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VALUES SENSITIVE COACHING: THE DELTA APPROACH TO COACHING CULTURALLY DIVERSE EXECUTIVES

Consulting Psychology Journal

September 2011
63(3):149-161

DOI:10.1037/a0025603

Authors:

Chris W. Coultas

University of Central Florida

Wendy L. Bedwell-Torres

University of Memphis

Shawn Burke

University of Central Florida

Eduardo Salas

University of Central Florida

Executive coaching is a popular intervention to improve the performance of middle and top level leaders. Globalization and the resulting cultural diversification of the workplace have also rapidly increased. Given these two trends, it is becoming increasingly important for executive coaches to understand how cultural values should affect their coaching. Recent research on coaching has suggested the need for a theoretical framework from which to empirically address this issue to provide scientifically rooted guidelines for effective implementation of executive coaching in these culturally diverse contexts. This article proposes a research-based, prescriptive motivational approach to coaching those from culturally diverse backgrounds. Called the DELTA approach, the model includes five components: (a) Determining cultural values, (b) Employing typical coaching techniques, (c) Looking and listening for motivational needs and deficiencies, (d) Tailoring coaching techniques to motivational needs and cultural values, and (e) Assessing the effectiveness of the approaches used. The DELTA model is intended to provide a flexible framework within which coaches can work with, motivate, and develop culturally diverse executives.

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VALUES SENSITIVE COACHING:

THE DELTA APPROACH TO COACHING

CULTURALLY DIVERSE EXECUTIVES

Chris W. Coultas, Wendy L. Bedwell, C. Shawn Burke,

and Eduardo Salas

University of Central Florida

Executive coaching is a popular intervention to improve the performance of middle and

top level leaders. Globalization and the resulting cultural diversiﬁcation of the workplace

have also rapidly increased. Given these two trends, it is becoming increasingly impor-

tant for executive coaches to understand how cultural values should affect their coach-

ing. Recent research on coaching has suggested the need for a theoretical framework

from which to empirically address this issue to provide scientiﬁcally rooted guidelines

for effective implementation of executive coaching in these culturally diverse contexts.

This article proposes a research-based, prescriptive motivational approach to coaching

those from culturally diverse backgrounds. Called the DELTA approach, the model

includes ﬁve components: (a) Determining cultural values, (b) Employing typical

coaching techniques, (c) Looking and listening for motivational needs and deﬁciencies,

(d) Tailoring coaching techniques to motivational needs and cultural values, and (e)

Assessing the effectiveness of the approaches used. The DELTA model is intended to

provide a ﬂexible framework within which coaches can work with, motivate, and

develop culturally diverse executives.

Keywords: executive coaching, expectancy theory, culture, feedback, goal setting

Forward-thinking business executives constantly seek new ways to expand the ability of their key

personnel. One technique, used with increasing frequency, is executive coaching (Bolt, 2006). What

exactly is executive coaching? Although many deﬁnitions exist, Dembkowski, Eldridge, and Hunter

(2006) suggested that it is both an art and a science of facilitating professional and personal

development to improve performance. Essentially, executive coaches aim to provide a tailored

approach toward performance improvement through individualized feedback (Gregory, Levy, &

Jeffers, 2008). However, although executive coaching can provide major beneﬁts to executives and

organizations (Kincaid & Gordick, 2003; Kombarakaran, Yang, Baker, & Fernandes, 2008), the lack

of a robust and widely adopted framework to guide the executive coaching process (Feldman &

Lankau, 2005; Gregory, Beck, & Carr, 2011) has hindered the practice from advancing, both

Chris W. Coultas, Wendy L. Bedwell, Eduardo Salas, and C. Shawn Burke, Department of Psychology and

Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central Florida.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Chris W. Coultas, 3100 Technology

Parkway, Department of Psychology and Institute for Simulation and Training, Orlando, FL 32826. E-mail:

ccoultas@ist.ucf.edu

2011, Vol. 63, No. 3, 149–161 1065-9293/11/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0025603

149

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