international coaching psychology...

Special Group in Coaching Psychology

Interest Group in Coaching Psychology

ISSN: 1750-2764

International Coaching Psychology ReviewVolume 1 No 2 November 2006

The British Psychological SocietySpecial Group in Coaching Psychology

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The Australian Psychological Society LtdInterest Group in Coaching Psychology

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InternationalCoaching Psychology Review

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Volume 1 No. 2 November 2006

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5 Editorial – The theory, practice and research base of Coaching Psychology isdeveloping at a fast paceMichael Cavanagh & Stephen Palmer

9 Assessing the efficacy of a cognitive behavioural executive coaching programmeVincenzo Libri & Travis Kemp

21 The self-presentation of commercial Australian life coaching schools:Cause for concern?Anthony M. Grant & Blythe O’Hara

34 Human resources professionals’ perceptions of executive coaching:Efficacy, benefits, and return on investmentGavin Dagley

46 Reflexive questions in a coaching psychology contextCarola Hieker & Clare Huffington

56 Evaluation of the coaching competence self-review online tool within an NHS leadership development programmeHo Law, Sara Ireland & Zulfi Hussain

68 Back on track: The coaching journey in executive career derailmentPeter J. Webb

75 Shifting perspectives: One year into the development of the British Psychological Society Special Group in Coaching Psychology in the UKAlison Whybrow & Stephen Palmer

86 Book ReviewAlison Whybrow

89 Volume Index

International Coaching Psychology Review ● Vol. 1 No. 2 November 2006 3© The British Psychological Society – ISSN: 1750-2764

Contents

THE SPECIAL GROUP IN COACHING PSYCHOLOGY

1st

International Coaching Psychology Conference18th and 19th December 2006

To be held at City University, London, UK

Invited speakers and facilitators include:

Judith Bell, Dr Tatiana Bachkirova, Prof Michael Carroll,

Dr Michael Cavanagh, Jonathan Coe, Stefania Grbcic,

Dr Kristina Gyllensten, Angela Hetherington,

Clare Huffington, Prof David Lane, Dr Otto Laske, Dr Ho Law,

Dr Alex Linley, Dr. Almuth McDowall, Prof Stephen Palmer,

Prof Ernesto Spinelli, Dr Dianne Stober, Pauline Willis,

Dr Alison Whybrow

Masterclass topics include:

• Dr Michael Cavanagh: The practice of coaching psychology: Advanced models, tools and techniques for change

• Clare Huffington & Judith Bell: A systems- psychodynamic model ofcoaching psychology practice

• Prof David Lane: Building a model of supervision • Dr Alex Linley: Strengths and the coaching psychology engagement • Prof Ernesto Spinelli: Existential coaching psychology: An introduction • Dr Dianne Stober: Evidence-based practice in coaching psychology:

Integrating perspectives and methods to serve your client

Parallel papers and poster sessions provide some of the latest thinking, research and case studies in coaching psychology.

For Booking Information and full Conference Programme please visit www.city.ac.uk/sgcp or e-mail: [email protected]. Participants will receive

Conference and Workshop attendance certificates as evidence for CPD Logbooks or Practitioner-in-Training Logbooks.

The 2006 membership fee to join SGCP is £3.50. SGCP membership benefits include membership rates at our events and free copies of the ‘International Coaching

Psychology Review’ and ‘The Coaching Psychologist’. BPS members can join now and obtain the discounted conference fee.

WELCOME TO THE SECOND ISSUEof the International CoachingPsychology Review. We would like to

thank members of the Australian Psycho-logical Society, Interest Group in CoachingPsychology and the British PsychologicalSociety, Special Group in CoachingPsychology for the useful feedback you havegiven us. In this issue there are slight changesto the publication, for example, we nowinclude a contents page on the inside too.

It is often said that a week in politics is along time. Of course, it is a well-worn cliché.However, six months in the rapidlyexpanding field of coaching psychologyreally is a long time and keeping up withdevelopments is now becoming more chal-lenging. A quick Google of ‘coachingpsychology’ now brings up over 27, 400 links.Admittedly this search includes ChessCoaching Psychology and many similar links.More realistically, using Google Scholarwhen doing a search for ‘coachingpsychology’ only brings up 127 entries.However, this still highlights the growinginfluence of coaching psychology aroundthe world. There are two coachingpsychology publications dedicated topublishing reviewed articles, The CoachingPsychologist and the International CoachingPsychology Review. The articles from bothpublications are easily found on the internetand on Google/Google Scholar. This ishelping to promote coaching psychologyinternationally and now we are receivingcorrespondence from overseas practitionersand researchers who are happy to havefound a new professional home.

We would like to welcome Dr SandyGordon onto the Editorial Board as thefourth Australian co-editor. Sandy brings awealth of knowledge and experience to therole of co-editor. A prolific author in his ownright, Sandy has been a reviewer fornumerous scientific publications and hasserved on the editorial boards of Psychology ofSport and Exercise and the International Journalof Sport and Exercise Psychology. Sandy teachesundergraduate and postgraduate courses inpsychology and coaching at the School ofHuman Movement and Exercise Science,University of Western Australia. He is a prac-ticing coach and consultant with many yearsexperience working with elite sports teamsand in organisations. We are pleased to havehim on board!

In this issue we have seven papers andone book review. The first paper byVincenzo Libri and Travis Kemp adds to ourunderstanding and knowledge of the effi-cacy of cognitive behavioural techniques forperformance enhancement within a non-clinical setting, such as those found in organ-isational environments. The study examinedthe effects of a cognitive behavioural basedexecutive coaching intervention for afinance sales executive and found that acognitive behavioural executive coachingprogramme enhanced the executive’s salesperformance, core self-evaluation, andglobal self-ratings of performance followinghis participation in an executive coachingintervention.

Anthony Grant and Blythe O’Hara liftthe lid off Australian life coaching schools.Their research had four major objectives:(1) to identify the types of qualifications,


Editorial – The theory, practice andresearch base of Coaching Psychology isdeveloping at a fast paceMichael Cavanagh & Stephen Palmer

6 International Coaching Psychology Review ● Vol. 1 No. 2 November 2006

certifications and accreditations offered byAustralian life coaching schools; (2) toprovide an overview of the advertisedcontent and cost of life coach trainingcourses; (3) to identify how life coachingschools differentiate between life coachingand mental health treatment; and (4) toexplore the marketing statements madeabout courses, schools, owners and trainers.Surprisingly they concluded that the self-promotional statements of the Australian lifecoach training industry were flamboyant butnot considered outrageous. It would beinteresting to undertake further researchinto life coaching schools in North Americaand Europe too.

Gavin Dagley’s research focused on 17human resources (HR) professionals’perceptions of executive coaching and theirviews on efficacy, benefits and return oninvestment. Structured interviews wereemployed to elicit their perceptions. TheHR professionals indicated strong supportfor the use of coaching in the future, and allrated their programmes as at least moder-ately successful. The practitioners also iden-tified a large range of benefits for theindividual executives and a smaller range forthe organisations. Interestingly, only onepractitioner indicated completing a formalmeasurement of return on investment.

So what are the right questions and whenshould we ask them in coaching? CarolaHieker and Clare Huffington build on prin-ciples and methods originally developed inthe family therapy arena, and demonstratehow reflexive questions can be used incoaching psychology. They apply Tomm’staxonomy of questions to Dilts’ model ofchange and bring together theories fromsystemic therapy with a change managementframework based on neurolinguisticprogramming. They illustrate this with threecase studies.

Ho Law, Sara Ireland and Zulfi Hussain’spaper is on evaluation of the CoachingCompetence Self-Review (CCSR) online toolwithin an NHS leadership developmentprogramme. Their objectives were to

develop a Universal Integrated Frameworkof coaching and evaluate its effectiveness interms of its impact upon the participants andthe organisations. The CCSR consisted offour dimensions (Personal, Social, Cultural,and Professional) and 18 elements with 110questions. The CCSR was evaluated usinglinear regression and analyses of variance,supplemented with qualitative review as partof triangulation process. The results foundthat the competence increased with age/lifeexperience and that there were no differ-ences in competence scores between maleand female participants. Personal and Socialand Social and Cross-Cultural competenceswere co-related. However, there werepossible cultural differences. Black partici-pants seemed to benefit from the cross-cultural dimension framework as they scoredsignificantly higher than White participants.Asian participants scored somewhere inbetween the two categories.

Peter Webb suggests that executivecareer derailment seems to coincide withone of the most significant transitions in life– the midlife ‘crisis’. He asserts that careerderailment is most commonly caused byinsensitivity; both to others needs and to theindividuals own developmental needs forauthenticity. He believes that executivecoaches can form strong developmental rela-tionships with derailed executives throughengaging them in the behaviours of individ-uation and supporting the development of amore authentic self. In his paper hedescribes this coaching journey illustrated bya case study.

The last paper by Alison Whybrow andStephen Palmer present the findings from afollow-up survey exploring the practice andopinions of the membership of the BritishPsychological Society Special Group inCoaching Psychology (SGCP). It includedtopics relating to training, supervision, andexperience required to become a coachingpsychologist. It is worth noting that thisfollows on from the previous articlepublished in the first issue of the ICPR. Thissurvey of Coaching Psychologists was

Michael Cavanagh & Stephen Palmer

conducted in December, 2005, 12 monthsafter the formation of the SGCP. They foundthat participants wanted the SGCP to main-tain a strong presence in the broadercoaching arena, and to promote the valuethat psychology brings to this field ofpractice. The desire for inclusive methods ofaccreditation was also a focus. The surveyfound that a wide range of coachingapproaches are popular with coachingpsychologists although the facilitation,cognitive and solution focused coachingapproaches were the most popular withrespondents.

A correction to the editorial publishedin Issue 1 of the ICPR. The paper written byPalmer and Whybrow on ‘The coachingpsychology movement and its developmentwithin the British Psychological Society’(pp.5–11) was largely an historical articleintended to cover only the ‘nuts and bolts’ ofhow the special group was formed. Theconfusion regarding the intention of thepaper was due to some overly enthusiasticeditorialising on my [MC] part (apologies toStephen and Alison). Of course, it would nothave been possible to celebrate all thepeople who have so selflessly contributed tothe development of the coaching psychologyin the UK in such a brief article. That under-taking would require tomes, not pages. Ourapologies and thanks to all whom by theirefforts have helped to create such a vibrantcommunity of coaching psychologists.

Given the salutary reminder we havereceived regarding the impossibility ofwriting an all-inclusive history of any group,let alone one as complex as an interestgroup, the promised paper outlining theformation of the APS Interest Group inCoaching Psychology has been abandoned.Nevertheless, we are forever indebted to allwhose contribution led to the formation ofthe APS IGCP. The establishment of theIGCP was a landmark event in that it appearsto have been the first time a professionalPsychological Association had formallyrecognised coaching psychology.

Future developments

In 2007 we intend publishing three issues ofthe International Coaching Psychology Review.The Spring Edition with be a Special Sympo-sium issue on Positive Psychology andCoaching Psychology. We are keen for addi-tional papers for the Summer and Autumnissues. Due to the reviewing process, paperscan take a while to be accepted. Therefore, ifyou are keen to submit a paper, please donot leave it until a few weeks before thepublishing deadlines! It’s been a great yearfor coaching psychology. Play your part andwrite a paper for the ICPR. We look forwardto your contributions in 2007.

Michael Cavanagh

Coaching Psychology Unit,Department of Psychology,Sydney University,Sydney, Australia.E-mail: [email protected]

Stephen Palmer

Coaching Psychology Unit,Department of Psychology,City University,London, UK.E-mail: [email protected]

International Coaching Psychology Review ● Vol. 1 No. 2 November 2006 7

Editorial


THE SPECIAL GROUP IN COACHING PSYCHOLOGY

1st

International Coaching Psychology Conference18th and 19th December 2006

To be held at City University, London, UK

A ‘not to be missed event’, offering a series of keynote papers, full-daymasterclasses, research and case study presentations, skills-based sessions

and round-table discussions.

Keynote speakers will be:

Dr Dianne Stober: Evidence-based practice in coaching psychology: Another medical model…not!

Prof Stephen Palmer: When ‘coaching’ isn’t enough.

Dr Alex Linley: Coaching psychology and positive psychology: Points of convergence and new perspectives.

Dr Michael Cavanagh: What makes for a professional coach? Or Whatevery good coach needs to know?

Prof David Lane: Coaching psychology research - what will it take to build aprofession?

Pauline Willis: Bringing it all together: What does the future hold for coaching psychology?

Themes of the Conference include: • Ethics, Professional Practice and Supervision • Psychometrics and Coaching • Coaching Competence • Positive Psychology in Coaching Psychology • Multi-cultural, Diversity and Gender Coaching

For Booking Information and full Conference Programme please visit www.city.ac.uk/sgcp or e-mail: [email protected]

Participants will receive Conference and Workshop attendance certificates as evidence for CPD Logbooks or Practitioner-in-Training Logbooks.

The 2006 membership fee to join SGCP is £3.50. SGCP membership benefits include membership rates at our events and free copies of the ‘International Coaching

Psychology Review’ and ‘The Coaching Psychologist’. BPS members can join now and obtain the discounted conference fee.

The context of executive coaching

KILBURG (2000) DEFINES EXECU-TIVE coaching as a helping relation-ship formed between a client who has

managerial authority and responsibility in anorganisation, and a consultant who uses awide variety of behavioural techniques andmethods to help the client achieve a mutu-ally identified set of goals. The consultantseeks to improve the client’s professionalperformance and personal satisfaction, andconsequently improve the effectiveness ofthe client’s organisation within a formallydefined coaching agreement.

Within the literature, this definitionappears to represent a comprehensive view ofwhat executive coaching is (Judge & Cowell,1997; Kiel et al., 1996; Olesen, 1996; Peterson,1996; Richard, 1999; Saporito, 1996; Sperry,1993, 1996; Whitherspoon & White, 1996a,1996b; Cavanagh et al., 2005). It has also beenreported that executive coaching is a profes-

sional relationship characterised by a highlyconfidential personal learning process thatfocuses not only on interpersonal issues, butalso intrapersonal ones (Diedrich, 1996;O’Brien, 1997; Witherspoon & White, 1996a).

The coaching literature is deficient inempirical investigations, with much of thepeer reviewed literature focussing on theconceptual and theoretical analysis ofcoaching. Indeed, much of the literature todate has focussed on the development ofmodels, techniques and methodologies forcoaching (Diedrich, 1996; Frisch, 2001;Giglio et al., 1998; Hellervik et al., 1992; Jay,2003; Katz & Miller, 1996; Kemp, 2006;Levinson, 1996; Peterson, 1996; Richard,2003; Saporito, 1996; Storey, 2003;Waclawski & Church, 1999;).

While many models have been presentedwithin the literature, there has been littleeffort in the empirical validation of modelsor the scientific study of executive coaching

International Coaching Psychology Review ● Vol. 1 No. 1 April 2006 9© The British Psychological Society – ISSN: 1750-2764

Assessing the efficacy of a cognitivebehavioural executive coachingprogrammeVincenzo Libri & Travis Kemp

Objectives: Cognitive behavioural techniques have been the mainstay of psychological treatment for manypsychologists in clinical practice. However, there is little known in relation to the efficacy of cognitivebehavioural techniques for performance enhancement within a non-clinical setting, such as those found inorganisational environments. The present study examined the effects of a cognitive behavioural basedexecutive coaching intervention for a finance sales executive.Design: A within subject, ABAB single case design was utilised in this study.Methods: The participant was a 30-year-old Australian male, employed as a full-time finance salesexecutive. Each phase of the single case design had a duration of three weeks. Follow-up measures were takenat six months (week 36) and at 18 months (week 88) after the conclusion of the intervention.Results: It was shown that a cognitive behavioural executive coaching programme enhanced a 30-year-oldAustralian male finance executive’s sales performance, core self-evaluation, and global self-ratings ofperformance following his participation in an executive coaching intervention. Conclusions: The present study suggests that executive coaches should consider incorporating cognitivebehavioural techniques into their coaching programmes. Further research into executive coaching models,approaches and outcomes, is needed, particularly by academics within the field of organisationalpsychology.

interventions and the evaluation ofoutcomes of such interventions (Kilburg,1996). Whilst there is a lack of empiricalresearch concerning executive coaching,there are studies within the psychologicalliterature supporting the concept and posi-tive outcomes of executive coaching(Kampa-Kokesch & Anderson, 2001).

The executive coaching literature hasseveral issues to address. Specifically,research must consider validating coachingmodels as well as coaching processes inorder to best explain how such processes canaccount for positive behavioural change andperformance outcomes. The coaching rela-tionship is perceived as being central to thechange process, yet the literature largelydevoid of any deeper exploration of suchmatters (Hargrove, 1995; Kilburg, 2000;O’Neill, 2000).

It has also been asserted within the exec-utive coaching literature that psychologistsare perhaps the best qualified for offeringexecutive coaching services (Kilburg, 1996,2000). Therefore, psychologists wouldappear to hold some responsibility inconducting, supporting and participating inthe research being conducted on the efficacyof executive coaching as an intervention(Brotman et al., 1998; Diedrich & Kilburg,2001; Kampa-Kokesch & Anderson, 2001).

Psychology has many tools, techniquesand strategies that lend themselves toenhancing both the coaching relationshipand processes for eliciting positiveoutcomes, personally and professionally.Examples include cognitive and behaviouraltechniques as well as problem solving strate-gies and communication techniques.

The present study

Whilst it has been acknowledged that therehas been little research concerning the effi-cacy of specific psychological tools and exec-utive coaching psychology (Brotman et al.,1998), there is a substantial body of researchconcluding that coaching psychology has apositive impact on leadership skills (Conway,2000; Kilburg, 1997; Saporito, 1996) and also

emotional competencies (Laske, 1999;Tobias, 1996). Although such conclusionsindicate the positive effects of coaching,Olivero et al. (1997) note that there havebeen few studies examining the efficacy ofexecutive coaching psychology and objectiveperformance empirically.

A major technique reserved for psycho-logists is cognitive behavioural therapy, yetthere is little research in regards to the appli-cation of cognitive behavioural techniquesand executive coaching outcomes. Perhapsthe most conclusive study of the positiveeffects of cognitive behavioural techniquesand psychology is that of Grant (2002). Witha sample of first year tertiary levelaccounting students, Grant (2002)compared the effects of a cognitive onlyapproach (CT), with a behavioural onlyapproach (BT), with a cognitive behaviouralapproach (CBT) on students’ grade pointaverage (GPA), self-regulation, self-concept,general mental health, private self-conscious-ness, self-reflection, and personal insight.

Overtly, the main goal of coachingpsychology is to increase performance, thusin this case the goal was to increase students’GPA (Grant, 2002). However, one of thecentral constructs of goal attainment is self-regulation. Locke and Latham (1990)concluded that goal setting increasesperformance from 10 per cent to 30 percent. Implicit in such performance increasesis the individual’s ability to self-regulate.

According to Garcia (1996) self-regula-tion refers to the process by which the indi-vidual controls and directs their actions inthe pursuit of their goals. Therefore, goal-directed self-regulation is a series ofprocesses where the individual sets a goal,devises a plan of action, initiates such action,monitors their performance, evaluates theirperformance by comparison to some stan-dard, and based on such an evaluationadjusts the action plan for further enhance-ment and goal attainment.

Grant (2002) notes that the process ofself-regulation provides basis for the indi-vidual’s ability for efficient goal attainment.


Vincenzo Libri & Travis Kemp

Based on the social-learning theory ofBandura (1986), there are three keyprocesses involved in instigating directedchange and goal-directed self-regulation.The first is self-monitoring (of thoughts andbehaviours); the second is self-evaluation(making comparisons of performance tosome standard); and thirdly self-reaction(creating purposeful change in order forgoal attainment).

Through empirical investigation, Grant(2002) concluded that the cognitive behav-ioural coaching approach was indeed themost powerful in enhancing performanceand goal attainment, as well as enhancingself-regulation, self-concept, and generalmental health. The cognitive behaviouralcoaching programme was also found tomaintain and elevate performance increasesat post and follow up measures. Neither thecognitive approach, behavioural approach,nor the cognitive behavioural approach hadany effect on private self-consciousness, self-reflection, or insight. Similar studies such asthat reported by Grant and Greene (2001)also conclude that the cognitive behaviouralcoaching psychology approach increasedperformance and decreased stress anddepression.

The present study sought to replicate thestudy of Grant (2002) by applying cognitivebehavioural coaching psychology principleswithin an organisational context. IndeedGrant (2002) himself recommended that thecoaching study be replicated with an adultpopulation in attaining ‘real life’ goals suchas enhancing work performance.

The present study also sought to validatethe above findings by applying coachingpsychology to a finance executive. The exec-utive in question acts as a lending broker,finding clients the best possible loan for thepurchase of domestic and commercial realestate. The present study applied a cognitivebehavioural executive coaching programmefor the performance enhancement of thefinance sales executive.

Research questions

The present study sought to support theconclusions of Grant (2002), namely the effi-cacy of cognitive behavioural techniqueswithin a coaching psychology paradigm.

Specifically, the following research ques-tions were explored.● Would the performance of a finance sales

executive improve as a result of hisparticipation in an executive coachingintervention that utilised cognitivebehavioural methods?

● Would the core self-evaluation ratings ofa finance sales executive improve as aresult of his participation in an executivecoaching intervention that utilisedcognitive behavioural methods?

● Would the subjective global self-ratings ofa finance sales executive improve as aresult of his participation in an executivecoaching intervention that utilisedcognitive behavioural methods?

Method

Participant

The participant of the present study was a 30-year-old Australian-born male. The partici-pant was a full-time finance sales executivewho voluntarily took part in the presentstudy.

Single case design

The present study employed an A (baseline)– B (intervention) – A (intervention with-drawal) – B (intervention) single casedesign. Each phase of the single case designhad duration of three weeks, thus the totallength of the study was 12 weeks. Follow-upmeasures were taken at week 36, six monthsafter the conclusion of the intervention, andat week 88 giving an 18-month follow-upperiod. These follow-up periods enabled thecollection of valuable longitudinal data.

The single case design, or time-seriesapproach, provides multiple data points thatallow for a ‘fine grain’ analysis of the co-vari-ation of the executive coaching interventionand the outcome variables over time(Grunzig, 1988; Moran & Fonagy, 1987).


Assessing the efficacy of a cognitive behavioural executive coaching programme

This is advantageous as time-series dataprovides immediate feedback for the investi-gator and the participant. Consequently, theprogramme could be evaluated instanta-neously and modified if and when required.

Interpretation of the significance of thecoaching intervention, practically speaking,is also much easier than an experiment(Jones et al., 1993). The A–B–A–B single casedesign attempts to control for extraneousvariables and also attempts to show causeand effect when the programme is intro-duced, withdrawn and introduced oncemore in distinct time phases. In essence itallows a comparison between stages, in orderto get a better ‘view’ of the effects of theexecutive coaching programme throughcontrol phases, rather than control groups.

Inferential statistics are not necessary, aspractical significance can be determinedthrough the observation of trend within thegraphical data. Graphical data revealschanges in trend and slope from baseline tointervention, and between control phases,also highlighting latency of change. Thesingle case design provides a practical way ofevaluating a theory or hypothesis, in this casesubstantiating the conclusions of Grant’s(2002) cognitive behavioural coachingprogramme with an academic sample, andapplying the coaching programme forperformance enhancement within an organ-isational context.

Measures

Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI)The BAI is a 21-item self-report inventory,with each item representing symptoms ofanxiety. The BAI was used as a screeninginstrument for study inclusion. The partici-pant is required to rate the degree that theyhave experienced a symptom of anxiety inthe past week using the rating scale not at all(0), mildly (1), moderately (2) or severely(3). Examples of symptoms are nervous,terrified and feeling hot.

Higher scores are indicative of anxiety.According to Beck and Steer (1993) the BAIhas an internal consistency of 0.94 and a test-

retest reliability of 0.75. In reference tovalidity, the BAI was found to significantlycorrelate with the Hamilton Anxiety Scale(r=0.51) and the State–Trait Anxiety Inven-tory (STAI) (r=0.58 for trait and r=0.47 forstate) (Beck & Steer, 1993).

Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II)The BDI-II is a 21-item self-report inventory,with each item representing symptoms ofdepression. The BDI-II was used as ascreening instrument for study inclusion.Each item has four statements which theparticipant is required to select from;circling the statement which best describestheir experience of that particular depressivesymptom in the past week.

An example is the item sadness and it’sassociated four statements; ‘I do not feel sad’,‘I feel sad much of the time’, ‘I am sad all ofthe time’, and ‘I am so sad or unhappy that Ican’t stand it.’ Each statement is rated from 0to 3 and higher scores are indicative of depres-sion. According to Beck, Steer and Brown(1996) the BDI-II has an internal consistencyof 0.92 and a test-retest reliability of 0.93. Inreference to validity, the BDI-II was found tosignificantly correlate with the HamiltonRating Scale for Depression (r=0.71) and theBDI-I (r=0.93), (Beck et al., 1996).

Sales performanceSales performance, an outcome measure,was assessed through the average of fourseparate but related measures. Suchmeasures were the amount of client leadsgenerated per week, the number of clientloan interviews per week, the number of loanapplications submitted per week and thenumber of loans approved per week. Allmeasures were recorded on a weekly basis.

