold about his leadership performance, that may make it difficult for
the client to meet organizational expectations. An example would be the
executive who believes that the only way to insure quality work is to micro-
manage his team members. As advisors, coaches encourage their clients to try
out alternative leadership behaviours, and help clients think through the likely
implications of leadership decisions and actions. (Barner 2006, p. 103)
Remedial coaching focuses on assisting clients to analyse poor performance issues that may
be hampering the full potential of the client. Barner (2006) claims this is usually due to one
of three scenarios when remedial coaching is required for executives:
1. The ‘blind-sided’. Many executives who are facing such difficulties don't fully
understand how their behaviour is viewed and interpreted by other organizational
members.
2. The ‘minimizers’. Some clients clearly understand how they affect those around them
but minimize the potential impact of such difficulties (‘It's only a small problem which
will disappear by itself over time’).
3. The ‘justifiers’. Although clients recognize that their behaviour creates problems for
them, they also believe that this behaviour is, in some way, justified in terms of its
value in helping them achieve certain work results. As an example, consider the
manager who readily admits that she frequently finds herself locked into conflict with
other department heads. At the same time, the client is reluctant to change this
behaviour because she feels that it helps her wrestle certain important concessions,
such as financial resources, from her peers. (Barner 2006, p. 104)

Barner (2006) makes the salient point that remedial coaching is one of the most difficult
forms of coaching as it requires very high levels of coaching skills (diagnostics and
facilitation) and requires the ability to achieve agreement and alignment between
organisational stakeholders (clients’ supervisor, HR leaders and senior managers) that
remedial coaching is the right option.
3.5.9 Team coaching
Team coaching is defined as a type of coaching that 'supports team working by providing a
forum for dialogue to take place, improving communication, giving focus and clarity of
shared goals and increasing trust and collaboration' (Hall 2011, p. 8). Hackman and
Wageman (2005) define team coaching as the ‘direct interaction with a team intended to
help members make coordinated and task-appropriate use of their collective resources in
accomplishing the team’s work’ (p. 269). They place team coaching within the broader
context of leadership and how this relates to building team effectiveness and the roles of the
leader in relation to teams:
Team leaders engage in many different kinds of behaviours intended to foster

team effectiveness, including structuring the team and establishing its purposes,
arranging for the resources a team needs for its work and removing
organizational roadblocks that impede the work, helping individual members
strengthen their personal contributions to the team, and working with the team
as a whole to help members use their collective resources well in pursuing team
purposes. Leaders vary in how they allocate their time and attention across these
activities, depending on their own preferences; what they believe the team most
needs; and the team’s own level of authority, initiative, and maturity. Only the
last two sets of activities (helping individual members strengthen personal
contributions and working with the team to help use resources well) are
coaching behaviours, however, focusing respectively on individual team
members and on the team as a whole (Hackman & Wageman 2005, p. 269).
In a review of existing research and theory, Hackman and Wageman (2005) identify three
conceptually driven approaches to team coaching (process; behavioural; developmental)
and one eclectic approach which is largely theoretical (eclectic interventions) . These four
approaches are briefly described below, and may be valuable in terms of providing the
theoretical foundation for such approaches to assist in developing a coaching model for the
Australian Rail Industry.
Eclectic intervention
Eclectic coaching interventions are activities that derive from no particular theoretical
perspective but have considerable face validity nonetheless, in that a layperson would be
likely to assume that they would help a team perform well. Eclectic models are found mainly
in the practitioner literature as codifications of the lessons learned by management
consultants whose practice includes team facilitation (Fischer 1993; Kinlaw 1991; Wellins et
al. 1991). Although varied, these models specify ways that team leaders can develop
members’ interpersonal skills, define members’ roles and expectations, deal with conflict
and interpersonal frictions, and help a team achieve a level of “maturity” that lessens the
team’s dependence on its leader’ (Hackman & Wageman 2005, p. 270).

Process Consultation
The process consultation approach was developed by Schein (1969, 1988) and based on the
premise that interpersonal relations are the keystone to effective team performance and
that the team members must all be actively involved in improving and aware of their own
interpersonal relations within the team. In this approach to coaching:
The consultant engages team members in analysing group processes on two

levels simultaneously: (1) the substantive level—to analyse how human
processes are affecting work on a specific organizational problem—and (2) the
internal level—to better understand the team’s own interaction processes and
the ways that team processes foster or impede effective group functioning
(Schein, 1988: 11–12). This type of coaching requires the process consultant first
to directly observe the group as it works on a substantive organizational problem
and then, once the group is ready, to introduce systematic interventions
intended to help the team deal with its problems and exploit previously
unrecognized opportunities. (Hackman & Wageman 2005, p. 270)
Behavioural Model
According to Hackman and Wageman (2005),
two distinct models of team coaching are based on theories of individual

