How shadow coaching helps leaders to improve their performance on the job in real-time

B Roelofs International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and The Coaching and Mentoring Network Articles 2019

Self-awareness is critical for leadership success. It not only builds and strengthens leadership skills, it also supports leaders’ creativity and innovation and helps increase the self-awareness of those around the leaders. This study, used the qualitative research approach Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to gain rich and in-depth knowledge of the lived experience of eleven leaders being shadow coached, a coaching intervention where coaches join clients in their work environment and help them to increase their performance on the spot. Leaders found that shadow coaching not only increased their self-awareness within a very short time frame, it also showed there was instant positive change in their attitude and leadership approach.