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Despite the popularity of facilitating coaching cultures, very little is known about this phenomenon, especially from the perspective of different organisational stakeholders. We aim to add the enacting practitioner perspective in developing coaching cultures that has not yet been explored through empirical research.

We interviewed 20 organisational development and coaching practitioners who work in or with organisations to develop coaching cultures.

We apply Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis (TA) and unpack four intersecting themes: (1) “It flows through the veins of the organisation”; (2) “More powerful than anything else is having that one-to-one time”; (3) “The roadmap emerges”; and (4) “Means to an end and an end in itself”. We construct a coaching culture as an ever-evolving, psychologically safe, and empowering dialogic “container” or subculture that is developed and sustained by change agents with first-hand experience of coaching.

The findings add to our understanding of coaching cultures by offering a conceptualisation of coaching culture based on practitioners’ perspectives and constructing a framework of assumptions, values and behaviours that underpin them. We conclude by setting an agenda for further research in the advancement of coaching culture theory and practice in coaching psychology.

Despite the interest in leaders' identity work as a framework for leadership development, coaching psychology has yet to expose its active ingredients and outcomes.

To do so, the authors reconcile published systematic literature reviews (SLRs) in the field to arrive at a more thorough understanding of the role of identity work in coaching. A total of 60 eligible SLRs on identity work and coaching were identified between 2010 and 2022. Four were included in the data extraction after selecting and screening, and the full texts of 196 primary studies reported therein were analysed.

Amongst the coachee-related factors of effective coaching, the coachee’s motivation, general self-efficacy beliefs, personality traits and goal orientation were the most frequently reported active ingredients, and performance improvement, self-awareness and goal specificity were the most frequently supported outcomes. The analysis indicates that leaders' identity work, as an active ingredient, can be a moderator variable for transformative coaching interventions, while strengthening leadership role identity could be one of the lasting outcomes because coaching interventions facilitate, deconstruct and enhance leaders' identity work. Further research is needed to explore the characteristics of these individual, relational and collective processes.

This study adds value by synthesising SLRs that report coachee-related active ingredients and outcomes of executive coaching research. It demonstrates that the role of leaders' identity work is a neglected factor affecting coaching results and encourages coaching psychologists to apply identity framework in their executive coaching practice.