Identifying the Components of Coaching Leadership (Case study: the Iranian Electricity Industry)

Coaching leadership is one of the new leadership models in modern organizations. It is a process for developing expertise and improving the employees’ personal growth; however, many managers know little about this leadership style or do not have the necessary skills to exercise it. This study aimed to identify the components of coaching leadership.

This research is applied in terms of purpose, a field study in terms of data collection method, and exploratory (qualitative-quantitative) in terms of its implementation method. In its qualitative part, the grounded theory was used. For data analysis, the systematic approach, developed by Strauss and Corbin, was applied through open, axial, and selective coding. In order to validate the components of the research, several methods were used, among which the member checking method (interviewees) and interrater reliability were the most significant ones. In the quantitative part, the survey method was used. A 21- item researcher-made questionnaire was also used to collect data. Construct validity was assessed to evaluate the validity of the instrument based on confirmatory factor analysis. Cronbach's alpha method and combined reliability were used to evaluate the reliability of the questionnaire. The statistical population of the present study consisted of two parts. In the first part, the target population included prominent experts and university professors of leadership and coaching. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 of them using the snowball sampling method. The latest related sources were also analyzed. In the second part, the statistical population included all employees working in the public sector of the Iranian electricity industry, i.e. 16,899 people. From among them, using Cochran's formula, 370 people were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling.

The results of the qualitative section indicated the components of coaching leadership as self-awareness, building-trust, empathy, effective communication, helping to set goals and design actions, monitoring growth and development, and team building.

According to the obtained results, the components of coaching leadership including self-awareness, empathy, building-trust, effective communication, helping to target and design actions by employees, monitoring the personal growth and development of employees, and team building in the Iranian electricity industry stand below the average level. Therefore, managers are required to try to strengthen these components, achieve the basic skills of coaching leaders, and put into practice their serious mission in organizations and Iranian society.