Leader identity and identity work: Enhancing coaching of leaders in changing contexts

Abstract

Coaches need to expand their repertoires for developing leaders in turbulent contexts. From the leader-client perspective, this interpretive qualitative study investigated how executive coaching facilitated leaders' identity work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings indicated that leaders faced identity uncertainty in transitioning to virtual leadership - and how coaching supported leaders with their identity work. While the outcomes of the coaching were shifts in leader identity, it seemed that coaches did not work explicitly with an identity lens. This finding suggests identity and identity work be adopted as a theoretical lens to enhance the coaching of leaders in changing contexts.

Keywords

• changing contexts
• executive coaching
• identity work
• leader identity
• leader identity work outcomes