Beyond The Leader: Examining the Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Coaching among Professional Coaches

Abstract

Goal-focused coaching is being used to assist individuals to set and reach personal and workplace goals (Grant, 2007). Thus, organizational leaders are increasingly investing in developing employee performance and well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and coaching among professional coaches in the Southeast United States. For this study, EI was examined as a tool to provide a coach with the ability to analyze how effective and confident they are with making informed decisions and working with other people. A professional coach, defined for this study, was a teacher, speaker, trainer, and entrepreneur who use their leadership and coaching abilities to add value to individuals through coaching. The four research questions were answered based on an analysis of self-reported survey data and quantitative methods. Moreover, the instruments that were applied to collect the data for the study were: The Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT), and the Goal- Focused Coaching Skills Questionnaire (GFCSQ). Moreover, results of the data analysis revealed working alliance as the most significant coaching skill and outcomes of coaching as the least significant skill. Even so, the results indicated that as EI increases, coaching skills tend to decrease. So, based on these findings, higher emotional intelligence levels, and goal-focused coaching skills may or may not impact a coach’s success and ability to add value to an individual or organizations well-being.