The coaching flipside: Factors underlying unsuccessful workplace coaching interventions and the implication for human resource development

Abstract

Workplace coaching is an established, proven personal development intervention relied on by human resource (HR) practitioners to improve individual growth and organizational performance. Numerous studies underscore coaching efficacy. However, in most coaching studies, there is a bias toward positive coaching experience. This points to a missed opportunity in understanding the nuances of negative coaching experiences and its effect on HR development (HRD). To address this limitation, we identified 13 instances from a sample of 357 coachees where organizational coaching was experienced as predominantly negative. Content analysis of the interviews revealed three main themes: mismatched expectations (getting off to a bad start); suboptimal relationship dynamics (lack of trust and perceived coach incompetence); and disruptive organizational influences (hidden agendas). Findings interpreted through the lens of HRD and working alliance theories reveal deep hidden dynamics of how negative coaching experiences could destroy organizational trust, amplify cultural mismatches, and affect employee career trajectories, negatively impacting several HRD objectives on both individual and organizational levels. On a theoretical level, the findings empirically underscore the need for an extend working alliance theory that includes the organization as a distinct construct in the coach–coachee dynamics, and shows the dual positive and negative leveraging effect of coaching on HRD objectives. Practically it points to the essential need for HR practitioners to be more closely and proactively involved in organizational coaching initiatives and we offer a number of practical suggestions to help HR avoid the potential detrimental long‐term negative effects of unsuccessful coaching.