International Coaching Psychology...

Interest Group in Coaching Psychology

ISSN: 1750-2764

International Coaching Psychology ReviewVolume 8 No. 2 September 2013

International Coaching Psychology ReviewEditorial BoardCo-ordinating EditorsUnited Kingdom: Stephen Palmer, PhD, Coaching Psychology Unit, Department of Psychology, City University London, Northampton Square, London, UK.Australia: Michael Cavanagh, PhD, Coaching Psychology Unit, School of Psychology, Sydney University, Australia.Co-EditorsSandy Gordon, PhD, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.Anthony M. Grant, PhD, Coaching Psychology Unit, School of Psychology, Sydney University, Australia.Travis Kemp, PhD, International Graduate School of Business, University of South Australia, Australia.David Lane, PhD, Middlesex University, London, UK.Alex Linley, PhD, School of Psychology, University of Leicester, UK.Alison Whybrow, PhD, Coaching Psychology Unit, City University London, UK.

SubscriptionsInternational Coaching Psychology Review (ICPR) is published in March and September. It is distributed free of charge to members ofthe British Psychological Society Special Group in Coaching Psychology and the Australian Psychological Society Interest Group inCoaching Psychology members. It is available to non-members (Individuals £50 per volume; Institutions £60 per volume; single copies£25) from: The British Psychological Society, SGCP, St. Andrews House, 48 Princess Road East, Leicester LE1 7DR. UK.

Abstracting and indexing: The ICPR is abstracted in psycINFO, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts and Google Scholar. The ICPR is included Cabell's Directory of Publishing Opportunities in Educational Psychology and Administration and Cabell'sDirectory of Publishing Opportunities in Educational Curriculum and Methods.

Notes for ContributorsThe ICPR is an international publication with a focus on the theory, practice and research in the field of coaching psychology.Submission of academic articles, systematic reviews and other research reports which support evidence-based practice are welcomed.The ICPR may also publish conference reports and papers given at the British Psychological Society Special Group in CoachingPsychology (BPS SGCP) and Australian Psychological Society Interest Group in Coaching Psychology (APS IGCP) conferences, noticesand items of news relevant to the International Coaching Psychology Community.

Case studies and book reviews will be considered. The ICPR is published by the BPS SGCP in association with the APS IGCP.

1. CirculationThe circulation of the ICPR is worldwide. It is available in hardcopy and PDF format. Papers are invited and encouraged from authorsthroughout the world. It is available free in paper and PDF format to members of the BPS SGCP, and free in PDF format to APS IGCPmembers as a part of their annual membership.

2. LengthPapers should normally be no more than 6000 words, although the Co-Editors retain discretion to publish papers beyond this lengthin cases where the clear and concise expression of the scientific content requires greater length.

3. ReviewingThe publication operates a policy of anonymous peer review. Papers will normally be scrutinised and commented on by at least twoindependent expert referees (in addition to the relevant Co-Editor) although the Co-Editor may process a paper at his or herdiscretion. The referees will not be aware of the identity of the author. All information about authorship including personalacknowledgements and institutional affiliations should be confined to the title page (and the text should be free of such clues asidentifiable self-citations, e.g. ‘In our earlier work…’).

Continued on inside back cover.

International Editorial BoardHilary Armstrong, PhD, Institute of Executive Coaching,Sydney, Australia.Paul Atkins, PhD, Australian National University,Canberra, Australia.Tatiana Bachkirova, PhD, Oxford Brookes University, UK.John Bennett, PhD, Queen’s University of Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.Michael Carroll, PhD, University of Bristol, UK.Ian Cockerill, PhD, University of Birmingham, UK.Cary Cooper, PhD, Lancaster University, UK.Sarah Corrie, PhD, Middlesex University, London, UK.Paula Cruise, PhD, University of Cambridge, UK.Susan David, PhD, Melbourne University, Australia.Suzy Green, PhD, University of Wollongong, NSW Australia.Kate Hefferon PhD, University of East London, UK.

Stephen Joseph, PhD, University of Warwick, UK.Carol Kauffman, PhD, Harvard Medical School, USA.Roy Moodley, PhD, University of Toronto, Canada.Richard Nelson-Jones, PhD, Cognitive Humanistic Institute,Thailand.Lindsay Oades, PhD, University of Wollongong, Australia.Jonathan Passmore, PhD, Evora University, Portugal.James Pawelski, PhD, Positive Psychology Center,University of Pennsylvania, USA.Gordon Spence, PhD, University of Wollongong, NSW Australia.Ernesto Spinelli, PhD, Regent’s College, UK.Catherine Steele PhD, University of Worcester, UK.Reinhard Stelter, PhD, Coaching Psychology Unit,University of Copenhagen, Denmark.Lewis R. Stern, PhD, Harvard University Medical School, USA.Dianne Stober, PhD, Fielding University, USA.Mary Watts, PhD, City University, London, UK.

The British Psychological SocietySpecial Group in Coaching Psychology

k

The Australian Psychological Society LtdInterest Group in Coaching Psychology

k

InternationalCoaching Psychology Review

k

Volume 8 No. 2 September 2013

k

Contents4 Editorial: Emerging themes in coaching psychology

Stephen Palmer & Michael J. CavanaghPapers6 A preliminary exploration of the working alliance and ‘real relationship’ in

two coaching approaches with mental health workersBelinda J. Sun, Frank P. Deane, Trevor P. Crowe, Retta Andresen, Lindsay Oakes & Joseph Ciarrochi

18 When middle managers are doing employee coachingOle Michael Spaten & Winnie Flensborg

40 Mindfulness-based coaching: Conceptualisation, supporting evidence and emerging applicationsMario Virgili

58 At the intersection of performance: Personality and adult development in coachingIngo Susing & Michael J. Cavanagh

70 Decision-making and the coaching contextSarah Corrie & David Lane

80 The development of diagnostic skills by management coachingW. David Rees & Christine Porter

Brief Report89 Communities of coaching practice: Developing a new approach

Manfusa Shams

Reports92 Special Group in Coaching Psychology News

Sarah Corrie

96 Interest Group in Coaching Psychology News David Heap

International Coaching Psychology Review l Vol. 8 No. 2 September 2013 3© The British Psychological Society – ISSN: 1750-2764

Editorial: Emerging themes in coaching psychologyMichael J. Cavanagh & Stephen Palmer

4 International Coaching Psychology Review l Vol. 8 No. 2 September 2013© The British Psychological Society – ISSN: 1750-2764

nother bumper issue of theInternational Coaching Psychology Review.

two major themes appear to beemerging from the papers received for thisissue . they are concerned with generating adeeper understanding of relationship incoaching, and transformational develop-ment in both the coach and the client. thesethemes point toward the continuing matura-tion of the Coaching psychology. there is atrend in the literature that is moving beyondquestions such as ‘does coaching work’ andstep wise models of coaching practice,toward a deeper, more nuanced under-standing of the coaching process. this trendis asking questions about the purpose ofcoaching, its dynamics and the relationshipsthat need to be noticed, fostered and devel-oped if coaching is to maximise its potentialoffering to the world. While it is still earlydays in that journey, it is both stimulatingand enjoyable watching it unfold.

belinda sun and colleagues begin theissue with a fascinating study into the types ofrelationships formed between coach andcoachee in both skills and transformationalcoaching. they distinguish between theworking alliance formed between coach andcoachee, and the deeper ‘real’ or personalrelationship that is formed through the work.this real relationship is marked by greaterrealism of perception and genuinenessbetween the coach and coachee. their find-ings suggest that transformational coachingencourages deeper relationships that aremore akin to those formed in therapy.

in a similar vein, spaten and Flensborgreport on a qualitative study that considersthe experience of both middle managersacting as coaches, and the people theycoached. spaten and Flensborg find that theestablishment of the coaching relationship,

and a balance between personal develop-ment goals and work oriented goals wereimportant in the establishment of a positiveand rewarding working alliance betweencoach and coachee. the skill and empathy ofthe coach, and the establishment of clearboundaries between the coaching and mana-gerial relationships were important in estab-lishing and sustaining an effective workingalliance.

mario Virgili reviews the mindfulnessliterature and mounts an argument thatmindfulness may be a useful addition to thecoach’s armoury on several levels. mindful-ness may serve to assist both the coach andthe coachee to manage the challenges andemotional stresses of the coaching engage-ment and goal striving. in addition, Virgilisuggests that the inclusion of mindfulnesspractice may open up new pathways forunderstanding the change process andworking within it.

susing and Cavanagh pick up the themeof developmental or transformationalcoaching and consider the intersectionbetween personality and developmentalstage. their review of the literature suggeststhat personality is not as fixed as was oncethought. Developmental coaching maysignificant changes in personality traits suchas neuroticism. the wealth of researchshowing important relationships betweenpersonality, job performance and leadershipsuggest that further research should befocussed on the relationship between devel-opmental coaching and personality change.

sarah Corrie and David Lane take us intoa consideration of the decision makingprocess in coaching. the literature in theareas suggests that practitioners in psycho-logically informed fields such as therapy andcounselling, have a poor track record with

A

Editorial: Emerging themes in coaching psychology

International Coaching Psychology Review l Vol. 8 No. 2 September 2013 5

respect to the accuracy of their decisions andthe use of systematic decision making proto-cols. they also suggest that there is littlejustification for thinking that coaches wouldbe better at decision making. they present afour quadrant model for decision making indifferent contexts and suggest that formaltraining in decision making may well be ofuse in increasing the accuracy and efficacy ofdecision making in coaching.

rees and porter continue the theme ofenhancing diagnostic and decision makingskills, but this time among managersreceiving coaching. they argue that asystems perspective is important in makingaccurate diagnoses of organisationalailments. such a perspective enablesmanagers to differentiate between symptomsand causes, and to consider processes as theyunfold across boundaries in the organisa-tion. they argue that this more discrimi-nating and networked understanding ofproblems and solutions is likely to lead tomore effective outcomes and avoid the prob-lems associated with inaccurate problemidentification.

in a brief report, manfusa shamscontinues the theme of practice improve-ment at a more collective level. she opens upa discussion on the sGCp’s recent initiativein establishing peer Coaching practice.these are coaching communities of practicedesigned to be a platform for peers to share

and develop their thinking and practice incoaching psychology. Dr shams uses herexperience of a peer practice Group toreflect on the benefits that might accrue toparticipants and the profession.

the issue ends with the reports of thesCGp and iGCp chairs. their reports discussa panoply of conferences, congresses andprojects that have occurred or are underwaysince our last issue. in particular, the sGCpinvite readers to their 4th europeanCoaching psychology Conference to be heldin edinburgh, 12–13 December this year andthe iGCp announce that they are holding amajor conference in melbourne, 16–18october, 2014. We commend their reportsfor your reading pleasure.

CorrespondenceMichael J. CavanaghCoaching psychology unit,Department of psychology,the university of sydney,sydney, Australia.email: [email protected]

Stephen PalmerCoaching psychology unit,Department of psychology,City university London,northampton square,London, uK.email: [email protected]

CoAChinG is an increasingly popularprofessional development tool used inorganisational settings (bacon &

spear, 2003; Kampa-Kokesch & Anderson,2001). several researchers have argued thatthe coach-coachee relationship is an essen-tial component of coaching (Gyllensten &palmer, 2007; Kampa-Kokesch & Anderson,2001; Lowman, 2005). indeed, the coachingrelationship has been described as the veryfoundation of coaching: the ‘vehicle forchange’ (Gyllensten & palmer, 2007, p.163).however, while there is a large body of liter-ature surrounding the nature and impor-tance of the therapeutic relationship, little

empirical research has been conducted onthe coaching relationship. in this paper wemake a preliminary exploration of thecoaching relationship in two differentapproaches to coaching: skills coaching andtransformational coaching.

stober et al. (2006) suggested thatevidence from other fields, such aspsychotherapy, could be brought to bear oncoaching in order to progress evidence-based practice. however, a number ofauthors have pointed out that there areimportant differences between coaching andtherapy, such as the presenting needs of theperson, the purpose and type of goals being


Paper

A preliminary exploration of the workingalliance and ‘real relationship’ in two coaching approaches with mental health workersBelinda J. Sun, Frank P. Deane, Trevor P. Crowe, Retta Andresen, Lindsay Oades & Joseph Ciarrochi

Objectives: The coaching relationship has been described as the catalyst for change. This study explores thecoaching relationship by comparing the working alliance and the ‘real relationship’ – the undistorted andauthentic experience of the other – in participants in skills coaching and transformational coaching. Design: A 2 (coaching condition) x 2 (time) factorial design was used. Method: Staff from community psychiatric recovery services were trained in a new service delivery approach(Collaborative Recovery Model), followed by coaching from internal coaches once per month to enhanceimplementation of the training. All trained staff were invited to participate in the research. Forty coacheesmet the requirements for inclusion in the study (>=3 coaching sessions in six months). Coaches completed acoaching alliance measure after each session. Coachees completed measures of working alliance and realrelationship after six months of coaching. Results: Analyses indicated that the coaching relationship is stronger after receiving transformationalcoaching, from both coachees’ and coaches’ perspectives. Relationships developed over time intransformational coaching, but not with skills coaching. Conclusions: The results provide preliminary evidence that transformational coaching encourages thedevelopment of stronger coaching relationships. Future research should examine the effect of coachingapproach on the outcomes of coaching.Keywords: Coaching alliance; coaching relationship; real relationship; transformational coaching andworking alliance.

pursued, and the degree to which the rela-tional dynamics are explored (Crowe et al.,2011). While coaching is generally aimed ata non-clinical population, is future-orientedand focused on a clear stated goal (ives,2008), therapeutic interventions are seen asfocusing on resolving issues that have arisenfrom the past (Grant, 2003). Coaching rela-tionships tend to focus less on relationaldynamics and have weaker emotional bondsthan therapeutic relationships (hart et al.,2001). nevertheless, these distinctions arebecoming blurred with the increase inpersonal development coaching. ives (2008)described nine types of coaching, which candiffer on three dimensions: Directive vs. non-directive, developmental vs. goal-focusedand therapeutic vs. performance-based. themore developmental or therapeutic thecoaching, the more the relationship betweencoach and coachee is likely to becomecentral to the process, and become a catalystfor change (spinelli, 2010).

Qualitative studies have exploredcoaches’ and coachees’ perceptions of theirrelationship (e.g. machin, 2010; o’broin &palmer, 2010). machin (2010) identifiedtrust as the most important element of therelationship, while o’broin and palmer(2010) similarly found bond and engage-ment to be major themes, of which trust wasa key aspect. both of these studies werelimited by very small sample sizes, andmachin urged further quantitative researchto shed more light on how coaches andcoachees view their relationship. there is alarge body of empirical research into thetherapeutic relationship, which is seen toconsist of three elements: the workingalliance, transference and the ‘real relation-ship’ (e.g. Gelso & hayes, 1998). however,although transference has rarely been exam-ined within the coaching context, one quali-tative study amongst professional coachesquestioned its relevance to the coaching rela-tionship (hart et al., 2001). therefore, thisstudy focuses on a quantitative exploration ofthe working alliance and the real relationshipconstructs in the coaching relationship.

The working alliancethe working alliance construct is used exten-sively in the psychotherapy field, and refersto the quality and strength of the collabora-tive relationship between client and psycho-therapist (bordin, 1979). the workingalliance consists of three dimensions: tasks,bonds and goals. Tasks are the activities thatconstitute the process of counselling; goalsare the desired outcomes of counselling; andbonds refer to the personal relationshipissues including trust, acceptance and confi-dence (bordin, 1979). the strength of theworking alliance between a client and thera-pist depends upon the degree to which theyagree on the goals and tasks of the therapyand the strength of their relational bond.baron and morin (2009) found that theworking alliance plays an important role incoaching outcomes.

the concept of working alliance has alsobeen applied to the relationship between apsychotherapist and supervisor (bordin,1983). the supervisory relationship isarguably more akin to the coaching relation-ship than is the therapeutic relationship.efstation et al. (1990) explored the notion ofsupervisory working alliance. they identifiedrapport, client focus and identification as themain factors from the perspective of supervi-sors, while only rapport and client focus wereidentified from the trainees’ perspective.Clients and their psychotherapists (tryon etal., 2007), and psychotherapists and theirsupervisors (burke et al., 1998) tend to viewtheir working alliance differently, therefore, itis important to examine both a coachee’s andcoach’s perception of their working alliance.

The real relationshipthe real relationship has been defined as thepersonal relationship, separate from theworking alliance, and is comprised of twoelements: genuineness and realism (e.g.Gelso & Carter, 1994). Genuineness refers toa person’s ability and willingness to beauthentic, open and honest in their relation-ship (e.g. Gelso & Carter, 1994). in contrast,realism refers to the realistic, undistorted


A preliminary exploration of the working alliance and ‘real relationship’…

perceptions that one person holds of another(e.g. Gelso & Carter, 1994). Gelso and hayes(1998) theorised that the real relationshipand working alliance ‘have a reciprocalimpact; each influences and is influenced bythe other’ (p.143). some empirical supporthas been found for this argument. From botha client perspective and a psychotherapistperspective, ratings of real relationship andworking alliance have been found to havemoderate (marmarosh et al., 2009; Fuertes etal., 2007) to strong (marmarosh et al., 2009)correlations, suggesting that the two relation-ship dimensions are related, yet also distinctfrom each other. Fuertes et al. (2007) foundclient and therapist ratings of the real rela-tionship, and not the working alliance,predicted ratings of client progress. similarly,marmarosh et al. (2009) found therapistratings of the real relationship to be the onlyelement of the therapeutic relationship topredict therapy outcomes.

Watkins (2011) asserted that the real rela-tionship is an important, but unstudied,aspect of the supervisory relationship, andthat the real relationship impacts on thedevelopment of the working alliance in super-vision. to our knowledge, the real relation-ship has not been examined in a coachingcontext, but it may be posited that it wouldhave similar relevance to a theoretical under-standing of the coaching relationship.

Coaching relationship and type of coachingtype of coaching may influence the natureof the coaching relationship. o’broin andpalmer (2010) found that participants in aqualitative study had different views of thecoach-coachee bond. one interpretationthey offered was that different types ofcoaching required different depths or quali-ties of relationships, as suggested byKauffman and bachkirova (2009). twodistinctly different types of coaching areskills coaching and transformationalcoaching (hawkins & smith, 2007, 2010;segers et al., 2011). skills coaching isdirected at improving a coachees’ skills orcompetencies, whereas transformational

coaching aims to help coachees’ achievechange by shifting to a higher level of func-tioning by changing habitual responses toissues (hawkins & smith, 2010). the charac-teristics of these types of coaching aresummarised in table 1.

based on the psychotherapy andcoaching literatures, it may be expected thattransformational coaching would require astrong working alliance, with high levels ofrapport, to enable the discussion ofthoughts, feelings, and values. in contrast,skills coaching may not require such a strongalliance, because issues discussed tend to bemore skills performance oriented (i.e.specific work-related behaviours) and lessfocused on personal development/change.therefore, coachees who participate in skillscoaching may also be expected to invest lessof ‘themselves’ in their coaching than thosewho participate in transformational coach-ing (Crowe et al., 2011; hawkins & smith,2010). Consequently, it is expected thatcoaches and coachees who participate intransformational coaching would develop astronger real relationship with each otherthan those who participate in skills coaching.

Aims and hypothesesthis study represents a preliminary quantita-tive exploration of coaches’ and coachees’perceptions of their relationship followingsix months of either skills-based or transfor-mational coaching. it is hypothesised that:(1) Coaches’ ratings of the coaching alliancewill increase more over six months duringtransformational coaching than six monthsof skills coaching; (2) Coachees’ ratings ofthe working alliance after six months ofcoaching will be higher in transformationalcoaching than in skills coaching; (3)Coachees’ ratings of their real relationshipwith their coaches will be higher after sixmonths of transformational coaching thanskills coaching; and (4) there will be amoderate positive correlation between thecoachees’ ratings of the strength of theirworking alliance and real relationship withtheir coach.

8 International Coaching Psychology Review l Vol. 8 No. 2 September 2013

Belinda J. Sun, Frank P. Deane, Trevor P. Crowe, Retta Andresen, Lindsay Oades & Joseph Ciarrochi

MethodContextthe study was part of a larger researchproject centred on the implementation of anew service delivery model being introducedinto a number of non-government mentalhealth services in Australia (Deane et al,2010). the Collaborative recovery model(Crm) is an established mental healthcoaching intervention that was designed foruse by recovery support workers to helpthem foster the personal growth and devel-opment of their clients (oades et al., 2009).staff trained in the new model were invitedto participate in the research.

Participantsrehabilitation support staff from four non-government mental health organisations insouthern and eastern Australia undertook athree-day training workshop in the Crm andwere required by management to implementthe principles and practices in their work-places. trainees were expected to take partin coaching to improve implementation ofthe training. Coaches were senior staffselected and allocated by service managers.in order to facilitate openness betweencoach and coachee, all efforts were made toappoint a coach who was not a direct linemanager, and was from a team geographi-cally separate from the coachee.

Proceduretrainees were invited to take part in theresearch by participating in coaching andcompleting measures at various time points.participants were allocated randomly bywork team to the standard skills-based imple-mentation coaching or a transformationalcoaching condition. During the first two daysof training, all participants were taught theguiding principles and components of theCrm, as well as how to use the Crm proto-cols – written protocols completed duringsessions with clients (see Deane et al., 2010;oades et al., 2009). the third day of trainingdiffered for the two conditions. those in theimplementation condition completed skills-oriented tasks directed at enhancing theirability to implement the Crm protocols withtheir clients. in contrast, those in the trans-formational condition, using the Crm proto-cols, completed personal values clarification,motivational and goal-setting exercises inrelation to their own lives. those in theimplementation condition were advised thatthe purpose of the coaching was to ‘assist youto solve problems of implementation andfurther develop skills in the protocols ofCrm’, whilst the coaches and coachees inthe transformational condition were toldthat the purpose of the coaching was to‘continue the values focus in your work andin your life’ that had been introduced in the



Table 1 Comparison of Skills coaching and Transformational coaching.

Skills coaching

l the goals are those of the organisation

l is directed at helping a coachee to developtheir skills and competencies in order toimprove their effectiveness in their currentrole

l is didactic – does not specifically examine acoachee’s underlying beliefs, attitudes andemotional reactions to a situation

l low level of engagement

Transformational coaching

l explores the values and life vision of theclient

l is directed at helping a coachee toexperience a ‘felt shift’, where they start tothink, feel and act differently

l involves exploration of the beliefs, attitudesand emotional reactions underlying thecoachees’ habitual way of responding tosituations

l high level of engagement

Hawkins & Smith, 2010; Segers et al., 2011.

third day of training. the coachees wereinstructed to start implementing Crm withtheir clients, and to attend a coachingsession with their coach once per month for12 months. the coaching sessions could beconducted in person, over the phone, or viaskype.

Coach trainingCoaches had all received previous Crmtraining and were experienced in clientsupport work using the model. Although theCrm is in itself a coaching approach,coaches were given an additional four hoursof coaching training. training was deliveredby members of the research team who areexperienced both as psychologists andcoaches. ongoing coaching support wasprovided via ‘coach the coach’ sessions forone hour per month in a small groupsetting. Coaches were trained to structurethe coaching sessions according to theGroW model (Alexander & renshaw, 2005;Whitmore, 2002). this involved: (a) settinggoals for each coaching session with thecoachees (‘Goals’); (b) exploring thecoachees’ current situation (their current‘reality’; (c) examining their options withthem (‘options’); and (d) evaluating each ofthe options, creating a plan, and problemsolving any difficulties the clinicians mayhave implementing the plan (‘Wrap up’).

the tasks of the coaching sessionsdiffered according to condition. Coaches inthe implementation coaching conditionwere trained to assist the coachees to refinetheir skills in implementing the Crm proto-cols and motivational enhancement strate-gies with their clients. in contrast, coaches inthe transformational coaching conditionwere trained to assist the coachees to imple-ment the Crm protocols in relation to thecoachees’ personal goals and values (seeDeane et al., 2010, for a description of theprotocols). transformational coachingdirectly paralleled the coaching that thecoachees were giving their clients (see Croweet al., 2011, for further information aboutthe parallel process). Coaches were asked to

complete a Coaching record at the end ofeach coaching session, which included ameasure of the coaching alliance. strictconfidentiality regarding the content ofcoaching sessions was emphasised.

Coaches and coachees were asked toattend a one-day Crm booster session sixmonths after they attended initial Crmtraining. Coachees participating in theresearch completed a set of measures, whichincluded the working alliance and real rela-tionship, at the booster session.

MaterialsCoaching Alliance Scale. Coaches completedthe Coaching Alliance scale at the end ofeach coaching session, while completing theCoaching record. the Coaching Alliancescale is a three-item scale devised for thestudy, based on bordin’s (1979, 1983) modelof the therapeutic and supervisory workingalliance. the three items are: ‘how much doyou believe you and your coachee worked onmutually agreed upon goals?’; ‘how muchdo you believe you and your coachee agreedthat the way you worked on the goals of thesession was appropriate?’; and ‘how well doyou believe you and your coachee got alongduring the session?’ Coaches rated theirresponses on an 11-point Likert scale,ranging from 0 (no agreement) to 10 (totalagreement) for the first two items, and from 0 (poor relationship) to 10 (very strong relation-ship) for the third item. the mean of thethree items was calculated to obtain anoverall alliance rating for each session. Cron-bach alpha scores for the three items acrossthe six coaching sessions were .70, .88, .83,.85, .90 and .81 respectively.

Supervisory Working Alliance Inventory – TraineeForm (sWAi-t; efstation et al., 1990). thesWAi-t was completed by coachees at thesix-month booster session. it is a 23-itemscale designed to measure aspects of the rela-tionship between a trainee counsellor andhis/her supervisor. the sWAi-t contains twosubscales, rapport and Client Focus. Anexample item from the rapport subscale is,



‘i feel comfortable working with my super-visor’ and an example item from the ClientFocus subscale is, ‘in supervision, my super-visor places a high degree of importance onour understanding the client’s perspective’.each item is rated on a seven-point Likertscale, ranging from 1 (almost never) to 7(almost always). higher mean scores areindicative of stronger rapport and greaterfocus on clients. the sWAi-t was modifiedfor this study to make it relevant to thecoaching context by changing the words‘supervisor’ to ‘coach’ and ‘therapist’ to‘coachee’. efstation et al. (1990) reported aCronbach alpha coefficient of .90 for therapport subscale and .77 for the ClientFocus subscale. in this study, the co-efficientalphas were .96 for the total scale, .96 for therapport subscale, and .88 for the ClientFocus subscale.

Real Relationship Inventory – Client Form(rri-C; Kelley et al., 2010). the rri-C wascompleted at the six-month booster session.the rri-C is a 24-item scale which measuresthe strength of the real relationship betweena client and their therapist, and consists oftwo subscales, realism and Genuineness.Due to a clerical error, items 23 and 24 wereomitted from the inventory, resulting in 22items. respondents rate the items on a six-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (stronglydisagree) to 6 (strongly agree). mean ratingsrepresent the scale scores. An example itemfrom the realism subscale is ‘i appreciatedmy therapist’s limitations and strengths’, andan example item from the Genuinenesssubscale is ‘i was able to be myself with mytherapist’. higher mean scores suggeststronger real relationships. since no realrelationship scale has been developed forcoaching or supervision, the rri-C wasmodified to suit the coaching context of thisstudy by changing the words ‘therapist’ to‘coach’ and ‘therapy’ to ‘coaching’. Kelley etal. (2010) report an internal consistencyscore of .95 for the total score, .90 for therealism subscale, and .91 for the Genuine-ness subscale. in this study, coefficient alphas

of .95, .91, and .88 were obtained for thetotal scale, Genuineness subscale, andrealism subscale respectively.

Data collection and analysisCoach data, the Coaching Alliance, was gath-ered from returned Coaching records whichwere completed after each coaching session.Coachee data, the sWAi-t and rri-C, werecollected at one time point, at the six-monthbooster training session. A two-way AnoVAcompared Coaching Alliance scores in eachcondition from the first coaching sessionwith those from the last session within thesix-month study period. Coachees’ scores onthe sWAi-t and rri-C were also comparedbetween conditions, and correlations wereexamined between the sWAi-t and the rri-C.

ResultsCoaching received. Within the six-month studyperiod, 66 participants received coaching,ranging from one to six (M=3.09, SD=1.56)sessions. We analysed data only for those whohad received at least three sessions andcompleted measures at the six-monthbooster session. Forty coachees (21 transfor-mational, 19 implementation) and their 23coaches met these requirements. Within thissample, there was no significant differencebetween conditions in the number ofcoaching sessions received (transforma-tional, M=3.86, SD=1.01; implementation,M=4.42, SD=1.02).

Demographics. the 40 coachees included inthe final sample were 28 females and sixmales (six missing), age ranges 18 to 30 years(N=17), 31 to 40 years (7), 41 to 50 years (5),over 50 years (7) (4 missing). twenty-four(60 per cent) of these had bachelor Degreequalification or higher and eight had a post-school qualification (8 missing). professionswere identified as: Welfare Worker (N=9),psychologist (6), nurse (6), social Worker(5), mental health Worker (5), other (5),with four missing. Years of working in themental health field were: <2 years (N=11),



2 to 10 years (17), over 10 years (5), withnine missing. twenty-three coaches providedthree or more coaching sessions to at leastone coachee (number of coachees per coachranged from 1 to 3, mdn=2). Coaches weresenior staff or team leaders, 6 males and 16Females (1 missing), age ranges 18-30 years(Nn=1), 31 to 40 years (3), 41 to 50 years (2),51 to 60 years (4), over 60 (1), with 12missing.

Coaching Alliance. to assess change inCoaching Alliance across time, we comparedCoaching Alliance rating from the firstcoaching record (time 1), and the lastcoaching record within the six-month studyperiod (time 2). therefore, the time 2coaching session ranged from the third tothe sixth session.

table 2 provides the means and SDs foreach group at time 1 and time 2. in testingthe assumptions for a mixed AnoVA wefound a moderate negative skew in allianceratings for both groups at time 2. Althoughthese could be improved with transforma-tions, the time 1 alliance ratings thenbecame less normally distributed. thus, weretained the original untransformed vari-ables in a mixed AnoVA, but as a precautionconducted a series of nonparametric tests toverify the pattern of results. All otherassumptions of the mixed AnoVA were met(e.g. equality of variances).

A 2 (time) by 2 (Group) mixed AnoVAof Coaching Alliance revealed a significanttime by group interaction, F(1,37)=9.55, p<.01.Figure 1 shows the pattern of the interaction.those in the transformational coachingcondition showed significant increases inalliance ratings over time whilst those in theimplementation coaching condition showedno significant change. A series of nonpara-metric tests confirmed the results, with aWilcoxon paired test showing a significantincrease in alliance in the transformationalgroup from time 1 to time 2 (Z=–3.24,p<.01, r=–.52) and no significant change forthose in the implementation group overtime (Z=–0.47, ns). A mann-Whitney U testindicated that at time 1 there was no signif-icant difference between the transforma-tional and implementation groups onalliance ratings (U=134.0, ns) but at time 2the transformational condition had signifi-cantly higher ratings than those in theimplementation condition (U=119.5, p<.05,r=–.32).

SWAI-T. since data for the sWAi-t did notmeet normality assumptions, nonparametrictests were conducted to examine differencesbetween conditions after six months ofcoaching. A mann-Whitney U test showed asignificant difference on sWAi-t totalbetween transformational (mdn=6.34) andimplementation (mdn=5.63) conditions,



Table 2: Descriptives for Coaching Alliance for each condition at Time 1 and Time 2.

Condition

Time Implementation Transformational

(N=18) (N=21)

M (SD) M (SD)

Time 1 8.40 (0.99) 7.78 (1.18)

Time 2 8.30 (0.91) 8.94 (0.94)

Note: Time 1=Coaches alliance rating after first session. Time 2=Coaches’ Alliance ratings after last session within six-month period.

U=103.50, p<.05, r=–.36. there was also asignificant difference between the transfor-mational and implementation conditions onthe rapport subscale (mdn=6.67 and 5.92respectively), U=104.00, p<.05, r=–.36 andClient Focus subscale (mdn=6.00 and 5.29respectively), U=106.50, p<.05, r=–.35. theseresults indicate a stronger alliance has devel-oped between coach and coachee with trans-formational coaching.

RRI-C. independent samples t-tests wereconducted to examine differences betweenconditions on the rri-C. means and stan-dard deviations are shown in table 3. thedifferences between groups on rri-C totaland the Genuineness subscale were notsignificant. however, a significant difference

was found between coaching conditions onthe realism subscale (t=2.26, p<.05), indi-cating a more realistic perception of the rela-tionship in the transformational conditionthan in the implementation condition.

moderate to strong relationships werefound between the total rri-C and the sWAi-t, and all their subscales. spearman’s corre-lations between the total scores and betweenthe subscale scores are displayed in table 4.similar results were found for both condi-tions, ranging from rs=.51, p<.05 for sWAi-trapport and rri-C Genuineness in thetransformational condition, to rs=.79, p<.01for sWAi-t total and rri-C Genuineness inthe implementation condition. the resultssupport the hypothesis that these concepts,although related, are not the same.



Figure 1: Change in Coach Alliance scores over a six-month period.