Core self-evaluation scale (CSES)The CSES, an outcome measure, is a 12-itemscale measuring the higher order trait ofcore self-evaluation. Judge et al. (2003)found the CSES indicative of four well estab-lished personality traits of self-esteem(α=0.80 to 0.89), generalised self-efficacy



(α=0.80 to 0.89), neuroticism (α=0.87 to0.89), and locus of control (α=0.57 to 0.70).

Examples of items are ‘When I try, Igenerally succeed’ and ‘Sometimes I feeldepressed.’ The participant rates each itemusing a five-point Likert scale (1=stronglydisagree to 5=strongly agree). The CSES hasalso been found to predict job satisfaction(r=0.82 to 0.83), job performance (r=0.96),and life satisfaction (r=0.81 to 0.85), (Judgeet al., 2003).

Subjective global self-rating of performanceAn outcome measure, the participant wasasked to rate their own performance on ascale of 1 to 10, where 1 indicated absoluteworst performance, 5 indicated averageperformance, and 10 was indicative ofabsolute best performance. Qualitative datawas also gathered during performance inter-views with the participant, discussing theparticipant’s subjective rating of theirperformance relative to their goals, values,and problem solving skills.

Procedure

In seeking to replicate the methodologyused by Grant (2002), the participant wasfirst screened for psychopathology, specifi-cally measured for symptomology of anxietyand depression using the BAI and BDI-IIrespectively. The participant exhibited nosuch psychopathology and, therefore, metthe inclusion criteria of the study.

The A (baseline) – B (intervention) – A(intervention withdrawal) – B (intervention)single case design began with three weeks ofbaseline measures. Every Sunday morningfor the first three weeks of the study, theparticipant was measured on all outcomemeasures, namely sales performance, coreself-evaluation and also provided a subjectiveglobal self-rating of performance.

The second phase of the study intro-duced the executive coaching intervention.The intervention was a cognitive behaviouralexecutive coaching programme based on thecognitive behavioural coaching programmeof Grant, (2002). The intervention took part

at the end of week 3 and was taught in onefour-hour session on a Sunday morning.

Based on Locke (1996), and Latham andLocke (1991), the participant was taught toset specific, measurable, attractive, realistic,and time framed goals (SMART goals). Theparticipant was also informed about thecyclical nature of moving through the stagesof change, as described by the Transtheoret-ical model of change (TTM) of Prochaska,Norcross and DiClemente (1994). TheTranstheoretical model of change describessix stages of change; pre-contemplation,contemplation, preparation, action, mainte-nance and relapse. It was emphasised to theparticipant that change would not occurlinearly from one stage to the next, butrather cyclically, where relapse was acommon and natural part of the process.

The participant was shown how tomonitor thoughts and feelings using thedownward arrow techniques (Burns, 1989)and the laddering technique (McKay &Fanning, 1991). These techniques are a seriesof self-questioning statements which lead theparticipant to an understanding of anydysfunctional schemata, self-defeating beliefsand feelings. The participant was taught tomodify negative or self-defeating thoughtsand feelings by using motivational self-talk, aprocess of cognitive restructuring (Manning& Payne, 1996; Neck & Manz, 1992; Nelson-Jones, 1997). The participant also kept alogbook of successful work performance,specifically the number of finance loansapproved, finance loans submitted, gener-ating finance sales leads and finance salesinterviews with prospective clients.

Also, the participant identified a core setof values and monitored behaviour that wascongruent with such values in order toenhance work performance as suggested bySwenson and Herche (1994). The finalaspect of the executive coaching programmewas instruction on problem solving. Theparticipant was taught problem solving tech-niques, as poor problem solving has beenshown to contribute towards anxiety anddepression (Cassidy & Long, 1996) and has



also been shown to impair performance(Blankstein et al., 1992; Priester & Clum,1993).

The participant was interviewed weeklyduring the intervention phase and providedoutcome data, namely sales performance,core self-evaluation and a subjective globalself-rating of performance. The interventionphase lasted a total of three weeks. At theend of the sixth week, the intervention waswithdrawn and the participant was asked toreturn to their original methods of work.The participant again provided weeklyoutcome measures of sales performance,core self-evaluation and a subjective globalself-rating of performance during the inter-vention withdrawal phase.

The executive coaching intervention wasre-introduced in the final three weeks of thestudy and the participant was again meas-ured weekly on all outcome measures,namely sales performance, core self-evalua-tion and a subjective global self-rating ofperformance. The participant was also askedto provide data on outcome measures six-months after the conclusion of the study(week 36) to evaluate the long-termoutcomes of the executive coaching inter-vention.

Results

The A–B–A–B single case design showsweekly changes in the outcome variables ofsales performance, core self-evaluation andsubjective ratings of performance over time.The changes in outcome variables can beobserved, beginning at baseline, through tothe introduction of the intervention, inter-vention withdrawal and the reintroductionof the intervention through to the six-monthfollow-up measures. On all outcomemeasures, it was observed that initial base-lines exhibited clinical stability to warrantthe introduction of the treatment variable,namely the cognitive behavioural coachingprogramme.

It can be observed from Figure 1 that thefinance sales executive exhibits an increasein sales performance from baseline (weeks

1A to 3A) through to the introduction of theexecutive coaching programme (weeks 4B to6B). The trend of Figure 1 also shows a dipin performance in the first week of the inter-vention withdrawal phase (week 7A) and thefirst week of the reintroduction of the exec-utive coaching intervention (week 10B),both dips, however, were immediatelyfollowed by recoveries in performance.

Overall, Figure 1 shows the utility of theexecutive coaching programme, high-lighting an increase in performance frombaseline through to the end of the 12-weekstudy and continues to show performancemaintenance at six-month follow-up (week36F) and 18-month follow-up (week 88F)relative to baseline. Such a trend supportsthe efficacy and utility of the executivecoaching programme in enhancing salesperformance within the finance sales execu-tive and the sustainability of this perform-ance enhancement over time.

In regards to core self-evaluation, it canbe observed from Figure 2 that the financesales executive exhibits a sound core self-evaluation ranging from 51 to 58, where 60 isthe highest core self-evaluation scorepossible, indicating maximum positiveadjustment.

Figure 2 shows stable core self-evaluationratings in baseline (weeks 1A to 3A), followedby some variability in core self-evaluationscores within the second phase of the study,the introduction of the executive coachingprogramme (weeks 4B to 6B). Within theintervention withdrawal phase (weeks 7A to9A) core self-evaluation scores again stabilise,followed by a continuous increase of scoreswithin the final phase of the study, the rein-troduction of the executive coaching inter-vention (weeks 10B to 12B).

Overall, Figure 2 shows the utility of theexecutive coaching programme, high-lighting an increase of core self-evaluationfrom baseline through to the end of the 12-week study and continues to show core self-evaluation maintenance at six-monthfollow-up (week 36F) relative to baseline.Longitudinal data (week 88F) indicates a



minor decrease in core self evaluation overtime. Such a trend supports the efficacy andutility of the executive coaching programmein enhancing core self-evaluation within thefinance sales executive.

The finance sales executive was asked torate their own performance on a scale of 1 to10, where 10 indicates maximum perform-ance and 1 indicates poorest performanceand 5 is indicative of average performance.



Figure 1: Weekly changes in the average sales performance (KPI) of the finance sales executive.

AVERAGE KPI PERFORMANCE

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1A 2A 3A 4B 5B 6B 7A 8A 9A 10B 11B 12B 36F 88F

WEEK

NUMBER

AVERAGE KPI

Figure 2: Weekly changes in the core self-evaluation (CSES) of the finance sales executive.

CORE SELF EVALUATION

SCALE

46

48

50

52

54

56

58

60

1A 2A 3A 4B 5B 6B 7A 8A 9A 10B 11B 12B 36F 88F

WEEK NUMBER

CSES

Figure 3 shows the global self-rating ofperformance of the finance sales executivethroughout the 12-week study and at 6-month follow-up. It can be observed that thegeneral trend of Figure 3 shows an increasefrom baseline through to the conclusion ofthe 12-week study in the global self-rating ofperformance of the finance sales executive.It can also be observed that the increase inthe global self-rating of performance of thefinance sales-executive is maintained at thesix-month follow-up measure (week 36F)and the 18-month follow-up measure (week88F), relative to baseline.

Overall, Figure 3 provides support for theutility of the executive coaching programme,highlighting an increase in the global self-rating of performance from baselinethrough to the end of the 12-week study andcontinues to show maintenance of the globalself-rating of performance at both the six-month and 18-month follow-up measuresrelative to baseline. Such a trend lendsspecific support to the efficacy and utility ofthe executive coaching programme inenhancing global self-rating of performancewithin the finance sales executive.

Discussion

Due to the nature of the single case design ortime series approach, the results in this studyincluded no statistical analyses. Instead, theinterpretation of the efficacy of the cognitivebehavioural executive coaching programmewas completed through the observation ofgraphical trend data. By observing changes indata through graphical analysis, the effects ofthe executive coaching programme could bedetermined over time (Jones et al., 1993).

Graphical trend analysis supported theefficacy of the executive coachingprogramme in enhancing sales perform-ance, core self-evaluation and global self-ratings of performance. The graphs of eachoutcome variable showed consistentimprovements over time, which were allmaintained at follow-up relative to baselinemeasures. This trend was most evident in theperformance outcomes of global self-ratingsof performance and core self-evaluationratings. In comparison, the graph of averagefinance sales performance, whilst overallshowing general performance enhancementover time, also showed two significant dips inperformance in weeks 7A (the first week of



Figure 3: Weekly changes in the self-rating of performance of the finance sales executive.

PERFORMANCE SELF-RATING

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

1A 2A 3A 4B 5B 6B 7A 8A 9A 10B 11B 12B 36F 88F

WEEK

NUMBER

PERFORMANCE SELF-RATING SCORE

intervention withdrawal) and 10B (the firstweek of the reintroduction of the executivecoaching intervention).

The participant accounted for suchperformance dips by explaining that in week7A, it proved difficult to maintain perform-ance when having to revert to old methodsof work without setting weekly performancegoals and having a specific goal plan. Thedip in sales performance in week 10B wasalso due to adjustment, in particularreturning to the executive coaching inter-vention, specifically setting weekly salesperformance goals and adhering to aspecific goal plan. It should be noted thatalthough dips in sales performance occurredin weeks 7A and 10B, both weeks elicitedsales performance measures that werehigher than baseline measures.

It is observed that performance did notreturn to baseline levels at either interven-tion withdrawal or at follow up measures.Therefore, it appears that a positive cumula-tive effect over time of the coaching inter-vention occurred and hence these resultsappear to support and replicate the findingsof Grant (2002) upon which the presentstudy is based. Grant (2002) found throughempirical investigation, that a coachingprogramme based on cognitive-behaviouraltechniques was most powerful in enhancingperformance and goal attainment, as well asenhancing self-regulation, self-concept, andgeneral mental health. Grant (2002) alsoconcluded that the cognitive-behaviouralcoaching programme maintained andelevated academic performance at post andfollow up measures. Similar studies such asthat reported by Grant and Greene (2001)also conclude that the cognitive-behaviouralcoaching psychology approach increasedperformance and decreased stress anddepression.

Current literature suggests that executivecoaching must be shown to have positiveoutcomes that are measurable and observ-able (Kampa-Kokesch & Anderson, 2001;Kilburg, 1996, 2000). It has also beenpurported (Kampa-Kokesch & Anderson,

2001; Kilburg, 1996, 2000) that suchoutcomes should be focussed on overallorganisational performance and develop-ment through the behavioural change of theexecutive. The present study was able to high-light this by showing performance enhance-ment of the individual executive, thus havinga positive effect overall on the organisation.Simply put; the greater number of financesales, the better the bottom line, both for theindividual finance executive and for theorganisation as a whole.

This is perhaps the single most importantfactor in executive coaching. Executivecoaches are required to provide positiveoutcomes for their clients, and within theorganisational context the organisationshould benefit overall from the productivityand performance enhancement of the exec-utive being coached (Kampa-Kokesch &Anderson, 2001).

The present study goes some way inaddressing the lack of empirical evidence forexecutive coaching outcomes and assessingparticular psychological techniques for theenhancement of executive coaching andoverall performance enhancement. Thepresent study found the cognitive behav-ioural techniques provide an effective frame-work for executive coaching and foundsupport for executive coaching as an inter-vention for job performance enhancement,personal development and organisationalbenefit. Furthermore, the added strengthoffered by the often overlooked longitudinaldata gathered at 18-months post-interven-tion provides for compelling support for theefficacy of such an intervention.

Study limitations

Whilst the present study found positiveoutcomes as a consequence of executivecoaching, it is unable to conclude cause-and-effect. Therefore, it cannot be concludedthat the executive coaching intervention wassolely responsible for sales performanceenhancement, core self-evaluation improve-ments or enhanced global self-ratings ofperformance. The reason for this is due to




the nature of the methodology of the study.Whilst the present study did not utilise a

pre and post intervention, treatment andcontrol group, quasi- experimental design,its single case design does provide for a highdegree of internal validity. The single casedesign or time series approach also providesa practical way of evaluating a theory orhypothesis, in this case substantiatingGrant’s (2002) cognitive-behaviouralcoaching programme and its practical appli-cations to an organisational context.However, it is noted that reliability iscompromised, due to the lack of inter-observer reliability in particular. Unfortu-nately this is mainly due to the study takingplace in an applied environment and there-fore the generalisability of results is limited.

A further limitation of the present studyis the time allocated to baseline, treatmentand withdrawal stages (three weeks perstage). However, due to the limited timepractitioners have available to interact withtheir clients together with the commercialexpectations of such coaching interventions,it is difficult to justify long periods of inac-tivity for the purposes of establishing base-line stability.

Engagement of cognitive behaviouralcoaching is subject to the commercial natureof an organisation, influenced by the prac-tical constraints of time, budget and organi-sational objectives, and, therefore, providesno opportunity to conduct a true experi-ment. In order to assist clients and ascertainwhether an executive coaching programmeis efficacious, an organisational psychologistmay employ a single case design using amultiple baseline A–B–A–B approach, satis-fying both agendas.

Conclusion

The present study found that a cognitivebehavioural executive coaching interventionwas shown to be efficacious in enhancing thesales performance, core self-evaluation andglobal self-rating of performance of afinance sales executive. Executive coacheswho seek to enhance the performance and

well-being of their clients should considerincorporating cognitive behavioural tech-niques into their coaching programmes.

It is suggested that further research beconducted investigating and validating exec-utive coaching models, approaches andoutcomes, as well as validating the efficacyand utility of specific psychological tech-niques for the basis of executive coaching. Itis also suggested that further researchconcerning executive coaching beconducted by academics within the field oforganisational psychology. Such researchshould provide empirical evidence for exec-utive coaching and psychological techniquesfor organisational performance enhance-ment, via sound experimental designs suchas the use of experimental and controlgroups.

Authors

Vincenzo Libri

School of Psychology,University of South Australia.

Travis Kemp

Adjunct Lecturer, School of Psychology,University of Sydney.Adjunct Research Fellow, Graduate Schoolof Business, University of South Australia.

Correspondence

Vicenzo Libri

P.O. Box 708Kent Town,South Australia 5071.E-mail: [email protected]




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L IFE COACHING CAN BE BROADLYdefined as a collaborative solutionfocused, results orientated and system-

atic process in which the coach facilitates theenhancement of life experience and goalattainment in the personal and professionallife of normal, non-clinical clients (Grant,2003). Because of its emphasis on enhancingwell-being, personal functioning and goalattainment, life coaching can be consideredto be a para-therapeutic methodology. Theprofessions of therapeutic helpers such aspsychologists, psychiatrists or social workersand their training is regulated and carefully

governed in Australia. However, there are noregulations governing life coach training.Indeed, little is know about the characteris-tics of Australian life coach training schools,their marketing claims, the kinds of qualifi-cations and certifications they offer, thequalifications of the owners of these schools,or how they address mental health issues.This paper presents the results of anexploratory study that sought to examine theabove issues, and makes a series of recom-mendations for the future development ofthe life coach training industry.

The self-presentation of commercialAustralian life coaching schools:Cause for concern?Anthony M. Grant & Blythe O’Hara

Objectives: The study had four major objectives: (1) to identify the types of qualifications,certifications andaccreditations offered by Australian life coaching schools; (2) to provide an overview of the advertisedcontent and cost of life coach training courses; (3) to identify how life coaching schools differentiate betweenlife coaching and mental health treatment; and (4) to explore the marketing statements made about courses,schools, owners and trainers.Design: This study employed a qualitative research design in which information on Australian lifecoaching school’s were drawn from their websites. Emergent themes were coded and analyses conducted onthe basis of those themes. Methods: Following an internet search, the emergence of broad categories and themes related to the aims ofthe study were documented, leading to the identification of a group of core categories and a final process ofcomparison between schools.Results: Of the 14 Australian life coaching schools identified, six claimed to be International CoachFederation accredited and five offered courses under the Australian Qualifications Framework. Cost forcourses varied between A$1070 and A$9990. Nine of the 14 schools made no explicit distinction betweenlife coaching and treatment for mental health issues, and one school stated that life coaching could be usedto deal with anxiety-related problems. Self-promotional statements about teachers and owners varied greatlyfrom claims of university affiliations to prior experience as a cordon bleu chef. The claims made as to theearning potential of life coaches were not unrealistic.Conclusions: In general, the self-promotional statements of the Australian life coach training industry wereflamboyant but only a few were considered outrageous. Recommendations made include that schools becomeRegistered Training Organisations, that students check the claimed accreditations, academic affiliations ofschools, and validity of qualifications and credentialing, and that schools make explicit the distinctionsand boundaries between mental health treatment and life coaching.Keywords: Life coaching, coach training, evidence-based coaching.


Past research on the Australian life

coaching industry

We do not know much about the key charac-teristics of the Australian life coachingindustry. One investigation into the charac-teristics of Australian coaches, based onresponses from 148 Australian coaches(Spence et al., 2006), found that only 12 percent of respondents had more than five yearscoaching experience. Although only aminority of coaches had a background inpsychology or counselling, some of the mostcommon issues dealt with in coaching werereported as being relationship and interper-sonal skills issues, and approximately 10 percent of the coaches surveyed indicated thatthey commonly coached clients in relation toissues of self-esteem, self-worth, personalloss, life crises, social isolation and distress.

To the present authors’ knowledge theonly other study into the characteristics ofAustralian coaches is a working paperfocused specifically on business coaching(Clegg et al., 2003). Surveying 42 businesscoaching firms, they found (and alongsimilar lines to Spence et al., 2006), thatbusiness coaching firms in Australia tendedto be young and small, with 65 per cent offirms in business for less than five years, 86per cent employing less than five people andmore than 50 per cent of businesses workingout of home offices. Thus coaching inAustralia thus appears to be a young, cottageindustry in the early stages of maturation.

The training of life coaches and mental

health issues: One size fits all?

Coaches appear to be committed to receivingcoach-specific education and training.Spence et al. (2006) found that 90 per cent ofrespondents reported have taken some formof coach-specific training. An internationalsurvey of 2529 coaches by Grant and Zackon(2004) found that 90.3 per cent of respon-dents stated that they had enrolled in a coachtraining programme of some sort, and over a12-month period, the majority of coaches(58.5 per cent) surveyed had engaged in atleast 30 hours of coach-specific training.

However, quantity is not necessarilyquality. Many life coaching trainingprogrammes are heavily-marketed, atheoret-ical proprietary ‘six-steps-to-your-perfect-life’coaching systems, rather than a rigoroustheoretically-based education in the helpingskills of human change. There have beenconcerns that such atheoretical coachtraining programmes result in inappropriateone-size-fits-all coaching interventions(Kauffman & Scoular, 2004), and these maycause harm to clients who have undiagnosedmental health problems (Berglas, 2002).

Although coaching is aimed at non-clinical populations it may be that some indi-viduals seek coaching as a socially-acceptableform of therapy. Indeed, recent studies havefound that between 25 per cent and 50 percent of individuals presenting for lifecoaching met clinical mental health criteria(Green et al., 2005; Spence & Grant, 2005).Thus an important part of any life coachtraining programme should be a cleardistinction between coaching and therapy orcounselling. Indeed, ethical and professionalpractice demands that life coach trainingprogrammes should teach life coaches howto recognise mental health problems andhow to make appropriate treatment referrals.

To date no research has examined thecharacteristics of Australian commercial lifecoach training schools. In an environment ofrapid growth and frequent hyperbole such asin the life coaching arena, it is important todetermine what Australian life coachingschools offer in their courses, and theirmarketing and self-promotional claims. Suchfactors are likely to have an impact on thekind of students attracted to the courses,students’ expectations about courseoutcomes, and will have an impact on publicperceptions of life coaching and the futuredevelopment of the life coaching industry.

Given that life coaches work as para-therapeutic helping professionals, life coachtraining schools have a clear duty of care tooffer qualifications, certifications andaccreditations that are meaningful, to explic-itly address issues of mental health in their

Anthony M. Grant & Blythe O’Hara


Australian life coaching schools

promotional materials, and to provide a well-grounded education in life coaching in a waythat models ethical professional practice(Auerbach, 2001; Berglas, 2002)

Delineating qualifications, certifications

and accreditations

Life coaching schools operate within anunregulated commercial market. Any onecan offer life coach training. In a highlycompetitive market, a key factor in theprocess of attracting students may be theperceived credibility and status of the awardor title bestowed on the student aftercompleting the course. Awards and titlessuch as ‘Level 7 Master Coach’, or ‘CertifiedMaster Mentor Coach’ abound.

Terms such as ‘qualification’, ‘certifica-tion’ and ‘accreditation’ and are widely andinterchangeably used in the promotion andthe marketing of life coach training. Theseterms have different meanings. It is not clearthat either the schools themselves nor thegeneral public is able to distinguish betweenthese terms. Suck lack of clarity does nothelp potential students evaluate the worth ofsuch awards and make well-informed deci-sions about which life coach training schoolto choose.

A qualification is a formal award ‘issued bya relevant approved body in recognition thata person has achieved learning outcomesrelevant to identified individual, profes-sional, industry or community needs’(Australian Qualifications Framework, 2002,p.v). In Australia, each State or Territory hasthe legislative responsibility for authorisingthe issuance of a qualification. These areordinarily carried out by a RegisteredTraining Organisation (RTO) or by a bodyauthorised under statute such as a public orprivate university (Australian QualificationsFramework, 2002). Such bodies delivertraining and conduct assessments, and areauthorised to issue nationally recognisedqualifications in accordance with theAustralian Qualifications Framework(Australian Government Department ofEducation Science and Training, 2006).

The only non-university vocational quali-fications below a bachelor degree that areformally recognised within the AustralianQualifications Framework (AQF) are Certifi-cates I to IV, the Diploma and the AdvancedDiploma. These are vocational trainingawards equivalent to trade certificates. A Certificate IV is generally held to be theequivalent of six to nine months of abachelor degree, with an Advanced Diplomabeing approximately equivalent to one totwo years of a bachelor degree (AustralianQualifications Framework, 2002). InAustralia training for these non-universityawards is conducted by Technical andFurther Education (TAFE) colleges, adultand community education centres, andprivate RTOs. Private RTOs vary in size fromhome-based one-person business to largecorporations.

In contrast to the rigour associated withthe standardised assessment necessary forthe award of a qualification, a certification ismerely a formal acknowledgement ofsuccessful achievement of a defined set ofoutcomes (Australian Government Depart-ment of Education Science and Training,2006). Thus a ‘coaching certification’ carriesfar less weight than a formal government-recognised qualification. There have beenconcerns that the sheer number of‘coaching certifications’ on offer has under-mined the currency of the term ‘certifica-tion’, and that commercial coachingcertifications are primarily a marketing tooland revenue generator for commercialcoaching schools and do little to guaranteetraining standards or protect the public (foran extended discussion of these issues seeCarr, 2005).

An accreditation refers to the officialrecognition of a course by a requisite body orauthority. The real value of any accreditationis dependant on the authority of the accred-iting body. Accreditation normally involvesthe meeting of a set of standards in terms ofthe qualifications of the teachers, andspecific levels of rigour in the teaching andassessment process itself. Formal qualifica-


tions within Australia are accredited by therequisite State or Territory course accred-iting body in accordance with the standardsfor state and territory Registering CourseAccrediting Bodies (Australian GovernmentDepartment of Education Science andTraining, 2006). However, many coachingschools have established their own accredita-tion bodies, and are in essence self-accred-ited (Carr, 2005).

The issue of self-accreditation and theself-awarding of impressive sounding titles isan important one as the general public is notwell-informed as to the worth of establishedacademic qualifications and accreditations(Lancaster & Smith, 2002) let alonecoaching-related titles, and may rely onimpressive sounding titles to guide them intheir selection of a coach training school.Although such titles may sound impressive topotential students, the real value and credi-bility of these is uncertain.

Summary of the aims of the study

The purpose of this study was to explore thenumber, nature and type of life coachingschools available in Australia. In particularthe objectives of this study were: ● To identify the types of qualifications,

certifications and accreditations offeredby commercial Australian life coachingschools.