behaviour: (1) the application of Argyris’s (1982, 1993) theory of intervention to
team-focused coaching by Schwarz (1994) and (2) applications of operant
conditioning to the modification of team behaviour, notably those of Komaki
(1986, 1998) and her colleagues. (Hackman & Wageman 2005, p. 270)
Developmental Coaching
Time and timing are seen as crucial elements to the developmental coaching approach for
teams. ‘Two premises on which this approach is based are (1) that teams need help with
different issues at different stages of their development and (2) that there are times in the
life cycles of groups when they are more or less open to intervention' (Hackman & Wageman
2005, p. 271). It is also highlighted that the ‘learning session’ is a key coaching intervention
in the developmental approach in which
… the coach and team members review the team’s purpose, assess its progress
thus far, and identify the issues the team needs to deal with next ... Because
teams are unlikely to be able to process intensive interventions when task
demands are also high, learning sessions are reserved for periods of relatively
low cognitive demand. During intensive work periods, developmental coaches
focus mainly on gathering data about behaviour and performance for use guiding
subsequent interventions. When task demands diminish, active coaching
resumes. (Hackman & Wageman 2005, p. 271)
3.5.10 Peer coaching
The practice of peer coaching can have a major impact on supporting individuals to achieve
their job objectives. It can be applied to any industry. As the focus of this literature review is

to provide valid information in order to create a coaching model for the Australian rail
industry, it is believed that the available information in the literature based on peer coaching
can also assist in developing a coaching framework for the rail industry.
The research of Parker, Hall and Kram (2008) introduced the concept of peer coaching and
positioned it in relation to accelerated career learning. Their study differentiates between
peer coaching and the related concepts of mentoring and peer mentoring by arguing for
peer coaching relationships as opposed to more traditional mentoring approaches. For
example, in peer coaching both participants are learners and this allows for greater levels of
participation of individuals within any given workforce engaging in this mutually reciprocal
process.
According to Parker, Hall and Kram (2008):
Peer coaching is more focused than general peer learning ... Peer coaching is one
type of helping relationship, which, as Rogers (1973) emphasized, is based on
qualities such as unconditional positive regard, authenticity, and mutual trust, if
it is to be effective. There are other examples of developmental relationships
that support individual learning and facilitate career success. However, the
unique contribution of peer coaching is the inherent mutuality and reciprocity of
the process. Both individuals are learners, in contrast to more traditional models
of mentoring and other hierarchical learning relationships. The explicit and
primary purpose of the relationship is to service both parties’ learning (Parker et
al. 2008, p. 490).
Parker, Hall and Kram (2008) refer to the growing incidents of peer coaching emerging in the
literature in both corporate and academic settings. Of note and interest to the rail industry is
the process of peer coaching used at Vodafone, one of the largest telephone companies in
Australia. ‘Success has been reported at Vodafone, where peer groups were formed at each
level of the organization to accelerate culture change. Building a coaching ethos from the
top down and linking it with elements such as personal development reviews, briefings,
team building, and leadership courses contributed to a shift in priorities from day-to-day
processes to people development’ (Parker et al. 2008, p. 492).
Another example of peer coaching in the corporate world is given by Toto (2006) at a global
medical device company, Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD):
At BD, peer coaching is embedded in both its regular and recently launched
advanced leadership development programs. Validation of peer coaching’s
success has come in the form of positive feedback from BD’s 1,500 leaders
worldwide. That feedback stresses the fact that when peer coaching is practised
within these leadership development programs, the participants gain invaluable
insights into the topic attached to the coaching, while the coach gains confidence
in her abilities. Some of the topics that were used in peer coaching sessions
within BD ’s leadership programs include:
 ambiguity as a change agent
 job challenges as a catalyst for development

 emotional intelligence
 discipline of execution
 how to influence others
 learning agility
 action learning for leadership skills development (Toto 2006, p. 69).
At BD peer coaching has become embedded in the leadership development programs. Toto
(2006) also indicated that peer coaching can be applied in a variety of circumstances within
an organisation and can assist with developing a coaching culture throughout an
organisation. So what makes for successful and effective peer coaching?
Successful peer coaching is dependent upon how the coach and participants
approach the process and what techniques are used. An effective peer coach
should believe in helping, supporting, and guiding a peer and not appear as
someone who has all the answers or is eager is tell others what to do.
Participants to be coached should be open minded, interested, and appreciative
of peer learning, not defensive, closed minded , or preoccupied with their
reputations. When peer coaching is approached effectively, there is a certain
vulnerability for both parties, the coach is reaching into his experience and
expertise to help an employee, and the participant is being honest about
weaknesses that need to be strengthened. (Toto 2006, p. 69)
Parker, Hall and Kram (2008) suggest that the critical qualities of effective peer coaching are:
 equal status of peer coaching partners

 focus on personal and professional development
 reflection on practice as integral to the process
 emphasis on process as well as content—‘critical friend’
 accelerated career learning.
In addition, based on their research, Parker, Hall and Kram (2008) make five propositions:
1. Peer coaching is more effective to the extent that the peers have participated in the
matching process.
2. The peer-coaching process is more likely to be effective to the extent that it contains
an emotional component.
3. Peer-coaching outcomes are more likely to be positive when the relationship has the
following qualities: trust, mutual respect, professionalism, and mutual
accommodation.
4. Positive outcomes are more likely to be reached when both peers are motivated to
learn and when both contribute actively and equally to the process.

