The spill-over effects of postgraduate coaching studies in the resilience of women in triple roles

ABSTRACT Working women who fulfil multiple roles face demands which test their resilience. The purpose of this research paper is to report on how postgraduate studies in executive coaching at a South African Business School, had a spill-over effect that assisted women with their resilience in their triple roles of business leaders, mothers at home and postgraduate students at university. Eight women in these triple roles were chosen from a class of postgraduate students studying towards a master’s degree in executive coaching. This qualitative study employed Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis to analyse their lived experiences using a combination of individual semi-structured interviews and excerpts from their reflective journals. Studying coaching gave participants valuable external resources (techniques, tools and new competency skills), which in turn built their internal resources (self-esteem, confidence and new perspectives) that led to increased resilience. In addition, the positive spillover effects from their postgraduate coaching studies strengthened their resilience in their other roles, while negative spillover effects had the opposite effect.