The Benefits of Coaching for Employees and their Organisations

The aim of this study is to gain knowledge on the influence of coaching on the performance of employees and on the performance of their organisation as a whole. From the literature review it was expected that there would be a positive relation between the coaching styles ‘friend’, ‘prophet’ and ‘expert’ and the performance of the coachee and of the organisation, and a negative relation between the coaching style ‘officer’ and the performance of the coachee and of the organisation. From the empirical part of the study it became clear that the coaching styles prophet and friend both have a positive influence on the performance of the individual. This means that, by adopting these two styles the performance of the employee can be improved. Furthermore, the statistics show that the coaching styles expert and officer have no significant influence on the performance of the coachee; it has neither a positive influence, nor a negative one. This means that it makes no difference when a coach uses one of these styles. More specifically, it is a useless utilisation of one’s time and energy when taking on one of these styles. Furthermore, it becomes clear that only the coach as a friend has a significant direct positive effect on the performance of the organisation as a whole. This means that, by adopting this style in coaching an employee, the performance of his/her organisation can be improved. The significant relation between the prophet style and individual performance has an indirect (positive) effect on the performance of the organisation as a whole. The coaching styles expert and officer have, although expected otherwise, no significant influence on organisational performance. This can be logically explained by the fact that neither of them has a significant influence on individual performance. These findings are discussed and reflected in recommendations for organisations and further research.