5. People are more motivated to engage in peer coaching independently when they
have previously experienced positive learning outcomes from peer coaching, such as
professional development
‘A frequently asked question about peer coaching is how it relates to other types of
coaching that take place within an organization, such as performance, career, and
developmental coaching’ Toto (2006, p. 69). Toto answers this question as, ‘peer coaching,
though different in its range of application and topical focus, fundamentally supports and
enhances other forms of constructive coaching practices within an organization. Peer
coaching thrives in an organization when other types of constructive coaching are
effectively and frequently practised’ (Toto 2006, p. 69).
In another study conducted by Ladyshewsky (2007) three separate 360-degree feedback

assessments took place across a two-year leadership development program and the role of
peer coaching in this program is identified as one the most important parts of learning and
development for managers. The program participants involved in the study consisted of self-
selected middle level managers from a public sector agency in Western Australia. As a result
of the research Ladyshewsky (2007) highlights that the opportunity to participate in a peer
coaching experience enabled participants to develop their coaching skills with each other
and also to extend this competency into the workplace with their subordinates. The
following is an excerpt from one of the participants in their research:
I found that through my role of peer coach to John [fictitious name] I was able to
use the skills that I developed to assist me in other parts of my role as a
manager. For example, I was able to improve the quality of feedback that I give
my subordinates on their project work through asking open ended questions,
actively listening, paraphrasing and initiating action on their concerns. The
coaching sessions opened up the opportunity to assess my personal
management in a non-threatening environment with a peer rather than my staff
or manager where equality becomes an issue and can often inhibit meaningful
discussion. (Ladyshewsky 2007, p. 435)
3.5.11 Cross-cultural coaching
As indicated by Plaister-Ten (2009) the emergence of cross cultural coaching in

contemporary coaching research and literature makes a strong case for consideration by the
Australian rail industry:
Cross-cultural coaching has the potential to be sought as a route to cross-cultural

effectiveness in the workplace and was declared ‘one of the hottest trends’ by
the Association for Coaching in June 2008. It can facilitate the efficacy of global
executives, multi-cultural teams, international mergers and acquisitions and
expatriate postings. Yet, coaching has emerged from a Western perspective that
may not be appropriate across cultures, given the forces of globalisation and the
multi-cultural nature of societies and workplaces today. (Plaister-Ten 2009, p. 64)
The cross cultural coaching literature is dominated by the work of Rosinski (2003, 2006) and
in partnership with other writers (Abbott & Rosinski 2007; Gilbert & Rosinski 2008). Here we
focus on two key works of contemporary research to provide a snapshot of the current state

of cross cultural coaching research. Other relevant literature includes: St Claire-Ostwald

(2007), Nangalia and Nangalia (2010), den Outer (2010) and Rojon and McDowall (2010).
Culture may be perceived as an integral part of the individual’s identity, as well

as a set of characteristics held by other groups, and thus an awareness of one’s
own cultural orientations and preferences is a powerful aid to self-understanding
and sustainable success in roles and relationships. (Gilbert & Rosinski 2008, p.
81)
In research conducted by Gilbert and Rosinski (2008), the authors aim to raise awareness of
and engagement with cultural perspectives in coaching by presenting an evaluation of a
recently launched online self-assessment tool, related to the Cultural Orientations
Framework (COF). The tool is designed for use by coaches and coachees in either an
individual or team based context. Cross cultural coaching research is critical to developing
an effective coaching framework for the Australian Rail Industry as a multicultural sector.
Previous Rail CRC research (Cameron et al. 2011, Wallace et al. 2011) and Engineers
Australia (2012) has highlighted skill shortages in the rail industry, with a large number of
engineers immigrating from different countries to fill this gap
(www.engineersaustralia.org.au). Cross cultural coaching models are thus relevant to all
organisational levels of the rail industry.
Culture is defined by Gilbert and Rosinski (2008) as:
... the characteristics of one group that distinguish it from another. A focus on
outward manifestations (gestures, language, behaviours, artefacts, etc.) has
given rise to a veritable industry advising people how to ‘understand’ and ‘cope
with’ cultures other than their own. While the best-known contemporary cross-
cultural theorists (Hofstede, 2001; Trompenaars & HampdenTurner, 1998) locate
culture to some extent in internal processes, the emphasis in much literature
tends to be on culture as external to ourselves, culture as something that other
people have and display. How we carry culture inside ourselves, how it shapes
our perceptions and choices in every situation, has remained relatively
unexplored. (Gilbert & Rosinski 2008, p. 81)
Gilbert and Rosinski (2008) also highlight the opportunities for leveraging cultural awareness
within team-based environments and argue strongly for the use of the COF tool:
If coaches approach individuals as ‘culture-neutral’ they may be missing a rich