● To provide an overview of the advertisedcontent, assessment processes, cost andduration of courses by which people canbe trained as life coaches.

● To identify how the promotionalmaterial of life coaching schools dealswith the relationship between coaching,mental health and therapy.

● To explore the marketing claims andassociated strategies used by life coachingschools in relation to the course, theschool, the organisation and the ownersand teachers.

Method

Over a period of four months, fromDecember, 2005, until the end of March,

2006, information related to Australian lifecoaching schools was downloaded from theinternet. As life coaching is a highly internet-dependant industry (Williams & Thomas,2004), the internet is a useful and relevantresearch platform from which to study theself-presentation and self-promotion of lifecoaching schools.

The information was selected through aninternet search engine using the keywords‘life coaching’ and was restricted toAustralian information only. Google wasused in recognition of its reputation as acomprehensive search engine and its effec-tiveness in ranking websites in order of rele-vance (Infopeople, 2006; Search Thingy,2006; UC Berkeley Library, 2006).

The search yielded in excess of 600,000possible matches, the first 20,000 matches ofwebsite references were analysed and thesample was restricted to those sites whooffered training to become a life coach. Toensure that this information was as inclusiveas possible this information was cross-refer-enced with a search of the InternationalCoach Federation (www.coachfederation.org)and National (Australian) Training Informa-tion Service (www.ntis.gov.au) websites. Thisprocess resulted in the identification of atotal of 14 Australian life-coaching trainingorganisations.

To analyse the information, a process ofemergent thematic coding was undertaken.The information from each school’s websitewas categorised and coded. The emergenceof broad categories and themes related tothe aims of the study were documented,leading to the identification of a group ofcore categories and a final process ofdetailed categorisation and comparisonbetween schools.

Results

This section provides the analysis of theinformation obtained from the internetsearch. Firstly, we report details related tothe accreditation of courses. Secondly, wereport on information related to courseduration, cost and assessment. Thirdly, we




report on the types of marketing claimsmade about the schools. Finally, we examinehow the schools’ marketing materials dealwith issues related to mental health.

The legitimacy of qualifications,

certifications and accreditations

There were three key ways coach trainingorganisations used to establish the credibilityand legitimacy of their courses: (a) accredi-tation through the Australian GovernmentVocational Training Framework (AustralianQualifications Framework, 2002); (b)accreditation by the International CoachFederation (ICF); and (c) self-accreditationor accreditations through a range of miscel-laneous organisations. Of the 14 lifecoaching schools, 11 claimed that theircourses were accredited by an external bodyof some sort.

The most common accrediting body wasthe ICF, and six schools reported that theyoffered an ICF Accredited Coaching TrainingProgramme. One school claimed this accred-itation but the information provided on theAustralasian International Coach Federationwebsite did not support this claim.

The second most common accreditationprocess, claimed by five schools, fell withinthe framework provided by the AQF andNational Training Information Service,which allows for RTOs to provide recognisedqualifications that are accredited byAustralian jurisdictional Governmenttraining organisations.

Two life coaching schools did not detailany affiliation with an accreditation or regu-lation body. One organisation stated that itstraining courses would ‘qualify you to earn acoaching credential from (XYZ) university’.This credential was a non-award completioncertificate, associated with finishing a non-degree continuing education course.Another school claimed to offer a GraduateCertificate that was recognised by the rele-vant Government Agency, but details of thisqualification could not be found by theauthors of this paper on the AustralianNational Training Information Service.

Another organisation offered a self-accred-ited Diploma that was not recognised by anappropriate Government Agency. See Figure1 for distribution of accrediting bodies.

Course cost, duration and assessment

In relation to the cost of life coachingcourses; five organisations did not detail thecosts involved in undertaking their courseson their websites. Of those who did give thisinformation, the cost of courses variedconsiderably ranging from A$1070 for (self-accredited) individual training programmemodules to A$9995 for a Diploma of LifeCoaching (awarded within the AQF).

Similarly, the quality of informationpublicly available about the length of coursesvaried considerably and in some cases wasambiguous. One organisation did notprovide any information at all. Others gavethe length of the course in hours, othersdetailed total number of days, weeks ormonths. The time frame for completion ofthese courses ranged from 16 days to 12months.

In relation to assessment processes, sevenorganisations did not detail at all howstudents would be assessed in order tocomplete the course. Of the remaining sevenorganisations, six indicated that the assess-ment process would incorporate a practicalcomponent, in addition to evidence ofcoaching skills, along with written assign-ments and exams, and one organisation indi-cated that its assessment process was basedon assignments only.

Marketing claims

In relation to marketing claims the informa-tion obtained from the schools’ website werefound to fall into four main categories: (a) marketing claims about the school; (b)marketing claims about the course; (c)marketing claims about the teachers orowners; and (d) general marketing claims. Marketing claims about the school. Marketingclaims about the school fell into four keythemes: (a) longevity; (b) being the bestschool; (c) reputation; and (d) best practice.


Table 1 provides a number of quotes takenfrom the websites in relation to these claims.

Marketing claims about the course. In relation tomarketing claims about the course offered bythe school four key themes emerged: (a)exclusiveness; (b) comprehensiveness; (c) setsthe standard; and (d) recognised credentials.Table 2 provides examples of such claims.

Marketing claims about the teachers or owners.

A number of claims were made regardingthe teachers or owners of the life coachingschools. Table 3 provides examples of thetypes of claims that were made in relation topersonal involved in the life coachingschool. These can be incorporated intothree key themes – claims about: (a)academic affiliations; (b) personal charisma;and (c) relevant life experience.

General marketing claims. A number of cate-gories of general marketing claims weredelineated. These can be characterised intofour themes: (a) earning potential; (b) timeframe; (c) growing business and benefits;and (d) profession of coaching and qualifi-cations. Table 4 provides examples of quotesthat characterise these themes.

There did not appear to be any distinc-tion in the marketing claims based on thetype of accreditation the organisations hadundertaken.

Mental health issues

In relation to how the organisations in thisstudy dealt with mental health issues threequestions were of interest, (a) does the lifecoach school make a distinction betweencoaching and therapy or counselling, (b)does the life coaching school detail themanner in which their course will equipstudents to recognise and appropriately dealwith mental health issues, and (c) does thelife coaching school claim that coaching candeal with issues more appropriately dealtwith by therapy or counselling?

Four categories were used in analysingthis information. The first category appliedto those schools who made a very cleardistinction between mental health issues andcoaching (that is, who explicitly detailed thedifferences between coaching and therapyor counselling). The second categoryapplied to those schools who provided asomewhat clear distinction (that is whomentioned that coaching was different fromtherapy or counselling). The third appliedto those schools who did not address ormention mental health issues at all, and thefourth applied to those schools who claimedthat coaching could be used to treat mentalhealth issues, and thus blurred the bound-aries between mental health treatment andcoaching practice.

Nine of the organisations did not articu-late a distinction between mental health

Figure 1: Accreditation of life coaching schools in Australia.

0

1

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4

5

6

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Govt Agency ICF Other Not detailed

Accrediting Body

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Table 1: Marketing claims about the life coaching school.

Table 2: Marketing claims about the course.

Type of claim Example of claimabout the school

Longevity ● ‘We have a 20 year history’● ‘XX remains at the forefront of the industry,

providing quality education … for over 33 years’

Best school ● ‘XX is Australia’s premier life coaching educator’● ‘We have trained more coaches in Australia in the last four years than

any other coach training organisation’

Reputation ● ‘XX is a world leader in coach training operating in countries around the world’

● ‘XX offers coaching programmes in 10 different countries and is one of the leaders of innovation in training coaches world wide’

● ‘We are the number one life coaching certification school on Google’

Best practice ● ‘XX combines the best practices in the field of coaching’● ‘Course is modelled on world’s best practice’

Type of claim Example of claimabout the course

Exclusiveness ● ‘We are the only providers of a Diploma of Life Coaching in Australia’● ‘It is the first and only Graduate Certificate in NLP offered in Australia’

Comprehensiveness ● ‘Most comprehensive coach training available in Australia’ ● ‘Is the most complete and comprehensive coaching programme

in Australia’● ‘The complete life coaching package’

Sets the standard ● ‘Developed over six years … coaching models, training curriculum and coach support services are cutting edge’

● ‘This postgraduate qualification sets the standard …sets a new benchmark in NLP training’

Recognised ● ‘You can confidently demonstrate recognised credentialsto the market place’


Table 3: Marketing claims regarding teachers and owners.

Table 4: General marketing claims.

Type of claim Example of claimabout teachersor owners

Academic ● ‘Claims to hold university affiliations’qualifications ● ‘Claims to hold a Certificate in Coaching Psychology’

Personal charisma ● ‘Once in a while someone comes along who truly inspires and motivatesof teachers you with her vitality, passion and energy’

● ‘B funny director, B happy director, B great director, B sexy director’

Relevant ● ‘Owns and runs two businesses’experience ● ‘At 23 established and ran her own direct marketing business,

generating over $1 million in sales in first year’● ‘Qualified as home economist and cordon bleu chef, author’● ‘Successful financial planer, author and life coach’

Type of claim Example of claim

Earning potential ● ‘Coaches can earn between $75–$400 per hour’● ‘As a life coach in Australia, approx $250–$500 per month is an

acceptable, average charge’● ‘When starting out coaches tend to charge a monthly retainer of $250,

average of $500 per month’● ‘With as few as 15 regular clients, a diligent coach can earn

$50,000 a year working from home just a few days a week’

Time frame ● ‘You can become a professional coach within six months’

Growing business ● ‘Coaching is a growing business, now is your opportunity to benefitand benefits from this high growth phase’

● ‘Life coaching is a dynamic and growing field’● ‘One of the most popular career choices of people wanting a

more balanced life’● ‘Coaching and mentoring have never been in higher demand.

This programme will show you how to ensure your ongoing success and of those around you’

● ‘Watching clients grow and change with your support is what life coaching is all about , its an incredibly rewarding career’

Profession of ● ‘Don’t need a university degree or possess any specific educational coaching and qualifications to be a life coach, all you need is determination, qualifications commitment and a willingness to learn’

● ‘The profession of coaching is similar to the practice of physician, attorney or psychologist’




issues and coaching at all, only two organisa-tions provided a somewhat clear distinction,and three organisations blurred the linesbetween coaching and therapy and providedunclear distinctions. Of particular concernin this category was the life coaching schoolthat claimed that the ‘profession of coachingis similar to the practice of physician,attorney or psychologist.’

Examples of those life coaching schoolsthat provided a somewhat clear distinctionbetween mental health issues and coachingare given below:● ‘Just some of the things you will learn …

how to know the difference betweencoaching, therapy and counselling.’

● ‘What you will learn … the importantdifferences between coaching,counselling and therapy.’

● ‘Define life coaching and differentiate itfrom other professions such aspsychotherapist, counsellor, personaltrainer and so on.’

● ‘Is coaching like counselling? Coaching isnot about how you came to be who youare; its about helping your clients getfrom where they are now to a specificpoint in the future. One way of making aclear distinction would be to say thatcounsellors are in the business ofrecovery, whereas coaches are in thebusiness of development.’

There did not appear to be any differentia-tion on how mental health issues were dealtwith according to the accreditation processthe life coaching school had undertaken.Only three schools explicitly stated that theircourse would teach students how to make adistinction between coaching and therapy orcounselling.

Somewhat disturbingly one life coachingschool, which although stating that studentswould learn the important differencesbetween counselling and coaching, alsostated that coaching was an appropriateintervention for dealing with anxiety, andthat coaching delivered

‘… increased energy (that) transformsyour life … watch your energy levels,

passion for living, and youthfulness soarto new heights, your health issues,sleepless nights and anxiety patternsdissolve. Your ideal weight, lust for lifeand sex drive as you live the life youwant.’.

This appears to be an unfortunate exampleof the blurring of the distinctions betweencoaching and therapy as anxiety, sexualhealth and general health issues may be farbetter dealt with by qualified counsellors orhealth professionals.

Discussion

This study is the first to explore the self-presentation characteristics of the Australianlife coach training industry. Given that muchof the commercial life coaching andpersonal development industry is groundedmore on hyperbole and rhetoric than solidbehavioural science (Grant, 2001), theauthors of this paper expected to find farmore examples of outrageous, excessive andexaggerated self-promotional claims thanwere in fact found. With one or two excep-tions, we were pleasantly surprised by thegeneral restraint shown in the self-promo-tional material of Australian life coachingschools.

It was encouraging to find that 11 of the14 schools had sought to gain some kind ofaccreditation for their courses. Meaningfulaccreditation processes can provide studentsand the public with a measure of qualityassurance and a route for the effectiveaddressing of complaints (Bellamy, 2005).Six schools claimed that their course wasaccredited by the ICF. Whilst the ICF is aleading industry coaching body and has putconsiderable time and resources into coachaccreditation processes, the ICF is in essencea self-accrediting body, and membership isvoluntary.

Complaints to the ICF against anyspecific ICF accredited school can thus, atmost lead, to a school losing its ICF accredi-tation status. On the other hand, accredita-tion within the Australian QualificationFramework and status as a RTO may provide


a more rigorous protection for students, ascomplaints against the school could poten-tially lead to a school loosing the right todeliver formal qualifications. We recom-mend that Australian life coaching schoolsseek to become RTOs and seek Governmentaccreditation for their courses, at least toCertificate IV level.

Training schools should also avoidambiguous claims about the cost, timeframesand academic and accreditation status oftheir courses. Australian trade legislationprohibits misleading advertising, omittingimportant information, or making false orinaccurate claims about products or services.Under this law it is not necessary to provethat the conduct actually misled or deceivedanyone, and it irrelevant whether the misrep-resentation is intentional, deliberate or acci-dental. What matters is the overallimpression that is given to the customer(Australian Competition and ConsumerCommission, 2006).

Course costs varied considerably. Thecost of completing a Certificate IV rangedfrom A$2995 to A$7995, and one of the mostexpensive courses found in this study wasA$9800 for an 18-day (self-accredited)Master Practitioner Life Coach award. It should be noted that a one-year full-timeAustralian university Masters degree costs inthe region of A$10,000. We recommend thatpotential students carefully consider thefinancial cost and true value of such lifecoach training programmes beforeenrolling.

Most schools put forward claims as tolongevity, and nearly all claimed to be the best,the most comprehensive, the most cuttingedge or the world leaders in the field. Oneschool promoted themselves as the numberone life coaching school on Google, althoughit is unclear how ranking on an internet searchengine testifies to the validity and rigour of atraining course. However, whilst many of theseclaims were somewhat flamboyant, in general,with only a few exceptions, we considered themarketing claims about the courses not to beoutrageous or excessive.

Academic qualifications enhance credi-bility (Clark & Salaman, 1998). Personalcharisma, and a life experience whichembodies an overcoming of adverse or tragiclife events, are central to the promotion ofpersonal development leaders as beingpowerful individuals who can point the wayto a more positive future (Salerno, 2005).Thus it was not surprising that all schoolsmade a range of such claims about theirteachers and owners. One individual statedthat ‘during the mid 1970s I was a singleparent … struggling to survive on a Govern-ment pension …’.

Another’s biography stated that he/shewas qualified as home economist and cordonbleu chef, was the co-author of severalcooking books, and was once offered theopportunity to study advanced cordon bleucooking in Europe. Whilst this would behighly pertinent to teaching a restaurantmanagement course, it is unclear how such abackground is directly relevant in teachingthe para-therapeutic skills inherent in lifecoaching. Others stated that they heldacademic positions at a various universities.We recommend that students check allclaimed academic qualifications and affilia-tions with the relevant academic institution,and determine for themselves if the statedqualifications and life experience are indeedrelevant to the teaching of life coaching.

The potential to earn a substantialincome in a relaxed part-time fashion, wasstrongly emphasised by all schools. Schoolsclaimed that students could earn betweenA$75 and A$400 per hour. One schoolclaimed that a diligent coach could earnA$50,000 a year.

In an international survey of 2529coaches Grant and Zackon (2004) foundthat most coaches worked part-time, and that52.5 per cent of respondents earned lessthan US$30,000 annually, and 32.3 per centearned less than US$10,000. Just over halfthe respondents (50.7 per cent) chargedbetween US$50 and US$149 per hour. Thetop fee range of US$300 per hour and overwas charged by 10.3 per cent of respondents.




Thus the potential earning claims made byAustralian life coaching schools are withinthe broad financial region identified in pastresearch.

However, claims made about the degreeof growth experienced in the life coachingindustry should be interpreted with somecaution. A common claim made on many lifecoach schools’ websites is that coaching is aUS$100 million business second only to theInformation Technology industry in its USgrowth rate, and that life coaching is one oftoday's fastest growing industries. We couldfind no empirical research to support thisclaim. The primary source for this claimappears to have been a 1999 press release bya US coach training organisation that wasreported in the Sydney Morning Herald, andsubsequently repeated in a number ofpopular magazines.

Whilst it is true that experienced, quali-fied and competent coaches are able tomake a very comfortable living fromcoaching, this is a minority sector of thecoaching industry. Indeed, anecdotalreports suggests that there may be high levelof industry turnover, with new individualscompleting life coach courses, thenattempting to set up a life coaching businessand finally leaving the industry after twoyears or so, and some research supports thisview (Grant & Zackon, 2004; Spence et al.,2006).

Further, the claimed absence of a needfor university degrees or specific educationalqualifications to be a life coach (see Table 4)is somewhat disturbing. In fact, within thecorporate coaching arena, organisations seea university degree in the behaviouralsciences as the second most importantcriteria for coaches, with the most importantbeing significant coaching experience(Corporate Leadership Council, 2003).

Of disappointment to the authors was thefinding that the majority of the life coachingschools did not explicitly state in theirpromotional material or course descriptionsthat life coaching is quite separate fromcounselling and therapy, and they failed to

give information on how coaches would betaught to recognise what is most appropri-ately dealt with in coaching, and how andwhen to make referrals to qualified mentalhealth professionals. This is despite the factthat many schools provided a wealth of infor-mation about the details of their curriculum.

The limitations of this study are that itonly included those organisations whichused the internet as a means of self-promo-tion and provision of information abouttheir courses. The study only included theinformation that was freely available frompublic websites, and thus did not allow forany further investigation of collection ofinformation outside this medium.

In closing, the move towards offeringgovernment-recognised qualifications in lifecoaching is to be applauded. However,presently the wide range of courses anddifferent qualifications and awards on offermeans that potential students may find itvirtually impossible to make meaningfulcomparisons between the different coursesand schools. Furthermore, it is important torecognise that life coaching training is morethan just a training programme designed tohelp people set up a life coaching businesses.It is essentially an educational process whichshould prepare people to work as professionalskilled helpers in a para-therapeutic modality.It is questionable whether the same standardsshould apply to the advertising of life coachtraining as those that apply to the promotionof other commercial products. We recom-mend that life coaching training schools fullyrecognise their responsibilities as providers ofprofessional para-therapeutic education, andhelp consumers to make informed choicesbased on clear and accurate information thatallows for meaningful comparison betweenschools and provides a solid foundation forprofessional life coaching.

Authors


Coaching Psychology Unit,School of Psychology,University of Sydney.


Correspondence

Dr Anthony M. Grant

Coaching Psychology Unit,School of Psychology, University of Sydney,Sydney, NSW 2006,Australia.E-mail: [email protected]

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Clegg, S., Rhodes, C. & Kornberger, M. (2003). An overview of the business coaching industry inAustralia (Working Paper). Sydney: The AustralianCentre for Organisational, Vocational and AdultLearning.

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Grant, A.M. (2003). The impact of life coaching ongoal attainment, metacognition and mentalhealth. Social Behaviour and Personality, 31(3),253–264.

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Human resources professionals’perceptions of executive coaching:Efficacy, benefits and return oninvestment*Gavin Dagley

Objectives: Human resources (HR) professionals represent a large and relatively untapped source ofexperiential knowledge about executive coaching. The purpose of the study was to record the perceptions ofthese HR professionals.Design: The study was a survey design.Methods: The practitioners completed structured interviews to elicit their perceptions of the overall efficacyof executive coaching, the specific benefits derived and drawbacks experienced from the programmes, theirestimates of the cost/benefit of the programmes, and their interest in using executive coaching in the future.Results: As a group, the 17 participants were responsible for more than 1000 individual executive coachingprogrammes and $15.4 million of expenditure on executive coaching in the preceding two years. Thepractitioners indicated strong support for the use of coaching in the future, and all rated their programmesas at least moderately successful. The practitioners also identified a large range of benefits for the individualexecutives and a smaller range for the organisations. The two most commonly expressed drawbacks weredifficulty with executives making time for sessions and the expense of executive coaching. Although thepractitioners indicated that benefits exceeded costs, only one practitioner indicated completing formalmeasurement of return on investment.Conclusions: Discussion included consideration of the pressure for more structured and measurableintervention approaches, and the influence such approaches may have on the efficacy of the programmesthemselves.

LTHOUGH THE TOPIC OF EXECU-TIVE coaching has received increasing

attention over the last decade (Grant2005), surprisingly little research hasinvolved one of the largest groups ofpurchasers of executive coaching – humanresources (HR) professionals. This groupincludes practitioners with considerableexperience of and knowledge about the useof executive coaching. Executive coaching,however, also represents something of anunknown quantity to many HR professionals.Does coaching work? What can one expectto gain? Does it deliver value for money?These have become important questionsbecause executive coaching is a rapidlygrowing industry, functioning as a virtually

unregulated service sector in which outcomedelivery and quality assurance can be uncertain.

Coaching can be costly, and corporateleaders want to know that they are gettingvalue for money. Peterson and Kraiger(2004) argued that there is a rapidly growingbody of personal testimonials, case studies,and other diverse research methods thatgives clear indications that coaching has apositive impact on both people and organi-sational results. Supporting this positive viewof coaching, Garman et al. (2000) investi-gated media perceptions of executivecoaching and concluded that favourableviews of executive coaching far exceededunfavourable views.

A

* This research was conducted in conjunction with the Australian Human Resources Institute.

34 International Coaching Psychology Review ● Vol. 1 No. 2 November 2006© The British Psychological Society – ISSN: 1750-2764

Morgan et al. (2005) reported on resultsfrom a multi-national, multi-sector, multi-industry survey of coaching practices.Although 19 countries were represented inthe data, the US, Canada and Mexicoaccounted for approximately three-quartersof the 235 participants, with Europeaccounting for the next largest group, andAsia represented by less than five per cent ofthe participants. In response to a questionregarding the effectiveness of past coachinginterventions, 75 per cent of respondentsrated coaching as 3 or higher on a 1-to-5scale (5 indicating ‘very effective’ and 1 indi-cating ‘not effective’).

Yet researchers have provided relativelyfew methodologically sound outcome studiesof executive coaching programmes. In addi-tion, much of the efficacy research appearsto have been conducted by coaching organi-sations keen to promote their work. Even thefew studies that are commonly cited asevidence of coaching efficacy should beinterpreted with some care. For example,the 88 per cent productivity gain reportedOlivero et al. (1997) is widely quoted in liter-ature expounding the benefits of executivecoaching. The case illustration provided bythe researchers, however, provided littlesupport for their conclusions. Results fromthe case indicated productivity gains of 143per cent post-training, and 159 per cent(over baseline) post-training and coaching.What these numbers do not display is that,despite the researchers’ focus on thedramatic gain in the proportion of unitscorrectly completed post-training andcoaching (the researchers’ underlyingmeasure), the addition of executivecoaching actually reduced the per-personvolume of work and volume of properlycompleted work. That is, the purported 88per cent productivity gain from executivecoaching was illustrated by an example thatshowed a 16 per cent gain in the proportionof correctly completed work, and a decreasein the volume of that work.

Other research approaches, althoughmethodologically sound, have been unable

to provide a linkage between results andobserved behavioural change. Chapman(2005) described the effects of a four-phaseemotional intelligence intervention within ahousing services organisation. Her resultsindicated that the programme led toincreases in self-reported emotional intelli-gence scores, and to positive evaluationsfrom participants. Although the studysupported the efficacy of the interventionapproach, no structures existed to calibratethe results to the on-the-job effects of theprogramme.

Though measuring the effect of coachingon performance is complex, measuring andestablishing the financial returns on execu-tive coaching is an even more difficult task.The elements that make executive coachingeffective (the essentially human and inter-personal character of the work) are also whatmakes its effects nearly impossible to quan-tify (Sherman & Freas, 2005). McGovern etal. (2001) used an innovative way to estimatethe direct bottom-line effect of executivecoaching. They sidestepped the difficultiesof establishing the direct linkages betweencoaching and organisational net profit, andasked their participants simply to estimatethe financial benefits to the organisation ofthe coaching they received. The researchersthen applied multiple layers of discountingto those estimates in an attempt to correctfor uncertainty and the multiple otherfactors that can influence change. McGovernet al. found that the return on investment forexecutive coaching averaged $100,000 perexecutive or 5.7 times the amount investedfor each coaching programme ($17,500 onaverage). That is, despite using a stronglyconservative method for calculating thereturn on investment (due to thediscounting), the results were remarkablyand strongly positive. (Anderson [2001] alsoproduced a study that quoted similarremarkable returns on executive coachingprogrammes [529 per cent return on invest-ment], but provided little detail regardingthe calculation of the returns.)


