In what ways can sport business leaders benefit from an executive leadership program that offers opportunities for growth and development through sport business leadership and executive coaching? According to many universities leadership is important in the workplace, Masse (2022) with Siena Heights University suggests that “Leaders provide direction and vision, motivate, and inspire others to achieve the organization’s goals, and help to create an environment conducive to success by promoting communication and collaboration among team members.”
One innovative idea can generate many more, making coaching a vital investment for any business. Coaching helps people access hidden resources and potential, allowing leaders to create trust and confidence (Webb 2019). Coaches help business leaders discover inner resources within their employees that may have gone unseen. “Successful leaders can transform organizations, enhance value creation, create efficiencies, and engage their employees to deliver better results. Through leadership and coaching skills training, managers can learn how to create a vision for their team and find ways to inspire others to achieve it” (IMD School of Business, 2023).
This paper will review the research to address the question posed and to determine a correlation between the two disciplines, sport business leadership and life coaching; through interdisciplinary research, to find the dichotomy concerning leadership advancement and to discover similarities to reach the common ground so executives can be better informed about executive leadership coaching.
Interdisciplinary Approach
An interdisciplinary approach to the question allows for pointed observations from multiple sides. First, sport businesses, like adventure sports, are considered niche sport that offers opportunities for growth and development through experiential learning and leadership opportunities that allow for life coaching pathways utilizing health and well-being promotions through social and environmental interactions (Eastabrook et al., 2020; Liu et al., 2020). By enlightening sport business leaders on developing better programs and evolving into better leaders using a life coaching track. Leaders influence employee behaviors through organizational leadership. Organizational leadership coaching or executive coaching develops skills in leaders like problem-solving, delegation, coaching others, and developing policies and procedures while working with their team members (Sharma, 2023; Gemeda et al., 2020).
Sharma (2023) goes on to explain that the coaching leadership style offers managers the opportunity to gain new skills while taking advantage of the expertise of their coach. In addition, Liu et al., (2020) posit that leaders develop throughout their lifespan with evolving experiences. This research by Antonakis, Simonton, and Wai (2019) as cited by Liu et al., (2020) will assist executives in gaining an understanding of how leaders develop cognitive skills to fulfill the leadership role and how these skills can necessitate strategic, cognitive, and behavioral leadership skills where an executive coach may play a pivotal part in honing in on these skills.
Relevance of Disciplines
Grover (2016) posits that coaching pathways that develop perspective, empathy, and focus using actionable steps to develop leaders, leadership styles and even enhancement of management qualities will assist in developing better programming for participants, employees and even the leaders themselves within sport businesses. Whilst Northouse (2019) suggests learning to lead in a more productive manner through servant leadership, transformational leadership, and learning to promote autonomous learning experiences through actionable steps to reach goals while promoting an improved work-life balance. Sport business leadership promotes the development and identification of leadership norms using theories like leader-member exchange (Goff et al, 2019; Gemeda 2020; Northouse 2019).
Leader-member exchange or LMX theory involves exchanges within an organization that can influence employee outcomes based on the leader and follower relationship. According to Matsuo and Nagata (2020) suggest that learning through challenging experiences makes up 70 percent of human resource development (HRD), social support from others makes up 20 percent of development and formal training programs make up 10 percent of development. Providing leaders with experiential learning, challenging experiences, and even team building exercises guided by executive coaches in an interdisciplinarian format should elicit gains in developing skills and leadership that far outweigh formal training. Therefore, by seeking out research from sport business leadership, leadership, executive leadership, coaching, leadership coaching and experiential learning executives should be able to discover relevant similarities from the two disciplines.
Develop Adequacy in Relevant Discipline
Repko and Szostak (2021) posit that to develop adequacy in relevant disciplines there needs to be an understanding of each relevant discipline’s cognitive map and it should be sufficiently identified; perspective of the problem, epistemology, assumptions and concepts, theories, and methods will all be discussed in depth in this research assignment. The perspective problem is to determine the correlation between sport business leadership and life coaching. Sport business leadership is a field within the sport business industry that focuses on individuals who develop and impact the effectiveness of team building and management of sport related organizations. Sport business leaders demonstrate teamwork, self-management, self-belief, communication skills and problem-solving skills. While life coaching can be described as an individual who provides coaching to those going through a transition in life who are looking to maximize their potential. In business, an executive coach provides professional counseling tailored to high-achieving leaders to help them identify areas of opportunity and grow their core competencies. In many situations, an executive coach will partner with organizational leaders to set goals to make behavioral changes that lead to better outcomes assisting them in becoming more efficient leaders.