Discussionthe findings provide preliminary supportfor the notion that the working alliance andreal relationship have similar roles anddynamics in coaching as they do in therapyor supervision, and supporting the proposi-tion that the psychotherapy literature mayinform research into the coaching relation-ship (stober et al., 2006). A moderate tostrong relationship was found between thecoachees’ ratings of their working allianceand real relationship with their coach,consistent with studies of the real relation-ship in psychotherapy (Fuertes et al., 2007;marmarosh et al., 2009).

transformational coaching resulted in astronger coaching relationship betweencoach and coachee, from the perspective ofcoaches as well as coachees. After three or

more sessions, coaches’ ratings of thecoaching alliance had improved in transfor-mational coaching, but not in skills coaching.Given that skills coaching is thought toinvolve a lower level of personal engagementbetween a coach and coachee (stern, 2004),it is possible that the coaches and coacheesdid not need to develop a stronger workingalliance over time in order to progress withskills coaching. Future research shouldexamine whether this is the case.

Coachees in transformational coachingalso reported stronger working allianceratings than those receiving skills coaching,with higher rapport and client focus ratings.it is notable that transformational coachingresulted in higher perceived client focus,even though coaching was specifically aimedat the goals and values of the coachee. this



Table 3: Descriptives for Real Relationship Inventory – Client form (RRI-C).

Condition

Implementation Transformational

(N=18) (N=16)

M (SD) M (SD)

RRI-C Total 3.78 (0.60) 4.17 (0.52)

RRI-C Genuineness 3.80 (0.64) 4.18 (0.62)

RRI-C Realism 3.75 (0.59) 4.15 (0.45)

Table 4: Spearman’s correlations between RRI-C and SWAI-T (N=32).

RRI-C RRI-C RRITotal Genuine Realism

SWAI-TTotal .758** .779** .743**

SWAI-TRapport .709** .704** .695**

SWAI-TClient Focus .698** .735** .685**

Note:SWAI-T=Supervisory Working Alliance – Trainee;RRI-C=Real Relationship Inventory – Client.** rs<0.01 (2-tailed).

could be a reflection of the goals and valuesthat the coachees brought to the coachingsession in this workplace context. Alterna-tively, it could be attributed to the effects of‘parallel process’ which informed thetraining and coaching approach. parallelprocess is usually an unconscious process inwhich the relationship between client andtherapist is mirrored in the supervisory rela-tionship. however, parallel process can beharnessed as a tool in clinical supervision(Crowe et al., 2011). this may have ledcoachees to a deeper understanding of theirrelationship with their clients, and to greaterempathy regarding the tasks and processesof the newly-introduced service model.

mixed results were found for the hypo-thesis that transformational coaching wouldlead coachees to perceive a stronger realrelationship with their coach than wouldskills coaching. those receiving transforma-tional coaching reported greater realismbetween themselves and their coaches. thissuggests that coaches and coachees perceiveeach other more accurately when theyexplore ‘deeper’ issues, such as thecoachees’ values, thoughts, and feelings,than when they focus on skills aimed attrying to alter the coachees’ behaviour.Genuineness ratings, although showing asimilar trend, were not significantly higherfor transformational coaching. it wasexpected that exploring more personalissues would require, or result in, a deeperand more genuine relationship. however,since measurement was cross-sectional, wecannot determine whether ratings hadimproved over time.

there were a number of limitations tothe present study and these have implica-tions for future research in this area. First, itwould have been informative had coacheeratings been collected across time, ratherthan after six months of coaching. Althoughwe found significant differences in coachingrelationships between the coachingapproaches, we do not know how the rela-tionships from a coachee perspective devel-oped over time under the two conditions.

Given the potential importance of the realrelationship to coaching outcomes, as hasbeen found in therapeutic outcomes(marmarosh et al., 2009; Fuertes et al.,2007), it is important for future research toexamine changes in real relationship overtime in the coaching context.

second, more insight into the similaritiesand differences between coaches andcoachees’ perceptions of their relationshipmay have been gained if measures with acommon theoretical grounding had beenadministered at the same time points. Whilewe found evidence of parallels between thecoaching relationship and the therapeuticand supervisory relationships, there is a needfor specifically developed and validatedmeasures of the coaching alliance. Just asefstation et al. (1990) found the supervisoryworking alliance had different salient factorsthan the therapeutic working alliance, sodifferent elements may be important to thecoaching relationship. this should be exam-ined from both a coach and coacheeperspective.

Finally, there were relatively low rates ofuptake of coaching in these mental healthorganisations, with only 40 participantsreceiving three or more sessions in sixmonths. Although there was an expectationthat employees would participate incoaching, this was not compulsory. Whetherthe low uptake was due to other organisa-tional or work demands, dissatisfaction withthe coaching process or a function of naturalturnover is not known. staff turnover in thefield of mental health is notoriously high,and the organisations in this study experi-enced a 20 per cent turnover in a one-yearperiod. Clearly, there is a need for manage-ment and staff to be convinced of the bene-fits of coaching if it is to be given a higherpriority.

in conclusion, preliminary evidence wasfound that the dynamics of coaching rela-tionships are similar those in therapy andsupervision, highlighting that psychologyresearch may inform the study of thecoaching relationship. there is a need to



develop measures specifically for thecoaching relationship, from the perspectivesof coaches and coachees, perhaps requiringfurther qualitative work. Quantitativeresearch could then be undertaken toexamine coaches’ and coachees’ relation-ships across time. transformationalcoaching resulted in stronger and deepercoaching relationships than skills coaching,supporting the notion that coaching modelscloser to the therapeutic end of thespectrum require relationships more akin tothe therapeutic relationship. Would thisstronger coaching relationship result inbetter outcomes from coaching? Given thecentrality of the relationship to therapyoutcomes, future research should explorethe effect of the various aspects of thecoaching relationship on the goals ofcoaching.

The AuthorsBelinda J. Sunillawarra institute for mental health,university of Wollongong.

Professor Frank P. Deaneillawarra institute of mental health andschool of psychology,university of Wollongong.

Dr Trevor P. Croweillawarra institute of mental health andschool of psychology,university of Wollongong.

Dr Retta Andresenillawarra institute of mental health,university of Wollongong.

Dr Lindsay OadesAustralian institute of business Wellbeing,sydney business school,university of Wollongong.

Dr. Joseph Ciarrochischool of social sciences and psychology,university of Western sydney.

CorrespondenceBelinda J. Sunillawarra institute for mental health,building 22, university of Wollongong,northfields Avenue,Wollongong, nsW 2522,Australia.email: [email protected]



ReferencesAlexander, G. & renshaw, b. (2005). Super coaching:

The missing ingredient for high performance. London:random house business.

bacon, t.r. & spear, K.i. (2003). Adaptive coaching: The art and practice of a client-centered approach toperformance improvement. palo Alto, CA: Davis-black.

baron, L. & morin, L. (2009). the coach–coacheerelationship in executive coaching: A field study.Human Resource Development Quarterly, 20, 85–106.

bordin, e. (1979). the generalisability of thepsychoanalytic concept of the working alliance.Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 16,252–260.

bordin, e, (1983). A working alliance based model ofsupervision. The Counseling Psychologist, 11, 35–42.

burke, W.r., Goodyear, r.K. & Guzzard, C.r. (1998).Weakenings and repairs in supervisory alliances:A multiple case-study. American Journal ofPsychotherapy, 52, 450–462.

Crowe, t.p., oades, L.G., Deane, F.p., Ciarrochi, J. &Williams, V. (2011). parallel processes in clinicalsupervision: implications for coaching mentalhealth practitioners. International Journal ofEvidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 9(2), 56–66.

Deane, F.p., Crowe, t.p., oades, L.G., Ciarrochi, J.,marshall, s., Williams, V. et al. (2010). Facilitatingthe transfer of collaborative recovery training intoclinical practice: Intervention and coaching protocols.Wollongong, Australia: illawarra institute formental health, university of Wollongong.

efstation, J.F., patton, m.J. & Kardash, C-A., m. (1990).measuring the working alliance in counsellorsupervision. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 37,322–329

Fuertes, J.n., mislowack, A., brown, s., Gur-Arie, s.,Wilkinson, s. & Gelso, C.J. (2007). Correlates ofthe real relationship in psychotherapy: A study ofdyads. Psychotherapy Research, 17(4), 423–430.

Gelso, C.J. & Carter, J.A. (1994). Components of thepsychotherapy relationship: their interaction andunfolding during treatment. Journal of CounselingPsychology, 41, 296–306.

Gelso, C.J. & hayes, J.A. (1998). The psychotherapyrelationship: Theory, research, and practice.new York:Wiley.

Grant, A. (2003). the impact of life coaching on goal-attainment, metacognition, and mental health.Social Behavior and Personality, 31, 253–264.

Gyllensten, K. & palmer, s. (2007). the coachingrelationship: An interpretive phenomenologicalanalysis. International Coaching Psychology Review, 2,168–177.

hart, V., blattner, J. & Leipsic, s. (2001). Coachingversus therapy: A perspective. ConsultingPsychology Journal: Practice & Research, 53(4),229–237.

hawkins, p. & smith, n. (2007). Coaching, mentoring,and organisational consultancy: Supervision anddevelopment. new York: open university press.

hawkins, p. & smith, n. (2010). transformationalcoaching. in e. Cox, t. bachkirova & D.Clutterbuck, The complete handbook of coaching(pp.231–244). London: sage.

ives, Y. (2008). What is ‘coaching’? An exploration ofconflicting paradigms. International Journal ofEvidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 6, 100–113.

Kampa-Kokesch, s. & Anderson, m.Z. (2001).executive coaching: A comprehensive review ofthe literature. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practiceand Research, 53, 205–228.

Kauffman, C. & bachkirova, t. (2009). spinningorder from chaos: how do we know what to studyin coaching research and use it for self-reflectivepractice? Coaching: An International Journal ofTheory, Research and Practice, 2(1), 1–9.

Kelley, F.A., Gelso, C.J., Fuertes, J.n., marmarosh, C. &Lanier, s.h. (2010). the real relationshipinventory: Development and psychometricinvestigation of the client form. Psychotherapy:Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 47, 540–553.

Lowman, r.L. (2005). executive coaching: the roadto Dodoville needs paving with more than goodassumptions. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practiceand Research, 57, 90–96.

machin, s. (2010). the nature of the internalcoaching relationship. International Journal ofEvidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 4, 37–52.

marmarosh, C.L., Gelso, C.J., markin, r.D., majors, r.,mallery, C. & Choi, J. (2009). the realrelationship in psychotherapy: relationship toadult attachments, working alliance, transferenceand therapy outcome. Journal of CounselingPsychology, 56, 337–350.

oades, L.G., Crowe, t.p. & nguyen, m. (2009).Leadership coaching transforming mental healthsystems from the inside out: the Collaborativerecovery model as person-centred strengths-based coaching psychology. International CoachingPsychology Review, 4, 25–36.

o’broin, A.o. & palmer, s. (2010). exploring keyfactors in the formation of coaching relationships:initial indicators from the perspective of thecoachee and coach. Coaching: An InternationalJournal of Theory, Research and Practice, 3, 124–143.

segers, J., Vloeberghs, D., henderickx, e. & inceoglu,i. (2011). structuring and understanding thecoaching industry: the Coaching Cube. Academyof Management Learning & Education, 10, 204–211.

spinelli, e. (2010). Coaching and therapy: similaritiesand divergences. Psychotherapy in Australia, 17(1),52 – 58.

stern, L.r. (2004). executive coaching: A workingdefinition. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practiceand Research, 56, 154–162.

stober, D.r., Wildflower, L. & Drake, D. (2006).evidence-based practice: A potential approach foreffective coaching. International Journal of EvidenceBased Coaching and Mentoring, 4(1), 1–8.

tryon, G.s., blackwell, s.C. & hammel, e.F. (2007). A meta-analytic examination of client-therapistperspectives of the working alliance. PsychotherapyResearch, 17, 629–642.

Watkins, C.e. (2011). the real relationship inpsychotherapy supervision. American Journal ofPsychotherapy, 65, 99–116.

Whitmore, J. (2002). Coaching for performance (3rd ed.).London: nicholas brealey.



s the CorporAte WorLD becomesshrouded in the mists of partially

unknown global changes, attemptsare being made to sustain middle and topmanagers’ peak performance. towards thisend, huge amounts of money are spent on agrowing coaching industry: globally, the esti-mated number of coaches is approaching50,000, and today they generate a turnoverof nearly us $2 billion (iCF, 2012).

According to the iCF, both turnover andcoach numbers will continue to show anincreasing trend in years to come. thisgrowth has been exponential in the pastdecade, according to previous figures: in2003, The Economist estimated the correspon-ding turnover figure at us $1 billion, and in2008 the iCF (international Coach Federa-tion) estimated the number of peopleengaged in coaching to be around 30,000(spaten, 2011b).

Coaching is an extensive and all-embracing industry: around 94 per cent ofus-based Global 1000 enterprises and morethan 65 per cent of non-us-based Global1000 enterprises (bono et al., 2009) makeuse of coaching. Coaching may assume awide variety of shapes when aiming toenhance both personal and professionalleadership and management, but in general,coaching is most frequently used by privateenterprises to support action plans formanagement (spaten, 2011c). excellent, orat least satisfactory, management and leader-ship are crucial when organisations are aboutto launch their strategies, missions and plans.

While it is clear that coaching is a largeindustry (and ‘big business’), a very limitedamount of research has been conducted inthe field (Crabb, 2011; spaten, 2011a), andthough the research that does exist generallyshows that executive coaching is beneficial.


Paper

When middle managers are doing employee coaching Ole Michael Spaten & Winnie Flensborg

Objectives: Until now, rather limited empirical research has been conducted as regards managers who coachtheir employees (Crabb, 2011). The aim of this research was to investigate the managers’ challenging andsuccessful experience when coaching their employees and how these coaching sessions were assessed by theiremployees. Design: The overall study investigated 15 middle managers – from a major Danish nationwide companywho were trained to coach by two coaching psychologists through theoretical presentations, individualcoaching and peer coaching sessions with direct supervision (learning-by-doing: Spaten, 2011b) – whenthey were coaching their 75 employees through an online survey and semi-structured interviews. Methods: Four middle managers and employees were interviewed after the intervention. Thematic analysiswas chosen and elicited three main themes: (1) coaching skills; (2) professional and personal development;and (3) the coaching relationship and power relation. Results: The study found that the manager as coach should be highly sensitive and empathetic in buildingthe coaching relationship, should be aware of the power relation, and should draw clear boundaries betweentheir role as leader and their role as coach. The middle managers’ coaching skills were assessed very positivelyby employees. Keywords: Executive; employee coaching; middle management; template analysis; semi-structured interviews– qualitative data; coaching; power relations, and productivity.

A

to take one example, smither et al. (2003)showed how managers who worked with anexecutive coach were better able to formu-late specific (rather than vague) goals thantheir peers, and that they improved morethan other managers who did not receiveany kind of coaching. Grant et al., (2004,2009) demonstrated through surveys andquantitative investigations that coaching bymanagers has a positive effect on the mentalhealth of the coachee: coaching significantlyreduces participants’ depression and anxietylevels (Duijts et al., 2008). individual investi-gations have also demonstrated thatcoaching, including activities related toproblem-solving, goal setting, feedback, eval-uation, and so on, increases productivity byup to four times more than if only activitiessuch as training and education were insti-gated (olivero, bane & Kopelman, 1997).Coaching considerably enhances the likeli-hood that what is learnt will be successfullyimplemented in daily activities.

in summary, the use of coaching inprivate enterprises is widespread, but onlysporadic research is being conducted in thefield. Already pointed out by Grant andCavanagh (2004), a vanishingly smallamount of methodologically sound, peer-reviewed, empirical coaching research exists.by contrast, a very large amount of literaturehas been written on the topic, includingmore than 400 books on executive coachingalone over the past decades (bono et al.,2009). in Denmark, more than 40 books oncoaching have been published since 2007. in line with international literature, theDanish publications comprise interestingcase studies, investigations of ‘best practice’,theoretical reflections and deliberationsconcerning different types of coaching, aswell as a number of individual perspectiveson coaching (spaten, 2013). of these books,which have sold well, fewer than five includesystematic, peer-reviewed research intocoaching psychology. Consequently, anoverall analysis demonstrates that we are inpossession of limited empirical evidenceshowing whether coaching (by managers)

works, how it works, and how coachingparticipants perceive and assess differentinterventions (spaten, 2013; Grant &Cavanagh, 2004; peterson, 2002; Kilburg,2001).

the present study was conducted withthe intention of reducing this gap between,on the one hand, the extensive practice andabundant theoretical literature on coaching,and on the other hand, the very limitedresearch-based knowledge on coaching,including the coaching of a coach’s ownemployees. A large proportion of that littleamount of research is being conducted inthe area comprises studies of ‘executivecoaching’ (bono et al., 2009; bond &naughton, 2011), which focuses on the exec-utive segment of employees in an organisa-tion. executive coaching has beenextensively described, whereas internalcoaching by managers has received very littleattention, for example, stated by Gregoryand Levy: ‘despite its continued growth inorganisations, minimal research has beenconducted on employee coaching’ (2010,p.111). research in the quality and effi-ciency of coaching conducted within organi-sational frameworks is also required (evers,brouwers & tomic, 2006).

the research presented here is, there-fore, concerned with internal middlemanager coaching and on the coaching skillsof the manager. the research question of theoverall study is two-fold: what successful andchallenging experience do middle managersgain when coaching their employees, andhow do the employees evaluate the middlemanagers’ coaching skills? As a starting pointfor this study, the first part of the article aimsmore precisely to characterise the nature ofcoaching in organisations.

Coaching in organisations Coaching in organisations may be dividedinto two main areas: ‘executive’ coaching,where top executives are coached, typicallyby an external coach, and ‘employee’coaching, where employees are coached bytheir direct manager (Gregory & Levy,


When middle managers are doing employee coaching

2010). there are significant differencesbetween these two types of coaching. one isthat the ‘coaching relationships’ (palmer &mcDowall, 2010) are fundamentallydifferent: in executive coaching, the execu-tive will typically select their own coach,whereas in employee coaching the employeehas no influence on who will coach them:their superior will conduct the coaching.one hypothesis of the study will be that thenature of the coaching relationship reflectsthis fundamental difference.

table 1 states two of the general differ-ences between executive and employeecoaching, and the following two subsectionsfurther explore differences and similaritiesbetween these two types of coaching. it willbe clarified, for instance, that the typicalgoals of both types of coaching are similar,for instance, to improve and develop perfor-mance at work.

Executive coaching one of the essential differences betweenemployee and executive coaching is that thelatter is generally carried out by externalconsultants who have no formal authorityover their clients. executive coaching isdefined as a short- or medium-term relation-ship between a (top) manager and aconsultant, with the aim of improving anddeveloping the work efficiency and compe-tences of the manager (Feldman & Lankau,2005). During the past few years, this type ofcoaching has also developed into a means tofacilitate learning, and to move executivesfrom high performance to excellentperformance (ibid.).

From the research literature, we may iden-tify three characteristics which typify execu-tive coaching: (1) the use of ‘one-on-one’consultations regarding work related topics;(2) coaching sessions based on 360 degreefeedback regarding strengths and weaknesses;and (3) the goal of improving the efficiencyof the (top) executive in his/her current posi-tion (bono et al., 2009; bowles et al., 2007;Feldman & Lankau, 2005).

According to Feldman and Lankau(2005), an executive coach does not assumethe role of technical expert, is not employedfor traditional organisational consultation,and will typically not deliver any recommen-dations for precise business interventions.executive coaching focuses on improvingthe performance of the executive in his/hercurrent job. usually, the coaching relation-ship will last for a period of six to 18 months,and is formally entered into by contract(Yukl, 2002). no personal bond is requiredbetween the executive and the coach, andthe relationship tends to be more structuredin its nature compared to employeecoaching. the similarity between these twotypes of coaching is that both aim to changeshort-term behaviour and enhance perform-ance, rather than to change emotions in thelong term (ibid.; Kauffman & scouler, 2004).

Employee coaching the coaching relationship in employeecoaching is a working partnership betweenan employee and his/her direct managerwhich focuses on sustaining the task perform-ance and meeting the development needs ofthe employee (Gregory & Levy, 2010). this


Ole Michael Spaten & Winnie Flensborg

Table 1: Who coaches and selects the coach.

Executive coaching Employee coaching

Top executives are coached by an Employees are coached by their direct manager.external coach.Coachee selects his/her own coach. Coachee does not select his/her own coach.

relationship also draws upon experiencefrom former co-operation and evaluations inthe workplace, and is, therefore, not merely acoaching relationship. more precisely,employee coaching is defined as a develop-ment related activity in which ‘an employeeworks one-on-one with his or her directmanager to improve current job perform-ance and enhance his or her capabilities forfuture roles and/or challenges, the success ofwhich is based on the relationship betweenthe employee and manager, as well as the useof objective information, such as feedback,performance data, or assessments’ (Gregory& Levy, 2010, p.111).

employee coaching is, therefore,believed to enhance the usefulness of feed-back, form the basis of goal-setting, andpreferably assists employees in working theirway towards these goals, hence improvingtheir performance. At a personal level, indi-vidual differences between the manager andthe employee will have implications for thecoaching relationship and for the efficacy ofa given coaching process. so not only theorganisational context but also interpersonalrelations are of importance to coaching.Waldroop and butler (1996) emphasise this:no behaviour – not even coaching – ‘takesplace in a vacuum’ (p.112). but importanceis certainly also ascribed to the organisation’s‘feedback environment’ in determining the

result of the coaching, including quality,coaching frequency and an informal feed-back supply procedure (smither et al.,2003). however, the manager’s ability toinstil confidence into the coaching relation-ship is one of the key factors in a successfulcoaching process (Gregory & Levy, 2011).the confidence of the employee in his/hermanager partly mediates the effect of trans-forming management on the employee’sperception of the coaching process.

the manager may contribute to thecreation of a high-quality coaching relation-ship through listening to individualconcerns and constructing a positive feed-back environment based on confidence andempathy (ibid., p.80). some of the abovedimensions described and studied inemployee coaching may be factors thatwould influence any coaching relationshipto the same extent, but as the employee isnot involved in the selection of his/hercoach, and as the manager is usually notreplaceable, it cannot be taken for grantedthat the coaching relationship will beadequate and flawless. summing up, theabove mentioned represents some of themost important characteristics about execu-tive and employee coaching.

table 2 summarises the significant differ-ences and similarities between the two typesof coaching.



Table 2: Goal, duration and relations in executive and employee coaching.

Executive coaching Employee coaching

Short/medium-term relationship between Relationship includes experience from previousmanager and coach (six to 18 months). co-operation and may be continuous or last for

an indeterminate period.The aim is to improve and develop the work The aim is to improve and develop theefficiency and competences of the executive. employee’s performance in his/her present job.The coach is replaceable. The coach is not replaceable.Coaching is conducted by consultants with The coaching relationship is a workingno authority over the clients. partnership between the employees and

their direct managers.

Method of this studythe overall research has – as mentioned – a two-fold aim, in that it will study both themiddle managers’ successful and chal-lenging experience of coaching theiremployees and also how the coachees (theemployees of the middle managers) assessthe quality of the coaching sessions. Whenresearch interests include an investigation ofboth individual and general experiences,and evaluation and assessment, it may typi-cally be relevant to apply mixed methods(Creswell & piano Clark, 2007). A mixedmethod design (hanson, 2005) in whichquantitative and qualitative data arecollected relates, but in this paper the quali-tative analysis only will be present and thequantitative work will be saved for furtherbreakdown and examination (Creswell,2007).

Design the overall research project uses a longitu-dinal, sequentially explaining design withquantitative data collection and qualitativeinterviews. the data collection takes placethrough clearly, distinctly separated phasesof the research process. First, quantitativedata are collected, followed by the qualitativedata, in strict accordance with the require-ments of a sequential mixed design(Creswell, 2009). Whereas the quantitativedata provide a general overall impression ofhow the coaching sessions are assessed andevaluated, the qualitative data provides in-depth knowledge about the experiencegained by middle managers and employeesas coach and coachee, respectively. theoverall aim is to create a maximally compre-hensive picture of the phenomenon beingstudied, in which quantitative and qualitativedata complement each other. this articlecovers the first qualitative presentation ofthe findings and the process is schematisedin Figure 1.

Later it is planned to publish an articlewhich will cover the quantitative findingsfrom the study.



Figure 1: Study design detailingstudy phases.

QUAL(Coaching experience)

Data CollectionSemi-structured interviews

Analysis

Overall meaning, coding. Emerging themes, similarities anddiscrepancies across interviews.

QUAL ResultsSocial Validity

Participants the 15 middle managers participating inthis study were in the final phase of a 30-month professional business programme,during which they all participated in bi-monthly training workshops learningcoaching skills, among other business work-shops. previous research has documentedthe quality of coach training based on prin-ciples of ‘action-reflection-learning’ (spaten& hansen, 2009). thus, the middlemanagers worked as experienced coaches,whereas 75 employees (coachees) wererecruited from among the middle managers’own employees in departments from acrossDenmark. in some departments all of thosewho signed up to be coached (up until themaximum of five coachees) were chosen andif there were more than five, they wererandomly picked to participate in the subse-quent coaching sessions. After the coachinginterventions, and among these 15 middlemanagers and 75 employees, four middlemanagers and employees were randomlyselected for being interviewed and theysigned up voluntarily.

Semi-structured interviews – and the qualitativedata analysisAt the end of the coaching sessions, fourmiddle managers and employees were inter-viewed, and these interviews will be the focusof the present paper. Various more generaland specific types of question were includedin the semi-structured interview guide.examples of interview questions are asfollows: how would you describe your expe-rience of the coaching session? What did youparticularly like about the coaching? Whatworked less well during the coachingsession?

in the following phase, the interviewswere transcribed and analysed usingtemplate Analysis (tA), following the guide-lines from King (1998, 2002) and Lang-dridge (2007). tA is rather parallel tosmith’s (1996) interpretative phenomeno-logical Analysis (ipA) building on phenome-nological psychology but also includes

concepts from discursive psychology (King,1998). in tA a thick phenomenologicaldescription will represent the meaningascribed by the individual to their specificexperience, in this case of a coachingsession. the analysis construct a codingtemplate which contains different codes thatrepresents themes identified in the data.this is a thorough process by cautiousreading back and forth by several re-readingsof the text. typically the codes are structuredhierarchically with first level codes repre-senting broader themes in the data and thensecond level codes with ‘narrowly focusedthemes within these themes’ (King et al., 2002,p.333). the analytic work involves non-stopmodified lists of codes through continuousre-readings of the interview transcript’s untila full data description ‘…is feasible withoutreaching the state at which the description is sofinely detailed that any attempt to draw togetheran interpretation becomes impossible’ (King et al.,2002, p.333). this work, through the stagesof tA, results in the identification of anumber of emerging first order themes: (1)Coaching skills; (2) professional andpersonal development; and (3) Coachingrelationship and power relations. Additionalresults from the qualitative analysis will bedescribed in the results section below.

Procedure and ethical considerations Fifteen middle managers each coached fiveof their employees five times during a periodof three months, which amounted to a totalof nearly 400 coaching sessions. After thecoaching process had been completed, fouremployees and managers also participated inindividual qualitative interviews with a dura-tion of around 45 minutes.

As regards ethical questions concerningthe research, colleagues from the Centre forQualitative studies at Aalborg university,and the affiliated research group, wereconsulted. information regarding theresearch project was also submitted to thecompany and discussed with the companyand all involved parties. the research projectmanagement explained that participation



was voluntary, and that any participants werefree to withdraw their consent withoutnotice. the non-participation optionapplied to coaching sessions as well as thesubsequent interviews for both managersand employees. the participants were alsoinformed about the framework and rulesregarding confidentiality and anonymity inthe final presentation of the study, and pseu-donyms were used throughout. Further-more, it was agreed that all interview sessionswould be followed by a short debriefingsession. All coaches took part in a prelimi-nary presentation of significant findingsfrom survey results in the end of 2011. inaddition, presentations and a report of theresearch results are scheduled to beforwarded to all participants. no conflicts ofinterest are considered to exist as regardsthis work, for which the researchers werefinancially supported by their Departmentand external funds.

Analysis and discussion the following analysis and discussion takesas its point of departure the themes drawnfrom the template analysis, as discussedabove (coaching skills, professional andpersonal development, coaching relation-ship and power relations). l theme 1: Coaching skills, comprises three

subthemes in particular: (a) planning,framing and time; (b) problem identifica-tion; and (c) empathy and contact.

l theme 2: professional and personaldevelopment, comprises two subthemes inparticular: (a) personal development ofthe coachee; and (b) the coachee’sexperience of fruitful coaching.

l theme 3: Coaching relationship andpower relations, focuses on the conditionsof fruitful coaching.

Qualitative data will be presented in thefollowing sections through the analysis anddiscussion of the three main themes fromthe tA (King et al., 2002) and their sub-(ordinate) themes drawn from tA.

Theme 1: Coaching skills in order to gain basic insights into how thecoaching was conducted, the theme ofcoaching skills examines the skills high-lighted by coachee and coach as being ofcrucial importance. in this way, the themecontributes to a discussion of a key questionasked by this research project: What experi-ence did the middle managers gain throughcoaching their employees? here, the focus ison the importance of coaching skills, andthe theme also illustrates how the coachingsessions were evaluated by the coachees.three specific subthemes are explored, asmentioned above: (A) planning, framingand (precious) time; (b) (the promotion ofgood) problem identification; and (C) (theability of the coach to create) empathy andcontact.

First, however, a brief review of coachingliterature will be undertaken to illustratewhich coaching skills (Öestrich, 2008; Auer-bach, 2006; Grant & Cavanagh, 2004) areconsidered to be essential. the followingelements (A–F) describe what the coachshould achieve in creating a successfulcoaching session. A. Create a clear framework for the coachee

and the coaching session. b. identify the problem clearly and explicitly. C. Create an empathetic relation with the

coachee. D. Conduct a dialogue regarding actions and

increase the coachee’s self-knowledge, forinstance by using the spACe model(palmer & Gyllensten, 2008).

e. Find possible solutions and set achievablegoals with the coachee, for instance, byusing prAKsis (spaten, Kyndesen &palmer, 2012).

F. ensure that the coachee leaves the sessionwith a good idea or a plan for futureaction (Grant & Zackon, 2004; palmer &Whybrow, 2009).

in the present study, A, b and C will bestudied in particular, whereas D, e, and F willonly be considered to a lesser degree. theanalysis highlights specific focal points inrelation to employee coaching.



(A) Subtheme: Planning, framing and precioustime for coaching the ability to create a clear ‘framework’ isdescribed as the fundamental competenceunderpinning successful coaching sessions(palmer, 2010). Framing is also of essentialimportance in connection with the thirdtheme of the study (The coaching relationshipand power relations, as discussed below). Anunclear framework may, for instance, resultin problematic role identification and animbalance in the coaching relationship. inessence, framing is the act of providing thecoachee with an introduction that describesas clearly as possible the course of thecoaching session, so that the coachee doesnot spend undue energy reflecting on thisissue (Öestrich, 2008).

Framing also includes the planning ofthe actual coaching process, an aspect whichseveral participants returned to during theinterviews; therefore, this aspect has receivedconsiderably more attention in employeecoaching than in typical coaching sessions.planning is decisive for the success of thecoaching process (palmer & Gyllensten,2008; pill, 2012), and during the follow-upinterviews the coaches pointed out the challenge of planning the coaching process.the challenge was to find time for thecoaching of employees in a busy and stressfulwork schedule.

Precious time must be considered impor-tant as regards resources made available forcoaching in the given context. in addition tothe general wish to extend coachingsessions, a wish is expressed to have largertime gaps between the coaching sessions inorder to implement the new insight devel-oped by the coachee. the interviewee states:

The entire coaching course should be longerwith larger time gaps between the individualcoaching sessions (…) and then she said shewould like to continue with coaching, and sowould I, and should it be two to three times ayear for instance, or according to need?

the interview accentuates that coach andcoachee wish to continue with coachingsessions two to three times a year. the time

perspective varied for individual coachees,however.

Yes. Then it would have been rewarding, as I think we would have gained something if wehad had a session every month; that wouldhave been more appropriate I think. (2:55)

the opinions of coach and coachee vary asregards the time gap between sessions thatwould yield maximum benefit, but amongthe interviewee there seems to be a generalagreement that the coaching sessions mustbe spread out more in order to provide addi-tional time for reflection.

And so, I actually think that I have startedquite early but it has still meant that some worktasks, for whatever reason, sickness andattending courses, have coincided, and that theentire co-ordination process, I actually thinkthat I had time to get some of the other finalcoaching sessions finished because I knew thatsome of them would have to be pushed forward,that would be inevitable, so with a couple ofthem I am running a bit late after all, and Ihave simply had some appointments where weagreed that we had to delay the coaching if therewas some work that needed to be done. (2:33)

planning has posed some coaching chal-lenges: for instance, the above coach was wellaware of the co-ordination process, whichmay sometimes become complicated when acoaching process has to be adapted to thelife of an organisation.