vein of values, orientations, assumptions and behaviours. The COF enables
coaches and clients to access and reflect on the cultural characteristics
embedded in the individual, those traits and preferences that have a learned
origin through having been formed within a particular culture, rather than being
attributable to personality or other individual psychological factors. (Gilbert &
Rosinski 2008, p. 88)
The COF assessment tool can be used within individual and team coaching to:
 assess cultures, focusing attention on key variables and tendencies

 discover new cultural choices, open up new options, find new ways to generate
solutions
 assess cultural differences and similarities, and thus improve communication
 bridge different cultures (moving from recognition of differences and similarities

to action to bridge the gaps)
 envision a desired culture, by providing a vocabulary with which to describe

culture
 leverage cultural diversity, using diversity as a resource and creating synergy’

(Gilbert & Rosinski 2008, p. 88).
Plaister-Ten (2009) undertook a study in which she conducted 10 semi-structured interviews

with coaches with a minimum of five years cross-cultural coaching experience and
concluded:
Whilst there is no one ideal model that cross-cultural coaches draw upon, a
systems approach appeared to accommodate the multiple external influences
and cultural norms that the coach needs to be aware of. Working cross-culturally
takes time, drawing on the flexibility and creativity of the coach to facilitate
unique solutions when working with differing concepts of self, differing cultural
values and sometimes opposing cultural mandates ...
There appear to be key qualities that a cross-cultural coach draws on including:

challenging assumptions; remaining open; cultural self-awareness; and coping
with ambiguity. These techniques and qualities contribute to a cross-cultural
toolkit and the cross-cultural wisdom that is likely to be demanded by global
organizations and of global executive coaching. It is incumbent upon the cross-
cultural coach to be aware of and comfortable with their own cultural self-
identity in order to remove any bias today. (Plaister-Ten 2009, p. 64)
3.6 Theoretical models of coaching
Bachkirova, Cox and Clutterbuck (2010) refer to the popularity of coaching across the
economy and within a wide range of applied industry contexts. Coaching and coaching
practice cover a variety of professions, with multi-theoretical backgrounds and
interdisciplinary theoretical foundations. These authors are prominent authorities in the
field of coaching and refer to the range of theoretical disciplines coaching draws upon, ‘...
coaching is an applied field of practice that has its intellectual roots in a range of disciplines;
social psychology; learning theory; theories of human and organizational development; and
existential and phenomenological philosophy, to name just a few’ (Bachkirova et al. 2010, p.
1). A summary of these theoretical approaches, as documented in The Complete Handbook
of Coaching, is provided below.

Psychodynamic (Chapter 1)
Psychodynamic thinking has been influential for more than 100 years. It focuses in the
workings of the mind and the role of the unconscious processes in human behaviour,
in particular the dynamic relationship between different parts of the mind.
Cognitive-behavioural (Chapter 2)
Based on the premise that the way we think and have internal dialogue about events
greatly influences the way we feel about them which in turn impacts stress and
performance. The role of the critical inner voice and its impact on self-esteem and self-
worth.
Solution focused (Chapter 3)
The emphasis is on assisting the client to define a desired future state and to construct
a pathway in both thinking and action that assists the client in achieving that state.
Person-centred (Chapter 4)
This is an approach that can be undertaken one-to-one, in small groups and in
community settings. The focus is on facilitating the self-determination and full
functioning of the coachee. It is based on the philosophy that people are their best
own experts.
Gestalt (Chapter 5)
Derives from Gestalt therapy/psychology, with an emphasis on descriptive rather than
evaluative feedback and a strong adherence to the coachee’s own words, meanings
and subjective experience. Emphasises the role awareness plays in achieving effective
behaviour and a healthy way of life. The Gestalt coach is interested in how the coachee
meets or fails to meet their needs and assists them to better understand their own
thought processes and behavioural patterns.
Existential (Chapter 6)
Based on three principles which describe the human condition: relatedness;
uncertainty and existential anxiety. Instead of a speedy reduction or removal of a
coachee’s concerns, this approach is primarily a descriptive exploration of the
coachee’s worldview from within the context of their present concerns.
Ontological (Chapter 7)
Focuses on the three interrelated spheres of language, emotions and physiology.
Narrative (Chapter 8)
Coaches are seen as narrators with the coach helping the client to identify new
connections between their stories, their identities and their behaviours (Bachkirova et
al 2010, p 13).The coach prompts the coaches to view their stories, identities and
behaviours through different lenses/perspectives.
Cognitive-developmental (Chapter 9)
This approach suggests that people differ in their meaning making capacity due to
their personality types and preferences. Changes occur in a logical sequence of stages
throughout the individual’s life and can be assisted through this form of coaching.