Research Insight
Carson et al, (2020); Eastabrook and Collins, (2021); Matsuo and Nagata (2020) support that the research found that sport business leaders in the adventure sport niche, are interested in developing leaders through experiential learning experiences that offer opportunities for growth and development of leadership styles, strengthening communication skills, strategic thinking and how to motivate others. Life coaching offers pathways to sport business leaders to develop these skills by focusing on actionable steps to reach goals while teaching valuable professional and personal skills to develop those leadership traits that are more cohesive and in-line with team building, trust development, and better outcomes (Grover, 2016; Webb, 2019).
Managers of the past were expected to have moved up the ranks based on developing their expertise in a technical, functional, or professional way. Today there is rapid and constant change causing management to fall behind and not have all the answers, according to Dasari (2023) “requiring managers to move away from traditional command-and-control practices and toward a model in which leaders give support and guidance rather than instructions and employees learn to adapt to constantly changing environments that unleash renewed energy, innovation, and commitment.” To accomplish this organizations are reaching out to leaders and executive coaches to develop programs that enhance the leadership proficiencies of their managers.
Conflicts
Gemeda and Lee (2020) posit that in the research findings of their study that research is lacking in self-efficacy when executive coaching programs are studied and suggest further research be conducted. Furthermore, Allen and Fry (2019) found that coaching should be focused on spiritual development and personal growth promotion rather than to promote a more inclusive servant leader or follower trajectory for business leaders. Additionally, Crisp (2020) posits that coaching is a leadership style in and of itself and that this avenue prepares participants to thrive in business. Organizations benefit from coaching that is ongoing rather than a one-time workshop or teambuilding exercise. Rather organizations are looking for in-house leaders that coach by engaging with the employees daily, creating and defining the organizations culture and advance the mission by asking questions instead of providing answers, supporting rather than judging and facilitating development in learning instead of dictation (vanWynen, 2020). Leaders and managers are finding that transformational leadership is a sought-after skill and therefore must develop this skill to stay fresh and on top of their game. Northouse (2019) says that transformational leaders get people to want to change, to improve, and to be led.
Conflicts arise when managers are unwilling to change and remain relevant and aware of the emerging culture within their organization. Executive coaching offers managers unwilling to change an opportunity to grow and develop their authoritarian leadership styles to that of more of a transformational leader.
Common Ground
Interdisciplinarians use common ground to correlate two conflicting sides by modifying one or two of the theories. Finding commonalities between the two theories of leadership which involves characteristics and behaviors individuals can adopt to enhance their leadership abilities with that of life coaching; whereas coaching works to build and identify the individuals’ strengths bringing about enlightenment demonstrates common ground being found for two disciplines. Tying together leadership skills with life skills so that the participant gains the most advantageous knowledge.
Liu et al, (2020); Seifried et al, (2020); and vanWynen (2020) suggest that leadership and coaching when utilized together can provide greater opportunities for business leaders by promoting a more cohesive work culture. Liu et al, (2020) goes further in discussing leadership across the lifespan with an experiences approach. This suggests that leaders gain knowledge and skills throughout their lives from experience rather than from technical and professional training of the past. Grover and Furnham (2016) posit that organizations are increasingly using business coaching as an intervention to improve the productivity and performance of their senior personnel.
Moreover, Webb (2019) discusses the importance of how S.M.A.R.T. goals can promote not only personal growth but also professional growth and thus develop better leaders in organizations that are ready to advance the culture and effectiveness of teams. While the research found some conflict, that conflict is easily redefined by using theoretical extension. As Matsuo and Nagata (2020) posit in their research that Gibbs (1989) Reflective Cycle model states that reflecting on your learning experience allows you to better your performance as it is happening while improving the experience for the future, while Kolb (1984) Experiential Learning cycle model focuses on the four-step learning process, concrete learning, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. Therefore, it can be assumed that the commonality between the two theories, sport business leadership and life coaching are linked with learning, improving experiences, and goal orientation.