(B) Subtheme: Good problem identification both coachee and coach point to effectiveidentification of problems as an essentialpart of coaching skills. this element relatesclosely to the theme of Precious time: timeplays a key role in a busy and challengingwork life, and the efficient use of time there-fore becomes more important than ifcoaching is conducted in a different context.the manager’s coaching of his or heremployee takes place during working hours,and time for coaching is deducted from thetime which might be spent on work tasks inthe organisation. Considering these condi-tions, it becomes crucial that the coachingsessions are efficient and, therefore, good



problem identification becomes a decisivepoint of departure. if the problem identifi-cation is insufficient, the coaching will notprovide the optimal outcome for coach andcoachee.

these results from coaching research arealso identified as essential for successfulcoaching sessions: szymanska (2008) empha-sises, for instance, that the coach shouldidentify the correct problem and narrow itdown to one concrete element which can beworked on during the course of thecoaching session. once the problem hasbeen identified, the coach may find it advan-tageous to use the spACe model in order toshed light on all aspects of the problem; thismay also function as an educative process forthe coachee (szymanska, 2008; Cavanagh2005). Coaching researchers palmer (2007),palmer and szymanska (2007) and spaten,Kyndesen and palmer (2012) emphasise thatthe first part of a successful coaching sessionconsists of careful problem identification.the coach might ask, for instance: What isthe social context of your problem? Whichthoughts (or feelings, actions or possiblyphysical reactions) do you notice in relationto the problem?

the focus of the coach on achievinggood problem identification is indeedexpressed several times during our inter-views. below the coach describes how muchenergy is in fact spent on finding the bestissues/problems to talk about, with a view tobest motivating the coachee.

So all the time I have had to throw out some baitto inspire them, like… I think (…) it wasnecessary to offer some examples or somedirections to what exactly was it we were to talkabout? (1:97)

in the above, a middle manager describehow it is essential to ‘throw out some bait’ tothe coachee in order to achieve the bestproblem identification. here, this may indi-cate that the coach is focusing on his or herguiding role in finding the issue or problemthat is most inspiring for the coachee andwhich will, therefore, motivate the coacheemost. motivation is indeed described in

more detail in an interview in which a coachstates:

And when I look back on this and will have touse my experience for future coaching, we mustget much better at – or I must get much better atperhaps ‘massaging’ into the conversation, sothat we know exactly what we are going to talkabout, so that they don’t just turn up and say,like, I don’t really know what it is that we aregoing to talk about, but I have thought aboutthis topic. This is what has been the greatestchallenge, because when we are actually sittingthere all is fine, but then the coachee hasn’tthought of something, and then motivation isnot really very high (no), on their part.

so if the coach is to optimise the outcomefor the coachee, and the coachee is to bemotivated for coaching, the coach shouldsupport the coachee in finding a suitableproblem to work with. Finding such aproblem is the biggest challenge for thecoach. Coaching research also demonstratesthat thorough problem identification willresult in the problem being handled in asuitable way, which will elicit the greatestmotivation on the part of the coachee andconsequently the highest degree of goalachievement (see, for instance, spaten,Løkken & imer, 2011; Grant & Zackon, 2004;palmer & Gyllensten, 2008).

Another interesting wording used in theabove quotation is ‘massaging into theconversation’, by which the speaker meansmaking the topic of conversation clear, thusenhancing explicit problem identification.this aspect is also emphasised by palmer(2007), following Wasik (1984), as beingessential for successful coaching.

As is evident, middle managers partici-pating in the present research are focusingextensively on adequate problem identifica-tion, which is an aspect described as essentialby other scholars in this research field (e.g.Grant & Grene, 2001). in order for problemidentification to be successful, it is importantto establish excellent rapport between coachand coachee, so that a suitable point ofdeparture can be found for the coachingprocess. in order to ensure that coach and



coachee agree, it is necessary for the partiesto make real and genuine contact (rogers,1995). this brings us to the third subtheme,Empathy and contact.

(C) Subtheme: Creating empathy and contact the coach’s abilities in creating empathyand contact abilities have turned out to be akey aspect, emphasised by both coacheesand coaches as decisive in our interview data.Coaching research stresses the importanceof the coach’s empathy and listening skills.For instance, listening includes the ability toreturn to elements in the story told by thecoachee, rather than waiting for a break inthe speech flow to occur, making it possibleto ask the next question (stober, 2006, p.30).empathy and contact also consist in beingable to reflect body language and use appro-priate listening noises (rogers, 1995). inaddition, it is important to maintain eyecontact and give the coachee time to answercomplicated questions. these aspects aredecisive in building a trustful relationshipwith the coachee, making it possible to askmildly confrontational questions without thecoachee feeling attacked (ibid.; palmer &mcDowall, 2010). this aspect is furtheraccentuated in employee coaching due tothe apparently asymmetrical relationshipand its power aspects, which will be illus-trated and expanded later on during thepresentation of theme three: The Coachingrelationship and power relation.

the importance of central coachingskills, such as, for instance, empathetic activelistening and providing space for thecoachee, are to be illustrated by thefollowing testimony:

Yes, and perhaps being able to hold on to someof the things, the small signals I might send andprovide, just grabbing hold of them and saying‘what was it that you just said?’ and seeingthem as part of a whole, and perhaps somethings I haven’t thought about, that things wereconnected in that way. To stir up some thoughtsin my mind, right, and that again is a questionof being serious about it, isn’t it? (4.333)

the personal contact which theemployee has with his or her managerduring the coaching session is decisive indetermining the extent to which thecoaching will yield an outcome. it is evidentfrom the above interview excerpt that thecoach is experiencing a sense of security, andthat a development is in progress throughthoughts being stirred up in the mind of thecoachee when the coach is listening activelyand pointing out possible connectionsbetween thoughts and stories. thus framing,structure, contact, empathy and contract aredecisive in employee coaching, and it isimportant to keep these factors in mind. inthe discussion of the following theme, thesewill be further elucidated, drawing upon thetemplate analysis.

Theme 2: Professional and personaldevelopment this theme illustrates the dialectics betweenpersonal and professional development,which existing research characterises asbasic, intertwined and interconnected.Among other aspects, this theme includesthe manager’s recognition that whenemployees are developing personally, theyare apparently also developing profession-ally. Furthermore, the relation betweencoach and coachee is in focus, and the coachdescribes it as advantageous to know thecoachee’s personality in advance. the coachalso gains personal and professional benefitfrom the coaching process.

in a study from harvard universityincluding 140 coaches, 76 per cent statedthat they had worked on personal issues withtheir coachees, even though only three percent had been hired to work with personal asopposed to professional issues (for furtherdetails, see Coutu & Kauffman, 2009). inspite of a tripartite agreement betweencoach, coachee and direct manager thatcoaching should focus on work-relatedissues, it seems that other issues (includingthose of a personal character) may comeinto focus during coaching sessions. therelevance of this aspect of coaching, particu-



larly in employee coaching, is emphasised byCollins and palmer (2011).

this raises an interesting question: is itproblematic if personal issues are discussedin manager-employee coaching? this ques-tion cannot be answered unequivocally, butone aspect of this theme is addressed in thefollowing subtheme, which examines howpersonal development relates to andenhances professional development.

Subtheme: Does the coachee’s personal develop-ment enhance his or her professional develop-ment? the analysis of this subtheme demonstratedthat coaches experienced the necessity ofstriking a balance between personal andprofessional coaching topics, even thoughthey turn out to be reciprocally connected.in the following, a coach describes howpersonal coaching topics may also havebusiness-related significance:

But I also think that discussing personal themesis rewarding in a business-related sense, this iswhat I believe, it cannot be measured anywhere,but I just believe that I get happier and moremotivated employees from doing so. (1:188)

Furthermore, the coach describes his or heridea that an employee may be more moti-vated by receiving coaching which is alsorelated to personal issues. research hasemphasised the importance of this aspect(Grant, Curtayne & burton, 2009).

subsequently, a coach describes how hehandles this act of balancing, consideringthat coaching should not only be personalbut also embedded in business-related issues:

Maybe it goes like this, oh, but it’s nice that youwill listen to me, and it’s always very nice to workin a place which makes space for letting me talkabout things that take up energy in my privatelife, and you are able to help me so that I canchange it. Then I say you are welcome to do so,because it may also help you to be more focused onyour tasks when you are at work. (2.895)

here the coach presents his or her view tothe coachee that the coaching of personalissues may bring about better professionalresults. this illustrates that the personal

outcome is also an important result of thecoaching sessions: the following testimoniesreveal the extent of the impact of coachingsessions on the coachees’ self-knowledge andpersonal development. A number of theparticipating coachees emphasise how thepersonal development they have achievedthrough the coaching process is influencingtheir work satisfaction and efficiency. Aninstance of personal development positivelyinfluencing professional life is described inthis interview:

…this question, does this add something to mypersonal bottom line? Well, what I discoveredover the five coaching sessions is that in the endit did. Both personally and in relation to mywork I think that I gained a great deal. It mademe change my views on some issues, I supposeit is this thing about seeing the differencebetween the coaching and one’s own view of theworld; because I was both coached and did somethings that were different from what I normallydo, and also in relation to changing the way I see things (…) perhaps you are having somekind of guideline inside yourself and areactually following this, because that’s actuallywhat you were brought up to do perhaps 10 or20 years ago, and then all of a sudden to havethis changed. That was what was sofascinating, I think – and it is. (3:59–3:76)

the above coachee is left with a changedworldview after the coaching sessions andhas, through the coaching process, begun tofocus on some old habits – and the limita-tions they were imposing on life here andnow. During the interviews, the coacheeexperiences development and finallyacknowledges that the process has resultedin general personal development and anincrease in self-knowledge.

And it may be hard when things/there is atelephone call and there are meetings, right, andwell in that discussion we agreed that I would tryto take one day a month to work from home andget some things sorted out, and then say that nowI am simply disconnecting the phone and takingmy computer home to get some of these thingsdone, in order to clear things up and keep thethings down that may be bothering me. (4:215)



We might say that, in general, the coachingsessions have increased the self-knowledgeand the personal development of the indi-vidual coachee, which is also apparent at theworkplace and has an impact on work effi-ciency. through coaching, solutions arefound to problems which also affect worklife, so even though personal topics arediscussed and included in coaching sessionsduring work hours, doing so positively affectsthe overall situation. this leads us on to thenext subtheme.

Subtheme: The coach experiences personal andmanagement-related benefits this theme illustrates that middle managerstaking on the task of coaching are also expe-riencing personal gains from acting as coach– the benefits are becoming reciprocal, asshown in the following quote.

Well, as a manager it is my impression that I,well I think, well I become damned egotistical,well it gives some satisfaction that I feel thatwhen she comes back she has had a goodcoaching session (yes), and then I actuallybecome, I suppose I’m bloody happy that we didactually take this step and pat my own shouldera bit. (1:181)

in this example, the reciprocal gains aredescribed in a very clear and explicitmanner, as the coach mentions how thecoaching sessions provides him or her withpersonal satisfaction. in addition, as in theprevious subtheme, benefits in the work-place accrue from the coachee’s professionaldevelopment which arises his or her ownpersonal development. this will affect thecoach as a manager, as this contributes to thestrength and competence of the team underthe coach.

but to be able, as a middle manager, tocoach your employees, in both the profes-sional and personal dimensions, requires awell-developed relation between managerand employee. below, an employee describesthe importance of this relation in connec-tion with the coaching sessions, which aretermed ‘meetings’:

I felt we were equals during each meeting, andthat was important, I think (…) It is in factimportant, talking of power, it is important thatthe coach is able to step down or step up to theright level, which the coach must, as a matter offact/or where the person she meets is, or theperson he meets; because if I had been sittingwith a feeling that some manager from someplace who is just coming out to tell me that youmust remember that I’m the boss here, and thenwe can move on to the coaching, then I wouldn’t have told the coach anything at all.

the association between personal and profes-sional development is unfolding in a fruitfulcoach-coachee relation. here the experienceof equality is described as completely essen-tial for the coachee in relation to the coach.equality is achieved by the coach by showingempathy and by being ‘at equal levels with’the employee, so that a sense of trust emergesin the situation. the importance of an equalrelation is described by o’broin and palmer(2010, p.38): ‘The relation must be based onmutual respect and empathy’. According to theemployees we have interviewed, mutualrespect is characterised by being ‘at equallevels with’. in the above quotation, thisforms an essential basis for optimal contact inthe coaching relation. if mutual respect andempathy are essentially present, the coacheeis able to make constructive use of thecoaching session. the coachee can go intothe coaching session without worrying aboutthe possible intentions, or whether confiden-tiality is safeguarded.

in the event that mutual respect andempathy are not present, or if confidentialityis not assured, the employee may easily bereluctant to participate. research haspointed out in a number of contexts that theinterpersonal relationship between coachand coachee is of paramount importance(Gyllensten & palmer, 2006; o’broin &palmer, 2010; palmer & mcDowall, 2010).this relationship should be characterised bytrust, equality and confidence, with theformer property argued to be fundamental:‘A ‘trusting relationship’ is paramount for effectivecoaching’ (ting & riddle, 2006, p.111).



the quantitative findings show a signifi-cantly positive evaluation of the coachingprocess, suggesting that the requiredtrusting relationships were established. butin the following testimony, a coachee alsopoints to the ‘delicate balance’ that thecoach is required to strike in order to facili-tate equality and a trusting relationship:

This is a delicate balance – it is one thing thathe is the manager next door, and quite anothermatter that when he enters my office, he is thecoach – so to speak. He is still the person whoshould be in control. He is the one to be incontrol of this coaching session – on the basis ofsome questions and some models he has learnt –and because of some training he has completed.Then he must still be the person in control – andon the other hand, he must let go of his role asmanager.

As seen here, the delicate balance involvesthe coach being in control of the interviewand the coaching session, but at the sametime letting go of his or her role as managerand take on the distinct role of a coach(orth et al., 1987). the appropriate form ofcontrol for the coach exists in an equal rela-tionship in which it is mainly the coacheewho sets the agenda for the coachingsession.

the controlling role of the coachincludes the power held by the coach, whichis immanent here. this brings us to the thirdtheme emerging from the template analysis:the coaching relationship and the power relation.the interplay between the need for equalityin the relationship and the controllingpower held by the coach is of paramountimportance in the relationship betweencoach and coachee.

Theme 3: The coaching relationshipand the power relation in the qualitative analyses this essentialtheme is illustrated on the basis of thefollowing two questions. 1. is the coach able to create an equal

relationship and build trust with thecoachee even though coach is still clearlyin control during the coaching session?

2. is the power held by the coach, as thedaily manager and because of his or herrole as coach, as problematic an aspect asmight be presumed?

the interpersonal relationship betweencoach and coachee, with a focus on thepower held by the coach, was a key findingfrom the template analysis. in the followingdiscussion, the above two questions will beexpanded upon, drawing on existing litera-ture in the field.

it is widely recognised that power isimmanent in and exerts an influence on therelationship between coach and coachee(see, for instance, Dam hede, 2010; elliot,2011). it is important to consider this powerdimension, as the quality of the relationshipbetween coachee and coach is paramountfor the positive result of the coaching session(o’broin & palmer, 2007). in fact, the powerand the quality of the relationship are insep-arable in the coaching relationship, and,therefore, it becomes a key issue that thecoach is aware of the power relation betweencoach and coachee – even more so when thecoach is also the boss.

research in the application of evidence-based management theories to coachingmanagerial development (elliot, 2011)argues that the power relationship should beconsidered as important as authority andtrust in the coaching relationship. thistripartition is also referred to in a previousinterview excerpt in which the coachee says:

I felt we were equals during each meeting, andthat was important, I think (…) It is in factimportant, talking of power, it is important thatthe coach is able to step down or step up to theright level which the coach must, as a matter offact/or where the person she meets is, or theperson he meets.

the influence of power on the coaching rela-tionship has been investigated by Welmanand bachkirova (2010) in their analysis of therelationship between coach and coachee,resulting in the following definition of poweras a concept in the coaching relation. they define power on the basis of two fundamental types (ibid., p.141):



‘One is power over somebody, the ability to dominatehim or her, to impose one’s will on them. Or the otheris power to do something, to be able, to be potent.’

When seen in relation to findings fromthe qualitative analysis, this definitiondescribes the double relationship which is atthe centre of the coaching relationship.balancing becomes essential due to thecoach’s position as manager. it becomescritical to be able at once to abandon thepower of the manager, and to adopt thepower of the coach in the coaching relation.this delicate balancing act is described byFromm (1960) on the basis of a distinctionbetween power and dominance. he intro-duces the hypothesis that ‘A person with a lackof potency is more likely to strive for domination’(ibid., p.140).

here, Fromm (1960) posits that indi-vidual potency will determine whether thefundamental power relations will turn intodomination. From this we may extrapolatethat the personal abilities of the coach aredecisive and essential for the maintenance ofpower balance. if these are not sufficientlydeveloped, power is misused in the relationbetween coach and coachee in a way thatmanifests itself as domination. if they aresufficiently developed, the power held by thecoach may be used in a positive way for theempowerment of the coachee, as pointed outby Welman and bachkirova (2010, p.141).

Subtheme: The conditions of fruitful employeecoaching the power relations between coach andcoachee have been studied by severalresearchers, taking as their point of depar-ture what may be termed ‘the symmetryproblem’. the symmetry problem is consid-ered by, for instance, Dam hede (2010) tobe a universal condition for a fruitful conver-sation. it includes three dimensions: (1) theinstitutional structure; (2) the conversation-dynamic character; and (3) the self-techno-logical dimension (see Dam hede, 2010,p.33, for further information). the first ofthese is the most relevant for the presentstudy.

in the institutional dimension, Damhede (2010) describes the asymmetricaldifference in the subject-object relation,which is characterised by power, positionand the distribution of roles (Dam hede,2010). For the present study, this is the veryinstitutional dimension (between managerand employee) within which coaching takesplace, a relation which is considered of para-mount importance by the respondents, andwhich is emphasised and expanded on inthis theme of the template analysis.

the asymmetry is dependent on theextent to which the coach/authority func-tions as a link between possible resourcesuseful for the coachee (e.g. further educa-tion or knowledge), and power over theiremployment in respect of hiring and firing(Dam hede, 2010). in the following testi-mony from a coachee it is pointed out howasymmetry in resources, here in the shape ofknowledge, also plays a role:

What I mean is that some of the things I havesaid during the coaching sessions, they willremain there – and it is not something that willbe misused against me in some situation – or tomake things better for me.

We get the impression that the employee hasconsidered the possible misuse of the knowl-edge which the coach obtains from thecoaching process. however, at the same timeit certainly seems that trust has been estab-lished, and that the coachee is not expectingsuch knowledge to be misused.

the asymmetry in the relation is furthercomplicated by the fact that the employeemay provide the coach with an insight intohow the employee’s development isprogressing. We find a number of exampleswhich express this asymmetry. below, themanager describes knowledge derived froman employee through coaching sessions:

I’m almost 100 per cent certain that I wouldn’thave known this if it wasn’t for the coaching.Then I might have heard it in six months, andthen you might say that it wasn’t important.

this shows that asymmetry is present in thecoaching relation, mainly in the form of theexchange of knowledge which would not



otherwise have been available to the coacheeor to the coach. this aspect has been docu-mented in previous studies of employeecoaching, which point out that employeecoaching may promote job satisfaction if theasymmetry is not too strong or futile (see, forinstance, bowles et al., 2007; Grant, Curtayne& burton, 2009; Grant & Zackon, 2004).

Welman and bachkirova (2010, p.145)also point to three types of factor which areessential to focus on when consideringpower in the coaching relation: ‘Factors influ-encing the predisposition to exercise power in thecoach; Contextual issues, including the power ofthe coachee; Dealing with power in the immediacyof the coaching interaction’.

it is perhaps mainly contextual aspectsthat are seen as particularly important in thepresent study, as typified by the followingquote:

It is a delicate balance – it is one thing that heis the manager next door, and quite anothermatter that when he enters my office, he is thecoach – so to speak. He is still the person whoshould be in control.

When the coach walks through the door, themanager is entering, and once the door hasbeen closed, the manager has changed rolesand is now the coach. this makes the contextin which coaching takes place a key aspect,since a change in roles is vital for a profitableresult for both parties. Furthermore, thesignificance of the distribution of roles isseen in the above testimony, which is a roledistribution in the subject-object relationwhich Dam hede (2010) describes to be ofparamount importance in the institutionaldimension of the asymmetrical relation.

it therefore seems of essential impor-tance that the coach emphasises the funda-mental role of confidence in the coachingsession (palmer & mcDowall, 2010). onceconfidence has been established betweencoach and employee (coachee), this mayresult in the coach receiving some informa-tion, due to his or her role as coach, andconsequently also as manager. this aspect isdeveloped in the following subtheme.

Subtheme: Dilemmas of the coach: balancingpersonal and professional issues in confidentialcoaching sessions A number of times, the manager has had theexperience of having to navigate betweenthe roles of manager and coach, whenknowledge and consequently power isacquired from the coaching sessions withemployees. this further complicates theasymmetry in the relation. it may, therefore,be seen as a strength that the coach includesthese reflections when contemplating his orher coaching practice.

Yes, it works both ways because I also receive alot of good input, but at the same time I also getmy hands tied a bit – in some areas at least.(1:925)

balancing between personal and profes-sional issues may be awkward and chal-lenging for the coach. the above coach mayfeel paralysed in some areas, whereas themanager below sees it as his or her duty, asmanager, to also offer space for listening tothe personal issues of the coachee.

It does, yes, but it is also important for me asmanager to offer space for listening to personalissues. That I don’t just say that I’m afraidyou’ll have to speak to someone else about this,this is not the place to discuss such things.

this insight regarding personal and profes-sional issues emphasises the importance forthe coach of setting clear boundaries, so thatthe coaching does not become exclusivelypersonal, but also includes a work-relatedfocus. so, it is important that there is spacefor personal topics during coaching sessions,but equally important for the coachee thatthe manager sets boundaries, to ensure thatthe coaching topics do not become toopersonal. the ability to set these boundariesbecomes an aspect of the power of thecoach, which is of especial relevance in thecase of employee coaching.

From the present analysis it appears thatthe context is of paramount importance inthe asymmetrical relation. the ability of thecoach to navigate the power dynamics andmake role distribution manifest is a key focuspoint in employee coaching if a fruitful



result is to emerge through the coachingsessions.

Summary: Middle manager coaching ofemployees and internal vs. externalcoaching According to heslin, Vandewalle andLatham (2006), the coaching of employees isa key task for middle managers in severalmajor American enterprises, and thisphenomenon is widespread and increasingin Danish enterprises (Coaching barome-tret, 2009). this makes it highly relevant toconduct studies of this practice. in thisarticle we are well underway in analysing anddiscussing how employees evaluate thecoaching competences of middle managers,and which challenges and opportunities weare able to identify in the coaching ofemployees by managers.

one of the issues which is consideredmost pertinent is the power balance in thecoaching relationship, as described in theme3. According to Welman and bachkirova(2010), the power balance is a key focuspoint in all types of coaching, but when thecoach is also the manager of the coachee,this seems even more critical. Welman &bachkirova (ibid.) point out, for instance,how the coach may be tempted to exertpower (both consciously and unconsciously)in coaching. it may be, for instance, that thecoach is uncertain of his or her own skills, orthat the coach wishes to achieve a certainresult through the coaching: for instance,improvements in efficiency or the solution ofinternal conflicts. this risk seems to beheightened when the coach is also amanager and wishes to achieve a certaingoal. According to Welman and bachkirova(2010), this is problematic as decisions madeon the basis of a coaching session in whichthe coach has more or less consciouslyexerted this power do not lead to actions orchanges outside of the coaching context,and, therefore, the coaching has no effect.on the basis of this study, we would furtheremphasise the paramount importance ofactively including the power issue in

coaching, especially when this balance hasan effect on decisions or discussions. thedilemma of being manager and coach at thesame time has been illustrated in the presentstudy, where the theme mainly has emergedfrom the qualitative analysis.

Another aspect of the experience ofmiddle managers coaching their employees(internal coaching by managers) concernsin more general terms the relationshipbetween coach/manager and coachee/employee. several researchers (Gregory &Levy, 2010, 2011; o’broin & palmer, 2010)find, as mentioned, that the coaching rela-tion is of vital importance for the results ofthe coaching process, cohering with theobservations of palmer & mcDowall (2010,p.3): ‘Stephen Taylor has presented research thatshowed that most people resign from their jobbecause they are “sick of their immediate boss”,pointing to the fact that good relationships are keyto retention and engagement in the workplace,Taylor saying that ‘the difficult bit [at work] is thearea of interpersonal relationships’’ ’. the rela-tionship between manager and employee isof vital importance for the involvement ofemployees in their workplace, and can beimproved through coaching (ibid.). Whendiscussing the relationship between coachand coachee, it is also essential to establish agood (work) alliance, which includes clarifi-cation of the goals of the coaching process,the tasks of each of the two parties, and theestablishment of mutual respect andempathy (o’broin & palmer, 2010). theestablishment of a coaching relationship –including a fruitful alliance well establishedat the beginning of the coaching process – isconnected with the previously mentionedpower issues, which may possibly be reducedor discussed proactively. in spite of thewidely acknowledged significance of theseissues, the amount of research on the influ-ence of the coaching relationship on the effi-ciency of the coaching process is very limited(Gregory & Levy, 2010). the present studycontributes to this knowledge.

Finally, let us consider what impact it hason the coaching that a (middle) manager



acts as coach – or in broader terms: Who cancoach at a sufficient quality level? bono hasconducted extensive studies of 428 coacheswith various educational backgrounds andexperience (bono et al., 2009). her studiesshow that, for instance, the differencebetween a coach education and a psychologyeducation is extremely small, when evalu-ating coaching skills. therefore, it cannot berejected that managers who are formallyqualified and educated as coaches may func-tion equally well comparing with psycho-logists doing coaching. All coaches in thepresent study have – as mentioned –attended extensive coaching courses over anumber of years and are, therefore,presumed to be well qualified for the task.bono et al. (2009) point out that futureresearch within this area should explore indepth the active ingredients in coaching: forinstance, what does the coach do in concreteterms in order to enhance motivation intheir employees, which tools and questionsare used, and what constitutes high qualitycoaching? it has been observed (Kvale,1994) that qualitative interviews in particularcan be used to clarify this. Qualitative inter-views provide the coach with the opportunityto articulate the course of the coachingprocess in more concrete terms (ibid.). intheir qualitative studies of the effect ofcoaching on stress reduction, Gyllensten etal. (2005) discuss the different positive andnegative aspects of the individual partici-pant’s subjective perspective. A rathersimilar method of analyses, an ipA (inter-pretative phenomenological Analysis, smith& osborn, 2003) was employed in the quali-tative studies mentioned above. the resultsdemonstrate that coaching may contributeto a reduction in stress, but paradoxicallymay also increase stress if it is not consideredrelevant and useful but is instead only seenas a ‘time waster’ (hackett, palmer &Farrants, 2007). the conclusion of the studywas, however, that through coaching theparticipants obtained tools that they consid-ered to be useful for them in future stressfulsituations. in general, participants found

that coaching helped them combat stressand not, for instance, escape from conflict-ridden situations but instead endure thesewithout imposing another stress factor onthemselves (Gyllensten et al., 2005, palmer &Cooper, 2007).

in the present study of coaching bymiddle managers, we have identified theimportance of clearly delineating the changein roles from manager to coach, and theneed to emphasise confidentiality in thecoaching relationship. it remains an openquestion whether it is a fruitful solution at allfor an organisation to use internal coaching.it may be claimed that the complexdilemmas of power and relationships arereduced or avoided if an external coachconducts employee coaching instead(søholm, 2006). on the other hand, theremight be a risk that coaching by an externalcoach remains in a closed circuit betweenthe external coach and the manager, and isnot embedded in the daily practice andprofessional lives of the coachees. perhaps itwill be more fruitful to be aware of, andparticular about, the topics which are consid-ered suitable for coaching, whether it is a(middle) manager or an external coach whoconducts the coaching. Dam hede (2010)touches upon this aspect in a study whichshowed 90 per cent of coachees preferringan external coach; there is, however, nounequivocal support for this finding in thecoaching community. stelter (2002, p.143),however, proposes that ‘Coaching shouldmainly take place internally in an organisation,either with the manager acting as coach or withappointed employees as coaches’. the argumentin favour of stelter’s choice is that the organ-isational effect will be larger, as the coachingprocess is embedded in the organisationitself and linked directly to the managementand daily work life conditions. on the otherhand, it may be argued that an externalcoach provides the best opportunities foropen and honest reflection, and employeeswill not have to consider too much anypower problems related to a given issue.



the results of the present study mainlysupport the stance that coaching by internal(middle) managers of their employees isfeasible and fruitful. the results presentsuch coaching processes as contributingsuccessfully to professional development forboth coach and coachee. however, at thesame time it is important to acknowledgethat the resulting double relation alsoencompasses a number of delicate issues.

But I also think that coaching contributes to theprofessional development. It can’t really bemeasured anywhere, but I’m convinced that I am getting a happier and more motivatedemployee as a result of it.

more focus should be placed on the relation-creating skills of the coach, so that the‘symmetry problem’ and power aspects ofthe coaching relation do not become unnec-essarily troublesome. on the basis of thefindings of the present study, the coach’srelational competences are important, andattention must be paid to the influence ofpower on the experience of equality in therelation. We can, therefore, recommend thata number of issues should be emphasised inthe training of coaches. Designing a safe andtrusting framework for the coachee, forinstance, and developing the coach’s skills inbeing empathic are essential. to this we canadd the coaching competences that werepositively evaluated in the study such asproblem identification.

Finally, it seems that personal issuesshould probably not always be banned fromthe coaching room, since these maycontribute to enhancing employee motiva-tion. the analysis actually points out that thecoaching of personal topics may contributeto boosting concentration on the workplacejob. however, it is important to maintain aprimary focus on professional issues inemployee coaching, and it is essential tokeep the power aspect – as described above –at the forefront of the middle managers’attention.

Conclusion the two-fold aim of this research was toinvestigate, on the one hand, the experiencegained and challenges met by managerswhen coaching their employees, and on theother hand, how these coaching sessionswere assessed by coachees (the middlemanagers’ employees). the correspondingconclusions of this study can be summarisedas follows.

the challenging areas include adminis-trative issues such as the planning and sched-uling of coaching appointments, and anatural willingness to adapt that is inherentto the role of coach. to this we can add theissues that render it problematic to coachexclusively on work-related issues. topics of amore personal character often do not have adirect impact on the employee’s professionalwork, but indirectly the employee can ‘grow’at the professional level by developing at thepersonal level. the middle manager ascoach must be adept in balancing betweenpersonal and professional issues, and mustbe able to navigate both streams withoutcapsizing. he or she must ensure that thecoachee experiences equality in order forthe coaching session to have value. paradox-ically, in this situation, the coach is bothcoach and manager, and may consequentlyfind it difficult to establish equality in thecoaching room, even though this issue wasseemingly negotiated successfully in thecoaching examined by this research project.

During the course of the study, themiddle managers as coaches acquired agreat deal of successful experience at bothpersonal and professional levels. in thecoaching room, positive experiencesoccurred when the coachee made goodprogress towards the goal, or indicated thatthe sessions were helpful. such experiencesare rewarding for the coach and contributeto their development as a coach, bothpersonally and professionally. it must beemphasised that all employee responseswere anonymous to the manager, and theemployees knew this; this was intended topromote less biased responses in the discus-



sion regarding the power relation. thus, thestudy concludes that the employees partici-pating in the coaching session generally findthe process extremely successful; they submitextremely positive assessments. theemployees indicate that contact with thecoach was empathic, and that, in general,thorough problem analysis took place incoaching sessions (spaten et al., 2011).empathy, contact and thorough problem-analysis are essential aspects of facilitating afruitful experience with positive relationswhen participating in a coaching or coun-selling process, as highlighted by a largenumber of scholars (rogers, 1995; palmer &mcDowall, 2010; stelter, 2008).

Although these important results arepartly newly found and partly underscorerecent studies, major challenges still remainas regards the contribution of research(rogers, 1995; palmer & mcDowall 2010;stelter, 2008) in this field concerning bothexecutive coaching and the coaching ofemployees by internal middle managers.Future research should include both qualita-tive, more profound and extensive studies,and preferably more participants, andrandomised as well as control studies, as fartoo little light has so far been shed on boththe effect and quality of managers’ coaching.

AcknowledgementsAs is well known, few major research projectscan be completed without being embeddedin research environments, and i would,therefore, like to take this opportunity tothank my colleagues, the psychologists affili-ated with the Coaching psychology researchunit at Aalborg university. in particular, i thank psychologist Winnie Flensborg, whohas been my working and sparring partnerthrough all phases of the project, andprofessor stephen palmer, who has alsofollowed my research project and providedadvice. i could not have accomplished thisstudy without discussions and the exchangeof notes and ideas for the qualitativematerial and the analysis of this withmembers of the unit and notably psycho-logists Anna imer and sofie Friis. in theconcluding phase with the editing of thearticle, student assistant stephanie back-ström and henriette ernst has stood by. i look forward to co-operation with thesecolleagues in on-going and future researchprojects.

The AuthorsDr Ole Michael Spaten, Lic.psychol., mA.,phD, misC Accred., Director of Coachingpsychology research unit, head ofpsychology studies, Aalborg university,Denmark.

MSc Winnie Flensborg, Lic.psychol.,Coaching psychology research unit, seniorLecturer, Aalborg university, Denmark.Furthermore Winnie maintains a privatepractice with coaching.

