The Center for Leadership Coaching Program

The Center for Leadership is excited to announce we have received three years of funding to continue offering our impactful Coaching Program for students during the academic year. Each semester, 30 students are partnered with a professional leadership coach and receive approximately 10 hours of coaching at no financial cost (a $5,000 to $10,000 value). Coaching is defined as “a one-to-one relationship in which the coach and coachee work together to identify and achieve organizationally, professionally, and personally beneficial developmental goals” (Sonesh, Coultas, Lacerenza, Marlow, Benishek, & Salas, 2015, p. 73). Coaching is widely used in organizations to develop leaders and has become an increasingly popular tool used in university settings to develop student leaders. Specifically, coaching has been linked to many outcomes valued by the Center for Leadership including improved emotional intelligence (EQ) (Halliwell, Mitchell, & Boyle, 2021), well-being (Grant, Curtayne, & Burton, 2009; Grant, Green, & Rynsaardt, 2010), happiness (Seligman et al. 2005), and leadership self-awareness  (Leonard-Cross, 2010).

Results from our own research study designed to evaluate the impact of coaching on students’ well-being and leadership outcomes during the 2022-23 academic year suggest the program was successful in developing leadership skills and fostering personal growth among participants. Working with a coach is effective in shaping emotionally intelligent student leaders who are aware of their strengths and weaknesses and have higher levels of happiness and lower levels of burnout.

Grant, A. M., Curtayne, L., & Burton, G. (2009). Executive coaching enhances goal attainment, resilience and workplace well-being: A randomised controlled study. The journal of positive psychology, 4(5), 396-407.
Grant, A. M., Green, L. S., & Rynsaardt, J. (2010). Developmental coaching for high school teachers: executive coaching goes to school. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 62(3), 151.
Halliwell, P., Mitchell, R., & Boyle, B. (2021). Interrelations between enhanced emotional intelligence, leadership self-efficacy and task-oriented leadership behaviour–a leadership coaching study. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 43(1), 39-56.
Leonard-Cross, E. (2010). Developmental coaching: Business benefit–fact or fad? An evaluative study to explore the impact of coaching in the workplace. International Coaching Psychology Review, 5(1), 36-47.
Seligman, M. E., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: empirical validation of interventions. American psychologist, 60(5), 410.
Sonesh, S. C., Coultas, C. W., Lacerenza, C. N., Marlow, S. L., Benishek, L. E., & Salas, E. (2015). The power of coaching: a meta-analytic investigation. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 8(2), 73-95.