The purpose of organisational coaching: Time to explore and commit

In the fast-growing field of organisational coaching many issues identified in research and practice can be traced back to the fact that the purpose of this intervention continues to be merely assumed. This paper undertakes a critical examination of the main conundrums in practice and research that arise from the lack of appropriately considered purpose of organisational coaching. In order to generate a conceptual foundation for the necessary debates on these issues, a new framework is introduced that helps to identify and structure the essential layers of consideration concerned with the purpose of coaching. The proposed framework, together with a set of underlying principles, is designed to support meaningful integrations of coaching research studies as well as resolving some challenging issues for practitioners, educators and sponsors of coaching. As an example of using the framework I offer a way of defining the purpose of organisational coaching which should allow the practice to be better placed for responding to current and future challenges.