Executive coaching efficacy

An alternative research approach hasbeen to investigate not only the overall effi-cacy of the intervention, but some of thespecific gains derived. The Association forCoaching (2004) completed a web-basedsurvey of UK-based purchasers of coachingservices and individuals who had beencoached in an organisational setting.Although the researchers indicated thatthere was minimal agreement as to what themeasurable benefits from coaching were,observed gains from coaching includedincreased confidence, better strategies forcoping with work demands, improvedpersonal performance, increased produc-tivity, better people management skills,increased job motivation, and improvedwork/life balance.

The purpose of the current study was toextend the knowledge-base about the effi-cacy of executive coaching services bytapping into the experiences of HR profes-sionals who have used executive coaching intheir organisations. In particular, the studyaddressed questions regarding the efficacy,benefits and drawbacks, and return oninvestment of executive coaching, and prac-titioners’ interest in using coaching in thefuture.

Method

Participants

The 17 practitioners who participated in theresearch were all Melbourne-based HRprofessionals who had experience of usingexecutive coaching services in their organi-sations. The practitioners had spent anaverage of 2.5 years in their current roles,and 15 held primary or joint-primary respon-sibility for the executive coachingprogrammes in their organisations. Theremaining practitioners held administrativeor support roles in relation to the coachingprogrammes.

The 17 participants represented 16organisations from both the public andprivate sectors, and included governmentaland government-owned organisations, localbodies, and service, professional and manu-

facturing organisations (including eight ofAustralia’s largest and most well-knowntrading companies).

Materials

The questionnaire that provided that thestructure for the interviews contained itemsregarding: the definition of executivecoaching; the extent to which the practi-tioners had used coaching; the efficacy,benefits, drawbacks, and return on invest-ment of executive coaching; and interest infuture use of the services. Questionsregarding efficacy included broadly-basedquestions (e.g. ‘Overall, how effective asexecutive coaching been in your organisa-tion?’), and narrower specific questions (e.g.‘Which of the following specific gains for theindividuals have you become aware of thatresulted from executive coaching work?’).Practitioners responded to questionsregarding whether or not they assessed thecost/benefit of executive coaching, theamounts they paid for coaching, and theirestimates of the extent to which the benefitsexceeded, or were exceeded by, the financialcosts. Practitioners also indicated how muchinterest they had in using executive coachingservices in the next two years, andcommented on the factors that might affectthat interest.

The document contained a standardbriefing for participants, and questionsrelated to demographic information. Thequestionnaire was designed both to classifyresponses for numerical analysis and torecord comments. Existing research, discus-sions with executive coaches and HR profes-sionals, and pilot interviews provided thesource data used in the construction of boththe questions and the response options.

Procedure

The sampling method was opportunistic andbased on a combination of the location ofthe organisations (Melbourne, Australia)and access to the contact details for the prac-titioners. HR professionals were locatedthrough the Australian Human Resources


Gavin Dagley

Institute’s mailing list, private contact lists,and from referrals. The practitioners werecontacted directly, most commonly by mail.All interviews occurred face-to-face, and,prior to commencement of the interview,practitioners completed an informedconsent declaration.

Kilburg (2000) defined executivecoaching as ‘a helping relationship formedbetween a client who has managerialauthority and responsibility in an organisa-tion and a consultant who uses a wide varietyof behavioural techniques and methods toassist the client to achieve a mutually definedset of goals to improve his or her professionalperformance and personal satisfaction andconsequently to improve the effectiveness ofthe client’s organisation within a formerlydefined coaching agreement’ (pp.66–67).For the purposes of the study, all the practi-tioners agreed to use this definition.

The study was exploratory and the dataare descriptive. For this reason, inferentialstatistics were not used in the data analysis.Based on the extent of executive coachinguse, the organisations fell into one of twodistinct groups; those that had spent morethan $1 million on coaching in the last twoyears (‘larger programmes’), and those thathad spent less than $200,000 in the sameperiod (‘smaller programmes’). Comparisonof results from the two groups indicated fewdifferences. Any important differences thatdid occur have been reported separately.

Results

All but three of the HR professionals hadused executive coaching in their organisa-tions for at least two years, with threedescribing that use as extensive, sevenreporting moderate use, and the remainingseven reporting only occasional use. As agroup, these practitioners were responsiblefor an estimated 1033 individual coachingprogrammes in the preceding two years(with the participation of 25 per cent of theexecutive population eligible for coaching inthose organisations), and had spent $15.4million on these programmes.

Efficacy, benefits and drawbacks.

Practitioners rated the overall effectivenessof their executive coaching programmes ona five-point scale, with 5 indicating ‘outstand-ingly effective’, and the remaining pointsindicating, respectively, ‘very effective’,‘moderately effective’, ‘marginally effective’and ‘not effective’. All practitioners ratedtheir programmes as at least moderatelyeffective (M = 3.5), with six indicating theirprogrammes were very effective, and oneindicating an outstandingly effectiveprogramme. The average rating for largerprogrammes (3.6) was higher than that forsmaller programmes (3.4), although bothaverages fell between the ‘moderately’ and‘very effective’ ratings.

Some practitioners provided estimates ofthe range in the success ratings of individualprogrammes. They estimated that, onaverage, 11 per cent of programmes wererated as outstandingly successful and afurther 14 per cent were rated as marginallyor not successful. Of the remainder, 47 percent were rated very successful, and 28 percent as moderately successful. Practitionerswere unable to consistently differentiate thesuccess of programmes based on the type ofprogramme objectives chosen (e.g. skilldevelopment, support in transition), andthree of the practitioners commented thatsuccess depended more on the individualexecutives than on the objectives of theprogrammes.

In an attempt to differentiate their ownsuccess ratings for programmes from thoseof the participating executives, the practi-tioners provided estimates of how theythought the executives would rate theprogrammes. Practitioners estimated execu-tive ratings at 4.1 (or better than ‘very effec-tive”), compared to the practitioners’ ownaverage ratings of 3.5. Once again, largerprogrammes (4.4) fared better than smallerprogrammes (3.9).

Practitioners indicated the specific gainsor benefits they had noticed for the execu-tives and that had resulted from the execu-tive coaching. Practitioners chose from a list



of 20 possibilities and noted any other gainsnot covered by this list. (The only additionalgain provided was ‘health/relief fromanxiety’.) The practitioners allocated two

points for strong gains and one point forsome gain. Table 1 presents the list of gainsand the total points awarded.


Gavin Dagley

Gain observed by HR professional ‘Strong gains’ ‘Some gains’ Totalfrequency frequency points*

Clearer understanding of own style, 16 1 33automatic responses and the issues arisingfrom these

Improved communication and 7 9 23engagement skills

Improved coping with stress /robustness 6 7 19

Clearer understanding of own professional 7 4 18performance

Clearer understanding of organisational 3 11 17issues and how to resolve orovercome them

Improved ability to deliver feedback 2 13 17

Improved professional relationships – 4 9 17with directors/managers

Improved professional relationships – 2 13 17with subordinates

Improved decision-making skills 2 12 16

Improved assertiveness/self-assurance/ 5 6 16leadership strength

Improved professional relationships – 3 10 16with peers

Improved motivation in role 2 10 14

Clearer career plans and actions 4 6 14

Improved work/life balance 2 9 13

Clearer strategic perspective 1 10 12

Quicker to move to action in dealing 3 6 12with issues

Improved change agent skills 2 7 11

Improved measured personal performance 2 7 11

Improved delegation abilities 0 8 8

Improved work throughput 2 4 8

Table 1: Gains for individuals from executive coaching.

* Calculated by allocating 2 points for ‘strong gain’ and 1 point for ‘some gain’.



The most widely supported benefit was a‘clearer understanding of own style, auto-matic responses, and the issues arising fromthese.’ All of the practitioners indicated atleast some gain in this area. The other widelysupported benefits included (in order):communication and engagement skills,ability to cope with stress, and a clearerunderstanding of both personal professionalperformance, and of organisational issuesand how to resolve or overcome them. Prac-titioners indicated an average of 14 and aminimum of five areas of benefit for execu-tives participating in their programmes.

One practitioner commented on benefitsfrom her executive coaching programmethat were difficult to measure.

‘There are intangible benefits. It’srecognition of the individual, time out toreview their careers. It’s special. Itimproves motivation and feeling valuedand recognised. People do like to talkabout themselves. It can be pretty lonelyin executive roles. It is the opportunity toopen up, possibly for stress relief. Thereis a bravado required of executives. Theydon’t have the opportunity to show anychinks. Executive coaching deals with thewants in all of us without outsidescrutiny.’

Practitioners also spoke about the range ofcoaching experiences for executives. ‘Anec-dotally, I’m hearing ‘I like my coach, I’mgetting a lot out of it, he’s challenging me,I’m learning a lot about myself, he’s gettingme to commit to things.’ The range ofresponses goes from ‘I never thought itwould be this good’ to ‘I’m not so sure aboutthis, whether it is for me.’’

As separate from the gains made by indi-viduals, practitioners could identify anaverage of five organisational benefitsresulting from executive coaching, and allidentified at least one. The list of benefits fororganisations from executive coaching wasmuch shorter, with only seven items. Theresults are shown in Table 2. Development ofthe talent pool and organisational capabilitywas the most commonly identified benefit,

with all except one of the practitioners indi-cating some gain in this area. The othermajor area of organisational gain was intalent retention and morale.

One practitioner elaborated on the effectof coaching on morale. ‘Many of theseyounger managers thought it was nice to bepart of the group above the thick black line.’Another commented that executive coaching‘became a badge of honour.’ One practi-tioner commented that these perceptionscan be variable, saying that ‘those who haveused [the coaching] view it as positive, butothers are less so. They often feel there mightbe suspicion something is wrong with me.’

Organisational benefits related toperformance management and remediation,team cohesion, and conflict resolutionreceived only half the support from practi-tioners as talent pool development. Practi-tioners described three additionalorganisational benefits from coaching;career change for an executive, betterunderstanding of organisational strategicdirection, and clearer staff meetings andcommunication.

Practitioners indicated there were anumber of drawbacks to using executivecoaching. From a list of 10 possible draw-backs, the most commonly reportedconcerns were difficulties for executives inmaking time for sessions and the expense ofexecutive coaching. Table 3 presents theresults.

A number of practitioners commentedthat the expense of executive coaching wasan issue, although a few commented that thiswas less of an issue than might be expected.Comments included ‘it’s considered expen-sive, but that doesn’t matter if it works’,‘there has been no push back on costs’,‘money [is an issue], but not as much asexpected’ and ‘[the executives] will pay oncethey have started. They don’t question theamount.’

One of the common concerns related topoor translation of coaching outcomes intobehavioural changes. The opinion was notuniversal, with one practitioner commenting

Gain observed by HR professional ‘Strong gains’ ‘Some gains’ Totalfrequency frequency points*

Professional development of talent pool/ 8 8 24building capability

Talent retention and morale 6 6 18

Effective leadership 4 7 15

Team cohesion 3 6 12

Cultural change 3 6 12

Conflict resolution 1 9 11

Performance management and remediation 3 5 11

Drawback ‘Big drawback’ ‘Some drawback’ Total frequency frequency points*

Difficulties for participants in making time 1 12 14for sessions

Considered expensive 4 6 14

Negative perception of coaching 3 6 12(e.g. perceived as a sign of poorperformance)

Poor translation of learning to 3 6 12behavioural changes

Difficulty in locating or identifying 3 5 11good coaches

Difficulty in demonstrating relationshipsbetween EC and organisational performance 1 9 11

Poor or variable delivery by coaches 2 5 9

Difficulty in generating senior management 1 4 6support

Difficulty in generating participants 0 2 2enthusiasm

Difficulty in successfully matching coaches 0 2 2and participants

Table 2: Organisational gains from executive coaching.

* Calculated by allocating 2 points for ‘strong gain’ and 1 point for ‘some gain’.

Table 3: Drawbacks related to using executive coaching.

* Calculated by allocating 2 points for ‘big drawback’ and 1 point for ‘some drawback’.


Gavin Dagley

that ‘executive coaching generates long-term snowballing behavioural changes. Thatis, the benefits increase over time.’

Comments regarding the quality of avail-able coaches included ‘there are a lot ofquacks in the business’, ‘lots of quantity butnot necessarily quality’ and ‘it is very difficultto source appropriately qualified and experi-enced coaches’. One practitionercommented on his reaction to the numberof calls he receives from ‘coaches looking forbusiness’. He reported that his mostcommon response was ‘you’ve got to bekidding!’ This practitioner indicated he hadreceived 10 such calls in the preceding yeareven though his organisation was neitherlarge nor high-profile.

Other drawbacks raised by practitioners(that were not listed in the questionnaire)were the sustainability of behaviour changes,‘managers outsourcing their people leader-ship responsibilities’ and ‘getting traction’for programmes.

Cost/benefit and future interest

Programme costs also varied widely. Practi-tioners provided estimates of the averagecost of individual programmes within theirrespective organisations. Total programmecosts ranged from a low of $600 for a four-session programme, through to $45,000 foran 18-session programme. The cost of anindividual programme as an unweightedaverage across the organisations was $12,600per executive. Larger programmes averaged$22,100 and 10 sessions per executive, andsmaller programmes averaged $7500 andeight sessions per executive.

The average hourly rate for executivecoaching across all organisations was $717per hour. The median rate of $488 per hourindicates that some of the higher hourlyrates may be skewing the data. Largerprogrammes paid an average of $1018 perhour and smaller programmes paid $569 perhour. Hourly rates ranged from a low of$150 to a high of $1,650.

Only five of the respondents indicatedthat they engaged in any analysis of return

on investment for their programmes, andfour of these indicated that such analysis wasinformal. The only practitioner who hadengaged in formal assessment of return oninvestment indicated that one of themethods he used was to compare the cost ofcoaching and development to the cost ofreplacing the executive.

Nine practitioners were prepared, never-theless, to make an estimate regarding thecost/benefit of their programmes. Only oneof the practitioners indicated that she feltthe financial returns were less than theprogramme cost. A further two practitionersthought that programme costs and returnswere about equal, and, of the remaining six,four indicated returns exceeded cost, andtwo indicated that returns greatly exceededcost. Practitioners from larger programmeshad a more positive view of the cost/benefitof executive coaching than those fromsmaller programmes, with all but one of thepractitioners indicating that benefitsexceeded costs, and this last practitionerindicated that costs and benefits were aboutequal.

Most of the practitioners had commentsregarding return on investment. A commontheme was how practitioners handledcost/benefit measurement. ‘We don’t do itvery well. We need better measures. Theindustry does not like to be measured. Thetools are lacking.’ Another practitionercommented ‘we have not been good at beingable to quantify returns. This is partly due tothe one-off nature of the work and therestriction of information due to confiden-tiality.’ A third practitioner commented‘cost/benefit is really not done. I don’t knowhow it could be done properly. The view isthat [executive coaching] is expensive, butwhen people are helped, it doesn’t seem soexpensive to me.’

Some practitioners commented on whythey thought executive coaching repre-sented a good return on investment. Onepractitioner indicated that executivecoaching provided a better return thanuniversity-based education programmes.



‘It’s effective. If you spend $3000 for aprogramme it is cost-effective. For example,a [university-based training] module – whatdo you get?’ Another evaluated the expenseon a comparative basis commenting that ‘Asa percentage of salary it’s weeny.’ The thirdpractitioner put the matter succinctly.‘Senior executives wouldn’t support execu-tive coaching (or pay for it) if they didn’tthink it was really worthwhile.’ This practi-tioner’s programme was funded entirelyfrom the participating executives’ budgets.

Practitioners rated their interest in usingexecutive coaching in the future on a four-point scale, with ‘4’ indicating stronginterest, and ‘1’ indicating no interest. Onlytwo of the 17 practitioners indicatedanything other than strong interest in usingexecutive coaching in the future, and thesetwo rated their interest at ‘3’.

One practitioner articulated a themecommon among respondents. ‘There is nota lot around to develop executives. Executivecoaching is customised, intensive, andtailored – and you can’t get that off-the-shelf.’ Another practitioner commented that‘self-awareness is not part of normal execu-tive development, and this is where executivecoaching can be helpful. Most executivesdon’t have the opportunity otherwise.’

Factors that practitioners identifiedmight affect their use of executive coachingin the future were demands driven by organ-isational change, issues with or the needs ofsenior leaders, turnover in the leadership,and organisational appetite and endorse-ment. The most common reason offered bypractitioners regarding any future reductionin their use of executive coaching wasbudget constraints.

Discussion

Does executive coaching work? As a generalstatement, the answer is unequivocal – yes, atleast from the perspective of the practi-tioners who are responsible for theprogrammes and who have spent more than$15 million on such programmes in the lasttwo years. No practitioner rated programme

efficacy below ‘moderately successful.’ Thisresult supports the findings of Morgan et al.(2005) who reported that 75 per cent oftheir respondents indicated that they hadfound coaching at least moderately effective.

The strongest evidence for the efficacy ofthese programmes, however, is the level ofinterest the practitioners reported in usingexecutive coaching in the future. Only tworespondents indicated their interest wasanything less than the highest option offeredto them, ‘strong interest’. Given that thepractitioners in the study were heavilyinvested in their coaching programmes, thisresult may not be surprising. For most ofthese professionals, however, executivecoaching was only one offering in theirdevelopment suite. Strong support forcoaching, if indeed it were both an expen-sive and ineffective intervention, would lastonly as long as the first few bad experiences– and many of these practitioners have hadextensive exposure to executive coachingand its outcomes.

The question of efficacy is, however,multifaceted. How does the organisationbenefit? How do the individuals benefit? Wasthe intervention cost-effective? These morefocused questions produced subtly differentanswers. Although practitioners described alarge number of objectives for executivecoaching programmes, most of these objec-tives could be described as having develop-mental themes, whether or not driven byremediation needs. That is, practitionersseemed to indicate that they were seeking toachieve both the organisational and indi-vidual benefits through the personal andprofessional development of the executives.Differentiation of these strands, organisa-tional versus individual gain, was an under-lying theme in the data from the study.

The individual executives, despite varia-tion in the success of individualprogrammes, seemed to derive the greatestrange of gains. Of the top five rated execu-tive benefits, three emphasised the gainsfrom a clearer understanding of personaland organisational issues. By way of compar-


Gavin Dagley

ison, of the benefits identified in the Associ-ation for Coaching (2004) study, only betterpeople management skills (in the form ofcommunication skills) made the top eight inthe current study. The remaining benefitsidentified by these researchers (increased orimproved confidence, coping strategies,personal performance, productivity, motiva-tion, and work/life balance) were also iden-tified by the practitioners in the presentstudy, but tended to fall in the bottom half ofthe ranked list of benefits.

The identified gains may representsequential steps along a developmental path,rather than simply a shopping list. Althoughthe gains identified in the Association forCoaching (2004) study were also identifiedin the current study, these more behaviouralgains are likely to be built on a foundation ofgreater self-awareness, identified as the mostcommon coaching benefit for executives.Whether or not executives translate new-found awareness into behavioural change isa less certain outcome from executivecoaching work.

Practitioners enumerated fewer organisa-tional benefits than individual benefits,although all practitioners were able to iden-tify some. The biggest organisational bene-fits seemed to be in the development of thetalent pool, and increased morale and talentretention. Cost-benefit, however, was an areawhere most practitioners expressed uncer-tainty, and for which they held little, if any,data. The collective opinion of those practi-tioners prepared to venture an opinion wasthat benefits, nevertheless, exceeded costs,albeit that the results were equivocal.

These data indicate a complex relation-ship between the responses: cost is high,organisational benefit is moderate, and cost-benefit is uncertain. Yet practitioners, almostwithout exception, indicated strong interestin using executive coaching in the future. Atfirst glance, this relationship does notappear to make intuitive sense. The explana-tion may lie in the differentiation of organi-sational and individual benefits fromcoaching. The reasons that these practi-

tioners are so enthusiastic about usingcoaching in the future may due to one of tworeasons. The first is that practitioners mayhave witnessed particular and highly valu-able gains for individual executives that havelittle direct and measurable organisationalbenefit (e.g. extraordinary personal insightor interpersonal behaviour change).

Alternatively, executive coaching mayprovide solutions to issues that practitionersstruggle to deal with using alternative inter-ventions. Their interest in the future use ofexecutive coaching may be no more than ademonstration of the lack of alternativespractitioners have for executive develop-ment. The use of executive coaching in thesecircumstances may be particularly evident insmaller programmes in which there is astrong remedial component, and which, dueto a low rate of use, fall within the discretionof the HR executive and budget.

The separation of larger and smallerprogrammes on the basis of the amountspent did not provide a good predictor ofthe variation among the programmes.Larger programmes (those who spent morethan $1 million in the preceding two years)tended to have a greater number of sessionsper individual programme than smaller (lessthan $200,000) programmes, and a higherdollar per hour cost (which was nearlydouble that of the smaller programmes).

If larger programmes were prepared topay more per executive, did they achievebetter outcomes? The results indicate thatlarger programmes seemed to have slightlyhigher overall ratings of efficacy both fromthe organisational and the executive stand-point, and the practitioners also indicatedmore favourable cost-benefit estimates.These results, however, should be viewedwith some caution as the study was notdesigned to make such comparisons.Furthermore, these more favourable resultsfor larger programmes do not necessarilyimply causality. The higher ratings may bethe result of practitioners’ greater commit-ment to executive coaching (resulting inhigher ratings for programmes that may be



no more effective), or of small and successfulprogrammes that have been expanded onthe basis of that success, but without anyincrease in returns in spite of the greaterscale.

HR professionals are, however, alsosubject to the business imperative of beingable to demonstrate the financial value ofcostly programmes. Demonstration of afinancial return on investment usuallyrequires a structured approach with highlyvisible and measurable outcomes. Thecommoditisation of executive coachinginterventions is evidence of a shift in servicedelivery to meet these demands by providingstructured psycho-educational and skill-based approaches. What is not yet clear iswhether such structured approaches to exec-utive coaching provide better outcomes, orwhether they are simply easier to sell,measure and justify.

‘Touchy-feely’, ‘soft-and-fluffy’, ‘psychol-ogist’ and ‘remedial’ are not words andphrases that endear executive coaching tothe hearts and minds of hard-nosed decision-makers. Neither does ‘trust me, I know whatI’m doing.’ Setting expectations, realisticexpectations, for both executives doing thecoaching, and for those whose budget isbeing spent, is one of the major challengesfor HR practitioners using executivecoaching. The development and refinementof effective and practical measurement tech-niques may go some way to help practi-tioners to identify and put numbers aroundthe benefits and gains to individuals and theorganisation as a whole. The development ofsuch tools may prove to be a most effectiveway of justifying future expenditure oncoaching programmes. Likewise, the devel-opment of qualitative information resourcesmay be an important component of any eval-uation exercise.

The most obvious weakness of thisresearch is that the results are built on thesubjective opinions of practitioners who arehighly invested in the success of theirprogrammes. As an extension of this, askingthese practitioners to comment on thethoughts of other executives on their execu-tive coaching experiences is drawing rather along bow. It is, nevertheless, these same prac-titioners who are making many of thepurchase decisions around the use of execu-tive coaching, and their opinions, therefore,are important information for the industry.

To be able to comment on whether ornot executive coaching is, on average, effec-tive as an intervention is not particularlyhelpful to those considering establishingprogrammes. A logical extension to thecurrent study would be the investigation ofthe various factors that influence the successof executive coaching programmes. Such anextension study is already well advanced, andthe results may provide an interesting insightinto the factors that HR professionalsconsider are the most important forprogramme success.

Correspondence

Dr. Gavin Dagley

Perspex Consulting,PO Box 55, St Kilda VIC 3182.Tel: 0425 795 675E-mail: [email protected]


Gavin Dagley

Anderson, M.C. (2001). Executive briefing: Case studyon the return on investment of executive coaching.Retrieved 2 April, 2006, from:http://www.metrixglobal.net/images/pdfs/metrixglobal_coaching_roi_briefing.pdf

Association for Coaching (2004). Summary report: ROI for corporate coaching.Retrieved 20 December, 2005, from:http://www.associationforcoaching.com/memb/ACSumROI.pdf

Chapman, M. (2005). Emotional intelligence andcoaching: An exploratory study. In M. Cavanagh,A.M. Grant, & T. Kemp (Eds.), Evidence-basedcoaching: Vol. 1. Theory, research and practice from thebehavioural sciences (pp.183–192). Bowen Hills,Australia: Australian Academic.

Garman, A.N., Whiston, D.L. & Zlatoper, K.W.(2000). Media perceptions of executive coachingand the formal preparation of coaches.Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research,52, 201–205.

Grant, A.M. (2005). What is evidence-based execu-tive, workplace and life coaching? In M.Cavanagh, A.M. Grant & T. Kemp (Eds.),Evidence-based coaching: Vol. 1. Theory, research andpractice from the behavioural sciences (pp.1–12).Bowen Hills, Australia: Australian Academic.


McGovern, J., Lindemann, M., Vergara, M., Murphy,S., Barker, L. & Warrenfeltz, R. (2001).Maximising the impact of executive coaching:Behavioural change, organisational outcomes,and return on investment. The Manchester Review,6, 1–9.