Transpersonal (Chapter 10)

This approach recognises dimensions beyond the personal and focuses on the
interconnectedness of all elements in human systems and between systems. It focuses
on the coachee’s awareness of the transpersonal dimension of life and facilitating the
experience of being connected to others.
Positive psychology (Chapter 11)
This approach moves away from focusing on problems and weaknesses by drawing
attention to strengths and opportunities.
Transactional analysis / NLP (Chapter 13)
Transactional analysis and NLP coaching is based on the notions of ego states, life
scripts and interactional patterns. The important assumptions are that people make
current decisions and select goals and methods of their achievement based on past
premises that may be no longer appropriate for their own needs.
Source: Bachkirova et al. (2010)
These theoretical approaches can be aligned with the various genres and contexts of
coaching (Table 3.3).
Table 3.3: Coaching theory matrix (adapted from Bachkirova et al. 2010, p. 10)
Genres and Contexts Primary theoretical traditions Secondary theoretical traditions

Skills / Performance Coaching Cognitive-behavioural Psychodynamic
Solution focused Person-centred
Positive psychology Gestalt
Existential
Ontological
Transpersonal
Transactional analysis / NLP
Developmental Coaching Cognitive-behavioural Psychodynamic
Solution focused Gestalt
Person-centred Ontological
Narrative Transpersonal
Cognitive-developmental Positive psychology
Transformational Coaching Cognitive-behavioural Gestalt
Cognitive-developmental Existential
Transpersonal
Executive / Leadership Coaching Psychodynamic Solution focused
Cognitive-behavioural Person-centred
Transpersonal Existential
Ontological
Positive psychology
Manager as Coach Cognitive-behavioural Solution focused
Gestalt
Ontological
Narrative


Team Coaching Cognitive-behavioural Psychodynamic
Gestalt Solution focused
Cognitive-developmental Person-centred
Transpersonal Narrative
Positive psychology
Peer Coaching Cognitive-behavioural Solution focused
Person-centred Transactional analysis / NLP
Career Coaching Cognitive-behavioural Existential
Person-centred Transpersonal
Positive psychology
Source: Adapted from Bachkirova, Cox and Clutterbuck (2010, p. 10)
3.7 Developing a coaching culture/climate
Megginson and Clutterbuck (2006) conducted in-depth research on what is needed in

creating a coaching culture and have based their coaching culture diagnostic on two
principles. ‘The first that it should reflect the issues identified in our research not sure what
this sentence means; the second that, given that achievement of coaching culture is a
lengthy and gradual process, any diagnostic instrument should allow your college
[organisation] to see progress over time’ (Megginson & Clutterbuck 2006, p. 232). The
authors arranged their indicators in four levels, representing progressive sequential stages in
the process. These four stages are named nascent, tactical, strategic and embedded.
Nascent Stage:
...’an organisation shows little or no commitment to creating a coaching culture. While some
coaching may happen, it is highly inconsistent in both frequency and quality. Top managers
present poor role models and coaching behaviours tend to be abandoned in the face of
more urgent, if less important, demands on managers’ time. Any executive coaching
provided is uncoordinated and typically the result of severe performance problems with a
few individuals or a status boost for senior managers incapable of (or unwilling to engage in)
self-development. People tend to avoid tackling difficult behavioural or ethical issues, out of
embarrassment, ineptitude, fear, or a combination of all three’ (Megginson & Clutterbuck
2006).
Tactical Stage:
‘At the tactical stage, the organisation has recognised the value of establishing a coaching
culture, but there is little understanding of what that means, or what will be involved. Top
management sees the issue as primarily one for human resources’ (Megginson & Clutterbuck
2006, p. 233).
Strategic Stage:
‘...there has been considerable effort expended to educate managers and employees in the
value of coaching and to give people the competence (and therefore confidence) to coach in

a variety of situations. Managers are rewarded/ punished for delivery/non-delivery of

coaching, typically linked to formal appraisal of direct reports. Top management have
accepted the need to demonstrate good practice and most, if not all, set an example by
coaching others. They spend time getting across to employees how coaching behaviours
support the key business drivers’ (Megginson & Clutterbuck 2006, p. 233).
Embedded Stage:
‘... people at all levels are engaged in coaching, both formal and informal, with colleagues
both within the same function and across functions and levels. Some senior executives are
mentored by more junior people, and there is widespread use of 360 degree feedback at all
levels to provide insights into areas where the individual can benefit from coaching. Much, if
not most, of this coaching and mentoring is informal, but people are sufficiently
knowledgeable and skilled to avoid most of the downsides to informal mentoring’
(Megginson & Clutterbuck 2006, p. 233).
In 2000, coaching research was conducted in one of Australia’s major telecommunication

