Exploring Expert Performance in Business and Executive Coaching

The purpose of the study was to explore expert performance in business and executive coaching. Although it is an unregulated field executive coaching continues to grow as an industry with recent estimates suggesting earnings of $2-billion per year (Fillery-Travis & Lane 2006). Despite the growth of the coaching industry in the last decade there is still a lack of clarity in coaching science as to how performance should be measured; what constitutes expert performance in executive coaching and how it is acquired (Côté Young Duffy & North 2007). The primary research question is ‘what is expert performance in business and executive coaching?’ The research also explores what expert performance is how expert performance can be recognised and how people in the industry recognise expert performance in business and executive coaches in South Africa today. This study aims to fills the gap in research regarding what constitutes expert performance in executive coaching and how it is acquired.