Front-line coaching and organizational culture: Practices of front-line employee coaching to support organizational improvement

Coaching is a well-known term in the field of sports as it is in the business sector. Most if not all coaching practices are designed to improve personal development. In the business sector, coaching practices have been accomplished with organizational leaders such as executives and managers who are coached on how to successfully lead their organization to achieve results. The field of Human Performance Technology (HPT) includes performance and career coaching as a form of personal development to improve organizational performance. According to the Association of Talent Development (ATD), U.S. businesses collectively spend billions of dollars annually to invest in human capital. While much of this investment can be attributed to instructional methods, coaching is a non-instructional performance intervention that is accomplished through written, verbal and interpersonal communication. The ability to identify and explore how coaching in organizations is supported with front-line employees represents an opportunity to minimize annual training costs. To explore this phenomenon, a three-phased, exploratory, multiple method Delphi research design was used to determine consensus on how the culture in organizations support the practice of coaching front-line employees. Experts in the field of coaching and training were used to determine consensus on this phenomenon. The results of this study revealed that 10 dimensions of an organization's culture does support coaching with front-line employees. These cultural dimensions were communication-follow-up, feedback, career growth, recognition, feedback on performance, structured OJT-ILT, productive workforce, incentives (rewards), human assets, and metric performance evaluations. Out of the 10 dimensions identified, 8 achieved consensus regarding coaching with front-line employees. These dimensions are inherent in any organization where job-level functions of front-line employees require effective communication and organizational support to influence optimal performance. Research on how these dimensions are put into practice in coaching frontline employees is an opportunity for further research and exploration.