Executive coaching involves a series of one-on-one interactions between a manager or executive and an external coach. The goal of coaching is to equip people with the knowledge and opportunities they need to develop themselves and become more effective. Behavior change is the goal of most executive coaching. One of the top researchers in the field of consulting provides the following definition:

"Executive coaching is defined as a helping relationship formed between a client who has managerial authority and responsibility in an organization and a consultant who uses a wide variety of behavioral techniques and methods to help the client achieve a mutually identified set of goals to improve his or her professional performance and personal satisfaction and, consequently, to improve the effectiveness of the client’s organization within a formally defined coaching agreement" (Kilburg, 2007, p. 28).

Executive coaching has become a popular L&D intervention In the past, the view of coaching was seen as an intervention that organizations could utilize to deal with troubled managers and avoid leadership derailment. Now, this negative image of coaching has faded and multiple stakeholders, including organizations, psychologists and accredited bodies, have jumped on the bandwagon to benefit from the surge in coaching as a Learning & Development (L&D) intervention for high profile managers.

However, despite this increase in coaching, the profession is still chaotic mainly because there is diversity in experience and education among the professionals who offer coaching services (Bono et al., 2007).