CorrespondenceDr Ole Michael SpatenCoaching psychology research unit, psychology studies, Kroghstraede 3, 9220 east,Aalborg university, Denmark.email: [email protected]



Auerbach, J.e. (2006). Cognitive coaching. in D.r.stober & A. m. Grant (eds). Evidence based coachinghandbook: Putting best practices to work for your clients(pp.103–127). hoboken, nJ: Wiley.

bond, A.s. & naughton, n. (2011). the role ofcoaching in managing leadership transitions.International Coaching Psychology Review, 6(2),165–179.

bono, J.e., purvanova, r.K., towler, A.J. & peterson,D.b. (2009). A survey of executive coachingpractices. Personnel Psychology, 62(2), 361–404.

bowles, s., Cunningham, C. J. L., De La rosa, G. m. &picano, J. (2007). Coaching leaders in middle andexecutive management: Goals, performance, buy-in. Leadership & Organization Development Journal,28(5), 388–408.

Cavanagh, m. (2005). mental-health issues andchallenging clients in executive coaching. in m.J.Cavanagh, A.m. Grant & t. Kemp (eds.), Evidence-based coaching, Vol. 1: Theory, research and practicefrom the behavioural sciences (pp.21–36). bowenhills, Australia: Australian Academic press.

Coaching barometret (2009). Coaching Barometret – Enforeløbig oversigt over coachingens udbredelse oganvendelse i Danmark. [The Coaching Barometer – A preliminary survey about use and application].retrieved from:http://www.ifi.ku.dk/Forskning/projekter/krop_laering_identitet/rs_coaching/forskningsprojekter/rs_coaching_barometer/coaching_haefte/coaching_barometret_2009.pdf.

Coutu, D. & Kauffman, C. (2009). What can coachesdo for you? Harvard Business Review, 87(1), 91–97.

Collins, A. & palmer, s. (2011) Developing seniorexecutives within a coaching psychologyframework. Coaching Psychology International, 4(1),15–19.

Crabb, s. (2011). the use of coaching principles tofoster employee engagement. The CoachingPsychologist, 7(1), 27–34.

Creswell, J.W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and researchdesign: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.).thousand oaks, CA: sage.

Creswell, J.W. & piano Clark, V.L. (2007). Designingand conducting mixed methods research. thousandoaks, CA: sage.

Creswell, J.W. (2009). mapping the field of mixedmethods research. Journal of Mixed MethodsResearch, 3(2), 95–108.

Dam hede, t. (2010). Coaching – samtalekunst ogledelsesdisciplin. [Coaching – conversations andleadership]. Copenhagen: samfundslitteratur.

Duijts, s.F.A., Kant, i., van den brandt, p.A. & swaen,G.m.h. (2008). effectiveness of a preventivecoaching intervention for employees at risk forsickness absence due to psychosocial healthcomplaints: results of a randomised controlledtrial. Journal of Occupational & EnvironmentalMedicine, 50(7), 765–776.

ellinger, A.D., ellinger, A.e., bachrach, D.G., Wang,Y.-L. & elmadag bas, A.b. (2011). organisationalinvestments in social capital, managerial coach-ing, and employee work-related performance.Management Learning, 42(1), 67–85.

elliot, r. (2011). utilising evidence-based leadershiptheories in coaching for leadership development:towards a comprehensive integrating conceptualframework. International Coaching PschologicalReview, 6(1), 46–70.

evers, W.J.G., brouwers, A. & tomic, W. (2006). A quasi-experimental study on managementcoaching effectiveness. Consulting PsychologyJournal: Practice and Research, 58(3), 174–182.

Feldman, D.C. & Lankau, m.J. (2005). executivecoaching: A review and agenda for futureresearch. Journal of Management, 31(6), 829–848.

Fromm, e. (1960). The fear of freedom. London:routledge & Kegan paul.

Grant, A.m. & Greene, J. (2001). Coach yourself: Makereal change in your life. London: momentum press.

Grant, A.m. (2003). the impact of life coaching ongoal attainment, metacognition and mentalhealth. Social Behavior and Personality 31(3),253–264.

Grant, A.m. & Cavanagh, m.J. (2004). toward aprofession of coaching: sixty-five years of progressand challenges for the future. International Journalof Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 2(1),1–16.

Grant, A.m. & Zackon, r. (2004). executive,workplace and life coaching: Findings from alarge-scale survey of international CoachFederation members. International Journal ofEvidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 2(2), 1–15.

Grant, A.m. & Cavanagh, m.J. (2007). the Goal-Focused Coaching skills Questionnaire:preliminary findings. Social Behavior andPersonality, 35(6), 751–760.

Grant, A.m., Curtayne, L. & burton, G. (2009).executive coaching enhances goal attainment,resilience and workplace well-being: A random-ised controlled study. The Journal of PositivePsychology, 4(5), 396–407.

Gregory, J.b. & Levy, p.e. (2010). employee coachingrelationships: enhancing construct clarity andmeasurement. Coaching: An International Journal ofTheory, Research and Practice, 3(2), 109–123.



References

Gregory, J.b. & Levy, p.e. (2011). it’s not me, it’s you:A multi-level examination of variables that impactemployee coaching relationships. ConsultingPsychology Journal: Practice and Research, 63(2),67–88.

Gyllensten, K., palmer, s. & Farrants, J. (2005).perceptions of stress and stress interventions infinance organisations: overcoming resistancetowards counselling. Counselling PsychologyQuarterly, 18(1), 19–29.

Gyllensten, K. & palmer, s. (2006). experiences ofcoaching and stress in the workplace: Anintegrative phenomenological analysis. Inter-national Coaching Psychology Review, 1(1), 86–98.

Gyllensten, K., palmer, s., nilsson, e.-K., regnér, A.m.& Frodi, A. (2010). experiences of cognitivecoaching: A qualitative study. InternationalCoaching Psychology Review, 5(2), 98–108.

hackett, A., palmer, s. & Farrants, J. (2007). Aninvestigation into stress and coaching needs ofstaff working in the hospice service. The CoachingPsychologist, 3(3), 139–143.

heslin, p.A., Vandewalle, D. & Latham, G.p. (2006).Keen to help? managers’ implicit person theoriesand their subsequent employee coaching.Personnel Psychology, 59(4), 871–902.

iCF (2012). 2012 ICF Global Coaching Study ExecutiveSummary. retrieved 27 september 2012, from:http://www.coachfederation.org/includes/media/docs/2012iCFGlobalCoachingstudy-executivesummary.pdf

Kauffman, C. & scouler, A. (2004). toward a positivepsychology of executive coaching. in A. Linley &s. Josephs (eds.), Positive psychology in practice.hoboken, nJ: Wiley.

Kilburg, r.r. (2001). Facilitating interventionadherence in executive coaching: A model andmethods. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice andResearch, 53(4), 251–267.

King, n. (1998). template analysis. in G. symon & C. Cassell (eds.), Qualitative methods and analysisin organisational research. London: sage.

King, n., Carroll, C. newton, p. & Dornan, t. (2002).‘You can’t cure it so you have to endure it’: theexperience of adaptation to diabetic renal disease.Qualitative Health Research, 12(3), 329–346.

Kvale, s. (1994). Interview. Copenhagen: hans reitzelsForlag.

Langdridge, D. (2007). Phenomenological psychology:Theory, research and methods. London: pearsoneducation.

o’broin, A. & palmer, s. (2007). reappraising thecoach-client relationship: the unassumingchange agent in coaching. in s. palmer & A. Whybrow (eds.), The handbook of coachingpsychology: A guide for practitioners. London:routledge.

o’broin, A. & palmer, s. (2010). exploring key aspectsin the formation of coaching relationships: initialindicators from the perspective of the coacheeand the coach. Coaching: An International Journalof Theory, Research and Practice, 3(2), 124–143.

Öestrich, i.h. (2008). Kognitiv coaching – når derønskes effektivitet [Cognitive coaching – whenefficacy is needed]. in K. Gørtz & A. prehn (eds.),Coaching in perspective (pp.119–134). Copenhagen:hans reitzels Forlag.

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(4), 461–469.

orth, C.D., Wilkinson, h.e. & benfari, r.C. (1987).the manager’s role as coach and mentor.Organizational Dynamics, 154, 66–74.

palmer, s. & szymanska, K. (2007). Cognitivebehavioural coaching: An integrative approach.in s. palmer & A. Whybrow (eds.), The handbook ofcoaching psychology: A guide for practitioners(pp.86–117). London: routledge.

palmer, s. (2007). prACtiCe: A model suitable forcoaching, counselling, psychotherapy and stressmanagement. The Coaching Psychologist, 3(2),71–77.

palmer, s. & Cooper, C. (2007). How to deal with stress.London: Kogan page.

palmer, s. & Gyllensten, K. (2008). how cognitivebehavioural, rational emotive behavioural ormultimodal coaching could prevent mentalhealth problems, enhance performance andreduce work-related stress. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive Behavior Therapy, 26(1), 38–52.

palmer, s. & Whybrow, A. (eds.) (2009). The handbookof coaching psychology: A guide for practitioners.London: routledge.

palmer, s. & mcDowall, A. (eds.) (2010). The coachingrelationship: Putting people first. new York:routledge.

peterson, D.b. (2002). management development:Coaching and mentoring programmes. in K. Kraiger (ed.), Creating, implementing, andmanaging effective training and development(pp.160–192). san Francisco: Jossey-bass.

rogers, C. (1995). What understanding andacceptance means to me. Journal of HumanisticPsychology, 35, 7–22.

smith, J.A. (ed.) (2003). Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods. thousand oaks,CA: sage.

smith, J.A. & osborn, m. (2003). interpretativephenomenological analysis. in J.A. smith (ed.),Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to researchmethods (pp.51–80). thousand oaks, CA: sage.



smither, J. W., London, m., Flautt, r., Vargas, Y. &Kucine, i. (2003). Can working with an executivecoach improve multisource feedback ratings overtime? A quasi-experimental field study. PersonnelPsychology, 56(1), 23–44.

spaten, o.m. (2011a). Coaching forskning – påevidensbaseret grundlag [Evidence-based coachingresearch]. Aalborg: Aalborg university press.

spaten, o.m. (2011b). educating coachingpsychologists. in m.J. Cavanagh & s. palmer,educating coaching psychologists: responsesfrom the field. International Coaching PsychologyReview, 6(1), 114–117

spaten, o.m. (2011c). Middle managers’ troublesome andsuccessful experiences with coaching and a skillsevaluation – a mixed methods approach. paperpresented at the 3rd international Coachingpsychology Conference hosted by the britishpsychological society (invited speaker), London.

spaten, o.m. (2013). Trends in coaching literature andrecent coaching research published from 2007–2012.paper presented at the 3rd international summerinstitute hosted by ramboll management,Attractor and the taos institute (invited speaker),berlin.

spaten, o.m. & hansen, t.G.b. (2009). shouldlearning to coach be integrated in a graduatepsychology programme? Denmark’s first try. The Coaching Psychologist, 5(2), 104–109.

spaten, o.m., Løkken, L.o. & imer, A. (2011).Coaching af nystartede universitetsstuderende –et studie med anvendelsen af kvalitative ogkvantitative metoder. [A randomised controlledstudy on the impact of coaching with freshmanstudent on their level of depression, stress andanxiety]. The Danish Journal of Coaching Psychology,1(1), 13–34.

spaten, o.m., Kyndesen, A.i. & palmer, s. (2012).From prACtiCe to prAKsis – models in Danishcoaching psychology. Coaching PsychologyInternational, 5(1), 7–12.

stelter, r. (2008). Coaching: samtaler om oplevelser.[Coaching: Conversations on experiences]. in K. Gørtz & A. prehn (eds.), Coaching inperspective (pp.190–207). Copenhagen: hansreitzels Forlag.

stelter, r. (ed.) (2002). Coaching – læring – udvikling.[Coaching – learning – development]. Copenhagen:Dansk psykologisk Forlag

stober, D.r. (2006). Coaching from a humanisticperspective. in D.r. stober & A.m. Grant (eds.),Evidence based coaching handbook: Putting bestpractices to work for your clients. (pp.17–51).hoboken, nJ: Wiley.

stober, D.r. & Grant, A.m. (eds.). (2006). Evidencebased coaching handbook: Putting best practices to workfor your clients. hoboken, nJ: Wiley.

stober, D.r. & parry, C. (2005). Current challengesand future directions in coaching research. inm.J. Cavanagh, A.m. Grant & t. Kemp (eds.),Evidence-based coaching, Vol. 1: Theory, research andpractice from the behavioural sciences (pp.13–19).bowen hills, Australia: Australian Academic press.

szymanska, K. (2008). the downward arrowtechnique. The Coaching Psychologist, 4, 85–86.

søholm, t. (2006). Ledelsesbaseret coaching. [Leadership-based coaching]. Copenhagen: børsens Forlag.

ting, s. & riddle, D. (2006). A framework forleadership development coaching. in s. ting & p. scisco (eds.), The CCL handbook of coaching: A guide for the leader coach (pp.34–62). sanFrancisco: Jossey-bass.

Waldroop, J. & butler, t. (1996). the executive ascoach. Harvard Business Review, 74(6), 111–117.

Wasik, b. (1984). Teaching parents effective problemsolving: A handbook for professionals. unpublishedmanuscript. Chapel hill: university of northCarolina.

Welman, p. & bachkirova, t. (2010). the issue ofpower in the coaching relationship. in s. palmer& A. mcDowall (eds.), The coaching relationship:Putting people first (pp.139–158). new York:routledge.

Yukl, G. (2002). Leadership in organisations. uppersaddle river, nJ: prentice hall.




OVer the pAst seVerAL DeCADesthere has been a growth of interest inthe topic of mindfulness among

researchers within clinical psychology andthe health care disciplines, and it appearsthat the level of interest has risen sharplyover the past several years (Williams & Kabat-Zinn, 2011; shapiro, 2009). the contempo-rary study of mindfulness has resulted in anumber of theoretical developments andempirically-supported intervention strate-gies for facilitating change, enhancingpsychological functioning, and improvingwell-being. Given that coaching psychology isbroadly concerned with these sameoutcomes (palmer & Whybrow, 2007) andhas an alignment with evidence-basedmethodologies (Cavanagh & Grant, 2006;stober & Grant, 2006), contemporary scien-tific mindfulness research has the potentialto contribute significantly to coaching

psychology theory development and profes-sional practice.

the present paper reviews the scholarlyliterature on mindfulness as it relates tocoaching, examines the current evidence forthe use of mindfulness interventions in thecoaching context based on controlledstudies of psychological mindfulness inter-ventions conducted with non-clinical popu-lations, and explores ways in whichmindfulness theory and research cancontribute to coaching psychology. thepaper begins with an overview of mindful-ness intervention approaches that may berelevant to coaching psychology, including abrief review of the effects of mindfulnessinterventions in non-clinical populations.this is followed by a review of the scholarlyliterature on mindfulness and coaching. inthe third section, potential ways in whichmindfulness theory and research may

Paper

Mindfulness-based coaching:Conceptualisation, supporting evidenceand emerging applicationsMario Virgili

Purpose: The present paper reviews the scholarly literature on mindfulness and coaching and explores thepotential contributions to coaching psychology of empirically supported intervention approaches that arebased on or incorporate mindfulness concepts or practices. Method: The main psychological mindfulness intervention approaches are described and their effects withnon-clinical populations are reviewed. Evidence is then documented to suggest emerging applications ofmindfulness interventions to coaching psychology. Results: The evidence reviewed suggests that mindfulness may enhance the well-being and effectiveness ofcoaches who have a personal practice of mindfulness; improves the well-being and psychological functioningof clients who are taught mindfulness skills; offers a rich repertoire of evidence-based techniques and strategiesfor facilitating change; and may contribute to theoretical base of coaching psychology, particularly withregards to understanding the process of individual change. Conclusions: This paper makes suggestions for coaching practitioners, discusses practical guidelines forintegrating mindfulness into the practice of coaching, and makes recommendations for future research. Keywords: Coaching psychology; mindfulness; acceptance and commitment therapy; mindfulness-basedinterventions; MBSR.

contribute to coaching psychology andemerging areas of application are examined.the paper concludes with suggestions forfuture research, recommendations forcoaching practitioners, and practical guide-lines for integrating mindfulness into thepractice of coaching.

Contemporary mindfulness researchthe contemporary scientific study of mind-fulness involves several lines of investigation,including neurobiological research into theneural correlates of mindfulness processes innovice and experienced meditators (Cahn &polich, 2006; slagter et al., 2011; treadway &Lazar, 2010); basic experimental research incontrolled laboratory settings examining theimpact of brief mindfulness inductions oncognitive, emotional and self-regulatoryfunctioning (brown et al., 2007; Keng et al.,2011); and psychometric studies exploringthe relationships between measures of mind-fulness and other psychological constructs(baer et al., 2006; brown & ryan, 2003;hayes, Luoma et al., 2006). While each ofthese areas of study may have importantimplications for coaching psychology, thepresent paper focuses on the evidence thathas emerged from outcome studies that haveevaluated the effectiveness of mindfulnessintervention programmes on cognitive,emotional and behavioural functioning(baer, 2006; shapiro & Carlson, 2009; hayeset al., 1999, 2012).

Conceptualisation of mindfulness the concept of mindfulness has its origins inbuddhist teachings, and refers to a partic-ular mental faculty developed throughvarious mental disciplines (see bodhi, 2011;Gethin, 2011; nyanaponika, 1962). Withinthe contemporary health care and clinicalpsychology literature, mindfulness is typi-cally described as a type of attention to one’sexperiences (e.g. thoughts, emotions,memories, and sensations), as they arise,moment-by-moment, and in a manner that isnon-judgmental, non-reactive, open, andaccepting (e.g. baer & Krietemeyer, 2006;

bishop et al., 2004). Despite a generalacceptance of these concepts, a clearconsensus regarding the precise nature ofthe mindfulness construct has not beenestablished (Dorjee, 2010; Grossman & VanDam, 2011) and mindfulness has beenconceptualised in a variety of ways in theresearch literature, including as a state, atrait, an outcome, a range of cognitive orneurological processes, and a set of skills(Davidson, 2010; shapiro & Carlson, 2009;baer & Lykins, 2011).

shapiro and Carlson (2009) distinguishbetween mindfulness as an outcome, mindfulawareness or an ‘abiding presence’ (p.4), andmindfulness as a practice, ‘the systematicpractice of intentionally attending in anopen, caring, and discerning way’ (p.4).these two aspects of mindfulness arecaptured in one of the most influential defi-nitions of mindfulness, ‘the awareness thatemerges through paying attention onpurpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally to the unfolding of experi-ence moment to moment’ (Kabat-Zinn,2003, p.145).

mindfulness has frequently been concep-tualised as an individual trait, and a numberof trait measures have been developed (forreviews, see baer, 2011; baer et al., 2009).overall, trait mindfulness measures correlatepositively with measures of adaptive charac-teristics, and correlate negatively withmeasures of maladaptive functioning (baer,2011; for a critical perspective on mindful-ness measures, see Grossman, 2008, 2011).

mindfulness has also been conceptu-alised in terms of a set of processes and/orskills (e.g. Fletcher & hayes, 2005; Koerner,2012). For example, a prominent conceptu-alisation in the psychotherapeutic literatureequates mindfulness with four inter-relatedchange processes termed acceptance, defu-sion, contact with the present moment, andself-as-context (Fletcher & hayes, 2005).together with behavioural skills (i.e. valuing,commitment), these processes constitute theconstruct of psychological flexibility which isdefined as ‘contacting the present moment


Mindfulness and coaching psychology

without needless defence while persisting orchanging behaviour in the service of chosenvalues’ (hayes et al., 2011, p.155).

in the psychological literature, the termmindfulness may also refer to the constructdescribed by Langer (1989, 2009) as a flex-ible state of mind characterised by opennessto new information, the active creation ofnew categories, awareness of more than oneperspective, and an orientation to thepresent. Although this conception of mind-fulness bears a conceptual similarity to medi-tative forms of mindfulness, it is consideredto be a distinct theoretical construct (baer,2003; Langer, 1989) and will not beaddressed in the present paper.

the lack of consensus regarding thefundamental nature of mindfulness hasgiven rise to a degree of imprecision in howthe term is used in relation to other forms ofmeditation and to psychological constructs,such as flow, attention, awareness and self-regulation (Grossman & Van Dam, 2011;mikulas, 2011). Associated with this isongoing discussion regarding the extent towhich definitions of mindfulness in thepsychological literature reflect the under-standing of mindfulness as it occurs in thetraditional buddhist teachings (bodhi, 2011;Dreyfus, 2011; Grossman & Van Dam, 2011).moreover, concerns have been expressedabout the consequences of separating mind-fulness from its traditional context, therebynot only distorting the mindfulness concept,but also undermining its potential benefits(for discussion of these issues, see bodhi,2011; Dreyfus, 2011; Grossman & Van Dam,2011; Kang & Whittingham, 2010; mikulas,2011; Williams & Kabat-Zinn, 2011).

Psychological mindfulness interventionsA number of structured interventionprograms that are based upon or includemindfulness concepts and practices havenow been developed and evaluated with awide range of clinical conditions (forgeneral reviews, see baer & huss, 2008; baer& Krietemeyer, 2006). Collectively, theseintervention approaches are sometimes

called mindfulness- and acceptance-based inter-ventions (e.g. baer, 2003; baer & Krietemeyer,2006). it has also been proposed (hayes etal., 2011) that mindfulness-based interven-tions, along with several other recently devel-oped therapeutic approaches, constitute adistinct family of cognitive-behaviouralapproaches, termed contextual cognitivebehavioural therapies. Considered together,mindfulness- and acceptance-based interven-tions share a focus on the use of strategiesand techniques based on the acceptance ofexperiences as they arise in the presentmoment, a ‘distancing’ from the stream ofhabitual or automatic cognitive activity, anda focus on changing the client’s relationshipto psychological events rather than changingthe form or frequency of those events (baer& huss, 2008; hayes et al., 2011).

Despite these commonalities, the variouspsychological mindfulness interventionapproaches differ among themselves in anumber of ways, including how mindfulnessis conceptualised, whether or not formalmeditation practices are used, the relativeamount of psychological content and tech-niques included (e.g. behavioural and cogni-tive-behavioural strategies), and format used(i.e. group or individual) (baer & huss,2008; Chiesa & malinowski, 2011). it is alsoimportant to note that the psychologicalmindfulness interventions differ from mind-fulness forms of meditation as they occur intraditional settings (e.g. Vipassana, Zen),most notably with respect to how mindful-ness is understood and its overall aims (for adiscussion, see Chiesa & malinowski, 2011;Grossman, 2010; rapgay & bystrisky, 2009;Wallace & shapiro, 2006). in the presentpaper, the term psychological mindfulness inter-vention is used to differentiate mindfulnesspractices as they occur within psychologicaltreatment programs and mindfulness prac-tices that occur in the context of traditionalforms of meditation such as Vipassana andZen, termed here mindfulness meditation.

While a number of psychological mind-fulness interventions have been developed,those that currently appear to be relevant for


Mario Virgili

coaching include mindfulness-based stressreduction (mbsr; Kabat-Zinn, 1990) andacceptance and commitment therapy (ACt;hayes et al., 1999, 2012). these twoapproaches would appear to be of imme-diate relevance to coaching because theyhave generated the most empirical supportin both clinical and non-clinical populations;constitute theoretically coherent and empir-ically-supported change methodologies inaccordance with the requirement thatcoaching psychology be evidence-based (fora discussion of the scientist-practitionermodel in coaching, see Cavanagh & Grant,2006); and are considered to have applica-bility beyond the clinical context (baer &Krietemeyer, 2006; Gaudiano, 2011; teasdaleet al., 2003).

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (mbsr).mbsr is a group-based structured interven-tion that is explicitly based on traditionalbuddhist mindfulness meditation and wasoriginally developed in a behavioural medi-cine setting for patients with stress-relatedand chronic pain conditions (Kabat-Zinn,1990, 2011). in its standard form, mbsrconsists of an eight-week group programmefor around 30 participants, including three-hour weekly sessions, a six-hour silentretreat, and daily at-home formal andinformal mindfulness meditation practice.Abbreviated versions of mbsr have alsobeen developed for working populations(e.g. Klatt et al., 2009; mackenzie et al.,2006). the content of a standard mbsrincludes instruction and training in formalmindfulness practices (sitting meditation,mindful yoga, and body scan) as well assessions on specific topics such as stress reac-tivity, communication skills, and self-accept-ance. mbsr aims at developing participants’awareness and acceptance skills, therebyenabling them to relate to their experiencein a more open, accepting, and non-judge-mental manner. With continued practice,participants develop the ability to lessen theimpact of habitual and reactive patterns ofcognition, feeling and behaviour which

allows them to respond more effectively tovarious life situations as these arise moment-by-moment.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACt).ACt was developed as an individual-leveltherapeutic approach in the 1980s as part ofa behavioural research programme intolanguage and cognition (hayes et al., 1999,2001, 2012). more recently a number ofgroup-format programmes have also beendeveloped for working adults (e.g. bond &bunce, 2000; Flaxman & bond, 2010b) andis called Acceptance and Commitmenttraining in this context. ACt has not tradi-tionally taught formal mindfulness medita-tion practices, but utilises metaphors,experiential exercises, and other techniquesin order to promote mindfulness (hayes &strosahl, 2004; see Forsyth & eifert, 2007 foran exception to the formal use of medita-tion). ACt combines mindfulness/accep-tance skills with behaviour change skills forthe purpose of increasing an individual’swillingness to come into fuller and unde-fended contact with present moment experi-ence, recognise his or her values, andcommit to behaviours that are consistentwith those values (hayes & strosahl, 2004;Levin & hayes, 2009).

Outcome evidence the psychological mindfulness interventionsdiscussed in the present article have beenapplied to a range of mental and physicalhealth conditions, including anxiety disor-ders, depression, chronic pain, substanceabuse, chronic diseases, and eating disorders(baer, 2006; blackledge et al., 2009;Didonna, 2009; hayes, Follette et al., 2004;mcCraken, 2011; roemer & orsillo, 2009;shapiro & Carlson, 2009). reviews of theoutcome literature have generally supportedthe effectiveness of these interventions forthese conditions (e.g. baer, 2003; bohlmeijeret al., 2010; Chiesa & serretti, 2011; Fjorbacket al., 2011; Greeson, 2009; Grossman et al.,2004; hoffman et al., 2010; Keng et al., 2011;mars & Abbey, 2010; merkes, 2010;



pull, 2008; shennan et al., 2011; for reviewsthat have not supported mindfulness inter-ventions, see Öst, 2008; powers et al., 2009;toneatto & nguyen, 2007).

A smaller number of studies have exam-ined the impact of these interventions on avariety of non-clinical populations, includinghealth care professionals (e.g. brinkborg etal., 2011; shapiro et al., 2005), employees ofprivate and public organisations (e.g. bond& bunce, 2000; Davidson et al., 2003;Flaxman & bond, 2010b), adults from thecommunity (e.g. Farb et al., 2007; Williamset al., 2001), and college students (e.g. Jainet al., 2007; masuda et al., 2007). overall, thefindings of such outcome studies indicatethat mbsr/mbis and ACt can have benefi-cial effects on psychological functioning andwell-being in healthy adults (Chiesa &serretti, 2009; eberth & sedlmeier, 2012;Flaxman & bond, 2010a; irving et al., 2009).For example, considering only the findingsfrom controlled trials with non-clinicalpopulations, mbsr has been reported tohave a positive effect on psychologicaldistress, burnout symptoms, relaxation, posi-tive and negative emotions, perceived stress,interpersonal relationships and satisfactionwith life (Astin, 1997; Carson et al., 2004;Cohen-Katz et al., 2005; Davidson et al.,2003; Jain et al., 2007; Klatt et al., 2009;mackenzie et al., 2006; nyklícek & Kuijpers,2008; poulin et al., 2008; shapiro et al.,2005). similarly, in controlled interventionstudies, ACt has been reported to have apositive effect on psychological distress,burnout symptoms, perceived stress and atti-tudinal and behavioural changes (bond &bunce, 2000; brinkborg et al., 2011; Flaxman& bond, 2010b, 2010c; hayes, bissett et al.,2004; Luoma, hayes, twohig et al., 2007;masuda et al., 2007; Varra et al., 2008).

Processes of change and treatment componentsWith accumulating evidence supporting theeffectiveness of psychological mindfulnessinterventions, research attention has turnedto the processes or mechanisms wherebythese interventions have their effects. With

respect to mbsr and other mbis, proposedmechanisms include self-reported mindful-ness, attention regulation, emotional regula-tion, decentering, reperceiving, positiveemotion, and self-compassion (for reviews,see baer, 2010; Chambers et al., 2009; hölzelet al., 2011). the evidence from studies thathave conducted mediation analyses gener-ally support the role of self-reported mind-fulness (bränström et al., 2010; Carmody &baer, 2008; nyklícek & Kuijpers, 2008) andself-compassion (Keng et al., 2012) for theeffects of mbsr on relevant outcomes. Withrespect to ACt, there is evidence to supportboth the treatment components and thetherapeutic processes suggested by thepsychological flexibility model (for reviews,see Gaudiano, 2011; hayes et al., 2011; Levinet al., 2011; ruiz, 2010).

in summary, evidence from controlledintervention trials indicates that the short-term practice of mindfulness skills (i.e. up toeight weeks) confers a number of benefitsfor psychological functioning and well-beingin both clinical and non-clinical populations.While the evidence is positive, several theo-retical and methodological issues have beenidentified, including the absence of a cleardefinition and operationalisation of themindfulness construct, a reliance on self-report measures, and limited researchregarding both the precise contribution ofdifferent components of multi-componentprograms to their overall effectiveness andthe long-term effects of interventions(Chiesa et al., 2011; Chiesa & serretti, 2009;Davidson, 2010; Gaudiano, 2011; hayes etal., 2011; Keng et al., 2011).

Coaching and mindfulness literatureto date, only a handful of scholarly publica-tions have had as their major focus mindful-ness and coaching. Although the presentarticle is concerned with recently developedempirically supported interventions, it isnoted that mindfulness and related conceptshave been utilised in professional coachingfrom its inception to the present day. For example, in The Inner Game of Tennis,


Mario Virgili

timothy Gallwey (1974) emphasised theimportance of present-moment non-judge-mental awareness for personal effectiveness.similarly, Fernando Flores emphasised thedevelopment of self-awareness, or the abilityto observe experience in a non-attached way,as a central feature of Ontological Coaching(see Flaherty, 2010).

more recently, passmore and marianetti(2007) have explored the role of mindful-ness in coaching and suggest that practicingmindfulness can assist professional coachesin their preparation for coaching sessions,maintaining focus and emotional detach-ment during coaching sessions, as well asproviding a set of skills that can be taught tocoachees for managing stress and devel-oping resilience. similarly, Chaskalson(2011) suggests that mindfulness is a meansby which coaches can extend and enhancetheir existing coaching skills either directlyas a set of techniques and skills that can beincorporated into a coaching programme,or indirectly through the enhancement ofnon-specific factors that can enhancecoaching relationships. Chaskalson (2011)also provides a number of brief examples ofhow mindfulness can be incorporated intocoaching relationships in the workplace.Collard and Walsh (2008) describe a mind-fulness-based coaching intervention, sensoryawareness mindfulness training (sAmt),which consists of a combination of mindful-ness and cognitive therapy skills, and wasdeveloped specifically for use in non-thera-peutic settings. moran (2010) has proposedthat ACt, which combines mindfulness andbehaviour change skills, constitutes anevidence-based framework for executivecoaching and describes how it may be partic-ularly helpful in enabling leaders to developa range of crisis-resiliency and values-directed behavioural change managementskills.

A number of books written for profes-sional coaches also address mindfulness tovarious extents: blonna (2010) describes howACt principles and techniques can be usedin a general coaching context; silsbee (2008,

2010) outlines an approach to coachingbased on mindfulness principles and tech-niques; Gardner and moore (2007) provide acase study describing the application of anACt-based performance enhancementapproach in a workplace developmentalcontext; and Grant and Greene (2004, 2005)incorporate mindful breathing into theirsolutions-focused coaching model.

to date there is very little empiricalresearch on the use of mindfulness conceptsor skills in a coaching context. in an uncon-trolled intervention study, Collard and Walsh(2008) report that a group mindfulnesstraining programme reduced levels of self-reported stress in a small sample (N=11) ofuniversity employees. spence et al. (2008)demonstrate that mindfulness training usedin conjunction with solutions-focused andbehavioural coaching enhanced the attain-ment of health goals in comparison to healtheducation alone. Finally, singh andcolleagues have developed a mindfulness-based mentoring intervention that has beendemonstrated to improve aspects of psychi-atric team functioning (singh et al., 2006)and the adoption of different treatmentmodalities among staff in facilities for indi-viduals with developmental disabilities(singh et al., 2002).

Applications of mindfulness to coachingpsychologyCoach well-being and effectivenessAs previously suggested (passmore & mari-anetti, 2007; marianetti & passmore, 2010),engaging in a personal practice of mindful-ness may enhance a coach’s well-being andeffectiveness. indirect evidence in support ofthe well-being effects of mindfulness practicecomes from studies that have examined theeffects of various forms of mindfulnesstraining with experienced and trainee thera-pists and health care providers. For example,participation in mindfulness training is asso-ciated with reduced self-reported stress(Cohen & miller, 2009; shapiro et al., 2007),psychological distress (rosenzweig et al.,2003; shapiro et al., 1998, 2007) and



burnout (Cohen-Katz et al., 2005) in healthcare providers and therapists. in addition, itis associated with increased positive emotion(shapiro et al., 2007), self-compassion(shapiro et al., 2005, 2007) and quality oflife (bruce et al., 2002).