companies Vodafone. Vodafone’s change from a command-and-control culture to one based
on coaching and collaboration helped the company to top the league table of mobile-
telephone network quality in Australia. According to Eaton and Brown (2002), the company
culture of the mid-1990s had caused the company to slip behind competitors. The old
Vodafone culture rewarded a ‘heads down’ focus on achieving the month’s quota. Little
thought was given to the growing problems of Vodafone managers and their expanding
staff. Systems and departments were scaled up each year to achieve ever-higher targets. Old
processes were controlled by increasing bureaucracy and each new crisis was dealt with as it
arose.
HR specialists and senior managers began to discuss how culture change could be achieved.
A 360-degree assessment and feedback system was introduced, to give managers
information on the opinions of peers, reporting staff and line managers. This revealed that
employees needed to be included more in decision making and information exchange.
Significant investment was made in new information-technology systems to improve the
quality of information available to staff and managers. One-to-one coaching and coaching
skills training were used to reinforce and accelerate the culture change initiative. Coaching
was among the channels employed to disseminate information and ensure that the
individual objectives needed to create change were actually carried out. Team coaching
helped teams to define their common purpose and take appropriate action:
The coaching program had a magnificent impact on the staff and managers.
Team members spent less time guarding their position or defending their
actions, and more time getting on with the job. Team ownership of problems
increased and members spent more energy finding their own solutions, rather
than blaming others. Teams became more engaged in running the business and
challenging how and why things were done in a particular way. Transmitter sites
were rolled out faster and more efficiently as integrated teams and managers
competed to put their patch ahead of the competition. (Eaton & Brown 2002, p.
33)
Vodafone regained top position in 2000 and has held it ever since. However, traditional
attitudes to management don’t die overnight. Changes took place in some parts of Vodafone

more quickly than in others. Nevertheless, as existing managers gradually adapted and
incoming managers were introduced to the new culture from the start, evolutionary change
took hold and the role of the coaching programs and practices in Vodafone proved helpful in
enabling the company to move towards a more collaborative, productive and team-oriented
culture.
Rock and Donde (2008) have undertaken research with a focus on organisational change and
the use of coaches as change agents. Today, development leading to culture change is easier
than ever, and qualified and experienced coaches are playing a key role in assisting
organisations which are in the process of undergoing multiple changes at an increasingly
rapid pace. ‘Change is pain: any kind of major change initiative requires people to apply
focus and effort, to pay attention to bring about change’ (Rock & Donde 2008, p. 10). Most
organisations need to develop this capacity to execute change more effectively. The Human
Resources (HR) team is charged with driving the human side of change. These people need
help, specifically from people who know how to facilitate change; they require thinking
resources. So, it’s natural that they should turn to coaches.
In supporting their discussion, Rock and Donde (2008) explain the role of coaching in helping
organisations to make the process of change in the organisation less painful. The emotional
change required in organisational transition requires hardwiring of new learning through
insight and action. Coaches can facilitate this process. Change needs to be addressed at all
levels:
 driving the leadership pipeline through integrated coaching solutions
 personal and organisational performance change
 shifting culture by transforming the quality of every conversation—leading

to culture change
 lifting performance by improving retention and engagement (Rock & Donde 2008, p.
11).
In a case study conducted by Rock and Donde (2008), an Australian Government IT

department invested in developing relationships in graduate schools, and hiring talented
young people. However, they found that after a couple of years they were losing many of
them. This department wanted to improve the on-boarding process with these new
graduates so they could deepen people’s connections and success within the department.
After training over 100 internal coaches across this organisation, the feedback received
showed the internal clients felt far more valued by the organisation. Some issues to keep in
mind around internal coaches for on-boarding are:
 It’s important that people are educated about coaching so you increase the
chances of usage but it has to be optional.
 There needs to be structure and clarity so people know exactly what they are
getting into. You could have an on-boarding coaching product where you have
a brand and logo, and its 12 sessions over 6 months with specific outcomes.

 The best way of matching is to let the client to choose the coach (Rock &
Donde 2008, p. 16).
Wilson (2011, pp. 410-411) has developed a very practical guide to developing or creating a
coaching culture. This includes 10 steps:
1. Vision and purpose
2. Organizational health check
3. Identifying the stakeholders
4. Getting buy-in
5. Where to start
6. What to measure
7. Implement pilots
8. Evaluation and forward planning
9. Implement next phase
10. Maintain the momentum.
Work in the 21st century is increasingly global where companies recruit internationally and
workers migrate to where the jobs are. Hence, there is a clear need not only to understand,
but also to compare culture and cross-cultural differences. This is equally true for traditional
assessment contexts such as recruitment and promotion, but also for assessments for
developmental and coaching purposes. It has been noted that coaches increasingly face
situations where they are expected to work with clients from a variety of backgrounds.
Hence, considering the role of culture in the work of clients is an important responsibility for
coaches and in fact, 'a sound understanding of clients’ cultural perspectives can act as an
important leverage to add value to international coaching (Rojon & McDowall 2010, p. 1).
Psychometrics may offer a common point of reference and indeed, the use of cross-cultural
assessments, such as personality and competency measures, is increasing, facilitated by the
internet (Van de Vijver & Poortinga 2007; Daouk et al. 2006, cited in Rojon & McDowell
2010). However, practitioners and academics alike face a challenge to ensure that any
instruments used adhere to psychometric standards, whilst at the same time being
acceptable and usable across various cultures.

