Book review
Carianne M Hunt and Sandra L Fielden (eds), Coaching for women entrepreneurs, Edward Elgar: Northampton, 2016. 200 pp.: $99, ISBN 9781783475100
Reviewed by: Malgorzata Ciesielska, Teesside University Business School, UK
Coaching and mentoring are becoming a new fashion in management education and personnel development, but there is relatively little academic research in the area. While this seems like an interesting and potentially useful approach, its actual outcomes for various groups of professionals need further investigation.
The bulk of literature in this area are textbooks and guides for practitioners which are focused on coaching skills while presenting a limited view and level of complexity of a coach’s life (e.g. Connor Pokora, 2007; Parsloe et al., 2017; Partanen, 2014). It is unlikely that a single framework could be evenly successfully applied in a range of coaching situations, and the study of the effectiveness of coaching is still in its infancy (Smither and London, 2003). I believe Carianne M. Hunt and Sandra L. Fielden’s ‘Coaching for Women Entrepreneurs’ is an interesting way forward in this matter. The book is based on a two-part longitudinal study with involved collection of both qualitative and quantitative data from female coachees and their coaches.
Coaching as a professional development tool
Coaching is presented as a flexible technique for professional or personal development. Since the 1980s it has gained popularity as a method of motivating and supporting staff in business. Coaching, however, is different from other forms of support like mentoring or counselling and is focused on facilitation, unlocking potential and maximizing performance. Although the specificity of coaching is discussed theoretically in chapter 4, it would be useful to have empirical evidence of how this relationship is perceived by coachees and whether their expectations or hopes overlap with other interventions. In particular, if coachees expect mental support, as this may pose some ethical questions.
Coaching women entrepreneurs
Chapters 2 and 3 focus on the characteristics of women entrepreneurs and their specific internal and external influences that determine the chosen career path. Alongside expected issues like the gendered nature of entrepreneurship, the authors address problems related to self-confidence and self-efficacy. It seems that women entrepreneurs are driven and ambitious, but they see fewer opportunities and are less familiar with ‘the business world’. Although at times I had a feeling that some of the findings are superficial and rather confirming of preconceptions about female entrepreneurs, it sets up this area for further research and increased sensitivity to this particular coaching context.
In chapter 5, those contextual aspects are then translated into potential areas for intervention in a coaching relationship. The women entrepreneurs taking part in the study explicitly mentioned that their key business support requirements are personal development (confidence/self-esteem), as well as finance and marketing skills. Some women also suggested networking, work–life balance, time management and presentation skills as being important. The book provides ample examples from interviews as additional context for those findings. Coaching was considered as having potential to overcome shortcomings of traditional business support and in building self-confidence. Women entrepreneurs found traditional business support agencies (e.g. Business Link or Chamber of Commerce) useful, especially because they provide specific skills training but knowledge and access to them were still an issue. In particular, women entrepreneurs didn’t like that the knowledge was delivered in generalized way. Instead, they found that training tailored to specific needs is easier to apply and ability to share experience with other women entrepreneurs was considered important for confidence building.
In chapters 6 and 7, authors present the online coaching programme designed specifically to meet the women entrepreneurs needs and respond to the specific context they operate in as discussed in chapters 2–5. The programme offered one-to-one, online, focused support over a period of 6months. It included 30 coaches and 30 coachees. It was delivered by women for women and provided opportunity for networking among coaches through a dedicated website. The key benefit of the programme was increase in perception of one’s capabilities, in particular, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, confidence and positivity about future business plans.
Conclusion and implications
The study concludes that coaching programme helped women entrepreneurs in four types of learning processes: learning by doing, learning through reinforcement, learning through understanding and learning about the self (Bandura, 1986). It also confirmed that women want access to women-focused support and facilitated social interactions with their female counterparts. Opportunities to share experiences were particularly sought for. The book can be particularly useful for coaches in business and academia. Recently, a number of universities worldwide, including those in the United Kingdom, are implementing coaching methods to teach on entrepreneurship degrees. The model originating in Finland has proven to be successful in its cultural and institutional context (Lehtonen, 2013), but further work is necessary to successfully translate those experiences in another country. It also needs rethinking what level and scope of support is appropriate and whether a puritan coaching approach can work in the academic context. Those questions are also echoing contemporary HEs struggle to satisfy its students as customers while ensuring academic ethos.
From a potential coach perspective, more in-depth understanding of which elements of the personalized relationship and techniques used worked best is needed. It also feels that in this context more has to be explored in terms of coaching ethics (some of which is covered in Iordanou et al., 2017), but overall this timely book discusses important issues and possibilities of building support for women entrepreneurs through coaching sessions.
References
Bandura A(1986)Social Foundations of Thought & Action: A Social Cognitive Theory. New York: Prentice Hall.
Connor Pokora MJ(2007)Coaching and Mentoring at Work: Developing Effective Practice. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Iordanou I, Hawley R and Iordanou C(2017)Values and Ethics in Coaching. London: SAGE.
Lehtonen T(2013)Tiimiskstrmis: How to Grow into a Teampreneur. Finland: JAMK Publications.
Parsloe E, Newell D and Leedham M(2017)Coaching and Mentoring: Practical Techniques for Developing Learning and Performance. London: Kogan Page.
Partanen J(2014)Glimpses of Individual Leaning. Finland: Tiimiakatemia/Partus.
Smither JW and London M(2003)Can working with an executive coach improve multisource feedback ratings over time? A quasi-experimental field study. Personnel Psychology56(1): 23–44.