A second potential benefit for coacheswho maintain a personal practice of mind-fulness is that it may enhance qualities andskills that are considered important to aneffective coaching relationship. in thepsychotherapeutic context, it has beensuggested that mindfulness trainingdevelops skills that can strengthen the thera-peutic relationship, such as attention, pres-ence, empathy, self-regulation andcompassion (Germer et al., 2005; Falb &pargament, 2012; hick & bien, 2008;shapiro & Carlson, 2009); these qualitiesand skills are also relevant to the coachingrelationship (o’broin & palmer, 2007). indi-rect empirical support for this propositioncomes from studies with health careproviders demonstrating that various mind-fulness practices are associated withincreased empathy (shapiro et al., 1998),self-awareness, awareness and acceptance ofthe client (Christopher et al., 2006), abilityto stay focused (Christopher et al., 2006;schure et al., 2008), emotional intelligence(Cohen & miller, 2009), and the ability to beattentive and listen deeply to patients’concerns (beckman et al., 2012).

A third potential benefit for coaches whopractice mindfulness may come in the formof enhanced client outcomes, independentlyof whether mindfulness techniques aretaught. For example, in a randomisedcontrolled trial, Grepmair et al. (2007)found that the patients of trainee counsel-lors who had been taught Zen meditationdisplayed greater reductions in overall symp-toms, and reported a better understandingof their difficulties and possibilities forimprovement than clients of non-meditatingtrainees. however, on the basis of a review ofthe research literature, escuriex and Labbé(2011) concluded that the research wasinconclusive regarding whether health care

providers who either practiced mindfulnessor were higher on measures of mindfulnessobtained better results with clients thanothers who did not practice mindfulness orscored lower on measures of mindfulness.the authors concluded that more research isrequired to determine whether or not thebenefits of mindfulness for therapists alsoprovide positive outcomes for their clients.

Coachee outcomesthe evidence from controlled interventionstudies with non-clinical populationsreviewed previously indicates that adults whoare taught mindfulness practices and skillsdemonstrate improvements in aspects ofpsychological functioning and well-being,including psychological distress, negativeemotions, stress and burnout symptoms,general relaxation, positive emotions, satis-faction with life, and interpersonal func-tioning (Chiesa & serretti, 2009; eberth &sedlmeier, 2012; Flaxman & bond, 2010a;irving et al., 2009). it can be expected thatcoachees who are taught mindfulness prac-tices and skills will also exhibit theseoutcomes and the available researchsupports the use of mindfulness interven-tions with the types of coaching for whichthese outcomes are relevant (e.g. lifecoaching, personal coaching). As controlledintervention studies of the effects of psycho-logical mindfulness interventions havealmost exclusively focussed on self-reportedpsychological distress and well-beingmeasures, there is less evidence currentlyavailable for types of coaching that are inter-ested in outcomes (e.g. leadership compe-tencies, organisational effectiveness) thatmay be relevant to other types of coachingsuch as executive and leadership coaching.this is an area where collaborative researchbetween coaching psychologists and mind-fulness researchers may benefit both areas.

Frameworks, strategies and techniquesA third contribution of mindfulness tocoaching is through extending a coach’srepertoire of evidence-based strategies,


Mario Virgili

frameworks and techniques for enhancingpsychological well-being and functioning,and facilitating change. the psychologicalmindfulness interventions discussed in thepresent article have developed a wide rangeof techniques, including both formal medi-tation practices and other techniques that donot utilise formal meditation (for details, seebaer & huss, 2008; baer & Krietemeyer,2006; hayes et al., 2012; strosahl et al.,2004). As such, the psychological mindful-ness approaches may be seen as a source oftheoretically-grounded and evidence-basedresources that can contribute to coachingpsychology practice (see Grant, 2007; stober& Grant, 2006).

specific techniques that may be of rele-vance to coaching include traditional mind-fulness meditation practices such as mindfulbreathing, the body scan technique, everydaymindfulness (Kabat-Zinn, 1990), and loving-kindness meditation (Fredrickson et al.,2008), as well as psychological techniques forpromoting experiential acceptance, pres-ence, attention, cognitive defusion, and self-compassion (hayes et al., 2012; neff, 2011;shapiro et al., 2006; Williams et al., 2000).these techniques are readily adaptable to acoaching context and can be used to comple-ment coaching strategies across differenttheoretical modalities. For example, Grantand Greene (2004) use mindful breathing asa specific technique for managing the nega-tive emotions associated with makingchanges in the context of a solutions-focusedcoaching model.

While specific mindfulness techniquescan be used to complement a coach’sexisting theoretical model or approach,psychological mindfulness approaches mayalso serve as distinct theoretical frameworksupon which to base coaching practices. inparticular, the ACt model is now sufficientlydeveloped to serve as an independent frame-work for application to coaching practice(moran, 2010). moreover, with its emphasison values-directed behavioural changemanagement skills, the ACt model appearsparticularly well-suited for workplace

coaching (hayes, bunting et al., 2006;moran, 2010). Although less well elaboratedthan the ACt model, a version of mbsrcalled Mindfulness-Based Mind Fitness Training(mmFt; stanley & schaldach, 2011) mayalso be a suitable framework for workplacecoaching, particularly in the development ofresilience in professionals who are exposedto intense and chronic cognitive, emotionaland physical demands (heydenfeldt et al.,2011a; stanley et al., 2011).

Theoretical developmentsA fourth broad area in which the study ofmindfulness may make a contribution is tothe theoretical base of coaching psychology.theoretical developments that haveemerged from the study of mindfulness thatmay be relevant to coaching psychologyinclude the neurological aspects of learning(slagter et al., 2011), processes and mecha-nisms underlying human change (baer,2010; hayes et al., 2011; teasdale &Chaskalson, 2011), emotional and self-regu-latory processes (Chambers et al., 2009), andperformance enhancement (Gardner &moore, 2007).

perhaps of greatest relevance to coachingpsychology is the emerging view that psycho-logical mindfulness interventions involveprocesses of change that operate differentlyfrom traditional cognitive-behavioural treat-ments (barraca, 2012; brown & holt, 2011;hayes et al., 2011; teasdale & Chaskalson,2011; but see also hofmann & Asmundson,2008). traditional cognitive-behaviouraltherapies have developed a large array ofmethods predicated on the idea that we canand should work at directly reducing ormodifying the content of internal experi-ence (thoughts, feelings, sensations, andmemories), such as cognitive re-structuring,challenging the validity of dysfunctionalthoughts, and substituting more realistic orpositive thoughts. by contrast, psychologicalmindfulness approaches advocate the use ofprocesses such as decentering, cognitive defu-sion, and experiential acceptance, whichalter the function of unwanted internal



experience rather than its content (hayes etal., 2011). these approaches emphasise theimportance of greater openness to, andacceptance of, one’s own experience as theprecondition for sustained positive change(teasdale & Chaskalson, 2011). thisemerging view of human change is having asignificant impact in the areas of clinical andhealth psychology, and is likely to have asimilar impact upon coaching psychology inthe future.

A second level of theoretical contributionfor coaching psychology may emerge at theinterface of collaboration between mindful-ness research and positive psychology (e.g.baer & Lykins, 2011; brown & holt, 2011;shapiro, 2009). in its original buddhistcontext, mindfulness is part of a broaderprogramme that has as its aims not only theamelioration of human suffering, but alsothe cultivation of advanced states of well-being, positive emotions and qualities, andpsychological functioning (ricard, 2006;shapiro, 2009; styron, 2005; Wallace, 2005).Given its origins in the domains of clinicalpsychology and behavioural medicine, thecontemporary study of mindfulness withinWestern scientific contexts has focused onmindfulness meditation as a therapeuticmeans; more recently there have been callsfor a greater emphasis on mindfulness as ameans of developing positive qualities andenhanced functioning (shapiro, 2009;shapiro & Carlson, 2009) and the relation-ships between positive psychology and mind-fulness concepts have begun to be explored(baer & Lykins, 2011; shapiro, 2009; shapiro& Carlson, 2009; styron, 2005; Wallace &shapiro, 2006).

there are parallels between the broadaims of mindfulness regarded in this way andthe aims of positive psychology coaching interms of a focus on the development of posi-tive qualities, and optimal states of well-beingand psychological functioning (for a discus-sion of positive psychology and coaching, seebiswas-Diener & Dean, 2007; Grant &spence, 2010; Linley & harrington, 2007).Despite this broad shared aim, however,

these two approaches differ in terms of theways optimal well-being and functioning areunderstood and the means employed toattain these outcomes (discussion of theseissues is beyond the scope of the presentarticle; see baer & Lykins, 2011; brown &holt, 2011; ekman et al., 2005; Wallace &shapiro, 2006).

While the contemporary study of mind-fulness can offer coaching psychology modelsof advanced human well-being and func-tioning, as well as a range of practices to assistin its development, mindfulness researchwithin a coaching context may be a meanswhereby the scope of mindfulness theory andresearch may be expanded beyond a focus onthe amelioration of distress and reduction ofsymptoms to an exploration of positive quali-ties, and optimal states of well-being andpsychological functioning (shapiro, 2009;shapiro & Carlson, 2009).

Towards mindfulness-based coachingRecommendations for future researchthe evidence from controlled interventiontrials reviewed in the present article indi-cates that the short-term practice of mindful-ness skills (i.e. up to eight weeks) confers anumber of benefits for psychological func-tioning and well-being in both clinical andnon-clinical populations. this researchprovides a strong theoretical and empiricalfoundation for the development of interven-tion strategies within a coaching context.Given the growth of interest in the potentialbenefits to organisations and theiremployees of psychological mindfulnessinterventions (bond 2004; bond & hayes,2002; Flaxman & bond, 2006, 2010a; Ciar-rochi & blackledge, 2006; heydenfeldt et al.,2011b; Williams, 2006; marianetti & pass-more, 2010), there is significant scope forthe development of research at the interfaceof mindfulness and coaching psycho-logy inorganisational settings.

At this early stage a full range of researchmethodologies may be used, including casestudies, qualitative designs, and controlledtrials. For progress to be made it is essential


Mario Virgili

that researchers address the theoretical andmethodological issues identified in reviewsof the mindfulness outcome literature. Forexample, specificity regarding how themindfulness construct is conceptualised andoperationalised in each research context isan important consideration for futureresearch studies (Davidson, 2010; Dorjee,2010). mindfulness coaching studies couldattempt to go beyond measures of psycho-logical dysfunction and distress as outcomemeasures to include validated measures ofwell-being, development, and effectiveness.in the case of workplace, leadership andexecutive coaching, studies could includemeasures of organisationally-relevant out-comes, such as work performance, interper-sonal effectiveness and the development ofleadership skills and competencies (for adiscussion of outcome measures in coaching,see Grant et al., 2010).

Recommendations for coaching practiceseveral issues emerge from a considerationof the research that have implications for theuse of mindfulness within a coachingcontext and for the future development ofmindfulness-based coaching in general. thefirst of these pertains to questions of trainingand competence in the use of mindfulnessand related practices (Crane et al., 2012). itis generally recommended that therapistswho wish to use mindfulness techniques andprocesses maintain a personal practice ofmindfulness, and this advice would hold forprofessional coaches as well. For example,the importance of ongoing mindfulnesspractice has been emphasised as a require-ment for the use of mbsr and other mbis(Kabat-Zinn, 2011; segal et al., 2002)because in the absence of ongoing experien-tial engagement with mindfulness practicean adequate understanding and expressionof mindfulness is unlikely to emerge(Grossman & Van Dam, 2011; segal,Williams & teasdale, 2002). Although asimilar requirement for formal mindfulnessmeditation practice has not been advocatedfor the use of ACt, it is recommended that

ACt principles be incorporated into thepractitioner’s own life (hayes & strosahl,2004) and that the practitioner be thor-oughly familiar with all the skills in the ACttreatment protocol (see Luoma, hayes &Walser, 2007).

mindfulness psychological approachesalso typically require the client to engage inat-home activities to support in-sessiontraining. For mbsr this involves 45 minutesat-home meditation practice daily during thecourse of the eight-week programme (Kabat-Zinn, 1990) and this may limit the applica-bility of mbsr and other mbis to thecoaching context for many clients, for whomovert activity is valued (Kabat-Zinn, 2005).For ACt there is an expectation that theclient undertake a range of exercises andbehavioural activities between sessions andthis may be more in keeping with standardpsychological approaches to coaching.

Whereas ACt was developed as an indi-vidual therapy, mbsr and its variants havebeen designed and evaluated as group-levelinterventions, and there is little guidance onhow these programmes may be best used atthe individual level (but see Wahbeh et al.,2012). this issue is further complicated by thelack of clear evidence regarding the relativeeffectiveness of different components inmulti-component programmes (Keng et al.,2011) and the possibility that at least some ofthe beneficial effects of mindfulness interven-tion programmes are due to factors related toparticipating in a group format (Dimidjian &Linehan, 2003). it cannot be assumed thatthe use of certain mindfulness techniques andstrategies in the one-to-one format will resultin the same benefits that have been observedin evaluations of group-format interventions.it should be noted, however, that the ACtapproach having been developed as an indi-vidual therapeutic approach provides consid-erable guidance for use in a one-to-oneformat (e.g. hayes et al., 2012).

As indicated previously, there are now arange of mindfulness approaches available,including traditional forms of mindfulnessmeditation, mbsr and other mbis, and



other psychological interventions that incor-porate mindfulness and related techniques.these vary in terms of how mindfulness isunderstood and practiced, and in terms ofdemonstrated outcomes and putative under-lying mechanisms (baer & Krietemeyer,2006; Chiesa & malinowski, 2011). more-over, mindfulness is not itself a unitaryprocedure and the practice of mindfulnessinvolves a number of component activities,the specific effects of which are not clearlyunderstood in the scientific literature(Dimidjian & Linehan, 2003; Dorjee, 2010).it is important for the future progress ofmindfulness-based coaching that the distinc-tions between mindfulness approaches,concepts, practices and techniques be main-tained (Dorjee, 2010), particularly whendisseminating information about the effectsof mindfulness in a coaching context.

Integration of mindfulness into coaching practiceto the extent that a mindfulness approach isseen as potentially fruitful for coaching, howmight mindfulness be integrated intocoaching? Writing on the relationshipbetween psychotherapy and mindfulness,Germer et al. (2005) proposed three mainpathways through which mindfulness mightbe integrated into therapeutic practice. thisframework may also be applied to describehow mindfulness may be integrated into thepractice of coaching. the first way in whichmindfulness may be integrated intocoaching practice, termed here the mindfulcoach, is through the enhanced interper-sonal qualities, such as presence, attentive-ness and openness, that a coach whopractices mindfulness can bring to thecoaching session, irrespective of the theoret-ical coaching model used. in the secondpathway, mindfulness-informed coaching, acoach may use concepts and ideas informedby his or her own mindfulness practice andknowledge of buddhist psychology andmindfulness research, even though mindful-ness practices are not explicitly taught. Forexample, concepts suggested by shapiro andCarlson (2009) as being relevant for the

therapeutic context, such as impermanenceand change, conscious responding asopposed to automatic reacting and accept-ance, also readily lend themselves to theissues coaching clients may be addressing.moreover, such concepts are not unfamiliarin the broader management literature (e.g.borden & shekhawat, 2010; Gyatso &muyzenberg, 2008; senge et al., 2007) andthese may be a helpful resource for inte-grating mindfulness into workplace andexecutive coaching. the final pathway, mind-fulness-based coaching, involves explicitlyteaching formal and informal mindfulnessskills as the central processes for facilitatinglearning and change. As the evidencereviewed in the present paper demonstrates,there is now a large and growing literatureon specific mindfulness exercises and multi-component intervention programmes forcoaches to draw upon, as well as manyavenues for training in these approaches.

Concluding commentsthe present paper has reviewed evidencefrom studies of psychological mindfulnessinterventions to suggest a number of contri-butions to, and emerging applications of,mindfulness for coaching psychology. insummary, the contemporary study of psycho-logical mindfulness interventions provides arepertoire of theoretically and empiricallygrounded techniques and practices forassisting coaches and their clients to bettermanage difficult emotional and cognitiveexperience, enhance well-being and improvepsychological functioning. beyond its use asa stress-reduction method, mindfulness mayalso provide new ways of understanding andfacilitating personal change, well-being andoptimal psychological functioning. in addi-tion, the study of mindfulness within acoaching context may be a means wherebythe paradigm of mindfulness research isexpanded to include positive psychologicalfunctioning. it is hoped that the ideascontained in the present paper can stimulateresearch at the interface of mindfulness andcoaching psychology and contribute to the


Mario Virgili



development of an evidence-based and theoretically-grounded mindfulness-basedapproach to coaching.

Acknowledgementsthis paper was completed in partial fulfil-ment of the requirements for the Doctoratein psychology (organisational) at theuniversity of south Australia.

the author would like to thank Dr A.J.mcDowell and ms J.K. slack for helpfulcomments on earlier versions of this paper.

CorrespondenceMario Virgiliprivate practice,po box 189, prospect 5082,Adelaide, Australia.e-mail: [email protected]

ReferencesAstin, J.A. (1997). stress reduction through

mindfulness meditation. effects on psychologicalsymptomatology, sense of control, and spiritualexperiences. Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics, 66,97–106.

baer, r.A. (2003). mindfulness training as clinicalintervention: A conceptual and empirical review.Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10, 125–143.

baer, r.A. (ed.) (2006). Mindfulness-based treatmentapproaches: Clinician’s guide to evidence base andapplications. London: Academic press.

baer, r.A. (2011). measuring mindfulness. Contem-porary Buddhism, 12(1), 241–261.

baer, r.A. (ed.) (2010). Assessing mindfulness andacceptance processes in clients: Illuminating the theoryand practice of change. oakland, CA: newharbinger.

baer, r.A. & huss, D.b. (2008). mindfulness- andacceptance-based therapies. in J.L. Lebow (ed.),Twenty-first century psychotherapies: Contemporaryapproaches to theory and practice (pp.123–166).Chichester: Wiley.

baer, r.A. & Krietemeyer, J. (2006). overview ofmindfulness- and acceptance-based treatmentapproaches. in r.A. baer (ed.), Mindfulness-basedtreatment approaches: Clinician’s guide to evidence baseand applications (pp.3–27). London: Academicpress.

baer, r.A. & Lykins, e.L.b. (2011). mindfulness andpositive psychological functioning. in K.m.sheldon, t.b. Kashdan & m.F. steger (eds.,Designing positive psychology: Taking stock and movingforward (pp.335–348). oxford: oxford universitypress.

baer, r.A., smith, G.t., hopkins, J., Krietemeyer, J. &toney, L. (2006). using self-report assessmentmethods to explore facets of mindfulness.Assessment, 13, 27–45.

baer, r.A., Walsh, e. & Lykins, e.L.b. (2009).Assessment of mindfulness. in F. Didonna (ed.)Clinical handbook of mindfulness (pp.153–168). new York: springer.

barraca, J. (2012). mental control from a third-wavebehavior therapy perspective. International Journalof Clinical and Health Psychology, 12(1), 109–121.

beckman, h.b., Wendland, m., mooney, C., Krasner,m.s., Quill, t.e., suchman, A.L. et al. (2012). theimpact of a programme in mindfulcommunication on primary care physicians.Academic Medicine, 87(6), 815–819.

bishop, s.r., Lau, m., shapiro, s., Carlson, L.,Anderson, n.D., Carmody, J.F. et al. (2004).mindfulness: A proposed operational definition.Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 11, 230–241.

biswas-Diener, r. & Dean, b. (2007). Positive psychologycoaching: Putting the science of happiness to work foryour clients. hoboken, nJ: Wiley.

blackledge, J.t., Ciarrochi, J.V. & Deane, F.p. (eds.)(2009). Acceptance and commitment therapy:contemporary theory research and practice.Queensland, Australia: Australian Academic press.

blonna, r. (2010). Maximise your coaching effectivenesswith acceptance and commitment therapy. oakland,CA: new harbinger.

bodhi, b. (2011). What does mindfulness really mean?A canonical perspective. Contemporary Buddhism,12(1), 19–39.

bohlmeijer, e., prenger, r., taal, e. & Cuijpers, p.(2010). the effects of mindfulness-based stressreduction therapy on mental health of adults witha chronic medical disease: A meta-analysis. Journalof Psychosomatic Research, 68, 539–544.

bond, F.W. & bunce, D. (2000). mediators of changein emotion-focused and problem-focused worksitestress management interventions. Journal ofOccupational Health Psychology, 5(1), 156–163.


bond, F.W. (2004). ACt for stress. in s.C. hayes &K.D. strosahl (eds.), A practical guide to acceptanceand commitment therapy (pp.275–293). new York:springer.

bond, F.W. & hayes, s.C. (2002). ACt at work. in F.bond & W. Dryden (eds.) Handbook of brief cognitivebehaviour therapy (pp.117–140). Chichester: Wiley.

borden, m.e. & shekhawat, p.s. (2010). buddhistpractice and principles and their place inorganisations. in s.s. nandram & m.e. borden(eds.), Spirituality in business (pp.141–152). berlin:springer-Verlag.

bränström, r., Kvillemo, p., brandberg, Y. &moskowitz, J.t. (2010). self-report mindfulness asa mediator of psychological well-being in a stressreduction intervention for cancer patients: A randomised study. Annals of Behavioral Medicine,39, 151–161.

brinkborg, h., michanek, J., hesser, h. & berglund,G. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapyfor the treatment of stress among social workers:A randomised controlled trial. Behaviour Researchand Therapy, 49, 389–398.

brown, K.W. & holt, m. (2011). experientialprocessing and the integration of bright and darksides of the human psyche. in K.m. sheldon, t.b.Kashdan & m.F. steger (eds.), Designing positivepsychology: Taking stock and moving forward(pp.147–159). oxford: oxford university press.

brown, K.W. & ryan, r.m. (2003). the benefits ofbeing present: mindfulness and its role inpsychological well-being. Journal of Personality andSocial Psychology, 84, 822–848.

brown, K.W., ryan, r.m. & Creswell, D.J. (2007).mindfulness: theoretical foundations andevidence for its salutary effects. PsychologicalInquiry, 18(4), 211–237.

bruce, A., Young, L., turner, L., Vander Wal, r. &Linden, W. (2002). meditation-based stressreduction: holistic practice in nursing education.in L.e. Young & V.e. hayes (eds.), Transforminghealth promotion practice: Concepts, issues, andapplications (pp.241–252). Victoria, britishColumbia: Davis.

Cahn, r. & polich, J. (2006). meditation states andtraits: eeG, erp, and neuroimaging studies.Psychological Bulletin, 132, 180–211.

Carmody, J. & baer, r.A. (2008). relationshipsbetween mindfulness practice and levels ofmindfulness, medical and psychologicalsymptoms and well-being in a mindfulness-basedstress reduction programme. Journal of BehavioralMedicine, 31, 23–33.

Carson, J.W., Carson, K.m., Gil, K.m. & baucom, D.h.(2004). mindfulness-based relationship enhance-ment. Behavior Therapy, 35, 471–494.

Cavanagh, m.J. & Grant, A.m. (2006). Coachingpsychology and the scientist-practitioner model.in s. Corrie & D. Lane (eds.), The modern scientistpractitioner (pp.146–157). new York: routledge.

Chambers, r., Gullone, e. & Allen, n.b. (2009).mindful emotion regulation: An integrativereview. Clinical Psychology Review, 29, 560–572.

Chaskalson, m. (2011). The mindful workplace:Developing resilient individuals and resonantorganisations with MBSR. oxford: Wiley-blackwell.

Chiesa, A., Calati, r. & serretti, A. (2011). Doesmindfulness training improve cognitive abilities?A systematic review of neuropsychologicalfindings. Clinical Psychology Review, 31(8), 449–464.

Chiesa, A. & malinowski, p. (2011). mindfulness-basedapproaches: Are they all the same? Journal ofClinical Psychology, 67(4), 404–424.

Chiesa, A. & serretti, A. (2009). mindfulness-basedstress reduction for stress management in healthypeople: A review and meta-analysis. Journal ofAlternative and Complementary Medicine, 15(5),593–600.

Chiesa, A. & serretti, A. (2011). mindfulness-basedcognitive therapy for psychiatric disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PsychiatryResearch, 187, 441–453.

Crane, r.s., Kuyken, W., Williams, J.m.G., hastings,r.p., Cooper, L. & Fennell, m.J.V. (2012).Competence in teaching mindfulness-basedcourses: Concepts, development and assessment.Mindfulness, 3, 76–84.

Christopher, J.C., Christopher, s.e., Dunnagan, t. &schure, m. (2006). teaching self-care throughmindfulness practices: the application of yoga,meditation, and qigong to counselor training.Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 46(4), 494–509.

Ciarrochi, J. & blackledge, J.t. (2006). mindfulness-based emotional intelligence training: A newapproach to reducing human suffering andpromoting effectiveness. in J. Ciarrochi, J.p.Forgas & J.D. mayer (eds.), Emotional intelligencein everyday life (2nd ed., pp.206–228). new York:psychology press.

Cohen, J.s. & miller, L.J. (2009). interpersonalmindfulness training for well-being: A pilot studywith psychology graduate students. Teachers CollegeRecord, 111(12), 2760–2774.

Cohen-Katz, J., Wiley, s.D., Capuano, t., baker, D.m. &shapiro, s. (2005). the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on nurse stress andburnout, part ii: A quantitative and qualitativestudy. Holistic Nursing Practice, 19, 26–35.

Collard, p. & Walsh, J. (2008). sensory awarenessmindfulness training in coaching: Accepting life’schallenges. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 26, 30–37.

Mario Virgili



Crane, r.s., Kuyken, W., Williams, J.m.G., hastings,r.p., Cooper, L. & Fennell, m.J.V. (2012).Competence in teaching mindfulness-basedcourses: Concepts, development and assessment.Mindfulness, 3(1), 76–84.

Davidson, r.J. (2010). empirical explorations ofmindfulness: Conceptual and methodologicalconundrums. Emotion, 10(1), 8–11.

Davidson, r.J., Kabat-Zinn, J., schumacher, J.,rosenkranz, m., muller, D., santorelli, s.F. et al.(2003). Alterations in brain and immune functionproduced by mindfulness meditation. Psycho-somatic Medicine, 65, 564–570.

Didonna, F. (ed.) (2009). Clinical handbook ofmindfulness. new York: springer.

Dimidjian, s. & Linehan, m. (2003). Defining anagenda for future research on the clinicalapplication of mindfulness practice. ClinicalPsychology: Science and Practice, 10(2), 166–171.

Dreyfus, G. (2011). is mindfulness present-centredand non-judgemental? A discussion of thecognitive dimensions of mindfulness. ContemporaryBuddhism, 12(1), 41–54.

Dorjee, D. (2010). Kinds and dimensions ofmindfulness: Why it is important to distinguishthem. Mindfulness, 1(3), 152–160.

eberth, J. & sedlmeier, p. (2012). the effects ofmindfulness meditation: A meta-analysis.Mindfulness, 3, 174–189.

ekman, p., Davidson, r.J., ricard, m. & Wallace, b.A.(2005). buddhist and psychological perspectiveson emotions and well-being. Current Directions inPsychological Practice, 14(2), 59–63.

escuriex, b.F. & Labbé, e.e. (2011). health careproviders’ mindfulness and treatment outcomes:A critical review of the research literature.Mindfulness, 2, 242–253.

Falb, m.D. & pargament, K.i. (2012). relationalmindfulness, spirituality, and the therapeuticbond. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 5, 351–354.

Farb, n., segal, Z.V., mayberg, h., bean, J., mcKeon,D., Fatima, Z. et al. (2007). Attending to thepresent: mindfulness meditation reveals distinctneural modes of self-reference. Social Cognitive andAffective Neuroscience, 2, 313–322.

Fjorback, L.o., Arendt, m., Ørnbøl, e., Fink, p. &Walach, h. (2011). mindfulness-based stressreduction and mindfulness-based Cognitivetherapy – a systematic review of randomisedcontrolled trials. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica,124(2), 102–119.

Flaherty, J. (2010). Coaching: Evoking excellence in others(3rd ed.). oxford: butterworth-heinemann.

Flaxman, p.e. & bond, F.W. (2006). Acceptance andcommitment therapy in the workplace. in r.A.baer (ed.), Mindfulness-based treatment approaches:Clinician’s guide to evidence base and applications(pp.377–402). san Diego, CA: elsevier.

Flaxman, p.e. & bond, F.W. (2010a). Acceptance andcommitment training: promoting psychologicalflexibility in the workplace. in r.A. baer, (ed.),Assessing mindfulness and acceptance processes inclients: Illuminating the theory & practice of change(pp.281–306). oakland, CA: new harbinger.

Flaxman, p.e. & bond, F.W. (2010b). A randomisedworksite comparison of acceptance commitmenttherapy and stress inoculation training. BehaviourResearch and Therapy, 48(8), 816–820.

Flaxman, p.e. & bond, F.W. (2010c). Worksite stressmanagement training: moderated effects andclinical significance. Journal of Occupational HealthPsychology, 15, 347–358.

Fletcher, L. & hayes, s.C. (2005). relational frametheory, acceptance and commitment therapy, anda functional analytic definition of mindfulness.Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-BehavioralTherapy, 23(4), 315–336.

Forsyth, J. & eifert, G. (2007). The mindfulness andacceptance workbook for anxiety: A guide to breaking freefrom anxiety, phobias, and worry using acceptance andcommitment therapy. oakland, CA: new harbinger.

Fredrickson, b.L., Cohn, m.A., Coffey, K., pek, J. &Finkel, s.m. (2008). open hearts build lives:positive emotions, induced through meditation,build consequential personal resources. Journal ofPersonality and Social Psychology, 95, 1045–1062.

Gallwey, t. (1974). The inner game of tennis. new York:random house.

Gardner, F.L. & moore, Z.e. (2007). The psychology ofenhancing human performance: The mindfulness-acceptance-commitment (MAC) approach. new York:springer.

Gaudiano, b.A. (2011). A review of acceptance andcommitment therapy and recommenda-tions forcontinued scientific advancement. The ScientificReview of Mental Health Practice, 8(2), 5–22.

Germer, C.K., siegel, r.D. & Fulton, p.r. (eds.)(2005). Mindfulness and psychotherapy. new York:Guilford press.

Gethin, r. (2011). on some definitions ofmindfulness. Contemporary Buddhism, 12(1),263–279.

Grant, A.m. (2007). past, present and future: theevolution of professional coaching and coachingpsychology. in s. palmer & A. Whybrow (eds.),Handbook of coaching psychology: A guide forpractitioners (pp.23–39). hove, east sussex:routledge.

Grant, A.m., Cavanagh, m.J., parker, h.m. &passmore, J. (2010). the state of play in coachingtoday: A comprehensive review of the field. in G.p.hodgkinson & J.K. Ford (eds.), International reviewof industrial and organisational psychology(pp.125–167). Chichester: Wiley.

Grant, A.m. & Greene, J. (2004). Coach yourself.edinburgh Gate, London: pearson education.


Grant, A.m. & Greene, J. (2005). Coach yourself @ work.sydney, nsW: AbC books.

Grant, A.m. & spence, G.b. (2010). using coachingand positive psychology to promote a flourishingworkforce: A model of goal-striving and mentalhealth. in p.A. Linley, s. harrington & n. Garcea(eds.), Oxford handbook of positive psychology andwork (pp.175–188). oxford: oxford universitypress.

Greeson, J.m. (2009). mindfulness research update:2008. Complementary Health Practice Review, 14,10–18.

Grepmair, L., mitterlehner, F., Loew, t., bachler, e.,rother, W. & nickel, m. (2007). promotingmindfulness in psychotherapists in traininginfluences the treatment results of their patients:A randomised, double-blind, controlled study.Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 76, 332–338.

Grossman, p. (2008). on measuring mindfulnesspsychosomatic and psychological research. Journalof Psychosomatic Research, 64, 405–408.

Grossman, p. (2010). mindfulness for psychologists:paying kind attention to the perceptible.Mindfulness, 1, 87–97.

Grossman, p. (2011). Defining mindfulness by howpoorly i think i pay attention during everydayawareness and other intractable problems forpsychology’s (re)invention of mindfulness:Comment on brown et al. (2011). PsychologicalAssessment, 23(4), 1034–1040.

Grossman, p., niemann, L., schmidt, s. & Walach, h.(2004). mindfulness-based stress reduction andhealth benefits: A meta-analysis. Journal ofPsychosomatic Research, 57(1), 35–43.

Grossman, p. & Van Dam, n.t. (2011). mindfulness,by any other name…: trials and tribulations of satiin Western psychology and science. ContemporaryBuddhism, 12(1), 219–239.

