Abstract

One of the main ways in which health leaders at all levels can be developed on a daily basis has been neglected by clinical leadership research, and by the research community generally, relating to the leader consciously using evidence-based coaching skills to positively impact their direct reports, team members, peers, organisations and the wider system in the context of their vocational role, as ‘Leader-as-Coach’.

This paper summarises the research on the role of ‘Leader-as-Coach’, and translates the learning from this into the practice of clinical leadership development.

Line managers are increasingly expected to use a coaching approach and are in an ideal position to do so. While there are many similarities with professional external coaching, the behaviours of the ‘Leader-as-Coach’ are also not identical and multiple ethical issues can arise.

There is no consistent academic definition to describe the behaviours of coaching in the context of a leader’s vocational role, nor yet specific competencies for training or supervision purposes.

The outcomes are summarised from the known literature in this field. Individual and system challenges are then discussed and conclusions are drawn about what this research means in practice for clinical leaders and their systems.