Power and the tale: coaching as storyselling

Abstract

Purpose: This paper proposes, discusses and evaluates a four-stage model of storyselling and its accompanying power dynamics, which are at the heart of coaching in organizations. Design / methodology / approach: This paper is informed by a social constructionist view of coaching. Findings: The conceptualisation of the coaching process as a series of storyselling activities highlights the power of storytelling to facilitate management development through coaching on the one hand and the potential for manipulation and abuse on the other. Research implications: The application of storytelling in organizational coaching as well as the darker and manipulative side of storyselling in the coaching process and relationships should inform future research into these important phenomena. Practical implications: An analysis of the complex nature of the dynamics of coaching and the multi-layered nature of the relationship between coach, organization and coachee will be of benefit to practising coaches, purchasers and recipients of coaching as well as researchers interested in coaching. Originality / value: The value of this paper lies in the exploration of the relatively new concept of storyselling and accompanying power dynamics in an organizational coaching context.

‘Everything revolves around gymnastics’: athletes and parents make sense of elite youth sport

“…The emphasis of sense-making on how individuals deal with ambiguity in daily practices may make this lens especially useful in an investigation of how various actors cope with the ambiguity in the frame that surrounds elite youth sport such as gymnastics. In addition, our proposed focus on the sense-making of athletes and parents involved in elite gymnastics means that we take both broader epistemic contexts as well as micro-level practices into account (Brown, Colville, and Pye 2014;Maitland 2012;Reissner and Du Toit 2011).…”

Drawing the Triangle: How Coaches Manage Ambiguities Inherited in Executive Coaching

“…In coaching processes, coachee and coach engage in a generative meaning-making process, both influenced by the other (Critchley, 2010). During coaching sessions, coachee and coach create meanings, bringing their experiences to the relationship, and both are influenced by the wider organizational context (Reissner & Toit, 2011;Skinner, 2012). Thus, in executive coaching there are multiple layers of influences, and none of the stakeholders are neutral: neither the coach, nor the coachee, nor those who represent the organization.…”

“…Coachee and coach influence one another (Critchley, 2010) and are influenced BAR, Rio de Janeiro, v. 14, n. 4, art. 4, e170050, 2017 www.anpad.org.br/bar by the wider context of the organization (Reissner & Toit, 2011). In short: coaches are not neutral and take part in relational processes that they also conduct; in such processes, there may be conflicts of interests and ethical dilemmas.…”

“…Instead, coaches engage with coachees in a relational process, where meanings are created (Reissner & Toit, 2011). Coachee and coach influence one another (Critchley, 2010) and are influenced BAR, Rio de Janeiro, v. 14, n. 4, art.…”

“…There are multiple approaches to executive coaching, and different authors have inspired our definition: executive coaching is an organizational development process (de Haan, Duckworth, Birch, & Jones, 2013) conducted by a professional coach (Bozer, Sarros, & Santora, 2014), consisting of individual interactions (Reissner, 2008;Reissner & Toit, 2011), and aiming at providing meaningmaking (Reissner & Toit, 2011), and, from this, a change in executives' attitude (Bluckert, 2006) and/or action (Joo, 2005).…”