Gyatso, t. & muyzenberg, L. (2008). The leader’s way.sydney, Australia: nicholas brealey publishingLtd.

hayes, s.C., barnes-holmes, D. & roche, b. (2001).Relational frame theory: A post-Skinnerian account ofhuman language and cognition. new York: Kluwer.

hayes, s.C., bissett, r., roget, n., padilla, m.,Kohlenberg, b.s., Fisher, u. et al. (2004). theimpact of acceptance and commitment trainingand multicultural training on the stigmatisingattitudes and professional burnout of substanceabuse counselors. Behavior Therapy, 35, 821–835.

hayes, s.C., bunting, K., herbst, s., bond, F.W. &barnes-holmes, D. (2006). expanding the scopeof organisational behavior management:relational Frame theory and the experimentalanalysis of complex human behavior. Journal ofOrganisational Behavior Management, 26(1/2),1–23.

hayes, s.C., Follette, V.m. & Linehan, m.m. (eds.)(2004). Mindfulness and acceptance: Expanding thecognitive-behavioral tradition. new York: Guilfordpress.

hayes, s.C., Luoma, J.b., bond, F.W., masuda, A. &Lillis, J. (2006). Acceptance and commitmenttherapy: model, processes and outcomes.Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44(1), 1–25.

hayes, s.C. & strosahl, K.D. (eds.) (2004). A practicalguide to acceptance and commitment therapy. new York: springer.

hayes, s.C., strosahl, K. & Wilson, K.G. (1999).Acceptance and commitment therapy: An experientialapproach to behavior change. new York: Guilfordpress.

hayes, s.C, strosahl, K.D. & Wilson, K.G. (2012).Acceptance and commitment therapy: The process andpractice of mindful change (2nd ed.). new York:Guilford press.

hayes, s.C., Villatte, m., Levin, m. & hildebrandt, m.(2011). open, aware, and active: Contextualapproaches as an emerging trend in thebehavioral and cognitive therapies. Annual Reviewof Clinical Psychology, 7, 141–168.

heydenfeldt, J.A., herkenhoff, L. & Coe, m. (2011a).Cultivating mind fitness through mindfulnesstraining: Applied neuroscience. PerformanceImprovement, 50(10), 21–27.

heydenfeldt, J.A., herkenhoff, L. & Coe, m. (2011b).mind fitness training: emerging practices andbusiness applications, applied neuroscience.International Journal of Humanities and Social Science,1(14), 150–158.

hick, L. & bien, t. (2008). Mindfulness and thetherapeutic relationship. new York: Guilford press.

hofmann, s.G. & Asmundson, G.J. (2008).Acceptance and mindfulness-based therapy: new wave or old hat? Clinical Psychology Review, 28,1–16.

hofmann, s.G., sawyer, A.t., Witt, A.A. & oh, D.(2010). the effect of mindfulness-based therapyon anxiety and depression: A meta-analytic review.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78,169–183.

hölzel, b.K., Lazar, s.W., Gard, t., schuman-olivier,Z., Vago, D.r. & ott, u. (2011). how doesmindfulness meditation work? proposingmechanisms of action from a conceptual andneural perspective. Perspectives on PsychologicalScience, 6(6), 537–559.

irving, J.A., Dobkin, p.L. & park, J. (2009). Cultivatingmindfulness in health care professionals: A reviewof empirical studies of mindfulness-based stressreduction (mbsr). Complementary Therapies inClinical Practice, 15(2), 61–66.

Mario Virgili



Jain, s., shapiro, s.L., swanick, s., roesch, s.C., mills,p.J., bell, i. et al. (2007). A randomised controlledtrial of mindfulness meditation versus relaxationtraining: effects on distress, positive states ofmind, rumination, and distraction. Annals ofBehavioral Medicine, 33, 11–21.

Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990). Full catastrophe living: Using thewisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain andillness. new York: Delacourt.

Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). mindfulness-based interven-tions in context: past, present, and future. ClinicalPsychology: Science and Practice, 10, 144–156.

Kabat-Zinn, J. (2005). Coming to our senses. new York:hyperion.

Kabat-Zinn, J. (2011). some reflections on the originsof mbsr, skillful means, and the trouble withmaps. Contemporary Buddhism, 12(1), 281–306.

Kang, C. & Whittingham, K. (2010). mindfulness: A dialogue between buddhism and clinicalpsychology. Mindfulness, 1, 161–173.

Keng, s.-L., smoski, m.J. & robins, C.L. (2011).effects of mindfulness on psychological health: A review of empirical studies. Clinical PsychologyReview, 31, 1041–1056.

Keng, s.-L., smoski, m.J., robins, C.J., ekblad, A.G. &brantley, J.G. (2012). mechanisms of change inmindfulness-based stress reduction: self-compassion and mindfulness as mediators ofintervention outcomes. Journal of CognitivePsychotherapy: An International Quarterly, 26(3),270–280.

Klatt, m.D., buckworth, J. & malarkey, W.b. (2009).effects of a low-dose mindfulness-based stressreduction (mbsr-ld) on working adults. HealthEducation & Behavior, 36(3), 601–614.

Koerner, K. (2012). Doing dialectical behavior therapy: A practical guide. new York: Guilford press.

Langer, e.J. (1989). Mindfulness. Cambridge, mA:perseus books.

Langer, e.J. (2009). mindfulness versus positiveevaluations. in s.J. Lopez & C.r. synder (eds.),The Oxford handbook of positive psychology (2nd ed.,pp.279–293). oxford: oxford university press.

Levin, m. & hayes, s.C. (2009). ACt, rFt, andcontextual behavioral science. in J.t. blackledge,J.V. Ciarrochi & F.p. Deane (eds.), Acceptance andcommitment therapy: Contemporary theory research andpractice (pp.1–40). Queensland, Australia:Australian Academic press.

Levin, m.e., hildebrandt, m.J., Lillis, J. & hayes, s.C.(2011). the impact of treatment componentssuggested by the psychological flexibility model:A meta-analysis of laboratory-based componentstudies. Behavior Therapy, 43(4), 741-756.

Linley, p.A. & harrington, s. (2007). integratingpositive psychology and coaching psychology:shared assumptions and aspirations. in s. palmer& A. Whybrow (eds.), Handbook of coachingpsychology: A guide for practitioners (pp.40–56).hove, east sussex: routledge.

Luoma, J.b., hayes, s.C., twohig, m.p., roget, n.,Fisher, G., padilla et al. (2007). Augmentingcontinuing education with psychologicallyfocused group consultation: effects on adoptionof group drug counseling. Psychotherapy: Theory,Research, Practice, Training, 44(4), 463–469.

Luoma, J.b., hayes, s.C. & Walser, r.D. (2007).Learning ACT. oakland, CA: new harbinger.

mackenzie, C.s., poulin, p.A. & seidman-Carlson, r.(2006). A brief mindfulness-based stress reductionintervention for nurses and nurse aides. AppliedNursing Research, 19, 105–109.

marianetti, o. & passmore, J. (2010). mindfulness atwork: paying attention to enhance well-being andperformance. in p.A. Linley, s. harrington & n.Garcea (eds.) Oxford handbook of positive psychologyand work (pp.189–200). oxford university press.

mars, t.s. & Abbey, h. (2010). mindfulnessmeditation practice as a healthcare intervention:A systematic review. International Journal ofOsteopathic Medicine, 13(2), 56–66.

masuda, A., hayes, s.C., Fletcher, L.b., seignourel,p.J., bunting, K., herbst, s.A. et al. (2007). theimpact of Acceptance and Commitment therapyversus education on stigma toward people withpsychological disorders. Behaviour Research andTherapy, 45(11), 2764–2772.

mcCraken, L.m. (ed.) (2011). Mindfulness &acceptance in behavioral medicine: Current theory andpractice. oakland, CA: new harbinger.

merkes, m. (2010). mindfulness-based stress reductionfor people with chronic diseases. Australian Journalof Primary Health, 16, 200–210.

mikulas, W.L. (2011). mindfulness: significantcommon confusions. Contemporary Buddhism,12(1), 1–7.

moran, D.J. (2010). ACt for leadership: usingacceptance and commitment training to developcrisis-resilient change managers. InternationalJournal of Behavioral Consultation and Therapy, 6(4),341–355.

neff, K. (2011). Self-compassion: Stop beating yourself upand leave insecurity behind. London: hodder &stoughton.

nyanaponika thera (1962). The heart of Buddhistmeditation: A handbook of mental training based on theBuddha’s way of mindfulness. London: rider &Company.

nyklícek, i. & Kuijpers, K. (2008). effects ofmindfulness-based stress reduction interventionon psychological well-being and quality of life: is increased mindfulness indeed the mechanism?Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 35, 331–340.


o’broin, A. & palmer, s. (2007). reappraising thecoach-client relationship: the unassumingchange agent in coaching. in s. palmer & A.Whybrow (eds.) Handbook of coaching psychology: A guide for practitioners (pp.295–324). London:routledge.

Öst, L.G. (2008). efficacy of the third wave ofbehavioral therapies: A systematic review andmeta-analysis. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46,296–321.

palmer, s. & Whybrow, A. (eds.) (2007). Handbook ofcoaching psychology: A guide for practitioners. hove,east sussex: routledge.

passmore, J. & marianetti, o. (2007). the role ofmindfulness in coaching. The Coaching Psychologist,3(3), 130–136.

poulin, p.A., mackenzie, C.s., soloway, G. & Karayolas,e. (2008). mindfulness training as an evidence-based approach to reducing stress and promotingwell-being among human service professionals.International Journal of Health Promotion &Education, 46, 35–43.

powers, m.b., Zum Vörde sive Vörding, m.b. &emmelkamp, p.m.G. (2009). Acceptance andcommitment therapy: A meta-analytic review.Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 78, 73–80.

pull, C.b. (2008). Current empirical status ofacceptance and commitment therapy. CurrentOpinion in Psychiatry, 22, 55–60.

rapgay, L. & bystrisky, A. (2009). Classicalmindfulness: An introduction to its theory andpractice for clinical application. Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 1172, 148–162.

ricard, m. (2006). The art of happiness. London:Atlantic books.

roemer, L. & orsillo, s.m. (eds.) (2009). Mindfulness-and acceptance-based behavioral therapies in practice.new York: Guilford press.

rosenzweig, s., reibel, D.K., Greeson, J.m., brainard,G.C. & hojat, m. (2003). mindfulness-based stressreduction lowers psychological distress in medicalstudents. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 15,88–92.

ruiz, F.J. (2010). A review of Acceptance andCommitment therapy empirical evidence:Correlational, experimental psychopathology,component and outcome studies. internationalJournal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 10,125–162.

schure, m.b., Christopher, J. & Christopher, s. (2008).mind-body medicine and the art of self-care:teaching mindfulness to counseling studentsthrough yoga, meditation, and qigong. Journal ofCounseling and Development, 86, 47–56.

segal, Z.V., Williams, m.G. & teasdale, J.D. (2002).Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression: A new approach to preventing relapse. new York:Guilford press.

senge, p., scharmer, C.o., Jaworski, J. & Flowers, b.s.(2005). Presence: Exploring profound change in people,organisations and society. London: nicholas brealey.

shapiro, s.L. (2009). meditation and positivepsychology. in s.J. Lopez & C.r. synder (eds.) The Oxford handbook of positive psychology (2nd ed.,pp.601–610). oxford: oxford university press.

shapiro, s.L., Astin, J.A., bishop, s.r. & Cordova, m.(2005). mindfulness-based stress reduction forhealth care professionals: results from arandomised trial. International Journal of StressManagement, 12, 164–176.

shapiro, s.L., brown, K.W. & biegel, G.m. (2007).teaching self-care to caregivers: effects ofmindfulness-based stress reduction on the mentalhealth of therapists in training. Training andEducation in Professional Psychology, 1(2), 105–115.

shapiro, s.L. & Carlson, L.e. (2009). The art and scienceof mindfulness: Integrating mindfulness into psychologyand the helping professions. Washington, DC:American psychological Association.

shapiro, s.L., Carlson, L.e., Astin, J.A. & Freedman,b. (2006). mechanisms of mindfulness. Journal ofClinical Psychology, 62, 373–386.

shapiro, s.L., schwartz, G.e. & bonner, G. (1998).effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction onmedical and premedical students. Journal ofBehavioral Medicine, 21, 581–599.

shennan, C., payne, s. & Fenlon, D. (2011). What isthe evidence for the use of mindfulness-basedinterventions in cancer care? A review. Psycho-Oncology, 20, 681–697.

silsbee, D.K. (2008). Presence-based coaching: Cultivatingself-generative leaders through mind, body, and heart.san Francisco: Jossey-bass.

silsbee, D. (2010). The mindful coach: Seven roles forfacilitating leadership development. san Francisco:Jossey-bass.

singh, n.n., singh, s.D., sabaawi, m., myers, r.e. &Wahler, r.G. (2006). enhancing treatment teamprocess through mindfulness-based mentoring inan inpatient psychiatric hospital. BehaviorModification, 30(4), 423–441.

singh, n.n., Wahler, r.G., sabaawi, m., Goza, A.b.,singh, s.D., molina, e.J. et al. (2002). mentoringtreatment teams to integrate behavioral andpsychopharmacological treatments in develop-mental disabilities. Research in DevelopmentalDisabilities, 23, 379–389.

slagter, h.A., Davidson, r.J. & Lutz, A. (2011). mentaltraining as a tool in the neuroscientific study ofbrain and cognitive plasticity. Frontiers in HumanNeuroscience, 5, 1–12.

spence, G.b., Cavanagh, m.J. & Grant, A.m. (2008).the integration of mindfulness training andhealth coaching: An exploratory study. Coaching:An International Journal of Theory, Research andPractice, 1(2), 1–19.

Mario Virgili



stanley, e.A. & schaldach, J.m. (2011). Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT)®.mind Fitnesstraining institute. retrieved 11 August 2011 from:www.mind-fitness-training.org/mmFtoverviewnarrative.pdf

stanley, e.A., schaldach, J.m., Kiyonaga, A. & Jha, A.p.(2011). mindfulness-based mind fitness training:A case study of a high-stress pre-deploymentmilitary cohort. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice,18(4), 566–576.

stober, D.r. & Grant, A.m. (2006). Evidence basedcoaching: Putting best practices to work for your clients.hoboken, nJ: Wiley.

strosahl, K., hayes, s.C., Wilson, K.G. & Gifford, e.V.(2004). An ACt primer: Core therapy processes,intervention strategies, and therapistcompetencies. in s.C. hayes & K. strosahl (eds.,A practical guide to Acceptance and CommitmentTherapy (pp.31–58). new York: springer.

styron, C.W. (2005). positive psychology: Awakeningto the fullness of life. in C.K. Germer, r.D. siegel& p.r. Fulton (eds.), Mindfulness and psychotherapy(pp.262–282). new York: Guilford press.

teasdale, J.D. & Chaskalson, m. (Kulananda) (2011).how does mindfulness transform suffering? ii:the transformation of dukkha. ContemporaryBuddhism, 12(1), 103–124.

teasdale, J.D., segal, Z.V. & Williams, J.m.G. (2003).mindfulness training and problem formulation.Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10, 157–160.

toneatto, t. & nguyen, L. (2007). Does mindfulnessmeditation improve anxiety and mood symptoms?A review of the controlled research. CanadianJournal of Psychiatry, 52, 260–266.

treadway, m.t. & Lazar, s.W. (2010). meditation andneuroplasticity: using mindfulness to change thebrain. in r.A. baer, (ed.), Assessing mindfulness andacceptance processes in clients: Illuminating the theoryand practice of change (pp.185–205). oakland, CA:new harbinger.

Varra, A. A., hayes, s.C., roget, n. & Fisher, G. (2008).A randomised control trial examining the effectof acceptance and commitment training onclinician willingness to use evidence-basedpharmacotherapy. Journal of Consulting and ClinicalPsychology, 76, 449–458.

Wahbeh, h., Lane, J.b., Goodrich, e., miller, m. &oken, b.s. (2012). one-on-one mindfulnessmeditation trainings in a research setting.Mindfulness. Advance online publication. doi:10.1007/s12671-012-0155-9

Wallace, b.A. (2005). Genuine happiness: Meditation asthe path to fulfillment. hoboken, nJ: Wiley.

Wallace, A.A. & shapiro, s.L. (2006). mental balanceand well-being: building bridges betweenbuddhism and Western psychology. AmericanPsychologist, 61(7), 690–701.

Williams, J.m.G. & Kabat-Zinn, J. (2011). mindfulness:Diverse perspectives on its meaning, origins, andmultiple applications at the intersection of scienceand dharma. Contemporary Buddhism, 12, 1–18.

Williams, J.m.G., teasdale, J., segal, Z. & Kabat-Zinn,J. (2000). The mindful way through depression: Freeingyourself from chronic unhappiness. new York:Guilford press.

Williams, K.A. (2006). mindfulness-based stressreduction (mbsr) in a worksite wellnessprogramme. in r.A. baer, (ed.), Mindfulness-basedtreatment approaches: Clinician’s guide to evidence baseand applications (pp.361–376). san Diego, CA:elsevier.

Williams, K.A., Kolar, m.m., reger, b.e. & pearson, J.C.(2001). evaluation of a wellness-based mindful-ness stress reduction intervention: A controlledtrial. American Journal of Health Promotion, 15,422–432.

DeVeLopmentAL CoAChinG isincreasingly recognised as an impor-tant and distinct approach in coaching.

it is aimed at helping the coachee developincreasingly complex understandings of theself, others and the systems in which they areinvolved, to enable the coachee to meetcurrent and future challenges more effec-tively (bachkirova et al., 2010, standardsAustralia, 2011). Although developmentalcoaching is not necessarily tied to any oneparticular developmental theory, an under-standing of adult development theory iscritical in that it provides insights into howindividuals make meaning of how they relatewith the world (berger, 2006; Kegan, 1995;Laske, 2007) and consequently, how this influ-ences behaviour (bachkirova & Cox, 2008).Additionally, these insights will allow thecoach to ‘target their coaching intervention

more specifically to the meaning making ofthe client’ (berger, 2006, p.94).

Given this focus on meaning making, onemight expect that personality is intimatelyinvolved in developmental coaching. person-ality theory is one of the most researchedareas in psychology (for an overview refer toboyle, matthews & saklofske, 2008) andempirically linked to aspects of performanceof individuals (e.g. hofmann & Jones, 2005;Lim & ployhart, 2004; ployhart, Lim & Chan,2001). As such, personality and develop-mental coaching both sit at the inter-sectionof performance, that is, optimal functioningof the individual.

this paper critically examines the role ofpersonality in relation to adult developmentand developmental coaching. in particular,it addresses the question to what extent, if atall, personality impacts adult development


Paper

At the intersection of performance:Personality and adult development in coachingIngo Susing & Michael J Cavanagh

Developmental coaching is increasingly recognised as an important and distinct approach in coaching as itaims to help the coaching client successfully master challenges arising out of the developmental process(Bachkirova, Cox, & Clutterbuck, 2010). Within personality theory – one of the most influential areas ofpsychology – the Five-Factor Model (FFM or ‘Big Five’, Goldberg, 1990; McCrae & Costa, 1990) is one ofthe most widely used and has been researched extensively, including with respect to work-based performance.This paper examines the established research literature to ascertain the impact of personality on adultdevelopment in the context of adult development theory, developmental coaching and work-based performance.In particular, it addresses the question to what extent, if at all, personality impacts adult development andwhether interventions that address personality and performance can also be helpful and relevant to thedevelopmental coaching process. Major findings suggest that personality changes over time, is heavilyinfluenced by both genetic influences and environmental factors, and is strongly linked to work-basedperformance. Implications of findings for coaching practice suggest that developmental coaching needs toconsider both developmental stage as well as personality traits, not because existing research indicates astrong link between the two – this is an area of suggested future research – but rather because both have clearbut distinct empirical links to work-based performance.Keywords: Personality; coaching; developmental coaching; performance; self-regulation.

and how the major findings from specificareas of trait-based personality research arerelevant to developmental coaching. impli-cations of research findings for coachingpractice are discussed and areas for futureresearch suggested.

Developmental theory anddevelopmental coachingAdult developmental theories in psychologytrace the development of the person acrossthe lifespan. beginning with the work ofpsychologist Jean piaget (1928), this waslater expanded to the development of moralreasoning (Kohlberg, 1981), psychodynamiclifespan (erikson, 1959), cognitivecomplexity (Commons, Demick & Goldberg,1996; Jaques, 1998; Kitchener & King, 1994;Labouvie-Vief & schaie, 1974) and egodevelopment (Cook-Greuter, 1999; Kegan,1979; Loevinger & blasi, 1976; torbert, 1991;Wilber, 2000).

one of the most influential adult devel-opmental theories in the coaching context isKegan’s (1982, 1995) constructive develop-ment theory. this theory focuses on theperson’s capacity to generate perspectivesthat enable the person to adaptively respondto increasingly complex challenges. histheory offers a useful six-stage developmentframework for tracking this cognitivecomplexity across the lifespan. the stages(and the point at which they typicallyemerge) are as follows: (0) incorporativestage (birth); (1) impulsive stage (infancy);(2) imperial stage (childhood); (3) inter-personal stage (adolescence and beyond);(4) institutional stage (adulthood); and (5)inter-individual stage (typically post 40 yearsof age).

Kegan’s theory describes both the way inwhich meaning making differs at each levelof development and the process by whichindividuals transition from one level to thenext. As a person’s developmental stagechanges, their capacity to take perspectivesnot only becomes more complex, theirwhole world view shifts fundamentally. Forexample, they come to view success and

failure differently, their relationship toauthority changes and they are able to ‘seeshades of grey where once [they] saw onlyblack and white’ (berger & Atkins, 2009,p.24). table 1 (overleaf) sets out a briefdescription of Kegan’s key adult stages (2 to5) as adapted by berger (2011).

Although not necessarily tied to anyparticular adult development theory, devel-opmental coaching refers to a guidedprocess of change that looks at a differentway of making meaning of the world –understanding complexity of self, others andthe systems they are part of – that is, ideally,more optimal than the previous one(bachkirova, 2011; standards Australia,2011). on the basis that all establishedtheories of adult development incorporatesome form of sequential approach, thistranslates into successfully transitioning intothe next stage of development (bachkirova& Cox, 2008; berger, 2006). A variant to thisargues that the aim of developmentalcoaching is not merely to achieve a furthertransitioning of the coachee, but rather amore optimal functioning within the givenstage of development or as part of the transi-tioning process between them (Laske, 1999).

there are currently no publishedcoaching studies that examine the impact ofdevelopmental coaching intervention on anindividual’s stage of development, thoughsuch studies are underway (Cavanagh,2010). nevertheless, developmental stagehas been linked to work-based performancein a number of studies (harris & Kuhnert,2008; Leonard-Cross, 2010; mcCauley et al.,2006; rooke & torbert, 1998; strang &Kuhnert, 2009). some of these studies alsoincorporate longitudinal measurements(Forsythe, 2005; Lewis et al., 2005; torbert,2004). For example, rooke and torbert(1998) found that the ego developmentstage of a company’s Ceo is a key variable insuccessful organisational transformation.similarly, harris and Kuhnert (2008)demonstrated that higher developmentalstages are associated with higher multi-raterfeedback scores. notwithstanding these find-


Personality and adult development in coaching


Ingo Susing & Michael J. Cavanagh

Table 1: Comparison of orientation to authority and perspective-taking across the adult forms of understanding (from Berger, 2011, parenthesis added).

Form

Self-sovereign[Stage 2]

Socialised[Stage 3]

Self-authored[Stage 4]

Self-transforming[Stage 5]

Perspective-taking

The only perspective a person cantake while in the self-sovereign formof mind is his own. All others aremysterious.

Looking through the socialised formof mind, a person can take—andbecome embedded in – theperspectives of other people/theories,etc. When he sees the world, he seesit through these other perspectives,judging right and wrong, good andbad, from the perspectives of others.

Seeing the world through the self-authored form of mind means aperson can take multiple perspectiveswhile maintaining his own. He canunderstand the views and opinions ofothers and often uses those views oropinions to strengthen his ownargument or set of principles.

With a self-transforming mind, a person sees and understands theperspectives of others and uses thoseperspectives to continuouslytransform his own system, becomingmore expansive and more inclusive.He does not use the perspectives ofothers to fine-tune his own argumentor principles as he did when he wasself-authoring; rather, he puts theentire system at risk for change witheach interaction with others.

Authority

Authority is found in rules andregulations. When two externalauthorities disagree, it is frustratingbut not internally problematic.

Authority is in an internalised value/principle/role which comes fromoutside himself. When thoseimportant values/principles/rolesconflict (as when his religiondisagrees with an important valuefrom his partner), he feels an internaltearing, as though parts of himselfwere pitted against one another.

Authority is found in the self. Theself-authored system determines theindividual’s rules and regulations forhimself. When others disagree, it canbe inconvenient or unpleasant, but isnot internally wrenching. (Morewrenching is when one internal valuedisagrees with another – that can bean internal tearing.)

Authority is fluid and shared, and isnot located in any particular personor job. Rather, authority comes fromthe combination of the situation andthe people in the situation. A newsituation (or different players) will bea shift in where authority is located.

ings, this does not necessarily mean that‘higher is always better’. rather, researchsuggests that the minimum level of develop-ment required for high levels of perform-ance is role-specific (mcCauley et al., 2006;strang & Kuhnert, 2009). For example,Forsythe (2005) states that although ‘stage4’ is desirable for medical professionals, first-year cadets at West point performed excep-tionally well on the basis of a ‘stage 3’approach to meaning making. At their heart,developmental stage theories are models ofhow people tend to construct or organisetheir meaning making at different life stages.

one might expect that the process ofmeaning making would be shaped also bypersonality. indeed, personality has beendescribed as the set of characteristics of theperson that shape his or her cognitions,motivations and behaviours in response toevents (ryckman, 2007). there are multipletheories of personality, ranging from thepsychodynamic to the realist approach (seesollod & monte, 2008) and it is beyond thescope of this paper to canvas them all.rather, we will consider one of the mostestablished models of personality, the FiveFactor model (mcCrae & Costa, 2008).

The Five-Factor Model of personalityDeveloped out of earlier trait-based person-ality theories and research (Allport &Vernon, 1931; Cattell, 1941; eysenck, 1947),the ‘Five-Factor model’ of personality (FFmor ‘big Five’, Goldberg, 1992; John, 1990;mcCrae & John, 1992) represents one of themost comprehensive methods for the system-atic exploration of global personality and isarguably the best-established and most-frequently-used measure of personality(mcCrae & Costa, 2008). many scholars nowagree that the existing personality invento-ries all measure essentially the same fivebroad dimensions with varying degrees ofefficiency (hogan, hogan & roberts, 1996;mcCrae & John, 1992). there are a largenumber of different psychometric instru-ments designed to assess the FFm (for anoverview, refer to de raad & perugini, 2002).

one of the most commonly used instru-ments of the FFm is the neo pi-r (Costa &mcCrae, 1995).

the FFm describes five broad dimen-sions, neuroticism, extraversion, opennessto experience, Agreeableness, and Consci-entiousness, descriptions of which are shownin table 2 (overleaf), along with a descrip-tion of the big Five facets, that is, subordi-nate traits within each of the five factors(from mcCrae & John, 1992).

Major findings involving the FFM andtheir implications for developmentalcoachingthe following summarises key research find-ings involving the big Five dimensions ofpersonality as these are relevant to develop-mental coaching.

Finding 1: personality changes over time inpredictable ways and independent ofgender, non-age demographics or culture(helson et al., 2002; Kandler et al., 2009;Labouvie-Vief et al., 2000; mcCrae, et al.,2000; soto et al., 2011; srivastava et al., 2003;terracciano et al., 2005). For example, areasonably consistent finding across many ofthe above studies is that extraversion, open-ness, and neuroticism decline whereasConscientiousness and Agreeablenessincrease during the lifespan. this essentiallydescribes a general tendency for individualsto become less driven by social exigencies,while becoming more harmonious and dili-gent. this is consistent with a shift away froma more socialised (Level 3) pattern ofmeaning making toward a more self-authored (Level 4) position.

Implication 1: it is possible that under-standing the pattern of a client’s scores onthe big Five personality dimensions may beinformative for the developmental process.For example, high extraversion, opennessand neuroticism in combination with lowConscientiousness and Agreeableness maysignal difficulties in the shift to more self-authored meaning making. With only





Table 2: The Big Five Factors of personality and respective facets, along with low scalescore and high scale score interpretations from the Revised NEO Personality Inventory

(from McCrae & John, 1992).

Facets Low scale score High scale score

Neuroticism (emotional stability) – characterised by anxiety, irritability, sadness, self-consciousness,impulsiveness, and an inability to cope with stressful situations

Anxiety Relaxed and calm Worrying and uneasy

Anger/hostility Composed and slow to anger Quick to anger

Depression Not easily discouraged Easily discouraged

Self-consciousness Hard to embarrass Easy to embarrass

Impulsiveness Resists urges easily Easily tempted, acts on impulse

Vulnerability Resilient, handles stress easily Has difficulty coping

Extraversion (interpersonal patterns) – characterised by warmth, sociability, assertiveness, energy, excitement,and optimism

Warmth Reserved, formal, distant Affectionate, friendly, intimate

Gregariousness Seldom seeks company Prefers company, enjoys others

Assertiveness Stays in background Speaks up, leads (dominates)

Activity Leisurely pace Vigorous pace

Excitement seeking Low need for thrills Craves excitement

Positive emotions Less exuberant Cheerful, optimistic

Openness – characterised by a vivid imagination; an appreciation of art and beauty; mood swings; wanting totry out new activities; intellectual curiosity; and an openness to political, social, and religious beliefs

Fantasy Focuses on the here/now, logical Imaginative, daydreams

Aesthetics Uninterested in art Appreciates art and beauty

Feelings Ignores and discounts feelings Values all emotions

Actions Prefers the familiar Prefers variety, tries new things

Ideas Narrower intellectual focus Broad intellectual focus/curiosity

Values Dogmatic, conservative Open to re-examining clues

Agreeableness – characterised by a belief that others are well intentioned, frankness and sincerity, a willingnessto help others, a preparedness to forgive and forget, modesty, and tender-mindedness

Trust Cynical, sceptical Sees others as honest

Straightforwardness Guarded, manages info, political Straightforward, frank, sincere

Altruism Reluctant to get involved Willing to help others

Compliance Aggressive, competitive Yields under conflict, defers

Modesty Feels superior to others Self-effacing, humble

Tender-mindedness Hard, tough-minded, rational Tender, easily moved, sympathetic

Conscientiousness (work ethic) – characterised by a sense of capability, good organisation, self-government byconscience, a drive to achieve, self-discipline, and deliberation

Competence Often feels unprepared Feels capable and effective

Order Unorganised, unmethodical Well-organised, neat, tidy

Dutifulness Causal about obligations Governed by conscience, reliable

Achievement striving Low need for achievement Driven to achieve success/results

Self-discipline Procrastinates, distracted Focuses on completing tasks

Deliberation Spontaneous, hasty Thinks carefully before acting

limited research being considered at present(parker, 2012), substantial further researchis needed to verify the validity and reliabilityof these patterns.

Finding 2: personality is significantly influ-enced by both genetic and environmentalfactors (blonigen et al., 2006; Costa &mcCrae, 1988; helson, et al., 2002; Kandler,et al., 2009; mcCrae, 2002; mcCrae, et al.,2000; roberts, Walton & Viechtbauer, 2006;terracciano et al., 2005). Kandler andcolleagues (2009) in their 10-year longitu-dinal study of 168 twins concluded thatmaterial changes in personality, estimatedbetween 40 to 60 per cent, occur along a‘functional’ level, that is, to optimise desir-able outcomes, in response to major envi-ronmental factors (p.152). these changesinclude material increases in socially desir-able domains such as Agreeableness, Consci-entiousness, and decreases in sociallyundesirable domains such neuroticism.With respect to which factors are morechangeable than others, their work showedthat neuroticism, Agreeableness and Consci-entiousness showed relatively strong geneticeffects, whereas extraversion and opennesswas ‘almost completely environmentallyinduced’ (p.153).

Implication 2: these findings may helpcoaches more sensitively target problematicbehaviours that load on different personalitytraits. For example, behaviours driven byneuroticism, Agreeableness and Conscien-tiousness, while changeable, may requirerelatively more self-regulatory effort than thedevelopment of extraverted and openbehaviours, which are better supported viaenvironmental mechanisms (e.g. hagger etal., 2010). indeed, the finding that environ-mental factors have a significant impact onpersonality, suggests that coaching may domuch more than merely assist clients tobehaviourally self-regulate. Developmentalcoaching has the potential to influencepersonality itself, and thereby reduce thedecisional load associated with deliberate

self-regulation (baumeister & heatherton,1996). (in saying this, it is recognised thatself-regulation remains a fundamentalconcept underlying coaching (Grant,2003).)

Finding 3: personality traits are related toperformance (barrick & mount, 1993; bono& Judge, 2004; hogan & holland, 2003;Judge et al., 2002; mount, barrick & stewart,1998; tett, Jackson & rothstein, 1991). inaddition to research that identifies the posi-tive personality attributes associated withwork-based performance, there is also signif-icant research that identifies problematicpersonality traits associated with negativeimpacts on work performance (hogan,raskin & Fazzini, 1990; Khoo & st. burch,2008; Lombardo, ruderman & mcCauley,1988). one consistent finding from thesestudies is that most successful individualsshow higher-than-average extraversion andopenness, and lower levels of neuroticism.

Implication 3: in light of the above two find-ings, developmental coaching should lookbeyond a single-theory approach to includeinterventions and strategies informed byknowledge of relevant personality factors.For example, neuroticism appears to beameliorated by developmental progress, andgiven its negative correlation with leadershipsuccess, decreasing neuroticism throughdevelopmentally active interventions such aswidening perspective-taking, and mindful-ness based interventions would arguably beof benefit (see Cavanagh & spence, 2012).