3.8 Summary
This wide ranging overview of the key issues and contemporary research and literature on
coaching has shed light on coaching as an emerging practice and profession. The review has
attempted to position coaching historically and to overview the professional bodies that
have emerged to direct the development of the profession and to ensure professional
standards and ethics. Along with coaching certification and higher education courses we
have presented the nature of coaching and focused on those types of coaching most
relevant to the rail industry and its workforce development needs: executive coaching;
leadership coaching; workplace coaching; career coaching; business coaching; e-coaching;
developmental remedial coaching; team coaching; peer coaching; and cross cultural
coaching. The theoretical models of coaching were then summarised and aligned with the
genres (or types) of coaching and coaching contexts most relevant to the rail industry.
The following quote from prominent authorities in the field provides a very good summation
as to the current state of coaching:
Coaching could be seen as a human development process that involves

structured, focused interaction and the use of appropriate strategies, tools
and techniques to promote desirable and sustainable change for the
benefit of the coachee and potentially for other stakeholders. Its popularity
is indisputable, and across all economic sectors an increasing number of
organizations are commissioning coaches to support their staff at different
stages in their careers. Coaching is therefore recognized as a powerful
vehicle for increasing performance, achieving results and optimizing
personal effectiveness. Because it has proved to be so effective, many
companies and government departments invest in internal and external
coaching for their employees. The work of independent coaches is
flourishing, enabling clients to accomplish their goals, both professionally
and personally. (Bachkirova et al. 2010, p. 1)
The review has identified several key messages for consideration by the rail industry:
 the array of coaching approaches and genres (and their related theoretical
foundations), provides both choice and challenge in terms of evaluating the approach
or approaches which will best suit organisational needs. This diversity provides a
‘smorgasbord of choice’ and allows for the customised development of coaching
interventions
 the increasing professionalisation of coaching provides a safeguard for the rail

industry when evaluating the services of external coaches and coaching services,
hence increasing organisational risk mitigation, quality service provision and
increasing the likelihood of ROI
 the benefits of coaching, as evidenced by the research presented, can be significant

for a variety of staff at different stages of their respective careers. It is not only in the
exclusive domain of the executive or senior leadership but applicable to all staff. It
also proffers benefits for overall organisational performance through workforce
development initiatives.

The development of a coaching culture is an imperative precursor to implementing a

coaching intervention or HRD activity.
3.9 Further reading
Averil, L, Moscovici, F & Goodier, H 2010, Coaching women to lead, Routledge, New York.
Carter, L, Giber, D & Goldsmith, M 2001, Best practices in organization development and
change : culture, leadership, retention, performance, coaching; case studies, tools,
models, research, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Cox, E, Bachkirova, T & Clutterbuck, D (eds) 2010, The complete handbook of coaching, Sage,
London.
Douglas, SK 2010, The mindful coach: seven roles for facilitating leader development, 2nd
ed., Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Dunning, D 2004, TLC at work: training, leading, coaching all types for star performance, 1st
ed., Davies-Black, Palo Alto.
Garvey, B, Stokes, P & Megginson, D 2009, Coaching and mentoring: theory and practice,
Sage, London.
Hawkins, P & Smith, N 2006, Coaching, mentoring and organizational consultancy:

supervision and development, Open University Press, Berkshire.
Kise, J 2009, Differentiated coaching: framework for helping teachers change, Hawker
Brownlow Education, Moorabbin, Vic.
Meyer, M & Fourie, L 2006, Mentoring and coaching: tools and techniques for
implementation, Knowres, Randburg.
Nelson-Jones, R 2006, Human relationship skills: coaching and self-coaching, 4th ed.,
Routledge, New York.
Peltier, B 2001, The psychology of executive coaching: theory and application, Brunner-
Routledge, Philadelphia-Hove.
Rhodes, C, Stokes, M& Hampton, G 2004, A practical guide to mentoring, coaching, and
peer-networking: teacher professional development in schools and colleges,
RoutledgeFalmer, London-New York.
Stephenson, P 2000, Executive coaching: lead, develop, retain, motivated, talented people,
Pearson Education, Frenchs Forest N.S.W.
Whitmore, J 2002, Coaching for performance growing people, performance and purpose, 3rd
ed., Nicholas Brealey, London.

