Effectiveness of coach specific training on senior level leaders; with an emphasis on transformational leadership

Training, employee development, and leadership are integral to organizational success. Coach specific training (CST) has been shown to positively impact leadership effectiveness and employee development. Previous study of CST has not been attempted to quantify the impact of CST on coaching knowledge or leadership style. The current study seeks to fill this gap by utilizing a quasi-experimental design to empirically test the effectiveness of a CST professional development program, emphasizing transformational leadership, on senior level leaders. This study pre and post-tests the level of senior level leader's knowledge of coaching and their propensity towards three styles of leadership: transformational; transactional; and, laissez-faire. The intervention for this study consisted of a twenty-one-hour CST leadership program with an emphasis on transformational leadership provided to twelve leaders who agreed to participate and who completed two assessments, International Coach Federation's (ICF) Coach Knowledge Assessment (CKA) and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), pre and post training.