ABSTRACT The history and sociology of faculty career transitions to academic deanships is an intriguing phenomenon, given that the skill sets of accomplished scholars vary immensely from the duties and responsibilities of academic deans. On top of that, today’s academic deans continue to face particularly challenging leadership dilemmas. This exploratory, qualitative study sought to learn if executive coaching is an effective strategy to swiftly and ably prepare deans for the unique requirements of the position, as well as to equip them with and/or improve transformational leadership skills. Results were favourable towards coaching and showed associations in transformational leadership to be strongest in the component of intellectual stimulation. Deans also described improvements in empathetic behaviour, self-awareness and self-care – outcomes that suggest deans received value on a personal level and not just professionally. As perceived by the deans, coaches achieved these outcomes by the superior quality of their listening skills, their ability to offer useful perspectives, and by building trust. The information provided in this study might challenge institutions of higher education to consider executive coaching as a way to eliminate blind spots and address personal and organisational challenges that academic deans and other senior-level administrators encounter.

中文翻译：

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高管教练的实践，以提高美国高等教育机构院长的领导能力

摘要鉴于成就卓著的学者的技能与学术院长的职责和职责有很大差异，教师职业过渡到学术职位的历史和社会学是一个有趣的现象。最重要的是，当今的学术院长们仍然面临着特别具有挑战性的领导困境。这项探索性，定性研究旨在研究高管教练培训是否是一种有效的策略，以迅速，明智地为院长做好准备，使其适应职位的独特要求，并为他们配备和/或提高变革型领导才能。结果有利于教练，并显示出与变革型领导相关的联想在智力刺激方面最强。院长还描述了移情行为的改善，自我意识和自我护理–结果表明院长们在个人层面上获得了价值，而不仅仅是在职业上。正如教务长所认为的那样，教练通过出色的听力技能，提供有用的观点的能力以及建立信任来实现这些目标。本研究中提供的信息可能会挑战高等教育机构，将高管教练视为消除盲点并解决院长和其他高级管理人员遇到的个人和组织挑战的一种方式。