Executive Coaches in Organizations: Insiders from Outside

This chapter discusses the role of external executive coaches as powerful resources for the success of managers and organizations. Being simultaneously outside and within an organization, coaches are suspended from the mundane pressures, requirements, and restrictions of the organization, while having an opportunity to learn a great deal about it and exercising potentially very significant influence on the decision-makers or key contributors usually receiving the coaching services. Although coaching has become a widespread approach towards developing executives and increasing organizational effectiveness, our knowledge about coaches — the people who actually deliver the service — and their place in organizations that use their services is still rather limited. The nature of the coaching work, however, suggests that coaches are an important type of human resource for companies using these services.