Summary
This research paper demonstrates that sport business leadership can benefit from an executive coaching program to develop well-rounded leaders who promote a culture within the organization conducive to leading, efficacy, experiential learning, goal setting and augmentation of skillsets such as communication, empathy, and servanthood (Hughes et al., 2020 and Allen and Fry, 2020 and Matsuo and Nagata, 2020). Organizational culture has shifted and as such organizations need to adjust and encourage leaders and managers to upgrade their approaches to leadership. Employees want to be part of a team rather than just showing up for their job. In other words, they want a stake in the organizations ethos and mission to reach fulfillment in their chosen career paths.
Leadership and executive coaching are emerging providing extremely valuable processes in developing new organizations and revitalizing established organizations. Managers will be seeking information and research to gain understanding of how this new phenomenon can assist in developing better managers and help existing ones to navigate towards becoming better leaders within their organizations. Research in these areas is needed and timely and just as Matsuo and Nagata (2020) discuss new ways of gaining data is necessary for organization leaders to make informed decisions. Crisp (2020) explains that to thrive in business, coaching is a leadership style that prepares participants.
Commonalities of the two disciplines involves characteristics and behaviors that individuals adopt to enhance their abilities and skills, bringing about strengths through enlightenment demonstrating a common ground and even more so a common goal. Organizations seeking executive coaching will provide their leaders with experiential learning and team building exercises that far outweigh traditional training effecting the culture of the organization and changing the leadership values from top-down to that of a more cohesive team with like-minded goals and outcomes. Executive coaching is fast becoming an investment to many organizations looking to develop leaders, particularly within the sport business leadership niche (Eastabrook et al., 2020).
Suggestions for Future Research
Gemeda et al, (2020) certainly suggested future research be conducted as their study found that the lack of research in executive business leader coaching placed business leaders at a disadvantage while conducting research to better serve their organizations and employees at all levels. Allen and Fry (2020) posit that spirituality should be promoted in organizations to better serve the culture of the business however research is lacking to support this therefore further research should be conducted as to servant leadership and how developing servanthood within an organization can lift the overall morale.
Grover and Furnham (2016) suggest that organizations tend to reserve coaching for senior individuals due to the intrinsic cost of coaching, furthermore, some studies in their review have highlighted that coaching may be more effective in younger individuals just entering their careers. While coaching is taking off and becoming an important tool for organizations, leaders within the organization will look to research to understand how coaching is effective as this will enable organizations to augment the efficacy of this intervention.
Matsuo and Nagata (2020) suggest future research due to limitations from Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning model as it fails to explain higher-order learning, they developed a six-step model consisting of (1) expected and unexpected experiences, (2) the management of emotions, (3) reflective analysis, (4) abstract conceptualization, (5) unlearning, and (6) active experimentation (Kayes, 2002; Reynolds, 1999; Vince, 1998 as cited by Matsuo and Nagata 2020). This model develops a checklist for the debriefing processes. Matsuo and Nagata (2020) further explain that Gibbs’ (1988) model is widely used in debriefing sessions however the revised model and checklist offer the advantage of suitability not only for general learning, but also deep learning. This six-step model affords future research endeavors that will dramatically assist organization leaders in fully understanding the benefits of executive coaching for leaders and the potential outcomes.
Enlightenment
In any relationship a key component is trust. Blackaby et al. (2018) suggests that integrity is especially important for leadership coaches and that “trust building is the ability to establish and maintain confidence and rapport with another person.” While Webb (2019) postulates that coaching is both a role and a style of leading. Still allowing Christ’s guidance provides strength as we pursue betterment in our work and home life (Philippians 4:13, NIV), this verse is powerful as it demonstrates that through Christ, we receive the strength to persevere through all trials and tribulations that life throws our way. Leading with empathy and providing servanthood to our cohorts, staff, managers, and employees creates a culture of serving others as a way of leading that promotes growth. Jesus trained his disciples and Paul trained Timothy. A life coaching principle is found in (1 Thessalonians 5:11, NIV; Peterson et al., 2023), where Paul admonishes the church in Thessalonica to, “Encourage one another and build each other up” (NIV; Peterson et al., 2023).