Chapter 4: Conclusion
This report has reviewed a wide range of historical and contemporary advancements in
mentoring and coaching practices - exploring how each technique could be used in the rail
industry to advance programs of workforce development. The literature reports that both
mentoring and coaching programs are fast-emerging in the business environment as
complementary tools of human resource development. In an age of increasing technology,
individualised learning and cost control, it appears that formal face-to-face training
programs are giving way to alternative methods of human resource development where
employees engage in learning activities at a time and place to suit their own needs.
Each chapter in this review presented a brief summary of the main issues and these findings
will require further examination in rail organisations as part of the ongoing research program
in Stage 2. It would appear from the literature thus far that the benefits of mentoring and
coaching programs can be significant, but only if these programs are introduced in a
systematic and appropriate way as part of a wider human resource development strategy.
The review makes an important point that informal mentoring and coaching practices may
already be well-established in many rail settings so any formal arrangements must take care
to build on this existing culture rather than attempt to change it.
This report has revealed an absolute need for ethical and responsible practice. At the
present time, professional standards and lead bodies in mentoring and coaching are still
emerging around the world. Sections 1 and 2 outline these developments and suggest that
mentoring and coaching programs should not be the unique preserve of special occupational
groups, but rather, made available to anyone where the need emerges. Equally important is
the nature of mentoring and coaching relationships – particularly in relation to the
perceptions of power. Rail organisations must therefore be diligent in the deployment of
equitable policy and practice. For these reasons, the next stage of research will consider the
strategic positioning of mentoring and coaching in rail settings.
One critical issue in relation to the uptake of mentoring and coaching will be the extent to
which these activities can be seen to add value to rail organisations. The literature review
has found many examples reporting the positive benefits of mentoring and coaching, but
these tend to be longer-term and largely unique to each context. Therefore, each rail
organisation will need to ascertain its own value and those measured will be reviewed in
Stage 2 of the research project.
Finally, the totality of this review suggests that rail organisations could benefit substantially
from adopting a unified approach and national framework that managed any risks by: (1)
setting professional standards for the industry; (2) providing best-practice guidance for those
leading mentoring and coaching programs; (3) offering a range of evaluative tools to validate
a likely return on investment; (4) ensuring that mentoring and coaching reach out to
diversity groups; and (5) ensuring benefits were distributed equitably to everyone involved
in the processes.

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REVISION DATE ACADEMIC REVIEW INDUSTRY REVIEW APPROVAL

Copyright © 2014 CRC for Rail Innovation

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................. I

CRC for Rail Innovation February 2012 Page i

 the development of a coaching culture is an imperative precursor to implementing a

CRC for Rail Innovation February 2012 Page ii

2.1 The relationship between mentoring and coaching 8

CRC for Rail Innovation February 2012 Page iii

Abbreviations and Acronyms

ASCCANZ Association, Supervision, Coaching and Consultancy Australia and NZ

CRC for Rail Innovation February 2012 Page iv

CRC for Rail Innovation February 2012 Page 1

Table 1.1: Distribution of literature consulted

Publication Year Type Regional Focus Discipline

Broadly, each chapter will address:

- the background and contexts of mentoring and coaching

- how rail organisations might benefit

- approaches to mentoring and coaching

- applications such as professional development and use of technology

- strengths, weaknesses and other forms of evaluation.

CRC for Rail Innovation February 2012 Page 2

Chapter 2: Workplace Mentoring

2.1 What is mentoring?

Despite numerous articles on mentoring across multiple disciplines including health,

Mentoring is an intense long-term relationship between a senior, more

Regardless of terminological quibbles, mentoring is ‘a deeply human, normal and very

Mentoring: a process for the informal transmission of knowledge, social capital,

Most contemporary literature identifies two significant dimensions to the workplace

promote good management-employee relations, thus improving overall job performance

In an effort to capitalise on the reported benefits of naturally occurring informal mentoring,

Our decision to define mentoring in such a way as to disqualify formal mentoring

2.1.1 Mentoring and other developmental relationships in the workplace

This review considers mentoring alongside an equally popular HRD process—coaching. It is

CRC for Rail Innovation February 2012 Page 4

Figure 2.1: The relationship between mentoring and coaching

Reciprocity: involving a mutual, rather than one-way, social exchange

Regular/consistent interaction: typically of a longer term nature than other workplace

2.2 A brief history of workplace mentoring

2.2.1 Origins of the term ‘mentor’

CRC for Rail Innovation February 2012 Page 5

2.2.2 Mentoring in the Renaissance and Industrial Revolution

2.2.3 Mentoring in current turbulent times

CRC for Rail Innovation February 2012 Page 6

Figure 2.2: Number of mentoring Figure 2.3: Disciplinary focus of mentoring

Furthermore, there is ‘a widespread recognition of the limitations of formal classroom-based

CRC for Rail Innovation February 2012 Page 7

2.3 Informal and formal mentoring

2.3.1 Informal mentoring

Regardless of any planned intervention, informal mentoring will occur spontaneously in

For the mentor:

 gaining valuable experience from other groups within the sector

 developing interpersonal skills

 opportunity to nurture networks

 satisfaction from enabling others to develop

 learning the art of reflective dialogue

 achieving clear goals and direction

For the mentee:

 developing reflective learning