Outcomes of mindfulness-based coaching for managers

ABSTRACT

The integration of mindfulness into the field of executive coaching is unsurprising, given growing interest in mindfulness in the workplace. At present, the literature linking mindfulness with coaching tends to focus on the potential afforded by mindfulness techniques, while empirical assessments remain limited. The objectives of the current research are to establish preliminary understandings regarding perceived outcomes of coaching processes incorporating mindfulness techniques, and to assess the perceived outcomes of mindfulness-based coaching processes across different points of time. This study analyses the assessments of 14 Israeli professional managers, working in the education system and in the high-tech industry, of a 12-session coaching process incorporating mindfulness practices. The coachees recorded their perceptions of the coaching outcomes from each session, contemporaneously, in personal journals. In addition, coachees were interviewed twice – at the end of the coaching sessions, and two years later. The study’s findings show the benefits of mindfulness-based coaching for individuals across various domains of their lives, and its implications for coachees’ well-being and performance at work. They also show that these benefits emerge even after very short interventions, and that these benefits continue to be perceived as valuable two years after the intervention.

KEYWORDS:

• Coaching
• mindfulness
• outcomes
• workplace
• managers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rave Shelly

Shelly Rave has a Ph.D. from the Department of Business Administration, Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. She founded the ‘Beena’ institute where she works as a coach with families in relocation and terminally ill patients.

Nurit Zaidman

Nurit Zaidman is associate professor and the Area Head of Strategy and International Management at the Department of Business Administration, Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. She graduated from the Department of Anthropology at Temple University, U.S.A. Her current research focuses on global teams, intercultural communication, and New Age and spirituality in organisations. Her research has been published in leading publications such as Journal of Organisational Behaviour, Organisation, British Journal of Management, Group & Organisational Management and Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.