Chopra (n.d) said, “Enlightened leadership is spiritual if we understand spirituality not as some kind of religious dogma or ideology but as the domain of awareness where we experience values like truth, goodness, beauty, love, and compassion, and intuition, creativity, insight, and focused attention therefore, those qualities can be shared with others and transcend throughout the organization.” According to Tree (n.d) as described in The Times of India, “An enlightened leader leads a team selflessly towards a holistic goal, while enabling development of maximum potential of members.” “An enlightened leader would be a person of strong character with emotional intelligence leading by example” (Tree, n.d). Across religions there is an understanding that leadership involves acts of selflessness and possessing those qualities allows leaders to rise up and serve others for the betterment of the community or even the organization.
Matthew 20:25-28 (NIV), Jesus tells His disciples that leaders should not exercise authority over people. Instead, whoever wants to become great must lower himself to be a servant. Leaders realize that serving others is the only way to lead with a pure heart, free of pride and arrogance. Jesus is the ultimate example Mark 10:45, NIV): “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
A true leader not only serves those being led, but the degree of such service is also self-sacrifice. In Jesus’ case, it led to his death by crucifixion on behalf of others. Christ’s leadership style was characterized by compassion, love, and servanthood. Crowther (2022) explains further that, “Jesus is the example of a great leader by giving his life, not just his death, as a ransom for many but by offering himself as the good shepherd who placed the needs of others before himself, by leading with his heart and encouraging others to do the same.”
Conclusion
Although there needs to be more research conducted as to the value coaching can have for leaders and managers of organizations the research supports that there are benefits from an executive leadership program that offers opportunities for growth and development by utilizing a coaching model. This research paper demonstrates that sport business leadership can benefit from an executive coaching program to develop well-rounded leaders who promote a culture within the business conducive to leading, efficacy, experiential learning, goal setting and augmentation of skillsets such as communication, empathy, and even servanthood. Lui et al., (2020) posits that some individuals are born leaders while others grow into the role.
To expand the leadership abilities of executives, organizations are looking to executive coaches to work on new perspectives, better performance, self-awareness, confidence, free thinking, and enhanced leadership. Ibarra and Scoular (2023) suggest that executives will then be able to empower their employees to speak up, build teams, to resolve issues quickly and that leadership coaching may be a way to teach leaders better communication styles when other methods to help them have failed. Executive leadership coaching brings about the best of management styles and methods. As they deal with different kinds of companies, coaches see successful applications in unrelated situations (Ibarra and Scoular, 2023). “They bring these strengths to your team” (Ibarra and Scoular, 2023). When organizations get stuck due to a lack of understanding a fresh perspective from a leadership coach can expand and widen the understanding of upper management and executives.
Organizations are looking to develop their leadership in novel ways and although leaders have technical problem-solving skills embracing new strategies can mitigate communication breakdowns, rapidly changing markets, customer acquisitions and even build better teams within the organization. Leaders need to create an environment that provokes introspection and self-reflection to clarify and format goals by building community within the organization. Ultimately it is up to leadership to develop the culture of the organization. Leaders that allow for open communication and growth from their employees thrive.
The research demonstrated a need for further research to be conducted so that executives can better understand this novel technique and approach to leader development. Matsuo and Nagata (2020) describe their six-step model that takes Kolb and Gibbs theories to the next step and suggests a pathway for future research that will assist executives in fully understanding the benefits of executive coaching for leadership and the potential outcomes.
The interdisciplinary approach found common ground between the two disciplines. The common ground that can be found is communication. Leaders and employees alike are seeking an individual that offers stellar communication skills, critical thinking, resilience, and the ability to encourage others. Traditional leadership training involved the development of technical skills; communication was not at the forefront. Today’s leaders look more at their team members to collaborate and provide innovative ideas that will enhance the organization’s culture, goals, outcomes, and overall success.
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