Morgan, H., Harkins, P. & Goldsmith, M. (2005). The art and practice of leadership coaching: 50 topexecutive coaches reveal their secrets. Hoboken, NJ:Wiley.

Olivero, G., Bane, K.D. & Kopelman, R.E. (1997).Executive coaching as a transfer of training tool:Effects on productivity in a public agency. PublicPersonnel Management, 26, 461–469.

Peterson, D.B. & Kraiger, K. (2004). A practical guideto evaluating coaching: Translating state-of-the-art techniques to the real world. In J.E. Edwards,J.C. Scott & N.S. Raju (Eds.), The human resourcesprogramme-evaluation handbook (pp.262–282).Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Sherman, S. & Freas, A. (2005). The wild west ofexecutive coaching. Harvard Business Review, 82,82–90.



References


HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT QUES-TIONS to ask when we are coachingand at what time? In this article, the

authors focus on the application of ques-tioning techniques from systemic familytherapy (Tomm, 1987, 1988) linked to achange management framework fromneurolinguistic programming (Dilts 1996)which has been applied in both therapy andorganisational consultancy settings. Therelevance of techniques from systemictherapy to coaching psychology is that theylink one-to-one work to the whole system ororganisation where the coachee works.

Executive coaching involves a one-to-onerelationship between a coach and coachee,usually a manager or leader who wishes tobecome more effective in their role in theorganisation. The coach is usually external tothe organisation and he or she may bringexpertise in terms of experience of manage-ment and leadership; psychological know-ledge and therapeutic practice, in the case ofcoaching psychologists; or knowledge of thatorganisation’s particular business (O’Neill2000). The coach’s role, however, is to startwith the experience and issues brought bythe coachee and to facilitate their ownanalysis and solution of problems in a process

of ‘assisted self-exploration’ (Huffington,2006). As Gebelein et al. (2001) say, ‘coachesdo not develop people; they equip people todevelop themselves.’

‘Coaching psychology is for enhancingwell-being and performance in personal lifeand work domains underpinned by modelsof coaching grounded in established adultlearning or psychological approaches’(Palmer & Whybrow, 2006, p.8). It is impor-tant that coaching psychology is not individ-ualised and split off from the organisationalclient that legitimises and sponsors it. There-fore, the coaching psychologist needs to payclose attention to the links between theissues brought by the coachee and what thisrepresents in terms of organisation or systemdynamics as well as individual or personaldynamics; and also to help the coachee makethese links and develop their own systemicthinking and capacity to influence theorganisation in their leadership role (Camp-bell et al., 1989, 1991). This will, in turn,benefit not only the individual but also theorganisation in that the coachee will then beacting to improve the organisation’s func-tioning as well as his or her own functioning(Huffington, 2006). The techniques used incoaching psychology can thus assist in this

Reflexive questions in a coachingpsychology contextCarola Hieker & Clare Huffington

Asking the right questions at the right time is an essential tool of coaching psychology so as to generate self-awareness in the coachee as well as a sense of responsibility and the will to make a change.

In this article, building on principles and methods originally developed in the family therapy arena, the authors show how reflexive questions can be used in coaching psychology. The target group for thisarticle is, therefore, coaching psychologists and executive coaches in general who want to enhance their skillsin asking effective questions.

By applying Tomm’s taxonomy of questions (Tomm, 1967, 1988) to Dilts’ model of change (Dilts,1996), the authors bring together theories from systemic therapy with a change management frameworkbased on neurolinguistic programming. The deliberate and perhaps provocative combination of twodifferent approaches derived from the therapy field might be especially useful for coaching psychologists whoare involved in change processes in organisations and who are open to applying new ideas to their practice.


Reflexive questions in a coaching psychology context

process of helping the coachee develop anduse this systemic perspective to their advan-tage. Reflexive questions can be a key tool inhelping the coachee do this.

Systemic questioning

Systemic practice emphasises the power ofquestions in facilitating change; and particu-larly the use of systemic questions, or ques-tions that help the coachee to develop asystemic perspective on their issues or prob-lems rather than seeing them purely aspersonal concerns (Mueller & Hoffman,2002) This has been called ‘interventiveinterviewing’ (Tomm, 1987, 1988) and isclearly of relevance to clients who are beingcoached.

Tomm (1988) defines certain types ofsystemic questioning:

● Lineal questions

These are asked to orient the coach tothe coachee’s situation and help him/her to investigate it. Lineal questions arefactual and based on ‘Who did what?,Where?, When? And Why? These aremostly used in the beginning of a sessionto get initial information. For example:‘How old are you?’‘What is your role in the organisation?’‘Can you describe your organisation’sculture?’

● Circular questions

The coaching psychologist as an explorertries to find the patterns that connectpersons, objects, actions, perceptions,ideas, feelings, events, beliefs, context,etc. For example:‘How is it that we find ourselves togethertoday?’ (I called because I am worriedabout my relationship with my boss)‘Who else worries?’ (my colleagues)‘Who do you think worries the most, etc.’

● Strategic questions

These tend to open up new avenues ofthinking and, if the coachee accepts thechallenge of strategic questions, they canhelp to promote change. A coachingpsychologist might ask strategic questionslike: ‘What has stopped you so far from talkingto your colleague about your conflict withhim, instead of telling your boss?’‘Wouldn’t you like to stop yourarguments rather than being sopreoccupied by them?’

● Reflexive questions

As the coaching psychologist introducesa hypothetical future scenario or thecoachee is asked to take the observerperspective on his or her situation, thecoachee is encouraged to mobilise his orher own problem-solving resources.Continuing the above dialogue, reflexivequestions could be:‘If you were to share with your colleaguehow you experience the conflict and howit was getting you down, what do youimagine he might think or do?’‘How do you think others experience theconflict you are having with yourcolleague?’

Figure 1 (alongside) represents the fourmain types of questions, the assumptionsupon which they are based and their intent(Tomm, 1988, p.6).

The application of reflexive

questioning to executive coaching

Tomm’s assumption is that a therapistshould adopt a ‘facilitative posture anddeliberately ask those kinds of questions thatare liable to open up new possibilities forself-healing’ (Tomm, 1987, p.167). The roleand the goal of the coaching psychologistand the therapist therefore have similarities;however the coaching psychologist is morelikely to be working with ‘normal, non-clinical populations’ (Palmer & Whybrow,2005, p.7) whereas the therapist is more


likely to be working with people who aresuffering from some kind ofpsychopathology.

Tomm points out that, in asking‘reflexive questions’, the therapist acts moreas a coach or guide as they trigger reflexiveactivity. Using effective questions rather thaninstructions or commands to raise awarenessand responsibility has already been identi-fied as one of the most important tools of acoach and one of the most important skills acoach has to develop (Whitmore, 2002;Starr, 2003).

The coaching psychologist, like the therapist, needs to be aware of the effects ofdifferent questions and the most appropriatetiming for each.

Dilts’ change management framework

Robert Dilts, a leading figure in the field oftraining in neurolinguistic programming,has developed a model for change, whichhas also been used in coaching (Stoeger,1996). Given that the goal of executivecoaching is to support change, Dilts’ changemanagement framework helps to identifythe level of the required change and suggestsideas about possible interventions.

Dilts (1996) identifies five different levelsof change:● Environment;● Behaviour;● Capabilities;● Beliefs;● Identity.

Figure 1: Diagram showing four main types of systemic questions, the assumptions upon whichthey are based and their intent (Tomm, 1988, p.6).

Orientingintent

Influencingintent

Lineal Assumptions

Circular Assumptions(Tomm, 1988)

Lineal questions Strategic questions

Circular questions Reflexive questions

Problem explanationquestions

Problem definitionquestions

Behavioural effectquestions

Hypothetical futurequestions

Differencequestions

Observer perspectivequestions

Leadingquestions

Confrontationquestions

Carola Hieker & Clare Huffington



Environment

Environment refers to everything outsideyourself. It consists of things such as the typeof office layout, location, room, food, noiselevel. Environmental factors are often veryeasy to change and may have a major impacton work performance and job satisfaction.

Behaviour

This level concerns the specific actions orreactions of a person within an environment.If you take the picture of an iceberg, behav-iour is probably the part above the surfacethat can observed by others, while capabilities,beliefs and identity stay below the surface.

Capabilities

‘Capabilities’ or competencies have to dowith the mental strategies and maps peopledevelop to guide their behaviour based ontheir assessment of their abilities.

Beliefs

The level of belief provides the reinforce-ment that supports or inhibits capabilitiesand behaviours. Next to helping to developbehavioural skills and capabilities, a coachmust also address the presuppositions,beliefs and values of his or her clients. Beliefsand values are both personal and organisa-tional and influence the amount of motiva-tion and authorisation people bring to theirroles and tasks.

Identity

Identity involves a person’s role, missionand/or sense of self. It refers to personal aswell as professional identity, or sense of iden-tity derived from a work role and member-ship of a work group or organisation.

Dilts (1996) makes clear that changes at alower level could, but would not necessarilyaffect functioning at higher levels. However,changing something on a higher level wouldalways change things at lower levels.

Dilts’ model can be criticised for beingsimplistic; however, one major goal in thecoaching process is about bringing clarity to

clients to help them become proactive insolving their own problems. The experiencedcoaching psychologist will be aware of the limi-tations of the model as well as being aware howthe levels are connected and how change atone level can support change at another level.The model helps the coaching psychologist toclearly identify the area of change needed bythe client and suggests concrete ideas aboutwhere to start work with the coachee.

The application of systemic questioning

in Dilts’ change management

framework

When the purpose of a coaching session is tosupport the coachee to develop strategies forchange, it is clear to see how the four majortypes of systemic questions are applicable toeach level of Dilts’ model of change.

Environment

Lineal questions can be a useful and quickway to generate information about the envi-ronment. For example, a coachee who feelsshe should not be involved in the daily workof her team members might be asked by thecoaching psychologist how far away she sitsfrom her team members, if there is a kind ofinformal meeting room (e.g. kitchen), whois sitting next to whom, etc. At the sametime, this kind of question might highlightthat sitting far away (maybe even on anotherfloor) or a lack of an informal or formalmeeting room might have a major impact onthe communication in the team.

Behaviour

Questions at this level need to be more action-oriented as well as exploratory, so could belineal as well as circular. They help to under-stand the context and clarify meanings.

Lineal questions are mainly focused onWHAT is to be done, WHEN and by WHOM,for example, the above mentioned teammanager could be asked:● What could you do to foster the

communication in your team?● When do you want to improve the

communication?


Focussing more on the interaction in theteam/system, the questions become circularto help the client to re-examine theirassumptions and prejudices: ● Who might be the one who has the best

network in your team?● Who else wants to get the communi-

cation in the team improved?● Who do you imagine suffers the most?

Who has the most conflicts in your team?● What do you do when your team member

complains about the increasing conflictsin the team?

● If she were to be more supportive of you,what would you be seeing her doing?

Capabilities

When it comes to the level of capabilities,development may be needed by the client solearning on and off the job is important.Questions at this level are directed toimproving the understanding and skill-set ofthe coachee. As the coaching psychologistbehaves more like a teacher or instructor,strategic questions might be helpful. Theseare asked in order to influence or even trainin a specific manner.

Therefore, taking an example ofsomeone who has a conflict with his femaleboss, strategic questions might be: ● Why don’t you tell her that you cannot

read her hand-writing? ● What competencies do you need to tell

her that you are too busy to take all herprivate calls?

● What would happen if you suggest shereads her e-mail directly instead of youprinting them out for her?

● Can you see how your smile and inabilityto say no keeps her asking for more?

The coaching psychologist has to be awarethat the challenging nature of strategic ques-tions might provoke resistance from thecoachee, or even a disruption in his or herrelationship with them.

Beliefs and identity

At the levels of beliefs and identity, the role ofthe coaching psychologist is much closer to

the role of the therapist than at all other levelsbecause this is when the coaching psycholo-gist or therapist is focussed on changing ormodifying self-limiting beliefs. Reflexive ques-tions are an essential tool for the coachingpsychologist to facilitate self-awareness and tohelp the client to find solutions.

Tomm (1987) differentiates betweendifferent types of reflexive questions. Anawareness of his typology is useful in thecoaching process as it enables the coach touse reflexive questions more deliberately aswell as being more aware of the influence ofdifferent kinds of question. The most usefulkinds of reflexive question for the coachingprocess are:● Future-oriented questions;● Observer-perspective questions;● Hypothetical questions

Unexpected Context–ChangequestionsEmbedded–Suggestion questionsNormative–Comparison questions.

Future-oriented questions

In the coaching process, future-oriented ques-tions help a coachee to change his or herperspective and focus on possibilities he wouldlike to see. It stops him or her repeating all thereasons why a problem cannot be solved,which he might have repeated several timesbefore and convinced his coach that there isno hope of change. These kinds of questionsare goal-oriented and solution-oriented andare probably the best known ‘systemic ques-tions’ used in the coaching process. They areused to move someone forward from aproblem to a solution.

Helpful future questions in the coachingprocess might be:● If this discussion ended in a satisfactory

way, what would be happening? Howwould you recognise a successfuloutcome? What do you want to achievelong term?

● How much personal control or influencecan you gain over your goal? What is yourshort term goal along the way? When doyou want to achieve it by?




● How does a possible solution look and isthat positive/challenging/attainable?

● What would be described as a success forthe department in a year’s time?

● What would be a good solution for you?● How do you see your organisation in five

years time?

Observer-perspective questions

As conflict resolution is one important topicin a coaching psychology , the first step is theability of the coachee to find a positionwhere he/she is less emotionally involved.Observer-perspective questions are a helpfultool to support the client to become lessinvolved and try to take a neutral position.The following questions are helpful in thisprocess: ● When you have this angry discussion with

y, how would x describe the conflict?● … and what might x be feeling at that

point?● How would others see your approach to

the problem?● How would x react to a problem solving

approach from you?● What do you do that others most

appreciate/or most dislike …?● How much – do you think – is x

interested in solving the problem?● In having the angry discussion with you,

what do you think was important to her?● Listening to your angry voice, what do

you think her experience was?● How would you react to a problem

solving approach from x’s side?Where a team leader has to mediate betweenconflicting team members, a useful tool isthat of triadic questions. In triadic ques-tioning, the person being addressed is notincluded, so the coachee is enabled tobecome a neutral observer. ● When x and y stop communicating how

does z react? ● Does he gets involved or stay out of it?’ These might be useful questions to help thecoachee to understand ‘the system’ and tosee ‘the bigger picture’, that means theyrealise who else is involved in the conflict,

who agrees, who disagrees and who profitsbecause of the conflict.

Hypothetical questions

When it comes to hypothetical questions, thetypes of hypothetical questions most oftenused in the coaching process are probablythe following three:

Unexpected context–change questions

People often get themselves locked intoseeing certain events from one perspectiveand do not see any other behaviouraloptions. Questions to explore oppositecontent, context or meaning (Tomm, 1987)might be helpful to enable the coachee toentertain other perspectives. Coming backto our example of conflict in the workplace,helpful questions might be:● When is the conflict not present?● How would the world look, if the conflict

had gone? What would be different?● How would you notice?● If the situation changes, what do you not

want to change?

Embedded–suggestion questions

An unintended effect of questions can bethat, the more open a question is, the less‘detailed’ information the coaching psycho-logist gets. Embedded-suggestion questionsencourage the coachee to be more specific.The coaching psychologist can ‘includesome specific content that points in a direc-tion he or she considers potentially fruitful’(Tomm, p.177). The coaching psychologistneeds to be aware by using embedded-suggestion questions that they become moredirective and dominant. Nevertheless, ifgood rapport is sustained, embedded-sugges-tion questions can help the client to findalternative solutions. For example:● If, instead of complaining to your

colleagues you simply told your boss thatyou cannot read her handwriting and ashort e-mail would be more efficient,what would she do?

● If you tell her that you need sometimesup to 30 minutes to read her hand-


writing, would she be more likely toaccept that she send you the informationvia e-mail?

Normative–comparison questions

These questions help to define the positionof the coachee in comparison to his peer-group. For example, a very ambitious youngteam-leader who wants to ‘be perfect’ and isnever satisfied with his results, might realiseby these questions, that they are alreadydoing a very good job and his ambition is notappropriate. Questions to ask of a rolemodel and how this model behaves are:● Do you think you meet more often with

your team members or less often thanother team leaders?

● Do you know a project leader whofinishes his projects in time withoutworking additional hours? What does hedo?

● Think of someone who is a good leader.What does he/she do? What is differentto your performance?

Case examples

The following case examples show howdifferent kinds of questions asked atdifferent levels facilitate the coachingprocess.

Case study 1

Gerlinde is a senior consultant in a globalconsultancy company. The reason for therecommendation of coaching psychologywas that in her appraisal she was told that shedoes not come across as mature enough withsenior partners and clients. Valued becauseof her potential and competence, thecompany suggested coaching and agreed topay for it.

In our first meeting, I asked a lot of linealquestions to find out about her background,her work experience and her reaction to thefeedback she got. I found out that, becauseof her personal situation (she lives with herhusband in Switzerland) she was not basedin the main office of the company inGermany and, therefore, did not have high

visibility with senior partners in the firm. Onthe few occasions she met with them, she feltunder pressure to perform really well, whichmade her behaviour stiff and insecure.

We discussed the situation and I usedcircular questions like ‘What do you thinkthe senior partner expects from you’,strategic questions like ‘What would happenif you stopped trying to make a mature andprofessional impression when you meet thesenior partners in informal settings and beyourself and relax?’ and a reflexive question‘If your colleagues in Switzerland whom youwork much closely with could observe youwhile you try to impress senior German part-ners, what would they think?’. I then discov-ered that Gerlinde had certain beliefs aboutwhat the senior partners think about herwhich made her insecure.

Her main concern was that she wasfemale and came from Eastern Germanywhere she studied before the re-unification.She was convinced that the mainly male, inWestern Germany, UK or US-educated part-ners believed that she was in the companymainly for diversity reasons and not for hercompetence or her university degrees. Inaddition, informal settings scared her partic-ularly because she had the feeling she didnot have the right tools for small talk andnetworking. She reacted by getting straightdown to business and overloaded the seniorpartners with detailed information aboutthe cases she worked on. The partners didnot consider this to be a very professional ormature approach to senior people in thecompany and did not believe that she wouldbe able to build a rapport with seniorclients.

By looking at the Dilts’ model, we workedon different levels. On the environmentallevel, Gerlinde became aware that eventhough she lived in Switzerland, she had tospend much more time in the German officeto get familiar with the German partners andfeel less under pressure by knowing thembetter. On the behaviour and capabilitylevel, we worked out how Gerlinde couldbuild up rapport with the partners by




‘pacing’1 them (Knight, 1995, p.123 ff). Welooked at the skills she needed to feel confi-dent in talking to senior partners and howshe could transfer positive experiences tonew and difficult situations. The change atthe beliefs and identity levels was a mixtureof new and positive reactions to her differentbehaviour on the one side and a result ofintense self-reflection mainly provoked byreflexive questions on the other side. When Iasked her, for example, what she thoughtsenior partners most appreciate about her,she found out that they liked her differentway of thinking and approaching problems.It even turned out that, especially with newclients from Eastern Europe, her EasternGerman background and the fact that shewas a woman was considered as very helpfulto build a good relationship with the client.

Gerlinde became much more open tonew challenges and realised that often herown prejudices stopped her from beingvalued as a senior team member.

Case study 2

Gregor was part of a high-potentialprogramme in a global company which ranover two years and involved coachingpsychology sessions every six to eight weeks.As he was not getting coaching psychologyfor a specific purpose, his general expecta-tion of the coaching psychologist was ‘tohave a sparring partner, who gives me adviceon important career decisions.’

When I saw Gregor for the first time, myfirst impression was one of a smart, confidenthigh-flyer in his late 30s whose career seemedto be running smoothly, but who neverthelesswas impatient to make his next career step. Inthe first minutes of our session, he startedcomplaining about an immense workloadwithout appropriate reward and having noone to delegate to. During the followingmonth, a big change took place in this depart-ment and we focused in the coaching sessionson what he really wanted in his job and what

he could do to support the changes so as tomake the department more successful. Askinglineal and strategic questions proved to be justthe right tool for this. During this restruc-turing process, Gregor got his own team andno longer reported to his former boss who henever really felt supported him. Gregorclearly benefited from a changing environ-ment allowing him to establish a team he feltsupported by.

Nevertheless, soon after the firsteuphoria Gregor continued complainingabout his workload and that he had not noone to delegate to. Looking at the differentlevels of change, Gregor was convinced thathe could (environmental level) and did(behaviour level) delegate. Having attendeda leadership programme he also saw himselfof knowing what delegation means and howyou do it (capability level). Therefore, welooked more at the belief and identity level.By asking reflexive questions, for example,‘How would others value your intention todelegate?’, ‘What would happen if you didnot control the work of the others at all?’,Gregor realised different things. He had apicture of himself as a leader who trusts andbelieves in the team members’ potential.However, in the new situation he had notworked together with most of the people inhis team before and had no idea about theirknowledge and potential. Instead of findingout where they stand and which tasks mightbe successfully taken over by the individual,he put himself under pressure to delegate asmuch as possible without knowing if his teammember could really do it. At the same timehe had a very clear picture that the task hadto be performed in a certain way within veryhigh standards. His reaction in this dilemmawas that he continued doing the taskshimself and controlled nearly every task inhis team. Obviously neither the team norGregor were happy with this situation.

Reflexive questions helped him to get anawareness of his dilemma and to look at role

1 Pacing is an element in rapport building. You can pace people by matching their values, their expectation, theirlanguage and even their body-language.


models when he was asked ‘Do you know ateam leader where the team members workmainly independently? How does this teamleader do it? What is the reaction of histeam? How do they get on?’. Gregor realisedthat he needed to give himself and his teamsome time to get familiar with each otherand that the atmosphere of trust he wishedto have in his team needs time to grow. Inaddition, he felt that being more patientwith himself and his team made him an evenbetter leader.

Case study 3

Kate was a consultant in a high reputationglobal professional services company. Shewas very successful at winning large projectsand had excellent relationships with clients.At work, however, her colleagues found herbrusque and uncaring and she overloadedadministrative staff because she managedtime poorly. As Kate wanted to be made apartner and this depended on support fromcolleagues, it was important for her toimprove relationships in the office. At ourfirst meeting, we began with lineal questionsabout the environment in which Kateworked and how she used her time. Itbecame apparent to her when she describedthis to me that she knew little about theorganisation out of her immediate area andresolved to find out more and report back. Iused circular questions linked to the behav-iour level like, ‘What do you think yourcolleagues feel about your performance withclients?’ and strategic questions like, ‘Howdo you think junior colleagues would react ifyou offered to mentor them on how to winnew projects?’ This resulted in Kate decidingthat 360 degree feedback interviews wouldbe useful in helping her to understandexactly what colleagues did think about her.She thought she tended to be so focussed onclient reactions that she did not pick up suffi-ciently on feedback from colleagues. Otherquestions that were helpful in tuning Kateinto her impact concerned questions aboutthe beliefs or identity level; such as future-oriented reflexive questions on where she

expected to be in five years’ time and howshe would then like to be described as apartner of the firm; and observer-perspectivereflexive questions on how she comes across,such as ‘When you are brusque with yoursecretary, what do you think others feelabout you?’ or ‘What do you think people atwork most like/dislike about you?’

Kate was able to spend a few months gath-ering data about her environment and hercolleagues and meeting with them to discussfeedback about her, with the result thatcolleagues formed a far better impression ofher interest in them and wish to change. Shewas able to work on her behaviour at workand became a partner later that year.

Conclusions

Tomm points out that questions tend to callfor answers and statements tend to providethem (Tomm, 1988, p.2). Therefore, ques-tions are less directive than statements andcoaches are actively drawn into a dialoguewith the coaching psychologist, becomecurious about themselves and the organisa-tion and stimulated to think through prob-lems on their own. In this way, the coachingpsychologist becomes a facilitator rather thanan expert in the developmental journey ofcoachees. Whilst it is clear that the coachingpsychologist’s use of systemic questions canhelp coachees to develop more systemicawareness, the coaching psychologist mustalso bear in mind that coaches are oftenchosen by coachees because of their theoret-ical know-how or because of their manage-ment experience. Coachees may be lookingfor a ‘sparring partner’ they can share experi-ences with, get opinions from and can arguewith. Coaches may be required to take a posi-tion on certain issues to build up a relation-ship of confidence and trust with coachees.When coachees are asked about their prefer-ences in having a psychologically trainedcoach, people often mention that they fearedhaving someone who only asks questions in avery hierarchical way and would not showtheir own ‘personality’. It is important for thecoaching psychologist to take a position on




issues sometimes, if this is what the coacheeneeds; however, too many statements in thecoaching process can be experienced as direc-tive by the coachee and can provoke resist-ance. Therefore, a good balance betweenquestions and statements is what a profes-sional coaching psychologist needs to achieve,based on a flexible client-centred approach.This paper has attempted to show how thecoaching psychologist can become moreeffective when asking questions by carefullyconsidering the nature of those questions,their intent and the likely outcome.

