Effective Coaching for High-Potentials

This chapter defines coaching as the interaction between a coach and one or more job incumbents, during which the coach uses a specific process to guide the coachee(s) towards the identification and achievement of work-related goals. The word coaching originates from the Hungarian word “kocsi”, which means wagon, and it was introduced into the management literature by Mace (1950). High-potential employees are part of a Talent Management (TM) approach that emphasizes positioning, i.e., the identification of strategic positions in the organization and allocation of talented individuals to these positions. Coaching, as a dialogic and personalized intervention, fits well with the selective nature of TM programs designed exclusively for high-potential and high-performing employees. The adoption of coaching for talent development and positioning warrants substantial deliberation over the way in which the processes of goal setting, feedback and plan implementation take place.