The effect of external executive coaching and coaching based leadership on need satisfaction

In this study, the authors explored the effects from an executive coaching program on need satisfaction at work. One hundred and twenty-seven executives and middle managers from a Fortune high-tech 500 company participated in the experiment over one year. Of these, 19 executives participated in an external executive coaching programme and 108 middle managers participated in a coaching-based leadership program. Findings indicate that external executive coaching affects need satisfaction at work, especially autonomy and relatedness. Coaching-based leadership also seems to impact need satisfaction at work, especially the needs of autonomy and competence. The findings show that the effects are greater among the executives receiving external coaching than for the middle managers who received coaching-based leadership.