Correspondence

Dr. Carola Hieker

Wallstrasse 5,61440 Oberursel.

Clare Huffington

DirectorThe Tavistock Consultancy Service,The Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust,The Tavistock Centre,120 Belsize Lane,London NW3 5BA.Tel: 020 8938 2433

References

Brandt, L. (1996). Corporate pioneers explore spirituality. HR Magazine, April, 82–87.

Campbell, D., Draper, R. & Huffington, C. (1989).Second thoughts on the theory and practice of MilanSystemic Family Therapy. London: Karnac.

Campbell, D., Draper, R. & Huffington, C. (1991). A systemic approach to consultation. London:Karnac.

Dilts, R. (1996). Visionary leadership skill. Capitola:Meta Publication.

Gebelein et.al. (2001). Successful Manager’s Handbook.Minnesota: Personnel Decisions.

Huffington, C. (2006). In H. Brunning (Ed.), A contexualized approach to coaching In ExecutiveCoaching. London: Karnac.

Knight, S. (1995). The difference that makes a differencein business. London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

Mueller, G. & Hoffman, K. (2002). Systemischescoaching. Carl-Auer-Systeme Verlag.

O’Neill, M-B (2000). Executive coaching with backboneand heart. New York: Jossey Bass.

Palmer, S. & Whybrow, A. (2005). The proposal toestablish a Special Group in CoachingPsychology. The Coaching Psychologist, 1(1), July,5–12.

Palmer, S. & Whybrow, A. (2006). The coachingpsychology movement and its developmentwithin the British Psychological Society. Inter-national Coaching Psychology Review, 1(1), April,5–12.

Starr, J. (2003). The Coaching Manual. London: Prentice Hall Business.

Stoeger, G. (1996). Besser im Team. Weinheim: Beltz.Tomm, K. (1987). Interventive interviewing: Part II.

Reflexive questioning as a means to enable self-healing. Family Process, 26, 167–183.

Tomm, K. (1988). Interventive interviewing: Part III.Intending to ask lineal, circular, strategic orreflexive questions. Family Process, 26, 167–183.

Whitmore, J. (2002). Coaching for performance.London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.


Context

S GLOBALISATION LEADS TO MOREintense competition, organisations

need to continue to recruit, developand deploy the best people in order to stayahead and survive. We have seen unprece-dented change at rapid pace in our organi-sations, our communities and societiesacross the globe over the last decade or so.This change has happened in the obviousfast growing communication industry as wellas public organisations. Corporate leadershave begun to realise that the traditionaltraining methods may not be able to copewith these rapid paces of change. Henceorganisations have turned to coaching and

mentoring to help develop their people andbroaden their talent pool and develop alearning organisation. In this paper we shalldemonstrate these developments with a casestudy within the context of the NationalHealth Service in the UK. The study links thecore of coaching and mentoring to thepsychology of emotional intelligence acrosscultures. First, to clarify the terminology,there has been much debate about themeaning of the words mentoring andcoaching and broad interpretations havegenerated a diverse portfolio of provision.For example, the term mentoring isdescribed in various ways:

Evaluation of the Coaching CompetenceSelf-Review online tool within anNHS leadership development programmeHo Law, Sara Ireland & Zulfi Hussain

Objectives: The objectives of this case study were to: (1) develop a Universal Integrated Framework (UIF)of coaching; and (2) evaluate its effectiveness in terms of its impact upon the participants and theorganisations. Design: 49 participants assessed themselves on coaching indicators using the online CCSR tool as part ofa leadership development programme within the National Health Services (NHS) in UK. The tool consistedof four dimensions (Personal, Social, Cultural, and Professional) and 18 elements with 110 questions. Methods: The tool was evaluated using linear regression and analyses of variance, supplemented withqualitative review as part of triangulation process. Results: Statistical analyses indicated that the Coaching/mentoring competence was predicted by Personalcompetence. The competence increased with age/life experience. There were no differences in competencescores between male and female participants. Personal and Social and Social and Cross-Culturalcompetences were co-related. Black participants seemed to benefit from the cross-cultural dimensionframework as they scored significantly higher than White participants. Asian participants scored somewherein between the two categories. Conclusions: The results supported the underpinning coaching philosophy that was advocated that in orderfor the framework to be universal (non-biased), it was important to include a cross-cultural dimensionwithin the core coaching and mentoring competence. It was recommended that future research should aimto explore the validity of the individual elements of the CCSR using a larger sample size.Keywords: coaching psychology, coaching, competence, continuous professionaldevelopment, cross culture, diversity, emotional intelligence, evaluation, leadershipdevelopment programme, mentoring, National Health Services (NHS), online, review,Universal Integrated Framework.

A


Evaluation of the Coaching Competence Self-Review online tool …

‘Mentoring is an interaction between at leasttwo people, in which the knowledge, experienceand skills of one or both are shared, leading togrowth and self-understanding’.(East Mentoring Forum, UK, 2005)

‘Help given by one person to another inmaking significant transitions in knowledge,work or thinking to aid personal developmentcareer planning or performance improvementand leadership.’(Megginson & Clutterbuck, 1995)

Note that in both of the above definitions,there is a common ground of transferringknowledge between two or more people.Similarly, coaching has characteristics ofunlocking people’s potential to maximisetheir performance (Law, 2002). Theapproaches may vary from facilitationapproaches, helping them to learn ratherthan teaching them, to instructionalapproaches, which are directly concernedwith the immediate improvement ofperformance and development of skills.

Coaching and mentoring may be differ-entiated in the following way. Mentoringmay be regarded as a person developmentcentred approach, primarily embracingcareer issues and personal development. Onthe other hand, coaching tends to be moreperformance centred. Coaching may takeplace in the line relationship in specific areasbut co-coaching is always outside the linewith a manager with experience in someaspect of improvement and who is under-taking supervision. Mentoring may be a long-term relationship, which continues throughjob changes, while coaching may be rela-tively short term linked to a project orperformance issue.

The focus has often shifted from whatworks to the distinctions between strands ofmentoring and coaching schools. Whilst thedebate and the variety of the definitions andapproaches have extended choice formentees/coachees, there is a risk that theeffectiveness of coaching and mentoring(such as impact assessment, supervision and

quality assurance) may be underminedthrough the confusion with the issues ofmeaning and transferability.

While the ideas of emotional intelligence(EI) and coaching have become verypopular trends in our profession recently,the assessment of emotional intelligence as acoaching and mentoring competence selfreview process is relatively novel. We shallfocus on EI within a learning context as itassists learning. There have been some eval-uative studies to show the benefit of the EImeasurement. For example, college studentswith low learning abilities were found tohave lower EI scores than their peers (Reiff etal., 2001). Pupils with high EI scoresperformed better at school than their peers(Petrides et al., 2004). Low EI pupils hadhigher rates of truancy and exclusion fromschool. (Petrides et al., 2004). EI was foundto positively correlate to job performanceand satisfaction (Wong & Law, 2002).However, the above applications of EI in apractical context so far are limited toacademic and educational domains. EI inter-ventions were found to increase EI scores(Slaski & Cartwright, 2003; Cherniss & Adler,2000). The assumption made here is that byproviding the participants 360 degree feed-back with EI assessment this will improvetheir future scores and improve theircoaching and mentoring performance.

Introduction

Coaching psychology, as an emerging disci-pline in the UK, attempts to underpincoaching with models that are ‘grounded inestablished psychological approaches’(Palmer & Whybrow, 2005). In this paper,we advocate that in order to developcoaching psychology as a profession furtherso that it has a global relevance ofsupporting both coach and coachees’personal learning and development, weneed a framework that is both universal(applicable across cultures in terms ofgeographical, professional, social and racialdimensions) as well as integrated (applicableacross the coaching and mentoring


spectrum). The development of a UniversalIntegrated Framework (UIF) does notintend to diminish the diversity of availableapproaches but focuses on the universality ofthe features that work across differentcultures and contexts. We shall explore thisframework further in the next section. InSection 3, we demonstrate how such aconceptual framework can be implementedin a leadership development programme tohelp the participants and organisations toimprove their overall performance. Theprogramme was within the context of Healthand Social Care Setting in the East ofEngland, UK. As part of the programme, aweb-based coaching and mentoring compe-tence self-review (CCSR) tool was developedto enable participants to assess theircoaching and mentoring competence. TheCCSR tool, which embodies the UIF frame-work, is based on Goleman’s (1998)Emotional Competence Framework with twodimensions added: Cultural Competenceand Coaching Professional Competencewith 360 degree feedback built into thesystem. This enables the tool to become bothuniversal (applicable across cultures) as wellas contextual (applicable within thecoaching context). Section 4 describes themethod of evaluation of the CCSR tool.Finally the results of the evaluation arepresented and recommendations arediscussed.

Conceptual framework of cross-cultural

EI

Whilst the idea of EI was made popular byGoleman (1995), the concept of EI iscertainly not new and can be dated back tothe 1920s with work by Thorndike on socialintelligence (Thorndike, 1920). Gardner(1983) advocated the concepts of both intra-personal and inter-personal intelligence asalternative attributes for individual achieve-ment. A formal definition of EI was devel-oped by Salovey and Mayer (1990) and laterredefined as:

‘the ability to perceive emotions, to access andgenerate emotions so as to assist thought, to

understand emotions and emotionalknowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotionsso as to promote emotional and intellectualgrowth.’(Mayer & Salovey, 1997)

In the latest empirical definition, Petridesand Furnham (2001) define EI as:

‘a constellation of emotion-related dispositionsand self-perceived abilities representing adistinct composite construct at the lower levelsof hierarchical personality structures.’

Universal Integrated Framework (UIF)

As discussed in the previous section, someschools of thought tend to encourage sepa-rateness between mentoring and coachingstressing the personal and performancedistinction. However, a rigid distinctionmight cause mentoring to be marginalised inthe organisational business agenda, andbecome distanced from performancepersonal development.

From our practice, we have observed thatthere is a link between coaching andmentoring underpinned by the same skillset. For example, when coachees andmentees are driving a goal centred processin an exploratory way, the outcome of bothmentoring and coaching is ‘Action’. Despitethe differences between coaching andmentoring discussed in the previous section,we recognise the portrayal of coaching andmentoring as a continuum. It links personaldevelopment with performance improve-ment underpinned by the same skills setwould enable us to develop a more coherentintegrated framework. This would ensurethat mentoring remains by association at thecore of the business agenda and thatcoaching addresses leadership developmentas well as organisational improvement. Theemphasis on the connections betweencoaching/mentoring and the core businessprocesses would ensure that it stays at theheart of the business agenda. Embeddingmentoring/coaching within the organisa-tion would also ensure its sustainability. If itis a scheme or an initiative one expects it tobe a strand of work outside the main agenda

Ho Law, Sara Ireland & Zulfi Hussain



and as such it is vulnerable in a world ofchanging priorities. Organisations are morelikely to stop add-on schemes orprogrammes, which are not well embeddedwithin core processes. Sustainability isachieved through an integrated approach,which ensures that mentoring and coachingis part of the way we support reform anddevelop leaders.

We have developed our integrated frame-work that is grounded in the latest estab-lished psychological approaches inemotional intelligence (Goleman, 1994,1998). Although Goleman’s EmotionalCompetence Framework was popular, itscultural competence dimension was underdeveloped. We have expanded the frame-work with two dimensions added: CulturalCompetence and Coaching ProfessionalCompetence with 360 degree feedback builtinto the system. UIF thus consists of thefollowing four dimensions:1. Personal Competence;2. Social Competence;3. Cultural Competence;4. Professional Competence.

The UIF emphasises the following aspects incoaching and mentoring practices: ● Significance of culture;● Coach/Mentor/mentee fluidity;● Support supervision and Continuous

Professional Development (CPD).

Significance of culture

The UIF accepts that the unique aspects ofculture as values are contextualised and notautomatically transferable. Working withindividuals to celebrate the uniqueness of allsituations and circumstances reflects realuniversality and encourages best-fit solu-tions. In our mentoring and coachingprogramme we encourage the coachees andmentees to identify the individual andcultural differences based on their ownexperience. They should then reflect on theexperience during their one-to-one sessionwith their coach or mentor. The roles of thecoach/mentor in this context are two-fold: ● Challenge the coachee/mentees’

cultural assumptions, personal beliefsand values as well as their own;

● Provide constructive support in theirdevelopment of insight.

Self

Social/other

Culture

Professional skills

Integrative Professional

Figure 1: A Universal Integrated Framework.


Coach/Mentor/mentee fluidity

Mentor/coach training has traditionallyfocused on the development of the mentor/coach. In the UIF model the mentee/coachee is also trained as a mentor/coach sothat they are more able to drive the processas a mentee from having the knowledge ofthe whole process. Individuals are encour-aged to be both mentee/coaches andmentor/coaches so that they recognise thelearning opportunities in both roles andidentify them as transitory roles to aidlearning rather than set and ‘boxed-in’ posi-tions. Our research evidence (discussedlater) shows that mentors learn as much ifnot more from mentees than mentees dofrom mentors.

Continuous development

Supervision and Continuous ProfessionalDevelopment (CPD) offers the chance forparticipants in the mentoring process toreview the process and optimise theirlearning. External and internal managerscan be mentors and coaches. For top execu-tives there are requirements to use externalcoaches/mentors to assure confidentialityand comfort for those in the most chal-lenging and demanding positions. In amixed economy of external and internalmentor/coaches it offers an opportunity toshare best practice within one framework.The UIF can map onto the CPD learningcycle very well (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: CPD cycle (adopted from Department of Health CPD project in UK).

Fulfilment of outcomes =

Demonstration ofCompetence

Identification of CPD needs

Action Plan

Synthesis of learning topractice

Application to practice

CPD activity

Link individual &organisational

objectives

Identify appropriate activities

Reflect critically

Use the learning in practice

Evaluation




Tools to assess the impact on individuals’performance and satisfaction are key to real-ising the benefits of mentor coaching andensuring that it offers value to the business.Impact assessment forms part of our evalua-tion strategy and is discussed in Section 4.

Implementation

In this section, we demonstrate the feasibilityof the UIF with a case study of a coachingand mentoring programme introduced in ahealth and social care setting in the east ofEngland. The programme required dele-gates to commit to mentoring and coachingfor up to four days over a 12-month period.They were introduced to the UIF with a widerange of coaching/mentoring techniquesand practical exercises. According to ourguiding light of coach/ coachees/menteesfluidity (discussed earlier), all participantsfirst became coachees/mentees paired withappropriate coaches/mentors within theorganisation. They themselves then becamecoaches and mentors for the others afterthey gained competence.

To help participants in the programmeto get feedback on their performance fromtheir coachees/mentees, we developed anon-line tool called the Coaching Compe-tence Self-Review (CCSR). This providedassessments on their personal effectivenessand automatically generated a personaldevelopment plan for them to use in super-vision. Individuals were asked to assess them-selves on coaching indicators using theonline tool. CCSR was developed based onthe UIF as described in Section 2. It aimed tohelp mentors and coaches with their devel-

opment particularly of emotional intelli-gence from a cultural perspective. In total,the tool consisted of four dimensions(Personal, Social, Cultural and Professional)and 18 elements with 110 questions (seeTable 1).

A total of 18 elements of core compe-tence were identified within the abovedimensions. Taking into consideration theneed to balance the number of questions ateach dimension and element, a total of 100questions were created. This is summarisedin Table 2.

The above 18 elements are comparablewith Petrides and Furnham’s (2001) 15components of trait EI, which is summarisedin Table 3.

Petrides and Furnham’s frameworkconsists of overlapping elements, which arenot logically distinct. Furthermore like otherEI tools, their framework left the culturalcomponent undeveloped. We believe thatthe EI elements are better organised in ahierarchical structure as exemplified by ourCCSR. As far as we are aware, our CCSRrepresents the most comprehensive and effi-cient framework for EI assessment atpresent. This needs to come out-kind ofbragging-let results speak for themselves.

The CCSR tool formed one part of anapproach to measure the impact ofmentor/coach training as well as aid individ-uals in supervision. The programmerequired delegates to commit to mentoringand coaching for up to four days over a 12-month period. The participants under-taking the training including coachee/mentees also contributed to surveys and

Table 1: Dimensions of CCSR.

Competence I. Personal II. Social III. Cultural IV. Professional(Self) (Other) (Culture) (Competence)

Awareness Self-Awareness Empathy Enlightenment Reflective Practice

Management Self-Regulation Social skills Champion ContinuedProfessionalDevelopment


Table 2: Elements of cross-cultural EI.

Table 3: Petrides and Furnham’s (2001) 15 components of trait EI.

Dimensions Elements Q’s

I. Personal competence 1. Emotion 5

2. Cognition 5

3. Motivation 5

4. Control 5

5. Trustworthiness 5

6. Conscientiousness 5

7. Flexibility 5

8. Creativity 5

II. Social competence 9. Understanding 5

10. Empowering 5

11. Communication 5

12. Facilitating conflict resolution 5

13. Leadership facilitation 5

14. Coaching the team 5

15. Coaching for change 5

III. Cultural competence 16. Appreciation 10

17. Respect 10

18. Champion cultural diversity. 5

Total 100

Facets Perception

Adaptability Flexible to adapt to new conditions.

Assertiveness Willing to stand up for one's rights.

Emotion expression Able to communicate one's feeling to others

Emotion management Able to influence others' feelings.

Emotion perception Clear about one's own and others' feelings.

Emotion regulation Able to control one's emotions.

Impulsiveness (Low) Able to hold back one's urges.

Relationship skills Able to have fulfilling personal relationships.

Self-esteem Successful and confident.

Self-motivation Able to drive in the face of adversity.

Social competence Able to network with excellent social skills.

Stress management Able to regulate stress and withstand pressure.

Trait empathy Able to take others' perspectives.

Trait happiness Cheerful and satisfied with one's life.

Trait optimism Able to 'look on the bright side' of life.




focus groups to supply qualitative informa-tion on the competencies measured in theCCSR and their perceptions of the process.(Paper to be published on these other find-ings in full soon.)

Evaluation and impact assessment

The literature in coaching has tended toillustrate different coaching techniques orpsychological approaches. There is a needfor evidence-based evaluation on the effec-tiveness of coaching. We advocate in thispaper impact assessment as a methodologyto evaluate the effectiveness of the coachingprogramme. The key question is: How will werealise the benefits?

The benefits of the UIF framework iden-tified were that we were able to embed thecore skills and process into the organisationin a sustainable way and as a result of theuniversality of these core skills significantlyimpact upon the way we work.

To realise the above benefits we designedmeasurement of how supervision and CPD(described in Section 3) contributed to thesuccess of the leadership programme. Theonline CCSR tool provided information inthis area as well as feedback through super-vision that yielded qualitative data. Theseallowed us to gather the evidence acquiredon best practice and make recommenda-tions for future practice.

In order to ensure that the CCSR tooldeveloped was amenable for statisticalanalysis, we needed to decide the Key Perfor-mance Indicator (KPI) for EI. Evidence ofincrease in work performance and progressin terms of: ● Quality;● Quantity;● Personal effectiveness;● The overall effectiveness of the

organisation. For the statistical evaluation of the CCSRtool with the above 18 elements described inthe previous section, a linear multi-variateregression could be used. The demographicand user ethnicity as well as their EmotionalIntelligence scores across the three dimen-

sions of the UIF became explanatory vari-ables. Thus the CCSR tool had the user cate-gories as demographic data according to thecensus. The KPI included coaching compe-tence, salary earned and scores from the 360-degree feedback.

As stated earlier a fuller evaluation of theMentoring and Coaching Strategy and itsimplementation as an approach to supportleadership development, was carried outusing questionnaires, focus groups and theCoaching competence online CCSR tool, theresults will be reported elsewhere.

Results

The data from the online CCSR tool was statis-tically analysed using the participant compe-tency scores against overall rating scores.Owning to missing values in some data fields,the initial 49 respondents were reduced to 23(the complete data set after the missing datawere excluded in the analyses). The findingssupported the survey and the use of the UIFmodel for coach mentoring. The results aresummarised as follows:● Personal competency with its link with

authenticity was the best predictor of all-round competency (p<0.04).

● Competence increased with age/lifeexperience, see Figure 3 (ANOVA F=9.7;p<0.00015).

● There were no gender differences, seeFigure 4 (p=0.5).

● There was a significant co-relationshipbetween the personal competence, socialcompetence (understanding, empower-ing, communication, facilitating conflict,leadership facilitation, team coachingand coaching for change) and culturalcompetence (appreciation of, respect forand championing different ways of beingor doing) (r=0.7).

● Similarly to the Mentee/Coachee survey,the highest rated coach mentors wereBlack participants, followed by Asianparticipants and then White participantsin respect of the analysis of totalcompetency scores, see Figure 5(ANOVA F=6.6; p=0.06).


0 %

1 0 %

2 0 %

3 0 %

4 0 %

5 0 %

6 0 %

7 0 %

8 0 %

9 0 %

1 0 0 %

1 8 – 3 0 3 1 – 4 0 4 1 – 5 0 5 1 a n d o ve r

Age

Competence

Figure 3: Competence increased with age.

0

0 .1

0 .2

0 .3

0 .4

0 .5

0 .6

0 .7

0 .8

Fema le Ma le

G e n d e r

Co

mp

ete

nce

Figure 4: Coaching competence: Female vs Male participants.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Black Asian White

Ethnicity

Scores

Figure 5: Coaching competence: Differences between ethnic groups.




Conclusions, discussions and

recommendations

Our results have shown a positive correlationbetween the personal competence, socialcompetence and cultural competence. Theresults may come as no surprise, as onewould expect from the theoretical perspec-tive of EI. If people were more self-aware,they would manage the social and culturalsituations more competently. However, theimplication of our study to the currentdebate in EI research in terms of its concept,measurement and evaluation could be quiteprofound, as discussed next.

From our view, the issues on the theo-retical concept of EI, its measurement andevaluation are interrelated, and thereforeshould be tackled together in a systemic wayas demonstrated in our case study reportedin this paper. For instance the debate aboutwhether EI is a cognitive ability or a trait likepersonality (Mayer et al., 1990; Mayer &Salovey, 1993 1997) would have importantimplications to its measurement and henceevaluation.

In terms of measurement, the academicdiscussion has been focused on two key ques-tions:● Should EI be measured by self-reporting

(as administered in the coaching andmentoring programme reported in ourcase study)?

● Should the respondents’ performance bemeasured instead?

For example, some researchers tend to makea rigid distinction between EI trait andcognitive EI and propose the followingconditional rules (for example, see Petrides,et al., 2004):● If one regards EI as a trait-like

personality, then it should be measuredby self-reporting.

● If EI conceptually were regarded as acognitive ability, then the measurementshould be performance-based.

We feel that it may not be helpful to adopt abinary ‘position (either/or) rigidly if wewere to use EI as a learning tool for inter-vention and enable users to learn from expe-

rience. Nevertheless, the above distinctionmay be used to guide us to design and eval-uate the research and development of EIand its applications such as coaching andmentoring. For example, many current EImeasurements in both academic researchand commercial markets (e.g. in a form oftests or inventories) may be evaluatedaccording to the following criteria:1. Do they have a clear theoretical

framework? 2. Do they have complete coverage of all

relevant dimensions and essentialelements?

3. Have they addressed measurementissues, i.e. defining responses, internalconsistency, factor structure andconstruct validity?

4. Have they adequately matched themeasurement to the theoretical concept?

Our case study has shown that we could useself-reporting complemented with 360-degree feedback to assess EI and infer thecorrelation between self-perception andperformance-based ability in our evaluation.The correlation between personal compe-tence, social competence and culturalcompetence also supports the approach thatcoaching is never culturally neutral.However, we must be cautious in drawing ourconclusion from the results, as a correlationdoes not mean causation. The results mayimply that change is culturally sensitive tocontext and that both the coachee/menteeand the setting need to be fully understoodand engaged to ensure success. Best practicecannot be established and sustained usingtechniques devoid of tuning to the contextfor implementation. The players involvedneed to feel valued and appreciated.

BME participants did well in the overallcoaching competence ratings. This is consis-tent with the UIF, which identifies theimportance of cross-cultural working as itapplies to individuals and settings. Thisfinding might also be attributed to thegreater training of BME leaders through thecoaching and mentoring programmecompared with white senior managers, who


were relying on previous training and expe-rience. We thus recommended that morecoaching and mentoring programmes aspart of the diversity training for white staffworking with BME groups as coaches/mentors should be warranted. From thefeedback of those who participated in theprogramme, white delegates would havemuch to learn and to gain by including BMEparticipants in coaching and mentoring aswell as organisational change. The BMEparticipants seem to show an aptitude for ahigher cultural appreciation as applied tothe context for application as well as inengagement with the players. It adds supportto the approach of integrated work streamsof coach/mentors to make the most of talentpools and backs the UIF approach of theimportance of having black and minoritycoach/mentors as part of any widercoaching and mentoring initiative.

Recommendations

While further research should be continuedto explore the validity of the individualelements of the CCSR using a larger samplesize and how it can be utilised to aid coachand mentor to develop their competence,some practical recommendations can bedrawn out in the following areas:● Supervision;● Training;● Impact assessment.

