Leadership, academia, and the role of career coaching

In academia, the competencies necessary to be an effective leader, including focused training in leadership skills are often overlooked. Incorporating a coaching component in leadership training programs has shown to have a beneficial impact. The purpose of this commentary is to present the rationale, description, and process of the executive coaching component of the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) Mid-Career Leadership Institute. Institute Fellows are provided with a list of executive career coaches that includes their biography and coaching philosophy. Fellows are asked to rank their preferences from 1 to 3. Usually, Fellows are paired with their first choice. Rigorous evaluations of the benefit of career coaching within a comprehensive leadership program, such as the SBM Leadership Institute has not been conducted However, our evaluations to date show that the coaching component is highly rated by the Fellows and over 90% report using their allotted three sessions. Career coaching, conducted as part of a comprehensive leadership program, has the potential to positively influence career trajectories. A more rigorous evaluation of the SBM coaching program is needed to assess the true benefits.