Finding 4: Developmental stage is a signifi-cant factor of performance over and abovethat determined by personality (Kandler, etal., 2009; strang & Kuhnert, 2009). Forexample, in a study involving 67 senior exec-utives, strang and Kuhnert (2009) showedthat the level of development is a significantpredictor of feedback which could not beexplained simply by reference to the big Fivetraits. the study interestingly did not establish meaningful correlations between



personality dimensions and developmentalstages (possibly due to the small samplesize). in a similar, currently unpublishedstudy, parker (2012) considered 95 partici-pants of a longitudinal coaching study andcompared their neo pi-r scores with theirlongitudinal changes in Kegan s/o levelsusing the ‘subject-object interview’ method(Lahey et al., 1988). results of this researchindicate that developmental stage is posi-tively related to extraversion and opennessand negatively related to neuroticism.

Implication 4: An understanding of a client’spersonality profile alone is not a sufficientbasis upon which to predict behaviour or todevelop interventions. An understanding ofthe developmental stage of the individualhas something important to offer, over andabove personality factors alone. Forexample, a person’s personality profilemight indicate potential areas of reactivity,while the person’s developmental profilemay shape how the person is likely to struc-ture their understanding of, and responseto, that event or situation.

Finding 5: individual facets underlying thebig Five personality dimensions offer impor-tant information that can impact perform-ance and which have the potential to bemasked when only considering the major bigFive dimensions on their own (Costa &mcCrae, 1995; mroczek et al., 2006; roberts,et al., 2006; soto, et al., 2011). For example,soto and colleagues’ (2011) internet-basedstudy involving a very large population of1,267,218 subjects showed distinct age trendsbetween related but distinguishable facettraits within each broad big Five dimension.similar findings with respect to other facettraits were supported by mroczek et al.(2006) and this potentially limits the validityof other existing research that did notconsider individual facets as part of theirfindings.

Implication 5: merely considering big Fivedimensions is unlikely to be sufficient, andany consideration should include assessmentof underlying facets. this is also an impor-tant consideration for suggested furtherresearch – discussed further below – thatconsiders the potential linkages betweendevelopmental stage and personality traitsmore formally.

Summary of implications fordevelopmental coachingon the basis of the above major findings,developmental coaching may have applica-tion in both shorter and longer term changeprogrammes, depending on the pattern ofpersonality traits in the client, and challengespresented by the client’s context. Forexample, where behaviours associated withextraversion and/or openness are particu-larly relevant to goal attainment, environ-mentally focussed developmental inter-ventions may be most useful, as these traitsappear to be more environmentally sensitive(Kandler et al., 2009). new, situationally anddevelopmentally appropriate ways ofexpressing extraversion and openness mayneed to be developed to counteract naturaldecline in these traits during the adult lifespan (helson et al., 2002).

While the research suggests aspects ofpersonality are clearly changeable, thegreater stability associated with Agreeable-ness, Conscientiousness and neuroticismmay reflect relatively greater reciprocal influ-ence between these traits and developmentalpatterns of meaning making. in other words,meaning making and these more geneticallydetermined traits may be self-reinforcing,and hence require relatively longer, morecognitively and emotionally challenginginterventions to shift. hence, developmentalcoaching should not completely disregardfocusing on other personality traits simplybecause they are considered more stable andless easily influenced. indeed, nelson andhogan (2009) point to three ways in whichknowledge of personality can informcoaching; firstly, to explain the coachee’s



behaviour in the work-environment as well aswithin the coaching relationship; secondly,to increase the coachee’s awareness andthereby enable that person to self-regulatemore effectively; and thirdly, to guide thecoach in his/her intervention strategy. themalleability of personality in this context issupported by empirical research.

existing evidence suggests that targetedcoaching interventions can successfully focuson various aspects of personality traits indi-cating that an individual has the ability toself-regulate successfully to overcome thepotential performance inhibitions presentedby particular traits (Christiansen & tett,2008; hogan & holland, 2003; mcCormick& burch, 2008; nelson & hogan, 2009;stewart et al., 2008; tett & burnett, 2003).For example, stewart et al. (2008) used theFFm to test the impact of coaching onpersonality traits. they found changes inperformance following coaching were posi-tively correlated with greater conscientious-ness, openness to experiences, emotionalstability and general self-efficacy.

the above research suggests thatcombining an understanding of the dimen-sions of personality with stage-specifictheories such as Kegan’s (1982, 1995) maylead to more effective change in clientscompared to approaches based on the bigFive personality dimensions alone.

Limitations and suggestions for futureresearchthe above theoretical hypotheses arederived from a small empirical base. muchgreater research is needed to support them.the current research base includes longitu-dinal studies, however, many of these studiesare of limited duration and limited samplesize (strang & Kuhnert, 2009). recognisingthat it is practically challenging to conductlarge-scale longitudinal studies, at this stage,any high quality further research will benefitthe empirical knowledge base and eventuallyenable researchers to conduct meta-analysesto further increase the reliability of findings.

in reviewing the literature for this paper,perhaps most surprising is the fact that withthe exception of strang and Kuhnert (2009)and parker (2012), none of the existingresearch focusing on the combination ofpersonality and adult developmentconducted correlational analyses betweendevelopmental stages and personality traits(berry & Jobe, 2002; helson et al., 2002;hooker, 2002; mcCrae, 2002; smith & spiro,2002; Widiger & seidlitz, 2002). Althoughoutside of the scope of this paper, in arelated area involving cognitive develop-ment, Labouvie-Vief (2006) identified differ-ences in temperament with differences incognitive-affective complexity. her researchfound, for example, that greater neuroticismis associated with greater cognitivecomplexity but also with greater levels ofdepression. this would suggest that furtherlongitudinal research involving the big Fivepersonality dimensions including theirunderlying facets and relationship to devel-opmental stages is likely to be a worthwhileendeavour. Given the limited variance oftenfound between differences of the big Fivepersonality dimensions (e.g. morgeson et al.,2007; murphy & Dzieweczynski, 2005),future focus on movements in underlyingfacets (Kandler et al., 2009; mroczek, et al.,2006; soto et al., 2011) is important. thismay yield a more fine grained under-standing of the relationship between devel-opmental stage and changes in personality.

Conclusionin summary, it seems reasonable to assumethat, as effective developmental coachingsupports the functional efforts of thecoachee in the shorter term, it may alsocontribute positively to changes in person-ality traits in the longer term. typically, themovement from one developmental stage tothe next involves significant periods of time(berger, 2006; Kegan, 1995). Whether thetwo areas are merely complementary orpotentially have more explicit interrelation-ships is not clear on the basis of existing,limited research. however, the above consid-



eration of these two literatures suggests itmight be a potentially important area forfurther research. it is possible that coachinginterventions based on knowledge and appli-cation of both areas have the potential toinform our understanding of performancerelated change in complex environments.research which considers both personalityand developmental stage in the light of thecoachee’s situational requirements andtargeted outcomes may open new frontiersfor both coaching and leadership.

The AuthorsIngo SusingDoctoral research student,sydney business school,university of Wollongong,sydney, Australia, nsW 2000.

Michael J. CavanaghCoaching psychology unit,school of psychology,university of sydney,sydney, Australia nsW 2006.

CorrespondenceMichael J. Cavanaghemail: [email protected]



ReferencesAllport, G.W. & Vernon, p.e. (1931). A study of values.

(score sheet; manual). oxford: houghton mifflin;Gb.

bachkirova, t. (2011). Developmental coaching: Workingwith the self (1st ed.). milton Keynes: openuniversity press; Gb.

bachkirova, t. & Cox, e. (2008). A cognitive-developmental approach for coach development.in s. palmer & A. Whybrow, A. (eds.), Handbook ofcoaching psychology: A guide for practitioners.new York: routledge/taylor & Francis Group;us.

bachkirova, t., Cox, e. & Clutterbuck, D. (2010). The complete handbook of coaching. Los Angeles:sage; us.

barrick, m.r. & mount, m.K. (1993). Autonomy as amoderator of the relationships between the big Five personality dimensions and jobperformance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(1),111–118.

baumeister, r. & heatherton, t.F. (1996) self-regulation failure: An overview. PsychologicalInquiry, 7, 1–15

berger, J.G. (2006). Adult development theory andexecutive coaching practice. in D.r. stober &A.m. Grant, Evidence based coaching handbook:Putting best practices to work for your clients(pp.77–102). hoboken, nJ: John Wiley & sonsinc,; us.

berger, J.G. (2011). Changing on the job: Growing theleaders our organisations need. stanford, CA:stanford university press; us.

berger, J.G. & Atkins, p.W. (2009). mappingcomplexity of mind: using the subject-objectinterview in coaching. Coaching: An InternationalJournal of Theory, Research and Practice, 2(1), 23–36.

berry, J.m. & Jobe, J.b. (2002). At the intersection ofpersonality and adult development. Journal ofResearch in Personality, 36(4), 283–286.

blonigen, D.m., hicks, b.m., Krueger, r.F., patrick,C.J. & iacono, W.G. (2006). Continuity andchange in psychopathic traits as measured vianormal-range personality: A longitudinal-biometric study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology,115(1), 85–95.

bono, J.e. & Judge, t.A. (2004). personality andtransformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(5),901–910.

boyle, G.J., matthews, G. & saklofske, D.h. (2008). The Sage handbook of personality theory and assessment,Vol 1: Personality theories and models. thousandoaks, CA: sage; us.

Cattell, r.b. (1941). temperament and types ofconstitution. in r.b. Cattell, General psychology(pp.275–303). Cambridge, mA: sci-Art publishers;us.

Cavanagh, m.J. (2010). Leadership development: Beyondtransformational leadership. Preliminary findings fromARC Leadership in high stress workplaces project. paperpresented at the Fourth Australian Conference onevidence-based Coaching 2010, sydney, Australia.

Cavanagh, m.J. & spence, G. (2012). mindfulness incoaching: philosophy, psychology or just a usefulskill? in J. passmore, D. peterson, t. Freire (eds.),The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of psychology of coachingand mentoring (pp.112–134). London: Wiley-blackwell; Gb.

Christiansen, n.D. & tett, r.p. (2008). toward a betterunderstanding of the role of situations in linkingpersonality, work behavior, and job performance.[Comment/reply]. Industrial and OrganisationalPsychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 1(3),312–316.

Commons, m.L., Demick, J. & Goldberg, C. (1996).Clinical approaches to adult development. norwood,nJ: Ablex publishers; us.

Cook-Greuter, s.r. (1999). Post-autonomous egodevelopment: A study of its nature and measurement.unpublished Dissertation/thesis.

Costa, p.t. & mcCrae, r.r. (1988). personality inadulthood: A six-year longitudinal study of self-reports and spouse ratings on the neopersonality inventory. Journal of Personality andSocial Psychology, 54(5), 853–863.

Costa, p.t. & mcCrae, r.r. (1995). Domains andfacets: hierarchical personality assessment usingthe revised neo personality inventory. Journal ofPersonality Assessment, 64(1), 21–50.

de raad, b. & perugini, m. (2002). Big five assessment.Ashland, oh: hogrefe & huber publishers; us.

erikson, e.h. (1959). Identity and the life cycle: Selected papers. new York: international universitiespress; us.

eysenck, h. (1947). Dimensions of personality. oxford:Kegan paul; Gb.

Forsythe, G.b. (2005). identity development inprofessional education. Academic Medicine: Journalof the Association of American Medical Colleges, 80(10 suppl), 7.

Goldberg, L.r. (1990). An alternative ‘description ofpersonality’: the big-Five factor structure. Journalof Personality and Social Psychology, 59(6),1216–1229.

Goldberg, L.r. (1992). the development of markersfor the big-Five factor structure. PsychologicalAssessment, 4(1), 26–42.

Grant, A.m. (2003). the impact of life coaching ongoal attainment, metacognition and mentalhealth. Social Behavior & Personality, 31(3),253–264.

hagger, m.s., Wood, C., stiff, C. & Chatzisarantis, n.L.(2010). ego depletion and the strength model ofself-control: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin,136(4), 495–525.

harris, L.s. & Kuhnert, K.W. (2008). Looking throughthe lens of leadership: A constructive develop-mental approach. Leadership & OrganisationDevelopment Journal, 29(1), 47–67.

helson, r., Kwan, V.s., John, o.p. & Jones, C. (2002).the growing evidence for personality change inadulthood: Findings from research withpersonality inventories. Journal of Research inPersonality, 36(4), 287–306.

hofmann, D.A. & Jones, L.m. (2005). Leadership,collective personality, and performance. Journal ofApplied Psychology, 90(3), 509–522.

hogan, J. & holland, b. (2003). using theory toevaluate personality and job-performancerelations: A socioanalytic perspective. Journal ofApplied Psychology, 88(1), 100–112.

hogan, r., hogan, J. & roberts, b.W. (1996).personality measurement and employmentdecisions: Questions and answers. AmericanPsychologist, 51(5), 469–477.

hogan, r., raskin, r. & Fazzini, D. (1990). the darkside of charisma. in K.e. Clark & m.b. Clark(eds.), Measures of leadership (pp.343–354). Westorange, nJ: Leadership Library of America; us.

hooker, K. (2002). new directions for research inpersonality and aging: A comprehensive modelfor linking level, structures, and processes. Journalof Research in Personality, 36(4), 318–334.

Jaques, e. (1998). Requisite organisation: A total systemfor effective managerial organisation and managerialleadership for the 21st century. Arlington, VA: Casonhall; us.

John, o.p. (1990). the ‘big Five’ factor taxonomy:Dimensions of personality in the natural languageand in questionnaires. in o.p. John, r.W. robins& L.A. pervin (eds.), Handbook of personalitypsychology: Theory and research (pp.66–100). newYork: Guilford press; us.

Judge, t.A., bono, J.e., ilies, r. & Gerhardt, m.W.(2002). personality and leadership: A qualitativeand quantitative review. Journal of AppliedPsychology, 87(4), 765–780.

Kandler, C., bleidorn, W., Angleitner, A., riemann, r.& spinath, F.m. (2009). patterns and sources ofadult personality development: Growth curveanalyses of the neo pi-r scales in a longitudinaltwin study. Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology, 97(1), 142–155.

Kegan, r. (1979). the evolving self: A processconception for ego psychology. The CounselingPsychologist, 8(2), 5–34.

Kegan, r. (1982). The evolving self: Problem and process inhuman development. Cambridge, mA: harvarduniversity press; us.

Kegan, r. (1995). In over our heads: The mental demandsof modern life. Cambridge, mA: harvard universitypress; us.

Khoo, h.s. & st. burch, G.J. (2008). the ‘dark side’ ofleadership personality and transformationalleadership: An exploratory study. Personality andIndividual Differences, 44(1), 86–97.

Kitchener, K.s. & King, p.m. (1994). Developing reflectivejudgement: Understanding and promoting intellectualgrowth and critical thinking in adolescents and adults.Jossey-bass higher and Adult education seriesand Jossey-bass social and behavioral scienceseries. san Francisco: Jossey-bass; us.

Kohlberg, L. (1981). The philosophy of moral development:Moral stages and the idea of justice. san Francisco:harper & row; us.



Labouvie-Vief, G. (2006). Emerging structures of thoughtemerging adults in America: Coming of age in the 21stcentury. Washington, DC: American psychologicalAssociation; us.

Labouvie-Vief, G., Diehl, m., tarnowski, A. & shen, J.(2000). Age differences in adult personality:Findings from the united states and China. TheJournals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological Sciencesand Social Sciences, 55B(1), 4–17.

Labouvie-Vief, G. & schaie, K.W. (1974). Generationalversus ontogenetic components of change inadult cognitive behaviour: A 14-year cross-sequential study. Developmental Psychology, 10(3),305–320.

Lahey, L., souvaine, e., Kegan, r., Goodman, r. &Felix, s. 1988. A guide to the subject-object interview: Its administration and interpretation. Cambridge,mA: harvard Graduate school of education; us.

Laske, o. (1999). An integrated model of develop-mental coaching. Consulting Psychology Journal:Practice and Research, 51(3), 139–159.

Laske, o. (2007). An integrated model of develop-mental coaching. in r.r. Kilburg & r.C. Diedrich(eds.), The wisdom of coaching: Essential papers inconsulting psychology for a world of change(pp.217–235). Washington, DC: Americanpsychological Association; us.

Leonard-Cross, e. (2010). Developmental coaching:business benefit – fact or fad? An evaluative studyto explore the impact of coaching in theworkplace. International Coaching Psychology Review,5(1), 36–47.

Lewis, p., Forsythe, G.b., sweeney, p., bartone, p.,bullis, C. & snook, s. (2005). identity develop-ment during the college years: Findings from theWest point Longitudinal study. Journal of CollegeStudent Development, 46(4), 357–373.

Lim, b.-C. & ployhart, r.e. (2004). transformationalleadership: relations to the Five-Factor model andteam performance in typical and maximumcontexts. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(4),610–621.

Loevinger, J. & blasi, A. (1976). Ego development:Conceptions and theories. san Francisco: Jossey-bass;us.

Lombardo, m.m., ruderman, m.n. & mcCauley, C.D.(1988). explanations of success and derailment inupper-level management positions. Journal ofBusiness and Psychology, 2(3), 199–216.

mcCauley, C.D., Drath, W.h., palus, C.J., o’Connor,p.m. & baker, b.A. (2006). the use ofconstructive-developmental theory to advance theunderstanding of leadership. The LeadershipQuarterly, 17(6), 634–653.

mcCormick, i. & burch, G.s. (2008). personality-focused coaching for leadership development.Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research,60(3), 267–278.

mcCrae, r.r. (2002). the maturation of personalitypsychology: Adult personality development andpsychological well-being. Journal of Research inPersonality, 36(4), 307–317.

mcCrae, r.r. & Costa, p.t., Jr. (1990). Personality inadulthood. new York: Guilford press; us.

mcCrae, r.r. & Costa, p.t., Jr. (2008). the Five-Factortheory of personality. in o.p. John, r.W. robins &L.A. pervin (eds.), Handbook of personalitypsychology: Theory and research (3rd ed.,pp.159–181). new York: Guilford press; us.

mcCrae, r.r., Costa, p.t., Jr., ostendorf, F., Angleitner,A., hrebickova, m., Avia, m.D. et al. (2000).nature over nurture: temperament, personality,and life span development. Journal of Personalityand Social Psychology, 78(1), 173–186.

mcCrae, r.r. & John, o.p. (1992). An introduction tothe Five-Factor model and its applications. Journalof Personality, 60(2), 175–215.

morgeson, F.p., Campion, m.A., Dipboye, r.L.,hollenbeck, J.r., murphy, K. & schmitt, n.(2007). Are we getting fooled again? Coming toterms with limitations in the use of personalitytests for personnel selection. [Comment/reply].Personnel Psychology, 60(4), 1029–1049.

mount, m.K., barrick, m.r. & stewart, G.L. (1998).Five-Factor model of personality and performancein jobs involving interpersonal interactions.Human Performance, 11(2–3), 145–165.

mroczek, D.K., Almeida, D.m., spiro, A. & pafford, C.(2006). modelling intraindividual stability andchange in personality. Handbook of personalitydevelopment (pp.163–180). mahwah, nJ: Lawrenceerlbaum Associates; us.

murphy, K.r. & Dzieweczynski, J.L. (2005). Why don’tmeasures of broad dimensions of personalityperform better as predictors of job performance?Human Performance, 18(4), 343–357.

nelson, e. & hogan, r. (2009). Coaching on the darkside. International Coaching Psychology Review, 4(1),9–21.

parker, h. (2012). Exploring the relationships between Five-Factor Model of personality and Kegan’s Subject/Objectstage score in a cohort of Australian workplace leaders.research prepared as part of a doctoral thesis,currently unpublished.

piaget, J. (1928). Judgement and reasoning in the child.London: routledge & Kegan paul; Gb.

ployhart, r.e., Lim, b.-C. & Chan, K.-Y. (2001).exploring relations between typical andmaximum performance ratings and the Five-Factor model of personality. Personnel Psychology,54(4), 809–843.

roberts, b.W., Walton, K.e. & Viechtbauer, W. (2006).patterns of mean-level change in personality traitsacross the life course: A meta-analysis oflongitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 132(1),1–25.



rooke, D. & torbert, W.r. (1998). organisationaltransformation as a function of Ceo’sdevelopmental stage. Organisation DevelopmentJournal, 16(1), 11–28.

ryckman, r.m. (2007). Theories of personality (9th ed.).belmont, CA: Cengage Learning/Wadsworth; us.

smith, t.W. & spiro, A., iii (2002). personality,health, and aging: prolegomenon for the nextgeneration. Journal of Research in Personality, 36(4),363–394.

sollod, r.n. & monte, C.F. (2008). Beneath the mask:An introduction to theories of personality (8th ed.).new York: Wiley; us.

soto, C.J., John, o.p., Gosling, s.D. & potter, J. (2011).Age differences in personality traits from 10 to 65:big Five domains and facets in a large cross-sectional sample. Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology, 100(2), 330–348.

srivastava, s., John, o.p., Gosling, s.D. & potter, J.(2003). Development of personality in early andmiddle adulthood: set like plaster or persistentchange? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,84(5), 1041–1053.

standards Australia (2011). Guidelines for coaching inorganisations. standards Australia.

stewart, L.J., palmer, s., Wilkin, h. & Kerrin, m.(2008). the influence of character: Doespersonality impact coaching success? InternationalJournal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring,6(1), 32–42.

strang, s.e. & Kuhnert, K.W. (2009). personality andleadership developmental levels as predictors ofleader performance. The Leadership Quarterly,20(3), 421–433.

terracciano, A., mcCrae, r.r., brant, L.J. & Costa, p.t.,Jr. (2005). hierarchical linear modeling analysesof the neo pi-r scales in the baltimoreLongitudinal study of Aging. Psychology and Aging,20(3), 493–506.

tett, r.p. & burnett, D.D. (2003). A personality trait-based interactionist model of job performance.Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(3), 500–517.

tett, r.p., Jackson, D.n. & rothstein, m. (1991).personality measures as predictors of jobperformance: A meta-analytic review. PersonnelPsychology, 44(4), 703–742.

torbert, W.r. (1991). The power of balance: Transformingself, society, and scientific inquiry. thousand oaks,CA: sage; us.

torbert, W.r. (2004). Action inquiry: The secret of timelyand transforming leadership. san Francisco: berrett-Kohler; us.

Widiger, t.A. & seidlitz, L. (2002). personality,psychopathology, and aging. Journal of Research inPersonality, 36(4), 335–362.

Wilber, K. (2000). Integral psychology: Consciousness,spirit, psychology, therapy. boston, mA: shambhalapublications; us.




WorKinG effectively as a coachingpsychologist entails the ability tonavigate a constant stream of deci-

sions and choices. Whether the task is one ofdeciding whether to work with a coachee,determining the primary focus of the workthat is to follow, devising an interventionplan or problem-solving when the contractdoes not go according to plan, decision-making is crucial to all stages. As such,making decisions is a central feature of acoaching psychologist’s work and arguably,an area of competence in its own right.

Despite this, relatively little appears to beknown about how coaching psychologistsactually make decisions with, and about,their coachees. A review of the coachingpsychology literature highlights a dearth ofstudies devoted to this topic, which is prob-lematic for a variety of reasons. First, thebroader professional practice literatureincreasingly highlights effective decision-making as complementary to, but distinctfrom, subject matter expertise (Gambrill,2005; Lane & Corrie, 2012). second, practi-tioners are known to be prone to numeroussources of decision-making error (see

Kahneman, 2011, for a review). third,critical thinking skills – including the abilityto evaluate and revise our decisions – areincreasingly recognised as essential for navi-gating a rapidly changing world (paul &elder, 2002). moreover, whilst the trainingprogrammes that confer qualifications andthe professional bodies which govern ourpractice can provide recommendations,there is little in the way of substantive guid-ance on how to approach decision-making inan effective, systematic yet creative way. thisgives rise to a number of critical questions,including:l how do practitioners make decisions in

the context of their engagements withcoachees? to what extent do they rely onspecific, systematic decision-makingprinciples, guidelines or frameworksdrawn from the literature, or developidiosyncratic methods and procedures?

l to what extent are practitioners able toarticulate the decision-making rules bywhich they operate? to what extent arethey aware of the factors that influencetheir decision-making with, and about,their coachees – for good or ill?

Paper

Decision-making and the coaching contextSarah Corrie & David Lane

As coaching psychologists we take pride in our decision-making skills. In offering our services to clients wemake the implicit (or explicit) claim that we can support them in achieving results that they would not beable to achieve by themselves. Indeed, our claims to a professional status are predicated in part on the qualityof the decisions we make in relation to the knowledge and evidence of our discipline. However, the availableevidence-base for the effectiveness of our decision-making does not necessarily support our assertions.Additionally, there is a paucity of guidance on how to acquire effective decision-making skills. This paperprovides a brief review of the literature on practitioners’ decision-making prowess and examines some of thespecific decision-making skills that coaching psychologists need to equip themselves for the demands of today’swork place. The case for coaching psychologists receiving formal guidance in the development of decision-making skills is presented and a framework offered that has the potential to enhance their capability forcritical and creative decision-making in the current climate.Keywords: Decision-making; reasoning skills; rationality; linearity; propositional meanings; implicationalmeanings.

l What decision-making skills do coachingpsychologists need to work effectively withcoachees?

the aim of this paper is to challenge thecommonly held belief that effective decision-making is automatically acquired throughexperience in the workplace, and to makethe case that decision-making is best under-stood as a domain of competence in its ownright. in the service of this argument, thearticle begins with a brief summary of theliterature on decision-making. it is arguedthat the strong emphasis on ascertainingaccuracy that has dominated much of theliterature has prevented an exploration ofthe full range of reasoning skills that profes-sional practice requires. the additional decision-making and reasoning skills practi-tioners need to guide their practice are thenconsidered. Finally, a heuristic frameworkfor approaching decision-making in ‘realworld’ contexts is presented. Although yet tobe empirically validated, this framework haspractical value in providing a vehiclethrough which practitioners can systemati-cally evaluate, and where necessary, refinetheir individual approaches.

The case for becoming effectivedecision-makerseducators across all disciplines believe that itis vital to equip their students with the requi-site decision-making and problem-solvingskills that will enable them to function effec-tively in the workplace. nonetheless, asGambrill (2005) observes, ‘surprisingly littleattention is devoted in professional trainingprogrammes to many sources of error thatcan lead (practitioners) astray’ (p.ix).Although writing specifically about decision-making in the clinical field, the extent towhich coaching training programmesprovide explicit training in the acquisitionand refinement of these skills is also unclearand certainly this domain of competence isyet to feature significantly in the emergentcoaching psychology literature.

in their examination of why such animportant skill has been neglected, Lane and

Corrie (2012) propose that this may in partbe due to an implicit, widely held assumptionthat decision-making expertise is automati-cally acquired through discipline-specificknowledge and professional experience; thatis, the more experience and subject matterexpertise we acquire, the more effective ourdecisions become. however, this is problem-atic for a number of reasons. First, experts donot necessarily have a good understanding oftheir own thinking skills (Kassirer et al.,1982). second, expertise is internalised overtime and therefore not readily accessible toconscious reflection or articulation (polyani,1967; schön, 1987) or, by extension, teachingto others.

this omission in the literature has thepotential to disadvantage coaching psycholo-gists in the development of their skills. in aneconomic and professional climate charac-terised by unprecedented levels of uncertaintyand unpredictability (Cavanagh & Lane, 2012;Kahane, 2007; Lane & Down, 2010), coachingpsychologists face considerable challenges indevising novel and creative solutions forincreasingly complex situations. Additionally,the rapid pace of change makes it difficult topredict what type of knowledge will berequired in the future (stice, 1987). indeed,becher and Chassin (2001) go so far asproposing that ‘the only surety is that today’sknowledge is obsolete tomorrow’ (p.74). sucha prediction may, on first reading, seemunduly pessimistic. nonetheless, it highlightsthat discipline-specific knowledge alone isunlikely to prove sufficient for the decisionsthat coaching psychologists need to be able tomake, in order to provide optimum services totheir coachees. As such, there are compellingreasons to equip coaching psychologists withthe distinct mental operations that will enablethem to refine their decision-making capabili-ties with individual coachees, whilst remainingresponsive to the evolving evidence-base ofcoaching psychology.

Given the central role that decision-making plays in professional practice what,then, is known about the effectiveness withwhich practitioners make decisions?


Decision-making and the coaching context

Decision-making in professionalpractice: How accurate are we?A review of the existing literature suggeststhat there is not, as yet, a substantive body ofknowledge on the decision-making capabili-ties of those delivering coaching interven-tions. in consequence, it is arguablylegitimate – and indeed necessary – to drawupon information derived from other,related literatures – most specifically, thefields of clinical psychology andpsychotherapy, where this domain of compe-tence has been more systematically studied.

the decisions of professional practitionershave been a subject of academic interest sincethe 1950s. Although a range of approacheshave been used (see Lane & Corrie, 2012, foran overview) historically, much of the litera-ture has been organised around notions ofaccuracy – in particular, how practitioners’judgements fare against statistical predictions.this in turn appears to be underpinned by anassumption that accuracy equates to responsi-bility. o’Donohue and henderson (1999), forexample, argue that being able to make deci-sions accurately represents an ethical andepistemic duty that professionals have to theirclients. hence, coachees are justified inexpecting us to have accurate knowledge, to beable to apply this knowledge in ways that accu-rately reflect current notions of best practice,to be able to accurately assess coachees’ needsand to retain an accurate sense of the limits ofour competence.

it is unfortunate, then, that the results ofnumerous studies make for uncomfortablereading. For example, an early studyconducted by Goldberg (1959) found thatthe professional judgement of clinicians wasno superior to their secretaries when it cameto accurate diagnosis. oskamp (1965) foundno relationship between judgement accuracyand training. Comparisons between experi-enced and inexperienced therapists alsofound little benefit from experience on anumber of measures (Carkhuf & berenson,1967).

professional psychology has clearlyevolved since some of these early studies

were conducted and not all studies haveyielded such disappointing results (see forexample, bieling & Kuyken’s, 2003, studiesof decision-making in the context of cogni-tive case formulation, and Luborsky & Crits-Cristoph’s, 1990, use of a structured processof eliciting core conflictual relationshipthemes). however, it would seem that manypractitioners fail to use any systematic deci-sion-making procedures when it comes toselecting methods of assessment, planninggoals or choosing intervention strategies. in their investigation of decision-making in asample of 25 therapists, for example,o’Donohue et al. (1990) found that in 96per cent of cases, practitioners had not used,or were not able to describe using, a system-atic decision-making process when choosingmethods of assessment. this pattern ofresults would appear to be consistent withthe finding that many practitioners continueto rely more on personal experience thanthe decision-making literature, of which asignificant number are not aware (hollon &Kris, 1984; rock, 1994). more recently, it hasbeen noted that negative attitudes towardsresearch have persisted, with practitionerstending to underestimate the importance ofspecific protocols and overestimate the influ-ence of the therapeutic relationship in deter-mining outcomes (shafran et al., 2009). thispattern of results echoes meehl’s (1997)earlier, highly critical account of profes-sional decision-making as comprising aseries of ‘…truths, half-truths and false-hoods’ (p.91). in the service of the need topractice in ways that are consistent with theevidence-base, Waller (2009) has identified arange of problematic cognitions, emotionsand behavioural reactions to clients and tochange work that characterise practitioners’decision-making, arguing that supervision isessential for ensuring that interventionsremain ‘on track’.

taken as a whole, the literature does notgenerate confidence in the accuracy of prac-titioners’ judgements. Although, as notedearlier, this literature is not specific tocoaching psychology, it would be difficult to


Sarah Corrie & David Lane

conclude that the decision-making prowessof those in the fields of coaching is superiorto that demonstrated by the other psycho-logically-informed disciplines upon whichthe literature is based.

What reasoning abilities do coachingpsychologists need?A number of explanations for the apparentfailures in practitioners’ decision accuracyhave been proposed including heuristics(tversky & Kahneman, 1973, 1974); attribu-tion theory (heider, 1958; Kelley, 1967) andinformation-processing biases (both percep-tual and interpretive; see Corrie, 2009, for asummary), an awareness of which can beuseful for improving the accuracy of ourdecision-making in practice. however, others(e.g. Dowie & elstein, 1988; hogarth, 1981;Lane & Corrie, 2012) have argued thatequating effectiveness with accuracy mayhave provided a misleading picture of thecognitive abilities that typify skilful decision-making in the professional arena. in partic-ular, accuracy – whilst vital in certainsituations – is only one aspect of decision-making and arguably, not always what isneeded to work most effectively withcoachees.

in professional practice, decisions oftenneed to be made in situations involvingsignificant amounts of uncertainty. As notedby hogarth (1981), the individuals andorganisations to whom we offer our servicesare more appropriately seen as constantlyevolving systems rather than static entities.indeed, schön (1987) has argued that prac-titioners are primarily interested in, andrequired to work with, changing contextsrather than situations that can be under-stood in linear, cause-and-effect terms. thedecisions that we need to make, then, oftenrelate to issues that are ill-defined andrequire nuanced, context-sensitive and inno-vative approaches to identify potentiallyproductive courses of action. equally, thereare invariably many decisions to make andmultiple courses of action that may be bene-ficial; psychological practice is a complex

arena, taking place in a stream of interper-sonal exchanges that require the ability tonavigate the often conflicting agendas ofmultiple stakeholders. in consequence, thenotion that our decisions can be meaning-fully understood as isolated cognitive‘outputs’ which can be objectively evaluatedas correct or incorrect (accurate or inaccu-rate) poses the risk of providing a distortedpicture of professional judgement in theworkplace. rather, our decisions are context-dependent, informed by the purpose of thework that is agreed with the coachee. thisimplies that effective decision-making reliesupon a broader range of reasoning skillsthan the existing literature has considered.

how might it be possible to understandthis broader range of reasoning skills? in hiswork on thinking skills, de bono (1995) hasdifferentiated what he terms ‘shooting’ and‘fishing’ styles of reasoning. using a huntingmetaphor he describes ‘shooting questions’as those that have a distinct target in sight.here accuracy is central to the quality of thedecision that is ultimately made. shootingquestions rely on rational and analyticalskills, make greater use of closed questionsand aim to arrive at a clear understandingthat can be determined as correct or incor-rect in a particular instance. in contrast,‘fishing questions’ are those that areconcerned with exploring, expanding anduncovering. the latter requires use of openand exploratory questions, attention to whatmight be left unsaid by a coachee and a will-ingness to tolerate ambiguity. the lattermight also entail use of metaphor, imagina-tion and intuition to help coachees moveforward.