Supervision

This reconfirmed our approach to supervi-sion underpinned by the UIF that attentionto the personal, the social and the culturaldimensions of settings and players arerequired by the integrative professionalcoach/mentor. In the sister study thataddressed the benefits of training, we repli-cated these results but also linked the impor-tance of training (T) and supervision (S) toimproved quality (Q) of coach/mentors andthe increase of benefits cited as directproportion to the quality of the coach/mentor, i.e.T + S = > Q = > Benefits.

Our supervision frameworks have thereforefocused on continuous professional develop-ment and quality improvement throughreflective practice, i.e.S = T(CPD via CCSR tool) + Q

(reflective practice).

Participants have used their CSSR reports toinform their reflective practice in Super-vision and colleagues in supervision throughpeer coaching have also contributed toCCSR information on one another. TheCCSR tool has been revamped and is aidingthe development of good practice in a rangeof e-mentoring programmes and face-to-faceprogrammes in the UK and overseas.

Training

Our results indicated that many coaches/mentors felt less confident and prepared forthe EI and cultural dimensions ofcoach/mentoring work. Future trainingprogrammes for mentoring and coachingshould include more focus on developmentof EI and incorporate cultural appreciationas core element as in world of increasedcomplexity working across unfamiliarcontexts with people of a different profes-sion and background are the norm.

Impact assessment

Organisations have an ongoing interest inderiving the benefits they are securing fromcoach/mentoring and establishing bench-marks for coach/mentor performance inthis area when it is a key element of manage-ment work. As such the CCSR tool was foundto be very effective in helping coach/mentors manage their own developmentand organisations plan to address areas ofreduced mentor/coach performance. TheCCSR tool made coach/mentor processmore transparent but also ensured it wascaochee/mentee driven throughout. It takesus one more step to helping organisationsexplore and capitalise on the link betweencoach/mentor quality and coachee/menteeoutcomes. We recommend that organisa-tions should continue to adopt the model of




best practice with impact assessment in theirprogramme evaluation as exemplified by thiscase study.

Correspondence


Morph Group Ltd.The Gateway, Attercleiffe,Sheffield, S9 3TY.

Website: http://www.morphgroup.net

E-mail:[email protected]@[email protected]

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BY THE TIME MANAGERS OFcommercial enterprises reach mid-career their tenure in office seems

increasingly fickle. Change comes fasterthan ever. Investors have turned unforgiving.Globalisation, deregulation, consolidation,acquisition, all create new and highlycomplex environments. Certainly, thedegree of ‘fit’ between the individual execu-tive, the organisation's receptivity to change,and external market forces might help toexplain why some CEO’s fail (Greiner et al.,2003). But these factors by themselves don’texplain the near epidemic of shortfalls andfailures. What are the deeper causes of exec-utive career derailment and can executivecoaching help?

Life stages

Executive career derailments seem tocoincide with midlife, a critical transitionregarded by adult development theorists asdetermining the quality of mental well beingin the middle years (approximately ages 38to 50) and beyond. Jung (1969) highlightedthe developmental task of individuation inthis period, which involves shifting the focusfrom the ego to the inner core of the self.There is often a lack of conformity to goalsand values previously adhered to as‘expected’ by society. The individual mayfeel compelled to explore unconscious

aspects of their personality through takingup new activities, experiences, and socialarrangements. In relation to Erikson’s(1963) stages of life, this period is a time ofconfronting the discrepancies between thedreams of adolescence and the realities ofcurrent achievements or failures. The choicehere is to either stagnate or to go beyond selfand to help the next generation. Levinson(1978) described middle adulthood as the‘third season’ and a time of significant tran-sition during which a great deal of life re-evaluation takes place. These theorists all seemidlife as a critical step towards a higherlevel of self-knowledge, a greater acceptanceof strengths and weaknesses, and anincreased tolerance and resilience towardsothers. Indeed, Sheehy (1995) talks aboutthis passage as the ‘little death of first adult-hood’ leading to the optimistic surge of the‘flaming 50s’.

To what extent does this critical stage ofadult development impact on mid-careerderailment? According to McCall (2003),insensitivity is the most commonly reportedflaw amongst derailed executives. What werepreviously strengths become weaknesses,leading to blind spots, arrogance, and thepoor handling of bad luck. A grandiose self-image is often apparent, reflected in thebelief that the normal rules do not apply.McCall’s dynamics of derailment seem at

Back on track: The coaching journey inexecutive career derailmentPeter J. Webb

Executive career derailment seems to coincide with one of the most significant transitions in life - the midlife‘crisis’. Career derailment is most commonly caused by insensitivity; both to others needs and to theindividuals own developmental needs for authenticity. Executive coaches can form strong developmentalrelationships with derailed executives through engaging them in the behaviours of individuation andsupporting the development of a more authentic self. Coaching is conceptualised as a ‘U-shaped’ journeyexploring 5 levels of meaning: (1) the executive’s environment; (2) the executive’s behaviour; (3) attitudes,(4) deep structure of the person; and (5) deepest structure.Keywords: Executive coaching, personality, career derailment, evidence based coaching.


Executive career derailment

odds with Jung’s process of individuationsuggesting perhaps, that these executives arestill dealing with ego needs and have not yetbegun to look inwards.

Kegan (1994) described six stages ofadult development: incorporative, impulsive,imperial, interpersonal, institutional, andinterindividual. Kegan’s final interindividualstage involves a struggle with true interde-pendency, self-surrender, and intimacy inrelationships, both work and personal self.This transition typically occurs throughmidlife and beyond, leading to the develop-ment of wisdom, although not all are able tomaster the change.

Van Velsor and Drath (2004) extendKegan’s stages into a set of beliefs about theself in relation to leadership. Leaders areexpected to move from the self-reading beliefthat ‘identity can be understood by readingit in the way important other peoplerespond’, to the self-authoring belief that ‘onecreates one’s own identity according to self-generated standards’. Like Kegan, theypropose a higher state of self-revising beliefsthat ‘while being the author of an identity,one is responsible for continuously re-creating it in alignment with one’s environ-ment’ (Van Velsor & Drath, 2004, p.391). In a sample of managers and teachers, 36per cent were transitioning from self-readingto self-authoring, and 48 per cent were in theself-authoring developmental position. Onlyone per cent were transitioning from self-authoring to self-revising (Van Velsor &Drath, 2004).

But is all development linear? Adultdevelopment theorists believe that eachstage has its own challenges and require-ments, which must be mastered beforemoving on to the next stage. Adler (1964)however, defined development in terms of amotivation away from feelings of inferioritytoward feelings of superiority. The four ‘lifetasks’ which facilitate this process can bearranged in a wheel comprising: relating toothers, making a contribution, self-accept-ance, and developing a spiritual dimension.Hudson (1999) likewise, suggests that devel-

opment may be cyclical. Individuals areeither in a ‘life chapter’ or they are under-going a ‘life transition’ in moving away froma previous chapter or discovering a new one.Freud (1964) and other psychodynamictheorists have demonstrated that individualsnot only fail to progress through stages butcan in fact regress to an earlier stage undersufficient stress or conflict. Could this behappening in mid-career derailment?

Peltier (2001) suggests that regression –reverting back to earlier, less mature behav-iour – may be more widespread in commer-cial organisations than is admitted.Defensive behaviours represent a resistanceto following the ‘path of progressive devel-opment’. When executives exhibit thesebehaviours the impact on whole enterprisescan be catastrophic (Berglas, 2002).

The coaching journey

The process of coaching a senior executivecan take on a unique trajectory. Kilburg(2000) talks about coaching as building‘islands of reflection’ through which thecoaching client can safely explore thedimensions of his or her life. Kemp (2006)views coaching as an ‘adventure’ andprovides a framework for an ‘adventure-based coaching cycle’. Lenhardt (2004) seescoaching as a progressive deepening of levelsof identity and meaning for the individualexecutive. To the extent that coaching is anact of going from one place of meaning toanother, particularly over a long distance oftime and observation, the coaching processmay be conceptualised as a journey (TheConcise Oxford Dictionary, 1995, p.733).

The coaching journey must be guided bya theoretical framework that takes accountof adult development and learningthroughout the lifespan, but nowhere moresignificantly than the transition of midlife. Inexecutive career derailment the coach recog-nises the primary developmental stage orbelief pattern from which the executive isoperating and provides the self-developmentopportunities and strategies to help him orher along their own developmental path


(Skiffington & Zeus, 2003). In particular,coaches should look for and encourage thebehavioural indicators of individuation inderailed executives: (a) looking within fordirection and energy; (b) questioning inher-ited values; (c) relinquishing outmodedaspects of themselves; (d) revealing newdimensions of who they are; and (e) allowingthemselves to be more playful and sponta-neous (Lyons, 2002).

The coaching journey may be thought ofas a progressive exploration of five levels ofmeaning (see Figure 1). The first two areexternal and observable:(1)The executive’s environment, consisting of

his or her strategic thinking, thestructures and systems through which heor she implements action, andparticularly the establishment anddefence of status.

(2)The executive’s behaviour, which involvespaying attention to communicationmethods, relationship management, andmanagerial style. Here, the emphasis ison noticing and controlling behavioursand preventing more profound,impulsive behaviour patterns fromreturning under stress.

The next three levels are internal and invisible:(3)Attitudes, calls into question the

executive’s beliefs and values, those thatgovern his or her life, work, relationships,whether to trust or not to trust. And howvalues influence choices with respect tocareer, money, success, and power.Included here are the executive’srepresentation systems, how he or she seesthe world. For example, the executivemight view themselves as ‘stuck’ in a

Figure 1: Five levels of meaning in the coaching journey.

The Coaching Journey

(1) Executive ’s Environment Strategy, Structure, System

(2) Executive ’s Behaviour Style, Communication, Capacity

(3) Attitudes Beliefs, Values, Representation

Systems

(4) Deep Structure

Of the person

Defence systems, Personal history,

Unconscious, Body, Emotions

(5) Deepest

StructureDeep roles, Mythic Narrative,

Archetypes

Adapted from: Lenhardt, V. (2004) Coaching for meaning: The culture and practice of coaching

And team building. Houndmills, Basingstoke: UK, Palgrave MacMillan.

Peter J. Webb



fishbowl because of the way their actionsare viewed and analysed by others, orthey may see the organisation as amechanical entity with successdependent on ‘pulling the right levers’.

(4)Deep structure of the person, or ‘character’aspect of personality. This is where theperson’s defences and unconsciousbeliefs, developed over their life history,reside. Executive career derailment oftenemerges as an unconscious response toperceived ‘attacks’ on his or herstructured defence system. Progress isonly possible through openness, trust,self-appraisal, and realisation.

(5)Deepest structure, constitutes the mostintimate development of the person,beyond the defensive systems, to theessential nature of human consciousnessor ‘spirit’. This is the cornerstone of thearchitecture of identity. Access to this

level may be gained through deepreflection and meditative practice, andthrough the recognition of mythicnarratives and archetypes that give deepinsight to ‘life, the universe andeverything’ (Adams, 1982).

The coach conducts the coaching journey asa ‘U-process’, starting with the visibleelements of the executive’s domain of expe-rience and then guiding the person into aprogressively deeper exploration ofmeaning. The process starts out as a series of‘shallow dives’, each time coming back to thesurface to ‘draw breath’. Depending on thenature of the relationship between the coachand the executive, both may be prepared tospend longer periods of time at the deeperlevels before returning to the ‘visible world’with fresh insights and realisations (seeFigure 2).

Figure 2: The ‘U-process’ in the coaching journey.

The Coaching Journey

(1) Executive ’s Environment Strategy, Structure, System

(2) Executive ’s Behaviour Style, Communication, Capacity

(3) Attitudes Beliefs, Values, Representation

Systems

(4) Deep Structure

Of the person

Defence systems, Personal history,

Unconscious, Body, Emotions

(5) Deepest

StructureDeep roles, Mythic Narrative,

Archetypes

Adapted from: Lenhardt, V. (2004) Coaching for meaning: The culture and practice of coaching

And team building. Houndmills, Basingstoke: UK, Palgrave MacMillan.


A case study

‘Charles’ was a successful legal partner in anational law firm, aged 47, happily marriedwith two children. At our first coachingsession he told me his aim at university hadbeen to become a partner by the time he was30, and in fact he achieved this at the age of28. Charles was appointed Partner-in-Chargeof the head office at the age of 44, HRPartner and Department Managing Partnerat 46, and then he was told he was beinggroomed to become the next Chief Execu-tive Partner (CEP) at the Board elections intwo years time. Charles sought coaching tohelp him prepare for this likelihood and toenhance his ability to have a positive impacton people and the business in what was ahighly-charged political environment.

Coaching dialogue began at Level 1 as anaffable leadership development discoursedrawing on data from his Hogan Develop-ment Survey (Hogan & Hogan, 1997). Bysession three Charles was reflecting onobservations of his own and others’ behav-iour with comments such as: ‘I’m not as badas I think I am’, ‘I watched myself in ameeting and noticed that I had a more openframe of mind’, ‘others seem to be playing tomy ‘derailers’ (Level 2). I asked Charles howhe defined his leadership. He reflected for amoment and then admitted that he craved tobe the centre of attention. I suggested thathis leadership style was like the ‘circus ring-master’. This seemed to resonate stronglywith him as a representation system (Level 3). Ateach session I encouraged Charles to ‘dip’below the surface of Levels 1 and 2 by askinghim reflective questions such as ‘what doesdetachment mean to you?’ ‘What do you chooseto be attached to?’ In this way Charles wasable to articulate and reflect on some of hiskey representation systems in relation to hisidentity as a leader. At the same time Irecommended readings that might facilitatereflection at Levels 4 and 5 (Tolle, 2000;Ruiz, 1997, Coelho, 1994; Chopra, 1996).

However, the journey began to go off therails at session seven. Charles reported thatpressure was being exerted on him to relin-

quish his Partner-in-Charge and DepartmentManaging Partner roles in order to generatemore fees for the firm. He immediatelyresisted and mounted a vigorous campaignof self-righteous e-mails to the CEP andother Managing Partners. Here was evidenceof his deep defence system (Level 4) at workas predicted by the Hogan Assessment(2002). Charles rated in the ‘moderate tohigh risk’ category for four of five factorsregarded by Kaiser and Hogan (2006) as‘Intimidation: gaining security by threateningpeople and scaring them away’, and in the‘moderate to high risk’ category for all fourfactors described as ‘Flirtation and Seduction:winning recognition with self-promotionand charm’. In fact, Charles scored in the100th percentile for Bold showing thehighest risk for impulsive, self-promoting,unresponsive to negative feedback, competi-tive and demanding behaviours, broadlyconsistent with a narcissistic personality(Judge et al., 2006).

Ultimately, Charles’ actions did nothingto advance his cause, and the CEP unilater-ally appointed another Partner to take overCharles’ role with no consultation and noevident support for Charles’ candidacy forthe upcoming CEP elections. Charles felthurt and ‘abandoned’. He announced thathe was withdrawing his candidacy, effectively‘derailing’ what had been a stellar career.

Some of these ‘career risk’ behaviourshad been pointed out to me by HR and Land D stakeholders beforehand but werecertainly not evident in my early coachingexperience of Charles. However, as circum-stances unfolded I began to see him enactinghis ‘dark side’ (Hogan & Hogan, 2001). Yet,at session nine we had collaborated onwriting a set of guiding principles for hisbehaviour (Levels 3 and 4) such as; ‘morelistening and not interrupting’, ‘makingsuggestions rather than giving directions’,‘compassionate detachment: not so attachedto the outcome as to be emotionally drivenby it’, and ‘ethical integrity – supporting thehigher ethical stance’ as evidence of ‘re-forming’ character (Kaplan, 1990). I believe

Peter J. Webb



this helped prepare the way for Charles’later ‘career recovery’.

Four months after our 10-sessioncontract concluded, Charles requested acontinuation of coaching. At this stage thestory had fully unravelled and Charlesreported feeling as though he had been‘thrown off the city wall from a great height!’It seemed appropriate to take a ‘deep dive’rather than just ‘skim the surface’. Weexplored the archetypes of orphan (how thehero experiences, and learns from, adversity),and wanderer (how the hero rides out to facethe unknown) (Pearson, 1998) at Level 5,and then developed more resourceful repre-sentation systems such as; ‘life isn’t linear, it’s aseries of cycles and rhythms’, ‘I have all thesegood things going on in my life’, ‘everyoneelse (protagonists and victims) is at differentstages of their own cycles and rhythms’(Level 3).

By session 14, Charles reported ‘beingavailable and present to the situation but notdriven by the event’, and ‘spending moretime with people’. He now identified morewith the archetype of wanderer (seeker oftruth) than orphan (wounded victim)(Pearson, 1998). ‘How do you feel?’ I askedhim. ‘Like being on holidays from my ego!’he said. Our coaching dialogue now regu-larly took on a more dialectical tone, consis-tent with Levels 3 and 4: ‘realising that bothquestions and their answers evolve over time,and that the answers to important life ques-tions can differ at different times in one’slife’ (Sternberg, 2001, p.238).

Charles was now able to see that ‘they’reattacking my process, not me!’ We collabo-rated on transferring competency from hisprofessional negotiating skills with clients tonegotiating his relationships with fellow part-ners to bring him fully into Levels 1 and 2.Charles now felt that he had some behav-ioural skills to transform his style of influ-ence and regain control of his environment.

Conclusion

Executives can become distanced from theirown emotions and from authentic commu-nication with others. As McCall (2003,p.195) points out, ‘blind spots matter even-tually’ and as with Charles, what seemed abenign flaw at one level of development canbecome lethal with a change in context.Leaders must be committed to lifelongdevelopment. Van Velsor and Drath (2004,p.414) point out that organisational environ-ments are more developmentally chal-lenging than ever before and ‘organisationstoday need larger communities of managerswho are self-authoring people.’

As executive coaches we will be mosteffective ‘if we incorporate an understandingof where our clients are on the curve of adultdevelopment’ (Axelrod, 2005, p.125). Andwe can more fully appropriate deeper levelsof meaning for our clients using the ‘U-process’ described here to help elicit‘executive wisdom’ (Kilburg, 2006).

Correspondence

Peter Webb

Intentional Training Concepts Pty Ltd.,P.O. Box 148, Camperdown NSW 1450,Australia.E-mail: [email protected]


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Judge, T.A., LePine, J.A. & Rich, B.L. (2006). Lovingyourself abundantly: Relationship of the narcis-sistic personality to self- and other perceptions ofworkplace deviance, leadership, and task andcontextual performance. Journal of AppliedPsychology, 91(4), 762–776.

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Kaiser, R.B. & Hogan, R. (2006). The dark side ofdiscretion: Leader personality and organisationaldecline. In R. Hooijberg, J. Hunt, K. Boal & J.Antonakis (Eds.), Strategic leadership of organiza-tions. London: Elsevier Science.

Kaplan, R.E. (1990). Character change in executivesas ‘re-form’ in the pursuit of self-worth. TheJournal of Applied Behavioral Science, 26(4),461–481.

Kegan, R. (1994). In over our heads: The mental demandsof modern life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UniversityPress.

Kemp, T, (2006). An adventure-based framework forcoaching. In D.R. Stober & A.M. Grant (Eds.),Evidence-based coaching handbook: Putting best practices to work for your clients. Hoboken, NJ: JohnWiley & Sons.


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Lenhardt, V. (2004). Coaching for meaning: The cultureand practice of coaching And team building. Hound-mills, Basingstoke: UK, Palgrave MacMillan.

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Peltier, B. (2001). The psychology of executive coaching:Theory and application. New York: Brunner-Routledge.

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Tolle, E. (2000). The power of now: A guide to spiritualenlightenment. Sydney: Hodder Books.

Van Velsor, E. & Drath, W.H. (2004). A lifelongdevelopmental perspective on leader develop-ment. In C.D. McCauley. & E. Van Velsor (Eds.),The center for creative leadership handbook of leader-ship development (2nd ed.) (pp.383–414). SanFrancisco: Jossey-Bass.

References

Peter J. Webb

Overview

THE BRITISH PSYCHOLOGICALSOCIETY SPECIAL GROUP INCOACHING PSYCHOLOGY (SGCP)

came into existence in October, 2005. In thisearly stage of the development of the profes-sion within the British Psychological Society(BPS), a survey of the SGCP membership wasconducted in December, 2005 to provide anopportunity to review and reflect on theshifting perspectives of those working in andaround the coaching psychology profession.Whilst this is the first survey of the SGCPmembership, this is in fact the third annualsurvey of psychologists working as coaches/coaching psychologists. Findings from

earlier 2003 and 2004 surveys were reportedin Whybrow and Palmer (2006) published inthe first issue of the International CoachingPsychology Review. In this paper, we highlightthe consistent themes, changing trends andemerging tensions from the most recent2005 survey.

Method

Members of the SGCP were invited tocomplete the survey by general e-mail over atwo-week period. One-hundred-and-fifty-onemembers completed the survey (representingabout 10 per cent of the SGCP membership atthat time). The data were collected online


Shifting perspectives:One year into the development of theBritish Psychological Society SpecialGroup in Coaching Psychology in the UKAlison Whybrow & Stephen Palmer

Objectives: This paper presents the findings from a follow-up survey exploring the practice and opinions ofthe membership of the Special Group in Coaching Psychology (SGCP).Design: The study was cross sectional in design.Method: This survey of Coaching Psychologists was conducted in December, 2005, 12 months after theformation of the SGCP. The survey focused on psychologists’ practice as coaches and their views on anumber of relevant issues such as the necessary training and experience to practise as a coachingpsychologist.Results: Building on the work of two previous surveys (see Whybrow & Palmer, 2006), there are manyconsistencies with these earlier surveys and some interesting shifts. More psychologists are identifyingcoaching as a formal, albeit part-time, aspect of their practice. There was a desire for the SGCP to build andmaintain a strong presence in the broader coaching arena, and to promote the value that psychology bringsto this field of practice. The issue of flexible, inclusive methods of accreditation were a specific focus. Indeed,this area of emerging tensions is captured by the desire on the one hand for a formal qualifications route todemonstrate competence as a coaching psychologist, and on the other the desire for informality and opennesscaptured by the SGCP currently.Conclusions: The outcome of this third survey of the perspectives of coaching psychologists highlights sometrends that are ongoing, and points to the first significant challenge for the practice of Coaching Psychologyin the UK as the demand for accreditation and recognition increases.Keywords: Coaching Psychology, professional practice, supervision, coaching approaches,continuing professional development, British Psychological Society.

using www.surveymonkey.com as the surveyplatform. The survey consisted of 15 ques-tions and took between five and 10 minutes tocomplete. Respondents had the opportunityto record their views quantitatively and/orqualitatively by expressing their personalperspective in response to each question.Membership data of the SGCP was gatheredfrom the membership records of the SGCP.

Results

Consistent perspectives

There was a strong theme recognising thatthe development of coaching psychologywithin the UK through the SGCP was addingvalue to psychologists working as coaches.The SGCP was seen as ‘Continuing to supportprofessional standards and good practice’. TheSGCP was also adding value to people inter-ested in the field of psychology and how itapplies to coaching practice. The SGCP‘provides a home for coaches who use psychologicalprinciples to inform their coaching practice’.Respondents wanted to see the SGCP ‘strive tobe the UK body at the forefront of coaching theory,research and practice and to work toward being the‘Gold Standard’ for professional coaches in the UK’.

Good leadership and the spirit of ‘let’s getthings done’ were described as positiveelements of the growth of coachingpsychology. Respondents commented on theinclusive, informal, personal and accessiblenature of the SGCP and were keen to retainand build on that. As one respondent high-lighted ‘it’s the flexibility of relationships, and acritical approach to theory and practice thatmatters most in my view. Prefer to develop inclu-sive dynamics rather than excluding technocraticbarriers.’

The value of the SGCP as an informative,member driven network was noted. Onecomment noted the SGCP should develop in‘as non-hierachical a way as possible, membership-centred.’

Membership within the BPS and other coaching-related professional bodiesMembership across the BPS subsystems isshown in Figure 1. The interest in CoachingPsychology across other areas of appliedpsychology is evident and increasing.

The psychologists within the SGCP repre-sent many of the other professional bodiesassociated with coaching. Significantnumbers report membership of the Char-tered Institute of Personnel and Develop-ment (36.2 per cent), the Association forCoaching (28.7 per cent) and the BritishAssociation for Counselling and Psycho-therapy (19.1 per cent). Members indicatedthey belonged to a diverse range of addi-tional professional associations includingprofessional dance, legal, education, andsports associations.

Practice as a coaching psychologistIt appears that coaching practice continuesto be subset of the work of applied psycholo-gists with more respondents working parttime as a coaching psychologist than fulltime. 13.9 per cent of respondents reportspending more than 50 per cent of theirtime as a coaching psychologist, whilst 59.7per cent report spending less than 50 percent of their time as a coaching psychologist.This is consistent with the trend fromprevious surveys (Whybrow & Palmer, 2006),where 11.9 per cent reported working as afull-time coach and 46.8 per cent as a part-time coach in 2004. Results from 2003 weresimilar, with 11.1 per cent reported workingfull time as a coach and 48.9 per cent respon-dents reported working part time coach as acoach.

