Many organizations use external, professional coaches to provide leadership development support to their executives. In additional there is growing trend in companies looking to create internal coaching cultures, where leaders and managers are skilled at coaching their reports. Well-executed, a coaching culture can have a significant impact on performance and results.

What is a coaching culture? Companies with strong coaching cultures have leaders who are skilled at giving and receiving feedback, encouraging potential and performance, and stretching and challenging each other’s thinking. A strong coaching culture has been shown to create positive business impact. One client reported that, at the end of a yearlong effort to create a coaching culture, the transformation had brought about a high-performance environment that holds people more accountable for delivering results while fostering a climate of full engagement, personal development, and mutual support.

How to create a coaching culture. Based on research and analysis, here are some of the basic steps that can be taken to create a coaching culture.

This month we look at three books that discuss how to succeed for three different audiences: those transitioning into a new manager/leader role, company founders, and early in career achievers.

Over the past two decades, organizations have redefined the roles of C-suite executives. Traditional capabilities, such as the management of financial and operational resources, are still relevant but when companies today search for top leaders, especially new CEOs, they prioritize one criteria above all else: strong social skills.

Recent research published in HBR shows …