Understanding the importance of gender and leader identity formation in executive coaching for senior women

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Understanding the importance of gender and leader identity formation in executive coaching for senior women
Coaching Jounral

Within the principles of constructivist grounded theory this study investigates the
developmental factors involved in executive coaching for women in senior roles. The
paper presents an analysis of the unique experiences of eleven senior women in their
executive coaching engagements in Australia. The findings support recent discourse
suggesting the need for a gender perspective in coaching senior women – an area
currently underexplored in the research literature. The formation of a professional
identity as a female leader was a core theme that emerged from the data. Analysis of
semi-structured interviews led to the identification of several enabling factors that
contributed to their leader identity formation and helped to mitigate the impact of male
norms of leadership evident at senior levels. These included the coach as role model
managing motivation at senior levels and leading with authenticity. These enablers
were salient in the analysis and reinforced the gender dynamics implicit in the
participant’s organisational contexts. The emergence of professional identity formation
and the relevance of gender-related aspects of this formation process suggest that
executive coaches need to explicitly recognise leader identity formation and the
potential implications of gender in order to optimise executive coaching for senior
women.

Citation: 
Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 2014 Vol. 7, No. 2, 102 – 114

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