As previously identified, not everyonewho values the development of a groupfocused on coaching psychology is practicingas a coaching psychologist. A number ofrespondents worked within the field ofcoaching in some format, for example usingcoaching as part of their management style,training others in coaching processes,working along side coaches as part of abroader development programme.


Alison Whybrow & Stephen Palmer


Shifting perspectives

COP = Chartered Occupational Psychologists; GBR = Graduate basis for registration; CCoP = Chartered Counselling Psychologists;Chartered = Chartered Psychologists with no affiliation; CClin = Chartered Clinical Psychologists; CSEP = Chartered Sports and ExercisePsychologists; CHP = Chartered Health Psychologists; CEP = Chartered Educational Psychologists; CFP = Chartered Forensic Psychologists;CRTP = Chartered Research and Teachers in Psychology.

Figure 1: Number of members across the BPS subsystems.

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0COP GBR CCoP Chartered CClin CSEP CHP CEP CFP CRTP

Figure 2: % time spent working as a Coaching Psychologist.

60

50

40

30

20

10

0More than 50%

of the timeUp to 50%of the time

Interested inCoaching Psychology

2003

2004

2005

Figures 2–9 show data from three surveys of coaching psychologists. The survey has evolved over the three years, leadingto gaps in the data. As a result, where data is not shown for a particular year, or for a specific element of a figure, this isbecause the data is not available.

Where are psychologists applying coaching?The focus of the practice of coachingpsychologists is consistent with earliersurveys, with more people emphasising theirbusiness and performance focus and fewerpsychologists emphasising more specialisedareas such as stress management, sports andhealth coaching. Personal and life coachingwere reported as areas of coachingpsychology practice by more than 40 percent of respondents. The reported focus onlife coaching for coaching psychologists hasincreased since the previous survey, where27.3 per cent reported a focus on lifecoaching (Whybrow & Palmer, 2006).

Exactly how the practice of coachingpsychologists differs within these differentfields of practice is not clear. However, itwould be useful for this to be explored.Rather than the actual coaching psychology

practice differing between particularcoaching relationships, the processessupporting that practice may be seen to bedifferent.

What psychological frameworks and approachesare used?Coaching psychologists are more likely todescribe their approach as facilitationalrather than instructional which fits with thereportedly dominant person centred orhumanistic paradigm of coaching psycho-logy practice (see Figure 4).

Overall, respondents indicate a clearpreference for facilitation, cognitive1, solu-tion focused, goal focused, behavioural andperson centred approaches. Since 2004,solution focused coaching has shown ageneral increase in its use by psychologistsfrom 50 per cent to 68.4 per cent in this



1 In the UK, the Cognitive Approach should be more accurately described as the Cognitive Behavioural approachto coaching (see Neenan & Dryden, 2002). This distinguishes it from Cognitive Coachingsm often practised inNorth America (see Costa & Garmston, 2002).

Figure 3: Focus of coaching practice.

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0Executive

Business

Leadership

Career

Performance

Personal

LifeTeam

Stress Management

Coaching for Excellence

Mentoring

Health

Sports

2003

2004

2005

survey. In fact, facilitation, cognitive andsolution focused coaching approaches wereequally popular with respondents. Thesurvey raises questions. Are the popularapproaches more effective than others (e.g.Grant, 2001), or do they fit with theprevailing paradigm within which coachingpsychologists operate and their current levelof expertise? How does this range ofapproaches really differ in terms of what thecoachee experiences and the outcomes ofany coaching relationship (O’Broin &Palmer, 2006)?

Figures 4 and 5 illustrate that 23approaches are being used. Additionalapproaches were mentioned by a smallnumber of survey participants (fewer than 10per cent) for example, psychosynthesis,narrative and systemic. Interestingly, there islittle published literature on the applicationof the majority of the therapeuticapproaches and how they are applied to thefield of coaching. This suggests that some

psychologists may have been trained in thetherapeutic approach and adapted theapproach themselves.

One area that reflects the early develop-ments in the field of psychotherapy andcounselling is the reported greater use ofeclectic approaches over integrativeapproaches. This has occurred in all threecoaching psychology surveys (see Whybrow& Palmer, 2006). It could be predicted thatsimilar to therapeutic fields, as coaching andcoaching psychology develops, gradually theuse of integrative coaching will becomemore popular than an eclectic approach tocoaching. The psychotherapeutic field nowtends to frown upon eclecticism as unsystem-atic although certain eclectic approachessuch as multimodal therapy/coaching claimto be technically eclectic and systematic(Richard, 1999; Palmer et al., 2003). Palmerand Dryden (1995) describe the multimodalapproach as ‘technically eclectic as it uses tech-niques taken from many different psychological



2003

2004

2005

Figure 4: Approaches used.

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0Facilitation

Instructional

Cognitive

Solution Focused

Goal Focused

Behavioural

Person Centred

Humanistic

Problem Focused

NLPEclectic

theories and systems, without necessarily beingconcerned with the validity of the theoretical prin-ciples that underpin the different approaches fromwhich it takes it’s techniques… The techniques areapplied systematically, based on data from clientqualities, the counsellor’s clinical skills andspecific techniques.’ (p.ix)

Continuing professional development (CPD)Continuing professional development (CPD)opportunities focused on coaching psychologycontinue to be highly valued by respondents(see Figure 6). Shorter, focused and moreflexible CPD activities such workshops, confer-ences, short certificated courses, seminars anddistance learning were most popular. Thisenthusiasm may reflect a desire to understand



2003 2004 2005

Figure 5: More approaches used.30

20

10

0Personal Cons

Integrative

Transformational

Gestalt

Transactional

Rational Emotional

Behaviour

Psychodynamic

Inner Game

Existential

Transpersonal

Action

Multimodal

2003

2004

2005

Figure 6: CPD activities.90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0Workshops

Conferences

Short Certificated

Courses

Seminars

Short Courses

Distance Learning

Diplomas

MScDCoach

DPsych

PhDDProf



what the field of coaching psychology is, toadd to an existing, relevant skill base and keepup-to-date with theoretical and practical devel-opments. There was a strong pull for CPDactivities, with respondents noting a desire formore, at a more regional and local level, withdistance learning opportunities getting afrequent mention.

The most popular areas for CPD arecognitive and solution focused approachesand events that provide insight into organisa-tional change. There is a desire on the onehand to learn more about the underpinningpsychological frameworks around individualdevelopment that inform coachingpsychology practice and on the other to learnmore about the context in which coachingpsychology practice is often applied.

These areas of interest may reflect thecrossover of the applied psychology domainswithin coaching psychology practice; theneed for applied psychologists workingwithin organisational contexts to develop adeeper understanding of individual develop-

ment frameworks; the need for appliedpsychologists with more of a focus on indi-vidual development to understand groupand organisational development frame-works; or perhaps for all concerned to recon-sider their psychological frameworks andapproaches and how they fit within theirpractice as a coaching psychologist. What qualifications, experience and supervision isnecessary to practise as a coaching psychologist?Most respondents thought that a psychologydegree providing the graduate basis forregistration (GBR) with the BPS remainedthe key qualification to working as acoaching psychologist (see Figure 7).However, whilst the degree is thought to benecessary, academic qualifications alone arenot thought sufficient. Experiential andpractice focused qualifications are alsoconsidered necessary. Some of the quotesfrom respondents include:

‘Hard to be definitive, it’s primarily a questionof experience, although wisdom in applying keyconcepts is important.’

2004

2005

Figure 7: Training requirements.70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0Psych degree

not necessary

Psych degree

Psych degree

giving GBR

Foundation in

Counselling

Diploma in

Counsellling

Certificate in

Coaching

Diploma in

Coaching

MSc in Coaching

Certificate in

Coaching

Diploma in Coaching

Psychology

MSc in Coaching

Psychology

DCoach/Dprof/

Phd in Coaching Psychology


‘Coaching skills are not reliant onqualifications. However, it is important thatan individual has some understanding ofboundaries and some conceptual models.’‘Some form of practical accredited skilltraining and experience in its application inthe given field of use.’

Specifically coaching and counselling quali-fications were thought to be useful alongwith postgraduate qualifications in appliedpsychological practice.

As previously discussed, at least three

years experience in addition to a psychologydegree providing GBR was considered neces-sary by 37.7 per cent prior to gaining compe-tence to practise, whilst 44.5 per centconsidered chartered psychologist statusshould be the recognised practice level (seeFigure 8). However, there is currently noroute to demonstrate practical competenceas a coaching psychologist within the BPS.Respondents placed a value on their ownroutes to practicing as a coaching psycholo-gist, of which there were many. The need tocreate a set of competencies and flexible

processes for demonstrating competenceremains.

Supervision was identified as a keyelement of good coaching psychologypractice by respondents, with the ongoingrecognition of the importance of supervisionduring training and post qualification (seeFigure 9).

Changing trends

A greater proportion of respondents to the2005 survey report working in some capacityas a coaching psychologist compared toearlier surveys. This increase may indicatethat:

● Recognising the reality of coachingpsychology as an applied area ofpsychological practice through theformation of the SGCP has created afocus for psychologists already practicingas coaches.

● People are perhaps more prepared todeclare or recognise this area of theirown practice.

● People may be more likely to create theopportunity to work as coachingpsychologists by describing themselves assuch.


2004

2005

Figure 8: Experience required.45

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0GBR+ 3 years

full-time

GBR+ 5 years

full-time

BPS Chartered

Psychologist

UKCP Registration

BACP Accredited



Whatever the mix of underpinning reason,more psychologists are moving towardsmaking coaching activity a more formal partof their practice.

Interestingly the number of people thatbelieve a psychology degree that is not recog-nised within the BPS is a valuable basic levelof qualification has increased to 45 per centin 2005 from 33.9 per cent in 2004. At thesame time more respondents indicatedvaluing GBR plus three years experience andchartered psychologist status than inprevious surveys (37.7 per cent in 2005compared with 27.5 per cent in 2004). Aspart of this trend, over 50 per cent of respon-dents reported that supervision of experi-enced coaching psychologists was necessaryin 2005, compared to 38.5 per cent in 2004.

There has been an ever increasing driveto professionalise coaching psychologypractice through a formal accreditationroute. Developing the SGCP into a Divisionwas specifically mentioned by many respon-dents as a way to generate a recognisedpathway of professional development forcoaching psychology. Whilst the current

Division structure is the framework thatmembers of the BPS are familiar with,further exploration of the responses indi-cated that something more flexible thancurrently exists as a model within the BPSmight be more valuable and engaging.

The routes by which individuals havereached their current practice as coachingpsychologists are diverse. Working flexiblyand with diversity is an inherent aspect of thecoaching field and perhaps is how the ques-tion of competence to practise should beapproached.

Of particular note were comments thatreferred to a more informative and inte-grated way of working between the SGCPand existing areas of applied psychologypractice as represented by the Divisionswithin the BPS.

‘To work on the integration and overlap ofpractice with other divisions within BPS. Forexample what constitutes coaching withparents as distinct from working with parentsas an applied child psychologist would do? Isthere a difference in substance or just interminology?’

2004

2005

Figure 9: Views on supervision.

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0No supervision

during training

Supervision

during training

Supervision of

experienced CPs

not necessary

Supervision of

experienced CPs

necessary


‘I would hope that it didn't become like manyof the other division. Where you can only get inif you've done the right course at the right placeat the right time. We should have a moreflexible approach to credentialing.’

‘I would like to see the group take a broadapproach to coaching psychology that encouragesits application across BPS divisions rather thanencouraging a narrower, professional-practiceapproach.’

Examination of areas of similarity and differ-ence between coaching psychology andother applied psychologies were called for.The development of inflexible qualificationsroutes that did not recognise competencewithin other applied areas of psychology wasnot welcomed. There was a groundswell ofsupport to bring more integration across thedivisions to create a broader approach. Thisis particularly relevant to the field ofcoaching psychology as most respondentsindicated working as a coaching psychologistformed only part of their work as an appliedpsychologist.

However a fair, flexible and appropriateroute to accreditation may proceed, respon-dents want a process leading to accreditationof their competence to practise as acoaching psychologist.

Changes were desired to the existingCPD opportunities. This is an important partof enhancing individual competence topractice as a coaching psychologist, andcreating a link into coaching psychology forthe broader coaching community. Withinthe responses was a theme that suggestedeven greater accessibility to the coachingpsychology focused activities SGCP would bevalued through distance learning, on-lineresources, local support cells, regionalprogrammes and bursaries. In particular,people wanted to learn about coachingpsychology through discussion forums, withmore sharing of knowledge and skills online.

Raising the profile of the SGCP beyondthe boundaries of the BPS was indicated as avaluable way to ensure that coachingpsychology was one of the leading forces

within the coaching community. As part ofthis theme there was a call from members forthe SGCP to become the defining body forstandards of practice (both professional andethical practice) within the coaching field.Additionally, there was a call for the SGCP tomarket the value of coaching with apsychology background, ‘demonstratingpride in our discipline’ to business and HRcommunities and at an international level.

Part of this capability to raise the profileof the value of coaching psychology is devel-oping the underlying theoretical andresearch base of coaching psychology.Empirical research, increasing our evidencebased understanding of coaching psychologypractice is essential.

Emerging tensions

The initial energy and enthusiasm for thedevelopment of the SGCP within the BPS hasnow focused on how to create a means ofdeveloping this element of the broadercoaching profession into a useful and effec-tive area of psychological practice andenquiry.

The call for an accredited route todemonstrate competence to practise as acoaching psychologist is growing. At thesame time, the informal, conversation-basedaspects of professional development perhapsparticularly strong within the coaching fieldare valued. Respondents were concernedabout creating an inflexible, technocraticand exclusive professional body for coachingpsychology. A group such as the SGCP, whilsthaving an explicit focus on coachingpsychology, needs to aim for a broaderappeal, engaging those who are working inthe field of coaching in a different way.

The tensions created by a formal profes-sional development process alongside thevalue of a more informal approach to theprofession will be interesting. A professionalbody for coaching psychologists cannot logi-cally be the defining body for standards ofpractice in coaching psychology, and at thesame time apply no discrimination to whocan or cannot be accredited. By addressing


and defining the explicit need for a set ofcoaching psychology competencies andthrough clarifying expectations around stan-dards and approved qualification routes alevel of discrimination is being asked for.Who has the capability and who does nothave the capability? It is likely that noteveryone who desires the accreditation willbe able to achieve it. However a fair, usefuland considered approach to the develop-ment of any such accreditation processwithin the profession of coaching psychologywould be a necessary starting point to enablethe diverse membership of the profession asit currently exists and is valued, to continue.

The Special Group in CoachingPsychology sits within the framework of theBritish Psychological Society. This in itselfprovides a number of tensions that have tobe managed. On the one hand there is greatbenefit for the professional body repre-senting coaching psychologists to be housedwithin this existing structure. On the otherhand, this limits the SGCP to work within anexisting set of boundaries and practices thatmay or may not fit the diversity of needs ofthe membership in different areas. This

provides three areas of focus for thoseengaging in the actual development of theSGCP, a primary focus on member needs, afocus on how these can be met within theBPS, perhaps how the BPS can be shapedand reformed to house these needs, and afocus on the external coaching world.

These emerging tensions can beharnessed to enhance the creative develop-ment of the profession and maintain a broadinclusive approach. It will be interesting toobserve how coaching psychology willmanage these tensions as it strives to defineitself in the short and longer term.2

Correspondence

Dr Alison Whybrow and/orProfessor Stephen Palmer

Coaching Psychology Unit,Department of Psychology,City University,Northampton Square,London, EC1V 0HB, UK.E-mail:[email protected]@city.ac.uk



References

Costa, A. & Garmston, R. (2002). Cognitive Coachingsm:A foundation for renaissance schools. Norwood, MA:Christopher-Gordon.

Grant, A.M. (2001b). Coaching for enhanced perform-ance: Comparing cognitive and behavioral approachesto coaching. Paper presented at the 3rd Interna-tional Spearman Seminar: Extending Intelli-gence: Enhancement and New Constructs,Sydney, Australia.

Neenan, M. & Dryden, W. (2002). Life coaching: A cognitive-behavioural approach. Hove: Brunner-Routledge.

O’Broin, A. & Palmer, S. (2006). The coach-clientrelationship and contributions made by thecoach in improving coaching outcome. TheCoaching Psychologist, 2(2), 16–20.

Palmer, S., Cooper, C. & Thomas, K. (2003). Creatinga balance: Managing stress. London: BritishLibrary.

Palmer, S. & Dryden. W. (1995). Counselling for stressproblems. London: Sage.

Richard, J.T. (1999). Multimodal Therapy: A usefulmodel for the executive coach. ConsultingPsychology Journal, 51(1), 24–30.

Whybrow, A. & Palmer, S. (2006). Taking stock: A survey of Coaching Psychologists’ practices andperspectives. International Coaching PsychologyReview, 1(1), 56–70.

2 Views in this paper reflect the views of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the SGCP.


The Modern Scientist-Practitioner

David Lane and Sarah Corrie

London: Routledge.ISBN: 1-58391-886-8.Pages: 272.Price: Hardback £29.95.

Reviewed by Alison Whybrow

The Modern Scientist-Practitioner is a wellthought out contribution relevant for anyapplied psychologist concerned with under-standing the philosophical and pragmaticreality of their practice. The book will beparticularly useful for anyone involved in thesupervision of psychologists, whether theyare experienced practitioners or practi-tioners in training working towards profes-sional recognition. From a pragmaticperspective, the value of the scientist-practi-tioner model is underlined in the competi-tive world of delivering psychologically basedservices to clients. This excellent text is not alight read, it is challenging and addressescomplex conceptual issues.

The Modern Scientist-Practitioner provides auseful insight into the paradigms that informareas of applied psychology other than thosewith which the reader may be familiar. Thesimilarity between applied psychologies isapparent and the mindful way in whichpsychologists practice across the domains isbrought to the fore.

Lane and Corrie challenge the prevalentscientist-practitioner model and presentalternative examples of the scientist-practi-tioner from an interesting mix of theoretical,historical and applied psychological perspec-tives. They successfully redraw the bound-aries of the debate to encompass thecomplexity that we face as applied psycho-logists.

In simplistic terms it’s argued that theconcept of the science-practitioner modelwhere empirical science informs practice ina linear, causal sequence is no longer viable.

At the sametime, there is arequirement forpractice to beevidence based.The apprecia-tion of themessy, complexissues that psychologists wrestle with as prac-titioners is clear and well presented.

Rather than dictate a new model of thescientist-practitioner, Lane and Corrie callfor us to engage in critical reflection aspsychologists. There are several reflectiveexercises throughout the first six chapters,and within the conclusion to engage us inreflection at a number of levels, encouragingus to develop a more personal under-standing of ourselves as scientist-practi-tioners in our domain of psychologicalpractice. We are encouraged to raise ourawareness of why we do what we do to ensurethat it remains appropriate, up to date withcurrent thinking and, therefore, ethical.

Chapter 1 raises our awareness of thehistorical tensions between ‘pure know-ledge’ and a more existential view. Here it isargued that the relationship between scienceand practice is alive, well and necessary, withthe influence and inclusion of science inpractice more subtle than that credited bythe historical debate and the original scientist-practitioner model.

The underpinning philosophical frame-works of decision making are explored inChapter 2, with the rational, logical basis ofour decision making questioned and thephenomenological nature of our decisionsin practice explored. A critical appraisal ofour models of reason and decision makingprocesses is called for, with our developmentas practitioners viewed as a lifelong journey.

Chapter 3 reviews arguments around theusefulness of case conceptualisation, and howthis might be done in a creative, client centredway. A useful framework for case conceptuali-

Book Review


sation is discussed with examples. Chapter 4explores the relationship between science andcreativity. The reader is once again invited toreflect, this time on the origins of their ownview of creativity and its inclusion or otherwisein their practice. The valuable point thatmodels of new science have a firm partnershipwith creativity is made.

As part of this philosophical journey,Chapter 5 examines the concept of scientificknowledge. The view of science as neutraland of scientific findings as robust is ques-tioned. The value of the empiricist scientificstory is acknowledged, but only as one of therelevant factors that inform psychologicalpractice. We are encouraged to identify andcritique the paradigms on which ourpersonal practice and the profession ofpsychology is based, and to use the conceptsof falsification science to reflect on thefactors we use to inform our choices andactions as practitioners. The world of scienceis presented as uncertain rather than certain.

This debate leads us to Chapter 6, whichreviews our identity as scientist-practitioners.The social and political nature of our profes-sion is exposed and the utility of the scientistas ‘expert’ discussed in relation to the reali-ties of psychological practice. Rather than asingle model of the scientist-practitioner,multiple scientist-practitioner identities areconsidered to exist and adopted by practi-tioners.

Chapters 7 through to 11 are invitedcontributions that explore the scientist-practi-tioner model in different areas of appliedpractice. Miller and Frederickson (Chapter 7)provide an insight into the challenges facingeducational psychologists and useful modelsof practice are shared. They recognise thatthe complex systems approach to the currentpractice of Educational Psychologists chal-lenges the basic requirements for scientificenquiry of replication and objectivity.

The scientist-practitioner in counsellingpsychology practice is reviewed by Bury andStrauss (Chapter 8). The individual natureof the therapeutic relationship is raised andthe very individual nature of counselling

work itself challenges an empirical view ofthe scientist-practitioner. Yet, the idea ofknowing and of appropriately discerningpractice is very much central to working inthis field.

Haarbosch and Newey bring into sharprelief the pragmatic issues facing the scien-tist-practitioner in their chapter aboutworking as an applied psychologist withyoung people who sexually offend (Chapter9). This chapter, perhaps best highlights thelimitations of ‘scientific’ knowledge and thatit is the reciprocal nature of the relationshipbetween science and practice that createsthe body of knowledge which can be drawnon by others in the field. They usefully pointto the potential scientific nature of our ‘intu-ition’ as practitioners, and note that supervi-sion is essential to keep our intuition honed,based on sound factors and not as couldequally be argued based on biases andheuristics that are not well founded anddamaging.

Coaching psychology and the scientistpractitioner model is reviewed in Chapter 10(Cavanagh & Grant). A critique of thepractice of coaching psychology is presented.There is an informative discussion aboutpostmodernism and scientific truth and theuseful perspective of individuals as complexadaptive systems is shared. The authorsrecognise an evidence based foundation forcoaching psychology will assist in shifting thisemerging applied area of psychology towardsembracing the seemingly contradictoryelements of rigour and the lived experienceof practitioners and clients.

Kwiatkowski and Winter (Chapter 11)discuss the seemingly competing drivers ofbeing right from a scientific perspective andbeing useful from a client perspective. Theirhistorical overview asks us to consider thatpsychologists worked from a scientific-practi-tioner framework before experimentalpsychology came to the fore. A whole personapproach sensitive to the social constructionof reality is argued to be the perspectivefrom which occupational psychologistspractice.


Book Review


The final contribution is a thoughtfulchapter from Edward de Bono (Chapter 12),in which he discusses how we can think moreeffectively using parallel thinking tech-niques. De Bono argues that throughthinking differently, we can assist ourselvesand our clients design new ways forward,rather than getting stuck within our biasesand prejudices, or stuck in the process ofanalysing the problem. Learning parallelthinking techniques is presented as usefulself development in our work as scientist-practitioners.

The Modern Scientist-Practitioner takes thereader through challenging philosophicalterritory. The work of Corrie and Lane hasbeen thoroughly researched and complex

issues are well presented. We can becomforted by the fact that we can find anidentity within the scientist-practitionerframework, but to do so requires criticalreflection and continuous professionaldevelopment to ensure that our work isinformed, up-to-date and ethical.

The Modern Scientist-Practitioner does high-light the learning journey is life long,perhaps what it also highlights is that thejourney can not begin early enough in thelifespan of the applied psychologist. Criticalreflection on the paradigms that underpinour practice and our practice itself seemessential elements of our postgraduate andgraduate development.

Book Review

Volume 1 No 1 April 2006

1 Editorial – Coaching Psychology: Its time has finally comeStephen Palmer & Michael Cavanagh

5 The coaching psychology movement and its development within the British Psychological SocietyStephen Palmer & Alison Whybrow

12 A personal perspective on professional coaching and the development of coachingpsychologyAnthony M. Grant

23 Does coaching work or are we asking the wrong question?Annette Fillery-Travis & David Lane

37 Strengths Coaching: A potential-guided approach to coaching psychologyP. Alex Linley & Susan Harrington

47 Person-centred coaching psychology: A meta-theoretical perspectiveStephen Joseph

56 Taking stock: A survey of Coaching Psychologists’ practices and perspectivesAlison Whybrow & Stephen Palmer

71 Duty of care in an unregulated industry: Initial findings on the diversity and practicesof Australian coachesGordon B. Spence, Michael J. Cavanagh & Anthony M. Grant

86 Experiences of coaching and stress in the workplace:An Interpretative Phenomenological AnalysisKristina Gyllensten & Stephen Palmer


Volume Index


Volume Index

Volume 1 No 2 November 2006










89 Volume Index

Contents










89 Volume Index

St Andrews House, 48 Princess Road East, Leicester LE1 7DR, UKTel 0116 254 9568 Fax 0116 247 0787 E-mail [email protected] www.bps.org.uk

© The British Psychological Society 2006Incorporated by Royal Charter Registered Charity No 229642

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