De bono uses the terms ‘shooting’ and‘fishing’ as metaphors for qualitativelydistinct mental operations. in information-processing theory, these distinctions havebeen defined in terms of propositional andimplications levels of meaning (see teasdale& barnard, 1993). the propositional levelrefers to knowledge that can be expressedlinguistically and can be evaluated, in a rela-tively straightforward fashion, in terms of its



accuracy against some external criterion.(examples of propositional statementsmight include, ‘today is Friday’ or ‘thisarticle is written in english’.) in contrast, theimplicational level refers to more holistic,intuitive and ‘felt sense’ forms of knowingthat are intrinsic to the experience of beinghuman and which do not lend themselveswell to literal verbal translation. (the state-ments, ‘my heart is broken’ and ‘i was frozento the spot’ would be examples of this type ofmeaning.) the implicational level ofmeaning features particularly frequently inthe language of poetry, fiction and folk tales,as well as the language our coachees some-times use in the service of sharing theirstories with us. (indeed, it has beenproposed that narration is the principal wayin which people make sense of their experi-ence; see hillman, 1983; mcLeod, 2000.)

Clearly, these are only two of the manyemerging responses aimed at elucidatingand informing the development of practi-tioners’ critical reasoning and problemsolving skills (see Gambrill, 2005, for anexhaustive account of methods forimproving the quality of our judgements anddecisions, as well as Kahane’s, 2007, work onsolving tough problems, and paul & elder’s,2002, work on how to become a ‘criticalthinker’. Lane & Corrie, 2012, have alsocontributed methods for achieving what theyterm the need to take a ‘different, wider,deeper and more complex perspective’).however, taken as a whole, the literaturehighlights that there are occasions inpractice where assumptions about rationalityand linearity cannot be sustained, that weoften find ourselves having to cope withcomplexity, confusion and conflictingperspectives, and that we are likely to have toaccept anomalies in the data available to us.Additionally, we may find ourselves in situa-tions where the only option is to take risks –such as when we cannot know for sure that agiven course of action will work (stice,1987). in such circumstances, what are ourchoices? how might it be possible to achievea systematic approach to decision-making

whilst taking account of the complex arenain which we provide our services?

Working in different decision quadrantsDrake (2009) has highlighted how, whenattempting to understand and respond tocomplex coachee issues, practitionersbenefit from having a ‘road map’ thatsupports them in navigating and synthesisingmultiple theories, types of knowledge andforms of evidence. one such ‘road map’ isprovided in Figure 1. in this model, anyprofessional decision that confronts a practi-tioner is understood as being located in oneof four quadrants. these quadrants sit alongtwo dimensions: the known-unknown andthe individual-collective (see Figure 1,below). this model provides a broad frame-work that can help practitioners identifymore easily the decision-making task in hand(for example, being able to identify whenthe nature of the decision-making task isconcerned with accuracy and when it mightbe concerned with more complex processessuch as negotiating conflicting perspectivesor having to operate in the context of non-linearity). it can also provide a frameworkfor mapping the decision-making territory,and so assist us in the process of reflectingupon, critiquing and refining our decision-making capabilities in any particular situa-tion. in this section, a brief description ofthis model with an example is provided toillustrate how this approach can be appliedin practice.

Quadrant 1: Known and Individualin quadrant 1, we are seekers after an indi-vidual truth to decide what will work for thiscoachee in this context. We can define goalsfor our work together based on an individualcase formulation using existing hypothesistesting models; that is, we know how to seekthe ‘truth’ but do not know what that truthmay look like until we have undertaken ouranalysis with the coachee. here, the practi-tioner is concerned with the accuracy andrelevance of a decision. the types of decisiontools most useful in this quadrant include



individualised case formulation, hypothesisgeneration and intervention planningunique to the needs of the individualcoachee, inviting the coachee to engage intasks outside the session as experiments inbehaviour and personalised goal setting.

Example: Working with a senior manager whostarted a coaching assignment following atten-dance at a development centre. The centre identi-fied from a 360 feedback certain areas fordevelopment. What was not clear was how themanager’s behaviour was seen in the differentcontexts in which he operated. It was agreed indiscussion between sponsor, coachee and coach toexplore examples of behaviour in different settings.A methodology for collecting and evaluating thoseexamples was agreed. Data were collected, analysedand then an individual case formulation co-created. On the basis of this an intervention wasplanned.

Quadrant 2: Known and Collectivein quadrant 2, we can draw upon a collectiveunderstanding of the coachee’s issues; thereis an available evidence-base to help struc-ture our thinking that can inform our deci-sions about what works best for a coacheepresenting with a particular need. here, thepractitioner draws upon the collectiveevidence and tries to match the coachee’sgoals to the evidence-base. the concern isone of ensuring the congruence of our inter-vention with the collective guidelines for theissues faced. the types of decision tools mostuseful in this quadrant include evidence-based guidelines, protocols, structured deci-sion tools and manualised approaches.

Example: Working with a senior marketanalyst who was becoming increasingly anxiouswhen faced with high-pressure decision-making. In discussion with the coach the coachee described



Figure 1: The Decision Quadrants Model.

Known

Individual Collective

Unknown

Quadrant 4

Unknown &Individual

Quadrant 3

Unknown &Collective

Quadrant 2

Known &Collective

Quadrant 1

Known &Individual

a pattern of generalised anxiety which, while orig-inating in a specific decision-making context, wasincreasingly triggered in any situation of perceivedthreat. The description was very close to that avail-able in the CBT literature which offers evidence-based interventions for anxiety disorders. Usingthat evidence-base a coaching programme wasintroduced to address the coachee’s pattern ofcognitive biases and cognitive processing thatincreased anxiety when faced with decisions.

Quadrant 3: Unknown and CollectiveWe are faced with a collective need orcompeting needs in a social system with noagreed understanding or knowledge base onwhich to draw; we cannot agree what to dofor the best. in such a context practitionersbecome seekers of a shared understandingthat can be used as a framework for decision-making in the absence of collective knowl-edge that can provide substantive guidance.the types of decision tools most useful inthis quadrant include co-constructing narra-tives across competing groups or teams toseek a shared account, reflective and genera-tive process rather than use of prescribedpublic guidelines (as would be the case inquadrant 2), divergent rather than conver-gent thinking tools, and implicational ratherthan propositional knowledge.

Example: Working with a coachee followingthe attacks on the World Trade Center (9/11), thecoaching psychologist was asked to help in theimmediate aftermath of the attacks as attemptswere made to set up services to support the organi-sation and individuals affected by the event. Theliterature on response to disasters at that time wasconfusing as there were emerging doubts about theimpact of critical incident debriefing and also somedoubts over the point at which individual coun-selling should be offered and in what form.Various parties in the organisation also heldmarkedly contrasting views on what was needed.The group involved in setting up the service couldnot draw upon evidenced-based guidelines sincethey were disputed and the complexity of theunfolding situation made planning difficult.

A series of conversations took place in which astory gradually emerged that enabled theconflicting points of view to be reconciled into anagreed approach – with built-in daily reviews toadapt the programme as needed. This includedgroup sessions, counselling and coaching specifi-cally to help key managers make decisions in theunfolding situation.

Quadrant 4: Unknown and Individualin quadrant 4, practitioners are faced withan individual journey into the unknown;neither coachee nor coach knows whatmight be appropriate, how to generatechange or indeed if change is needed. herewe are seekers after truthfulness; that is, asense of meaning that can be held with asense of integrity, or a personal truth ratherthan a truth tested by experimentation inthe world. the types of decision frameworkmost useful in this quadrant include lateralthinking skills, intuitive understanding,content analysis and individual narrativeanalysis.

Example: In the context of the case reportedabove, the attacks on the World Trade Center, acoaching programme on decision-making wasestablished with a key manager. It was unclearwhat options were available for supporting the keymanagers in decision-making in a rapidlychanging situation. However, there was a decisionmodel for response, recovery and mitigation phasesin disaster situations (Taylor & Lane, 1991),which offered a starting point. Working with onekey manager it was clear that the impact on himwas very strong and he felt very keenly the loss ofcertain colleagues. It was uncertain if he was ableto make decisions, if he needed counsellingsupport, or if he could be coached to work with thedecisions that needed to be made. Coach andcoachee explored various personal narrativesaround his response to the situation and agreed toset up an emergent decision-making model torespond to rapidly changing circumstances. Thecoach met with the manager daily to review hisdecision priorities and the decision process thatmight be used.



Towards becoming effective decision-makers: Some final thoughts andrecommendationsit is important to note that the DecisionQuadrants model is yet to be empirically vali-dated. As such, it is offered as a heuristicdevice rather than an evidence-basedapproach. nonetheless, as a means ofenabling practitioners to consider and cate-gorise the decisions they face in specificcontexts, it has the potential to assist thedevelopment of a systematic approach.

As Lane and Corrie (2012) observe, deci-sion-making in the ‘real world’ makesmultiple cognitive demands of those whoprovide coaching services and is influencedby a far wider range of factors than we mightwish to acknowledge or might even be aware.the ability to make decisions accurately isvital in certain situations. however, a ‘qualitydecision’ is typically an outcome of a processof reasoning that is more sophisticated andnuanced than the extent to which it is accu-rate. the dominance of an early researchparadigm that focused on how practitioners’decision-making fares against actuarial datahas prevented adequate research into therange of decision-making and reasoningskills that practitioners need to guide theirservice offers, and equally a lack of substan-tive professional guidelines on how to refinethis area of competence.

Without the opportunity to acquire theseskills practitioners will be disadvantaged as,by extension, will their coachees. Arguably,more is being demanded of the coachingpsychologist’s ‘cognitive equipment’ thanever before. As the demands of the work-place become increasingly complex thereare compelling reasons to identify and equippractitioners with those distinct mental oper-ations that will enable them to refine theirmethods of working with individualcoachees, whilst also remaining responsiveto the evolving evidence-base of coachingpsychology. it is, therefore, critical thatcoaching psychologists are provided with themeans to reflect upon, critique and refinetheir decision-making skills, both during

initial training and through subsequentopportunities for continuing professionaldevelopment.

this paper has presented the case forseeing decision-making as a distinct domainof competence that is separate from disci-pline-specific knowledge and acquiredprofessional experience. through reflectingon the limitations of the literature, it hasbeen argued that there is benefit in thinkingmore broadly about the range of cognitiveabilities that practitioners need to workeffectively. this article has outlined a modelwhich might support this endeavourthrough classifying decisions according toone of four quadrants along two dimensions(known-unknown; individual-collective). it ishoped that this model might enable thoseinvolved in providing coaching interventionsto develop a more robust and systematicapproach, even when the decisionsconfronting them involve taking risks in theface of many unknown factors. this modelmight also provide a road map for those whotrain coaching psychologists, enablingstudents to consider the different decision-making tools relevant to each of the quad-rants identified in Figure 1.

For practitioners wishing to take imme-diate steps towards evaluating and refiningtheir approach, the literature would appearto point to the necessity of: (1) raising aware-ness of common obstacles to effective deci-sion-making (e.g. heuristics, attributiontheory, cognitive biases); (2) reflecting uponand auditing our practice-based decision-making; and (3) evaluating the range ofdecision-making tools and frameworks avail-able (in particular, whether we have suffi-cient methods for making effective decisionsfor the contexts in which we work, orwhether we need to elaborate our reper-toire). nonetheless, this is clearly a startingpoint. to extend our individual and collec-tive understanding of the decision-makingskills that are both needed and employed bythose delivering coaching interventions, thefield needs to consider how to systematicallysupport the development of critical thinking



skills amongst a highly divergent work force.the following questions are offered as auseful starting point for practitioners toaudit and refine their skills, and forresearchers and trainers to consider:1. What does a good quality, or ‘effective’

decision look like? Can we identify criteriathat are central?

2. how do we define criteria for effectivedecision-making that are contextsensitive?

3. What are the competences required todeliver consistently effective decisions inpractice?

4. What are the mental operations thatcoaching psychologists need to be able todeliver their services effectively? (Wewould anticipate that given the diversity ofthe professionals who call themselvescoaches and coaching psychologists, thesewill legitimately vary from context tocontext.)

5. how can we best train coachingpsychologists in attaining an effectiverepertoire of decision-making skills?

through engaging with questions such asthese, it is hoped that individual coachingpsychologists, coaching psychology bodiesand the wider coaching community mightdirect their attention to what is currently aneglected area of scientific and professionalenquiry.

The AuthorsProfessor Sarah Corrie professional Development Foundation,middlesex university.

Professor David Laneprofessional Development Foundation.

CorrespondenceSarah Corrieprofessional Development Foundation,21 Limehouse Cut, 46 morris road,London e14 6nQ.email: [email protected]





becher, e.C. & Chassin, m.r. (2001) improvingquality, minimising error: making it happen,Health Affairs, 20(3), 68–81.

bieling, p.J. & Kuyken, W. (2003). is cognitiveformulation science or science fiction? ClinicalPsychology: Science and Practice, 10(1), 52–69.

Carkhuf, r.r. & berenson, b.G. (1967). Beyondcounselling and therapy. new York: holt, rinehart& Winston.

Cavanagh, m.J. & Lane, D. (2012). Coachingpsychology coming of age: the challenges we facein the messy world of complexity. InternationalCoaching Psychology Review, 7(1), 75–90.

Corrie, s. (2009). The art of inspired living. London:Karnac books.

De bono, e. (1995). Parallel thinking. London:penguin.

Dowie, J.A. & elstein, A.s. (1988). Professional judgement.A reader in clinical decision-making. newcastle-upon-tyne: Cambridge university press.

Drake, D.b. (2009). evidence is a verb: A relationalapproach to knowledge and mastery in coaching.International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching andMentoring, 7(1), 1–12.

Gambrill, e. (2005). Critical thinking in clinical practice(2nd ed.). hoboken, nJ: Wiley.

Goldberg, L. (1959). the effectiveness of clinicians’judgments: the diagnosis of organic braindamage from the bender-Gestalt test. Journal ofConsulting Psychology, 23, 25–33.

heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations.new York: Wiley.

hillman, J. (1983). Healing fiction. Woodstock: spring.hogarth, r. (1981). beyond discrete biases:

Functional and dysfunctional aspect ofjudgemental heuristics. Psychological Bulletin, 90,197–217.

hollon, s.D. & Kris, m.r. (1984). Cognitive factors inclinical research and practices. Clinical PsychologyReview, 4, 35–76.

Kahane, A. (2007). Solving tough problems: An open wayof listening and creating new realities. san Francisco:berrett-Koehler.

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking fast and slow. London:penguin.

Kassirer, J.p., Kuipers, b.J. & Gorry, G.A. (1982).towards a theory of clinical expertise. AmericanJournal of Medicine, 73(2), 251–259.

Kelley, h.h. (1967). Attribution theory in socialpsychology. in D. Levine (ed.), Nebraska symposiumon motivation (vol. 15, pp.192–238). Lincoln, nb:university of nebraska press.

Lane, D.A. & Corrie, s. (2012). Making effective decisionsin counselling and psychotherapy: A practical guide.maidenhead, berkshire: oxford university press.

Lane, D.A. & Down, m. (2010). the art of managingfor the future: Leadership of turbulence.Management Decision, 48(4), 512–527.

Luborsky, L. & Crits-Cristoph, p. (1990). Understandingtransference: The core conflictual relationship themesmethod. new York: basic books.

mcLeod, J. (2000) Guest editorial: the developmentof narrative-informed theory, research andpractice in counselling and psychotherapy:european perspectives. European Journal ofPsychotherapy, Counselling & Health, 3(3), 331–333.

meehl, p.e (1997). Credentialed persons, credentialedknowledge. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice,4(2), 91–98.

o’Donohue, W., Fisher, J.e., plaud, J.J. & Curtis, s.D.(1990) treatment decisions: their nature andtheir justification. Psychotherapy, 27(3), 421–427.

o’Donohue, W. & henderson, D. (1999). epistemicand ethical duties in clinical decision-making.Behaviour Change, 16(1), 10–19.

oskamp, s. (1965). overconfidence in case-studyjudgements. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 29,261–265.

paul, r.W. & elder, L. (2002). Critical thinking: Tools fortaking charge of your professional and personal life.new Jersey: pearson education, inc.

polyani, m. (1967). The tacit dimension. new York:Doubleday.

rock, D.L. (1994). Clinical judgment survey of mentalhealth professionals: i. An assessment of opinions,ratings, and knowledge. Journal of ClinicalPsychology, 50(6), 941–950.

schön, D.A. (1987). Educating the Reflective Practitioner.san Francisco: Jossey-bass.

shafran, r., Clark, D.m., Fairburn, C.G., Arntz, A.,barlow, D.h., ehlers, A., Freeston, m., Garety, p.A.,hollon, s.D., ost, L.G., salkovskis, p.m., Williams,J.m.G. & Wilson, G.t. (2009) mind the gap:improving the dissemination of Cbt. BehaviourResearch and Therapy, 47, 902–909.

stice, J.e. (1987). Developing critical thinking andproblem-solving abilities. san Francisco: Jossey-bass.

taylor, A.J.W. & Lane, D.A. (1991). psychological aspectsof disaster: issues for the 1990s. British Journal ofGuidance and Counselling, Special Issue, 19, 1.

teasdale, J.D. & barnard, p.J. (1993). Affect, cognitionand change: Re-modelling depressive thought. hove,east sussex: erlbaum.

tversky, A. & Kahneman, D. (1973). Availability: A heuristic for judging frequency and probability.Cognitive Psychology, 5, 207–232.

tversky, A. & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment underuncertainty: heuristics and biases. Science, 185,1124–1131.

Waller, G. (2009). evidence-based treatment andtherapist drift. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 47,119–127.

References

The AbiLitY to accurately diagnoseorganisational problems and issues iscrucial to management. effective diag-

nosis of problems and issues is akin to goodmedicine – it may be highly counter-produc-tive to embark on solutions before an accu-rate diagnosis has been made. theapproaches to problem diagnosis undertakenby medics may be well known to coachingpsychologists, (see, for example, Johnson etal., 1981; Langlois, 2002; treasure, 2011).Coaching psychologists will also be veryfamiliar with the interpersonal skills thatmanagers need to use for example use ofexploratory questions, active listening tech-nique or joint problem solving (hayes, 2002;neville, 2009; hasson, 2011). however, thereare additionally certain organisational modelsthat it may be helpful for the coachingpsychologist to be aware of. this paper seeks

to explain three of these models and the usethat can be made of these to help managersaccurately diagnose the causes of problems.these organisational models can be labelledas follows: (1) systems approach; (2) unitaryand pluralist perspectives; and (3) rolebehaviours versus personality behaviours.the approach that we are adopting in thispaper is an alternative approach to that taken,for example, by tichy et al. (1977), whichseeks to assess the health of the whole organi-sation with a view to organisation develop-ment. instead we focus on what we see as aneed to help the individual manager to diag-nose the causes of the problems with whichhe or she is faced on a day-to-day basis. thepaper starts off by explaining another impor-tant issue relevant to problem diagnosis: thefailure to distinguish between symptoms andcauses of problems.


Paper

The development of diagnostic skills bymanagement coachingW. David Rees & Christine Porter

In this paper the authors consider how psychological coaching can help those with managerial responsibilitydevelop crucial managerial diagnostic skills. The paper refers to three organisational models that coachingpsychologists could find helpful as they seek to help managers accurately diagnose the causes of organisationalproblems. These organisational models can be labelled as follows: (1) Systems approach; (2) Unitary andPluralist Perspectives; and (3) Role Behaviours versus Personality Behaviours.

The paper also explains how lack of effective diagnosis can lead those with managerial responsibilitiesto get involved in a range of activities better left to others. Given that organisations operate as systems (Millett,1998) faulty diagnosis can arise because of a lack of understanding that problems which emerge in onefunction of an organisation may be caused by actions in other parts of an organisation. Managers need toanticipate the ‘knock-on’ effect that their decisions can have on other areas of organisational activity. Furthercauses of defective diagnosis explored include a failure of managers to distinguish between role and personalitybehaviour and the adoption by managers of a unitary as opposed to a pluralist frame of reference, leadingto an inability to recognise conflicts of interest and deal with these in a constructive way. Practical advice isgiven on the development by coaching psychologists of managers’ diagnostic skills related to these modelswith reference to case studies.Keywords: Coaching psychology; conflicts of interest; delegation; diagnosis; disciplinary pyramid; holisticapproach; knock-on effect; managerial escalator; managerial hybrids; personality behaviour; pluralist frameof reference; role behaviour; silo mentality; unitary frame of reference.

As well as previously published examples,case studies are used in this paper that havebeen acquired by the authors over a numberof years in the course of undertaking consul-tancy work in a variety of organisations. ourviews of the usefulness of the modelsreferred to above have been validated by thefrequency with which we have observedsimilar problems occurring in organisationsin many different sectors of the economy.examples of organisations where the prob-lems identified in this paper have beenobserved include: public sector organisa-tions including local government and theuK national health service; not-for-profitorganisations, for example, several universi-ties and a children’s charity; private sectororganisations such as banks and buildingsocieties, hotels, and manufacturing particu-larly brewing and soft drinks. We haveobserved the same problems whilst workingboth in the uK and overseas, for example,China, France, Guyana, malaysia, india,indonesia, and romania. it should also beexplained that the cases cited in this paperhave been chosen because they are seen asrepresentative. the cases have been used inmanagement teaching in a wide variety ofsituations and could also be used by the prac-tising coaching psychologist in facilitatingclient reappraisal of their own situation andto develop diagnostic skills. because of clientconfidentiality, however, unfortunately it hasnot always been possible to identify theactual players in the cases cited here.

Case 1: Failure to differentiate betweensymptoms and causesthe first case illustrates the failure ofmanagers to identify the real issue and todistinguish between symptoms and causes.the case is that of a supervisor asking theirmanager for help with an apparent discipli-nary problem. Frequently managementtraining groups, when given this problemsituation to diagnose and suggest solutionsto, respond by deciding that the manager inthe case should be taking over the probleminstead of responding that the manager

should check first whether or not the super-visor in the case should be encouraged todeal with it themselves. the case study isshort but raises key issues and is as follows:

mr Jones, a stores labourer, has beenemployed in the building stores Depart-ment of a local authority for nine months.his supervisor, who reports to the storesmanager, goes to see his boss. thesupervisor tells the stores manager that hehad told mr Jones three hours ago to loada vehicle with materials that were neededat one of the Council sites.

the supervisor explains to the storesmanager that when he asked mr Joneswhy he had not started loading the vehiclehe replied that he had been busy on otherjobs and had not appreciated the urgencyof the request. the supervisor explainsthat this was the second time that he hadbeen let down by mr Jones in this way andthat he was not satisfied with the reply hehad had from mr Jones.

the previous occasion when mr Joneshad not attended to an urgent job hadbeen six weeks ago and had resulted inthe late arrival of materials that wereneeded on site where the employees werewaiting to start a job.

When asked how they would handle this situation if they were the stores manager, theresponse of most managerial groups is tomis-diagnose the primary problem, whichactually relates to the skill set of the super-visor. instead of asking themselves why thesupervisor has come to the manager with theproblem without dealing with it themselves,management training groups usuallyconcentrate on the behaviour of theemployee referred to in the case who hasfailed to carry out instructions. managersoften opt to intervene directly, for example,by arranging a disciplinary interview chairedby themselves. the managers do not alwayssee the consequences of taking such action.the result of tackling the situation in thisway can be, however, to take authority awayfrom the supervisor, who will then feelencouraged, or even obliged, to take further


The development of diagnostic skills by management coaching

such cases to the stores manager. the impactof taking the decision to intervene could,therefore, result in the stores managertaking on more and more of the supervisor’sresponsibilities, thus neglecting some of thework that the managers are actually beingpaid to undertake. A more appropriateresponse would be for the manager to diag-nose why the supervisor cannot deal with thesituation themselves and, if necessary,counsel the supervisor about how to handlesuch situations for themselves. oursuggested approach here is in line with theclassic approach in social work to see if aperson can be helped to help himself orherself rather than take the responsibilityaway from them.

in coaching managers to understandtheir role and that of others in their role set,coaching psychologists may, therefore, haveto help the manager explore why they feel itnecessary to intervene. sometimes managersare unhappy with carrying out the actualwork to which they have been allocated andwould rather ‘act down’ since lower leveltasks are usually easier to execute. in othersituations managers do not have confidencein their subordinates and would rather inter-vene directly than take the rather more diffi-cult route of coaching their subordinates tocarry out the role for which they have beenpaid. the coaching psychologist may be ableto help the manager see the importance ofcounselling the supervisor into taking appro-priate action so that he or she is able to dealon their own with further incidents of asimilar nature.

other outcomes that may emerge fromthis case are that there may simply have beena breakdown in communications betweenthe employee and the supervisor, or that thesupervisor is unaware of their disciplinaryresponsibilities and what sanctions he canapply. the coaching psychologist needs tohelp the manager identify his or her objec-tives to be sure that there is an adequate casefor them to be directly involved before doing so.

the above example may be part of a farwider problem - that of the effectiveness ofthe management skills of the jobholder – inthis case the supervisor – as well as possiblythat of the manager. symptoms such as over-work and/or stress may reveal basic manage-ment weaknesses (Colligan & higgins,2006). those with management and supervi-sory responsibility are likely to have aspecialist background (rees & porter, 2008).this was found to be the case in 47 out of 50managers surveyed (rees & porter, 2005).the corollary of this is that managers andsupervisors do not necessarily possess thedesire to carry out the managerial role, orthe experience or training to do it effectively.As has previously been suggested (porter &rees, 2012), the coaching psychologist mayneed to help the manager identify their roleas well as needing to support them in accu-rate problem diagnosis. in summary, itemerges from this case that accurate diag-nosis of the causes of problems is crucial toensure that managers deal with the root ofthe problem: in this case the root cause ofthe problem could easily be ineffective dele-gation and disciplinary handling is asecondary issue. the key to managersresponding appropriately is for them tomore accurately diagnose the causes of prob-lems that are presented to them and not torespond precipitously.

Impact of organisations as systemsA more complicated but important diag-nostic issue arises when decisions taken inone part of an organisation have a ‘knock-oneffect’ in other departments, particularly ifthe connection is not realised, or notrealised in time. problems that emerge inone functional area of an organisation mayhave their causes elsewhere in the sameorganisation (rees & porter, 2008,pp.53–54). however, many managers maynot always be aware of the organisationalconnections or may be predisposed toignore these. other departments in the sameorganisation may be reluctant to accept thattheir actions may be causing problems in


W. David Rees & Christine Porter

other parts of the organisation. they mayalso be reluctant to change behaviour espe-cially if they perceive that this would hinderthe achievement of their departmentalobjectives. A holistic approach is oftenneeded. because organisations operate assystems (millett, 1998), solutions to prob-lems may need to be in a different area ofthe organisation from where the problemhas manifested itself. this is because of the‘knock-on’ effect that decisions in one func-tional area can have on another functionalarea. the cases below illustrate a systemsapproach to organisations:

A sugar producer in Guyana placed anorder with a sack manufacturer for a largequantity of sacks. unfortunately thecompany purchasing officer did not pressthe sales team of the sack manufacturersufficiently on that company’s productioncapacity. it turned out that the order wasdue to be met at a time of peak demandfor sacks and there was, in reality, nopossibility that the order could befulfilled. the sugar manufacturercancelled the order when this situationbecame clear leading to redundancies atthe sack manufacturer and a three-weekstrike by employees in support of thosewho had been made redundant.

An even more dramatic example concernsthe impact of bonus schemes in the bankingindustry:

bank employees were increasingly paidaccording to the volume of their sales.this encouraged bank staff to authoriseloans regardless of their viability from acustomer perspective. An instance of thisled the new York Attorney General tocomment in an investigative report that‘compensation for bank employees [has]become unmoored from the banks’financial performance’ (Cuomo, 2009).the impact of making such loans hascaused problems for the banks themselveswhen customers have been unable tomake the repayments. unfortunately thishas led to many disastrous consequencesfor customers, banks and governments.

banks have collapsed due to managementnot thinking through the consequences ofintroducing such payment systems.

the above cases are illustrative only. otherexamples exist, though organisations maynot be keen to publicise them, or may notalways understand the deleterious effects ofdecisions taken in one function can have onanother functional area elsewhere in thesame organisation. other examples includehow a switch from small to long batchproduction undermined a production incen-tive scheme in the fashion industry. thechange in production methods meant thatemployees lost pay because no account wastaken of employees on a payment by resultsscheme needing to learn the new system,therefore being less productive and earningless money while they were getting to gripswith the new system. Another exampleinvolves losses incurred in a soft drinkscompany when small orders were acceptedfor remote customers: unfortunately theextra revenue was not sufficient to cover theextra transport costs (rees & porter, 2008,pp.73 & 342).

Developing an integrative approachA coaching psychologist may have to helpthe manager understand the importance ofadopting the systems approach identifiedabove and the implications of this forproblem diagnosis. the coaching psycholo-gist might also have to help managers under-stand the many reasons why those withmanagerial responsibility may have difficultyin integrating their activity with those inother departments. As explained above,people rarely proceed directly into manage-ment but instead have an escalator typeprogression, gradually acquiring managerialresponsibilities, initially in a specialist area.most may remain as managerial hybrids,combining specialist and managerial work.orientation around a person’s specialismmay be re-inforced by professional bound-aries, for example, as in the uK nationalhealth service. the focus of professionaltraining may have re-inforced the specialist



orientation but unfortunately this can leadto the development of a ‘silo’ mentality. thismay mean that the activities of other depart-ments are not well understood and notenough time and thought given about thenecessary integration of different depart-ments.

Conflicts of interest A complicating but potentially hugely impor-tant obstacle to the accurate diagnosis ofmanagerial problems can be the failure todiagnose legitimate and rational conflicts ofinterests between the parties involved. Fox(1965) differentiates between unitary andpluralistic frames of reference or perspec-tives. A unitary perspective assumes that theplayers in organisations have complemen-tary areas of interest. in taking a unitaryapproach it may wrongly be assumed that theobjectives and interests of all the partiesinvolved are held in common. Any conflictthat exists is seen as the work of agitators andnot as a rational response to a particular setof circumstances. unfortunately in changesituations, for example, there may bewinners and losers. some parties may gain inimportance, power, influence, remunerationand job security. however, this may be at theexpense of others involved. people may bevery quick to see threats to their own posi-tion whilst potential winners may notperceive the threats to others and take theseinto account. When identifying the causes ofresistance to change the manager may over-look these threats and problem diagnosismay consequently be faulty.

in contrast, a pluralistic approachassumes that organisations are made up ofmany interest groups. managers who arepluralists will embrace consideration ofconflicts of interest and this will inform theirproblem diagnosis. identification of poten-tial conflicts can indicate a way for resolvingissues that arise, for example, in change situ-ations. effective solutions are more likely ifconflicts of interest are diagnosed accurately.if such conflicts are anticipated rather thaninitially being ignored, passions and suspi-

cions are less likely to be aroused. havingaccurately identified the causes of theconflict the manager could then be betterprepared to tackle the situation often to thebenefit of both the organisation and theemployees; this may be by way of persuasion,negotiation or even the imposition of solu-tions where the power realities and organisa-tional priorities permit. the following case isan example of a conflict situation that couldeasily arise in an organisation:

A decision was made in a pharmaceuticalcompany to merge two research depart-ments, one larger department with 120staff dealing with long-term research anddevelopment and the other smallerdepartment of about 80 staff which dealtwith research informed commercialproduct development. the purposebehind this was to foster co-operation andto increase emphasis on the commercialapplication of new products. the researchdirector believed that moving bothdepartments into a new purpose builtresearch building would facilitate theseobjectives. the new building was on theoutskirts of the city and about two milesaway from the current premises occupiedby the small department and four milesfrom the larger department.

the research director arranged for thestaff to visit the new building andexpected them to be enthusiastic aboutthe new facilities and future prospects. tohelp ensure that the move went smoothlythe research director commissioned anemployee survey. however, he was ratherdisappointed with the results of the survey,which indicated that despite his manyattempts to spell out the excitingprospects for the future the research staffseem more preoccupied with the practicalaspects of the move and how it wouldaffect them.

An analysis of the above case from a pluralistperspective would help the manager to diag-nose the possible causes of the employees’dissatisfaction. this could include concernabout job security, the procedures for



appointing people into restructured jobs,logistics and travel arrangements to the newsite, concern about the disruption of existingsocial networks, and a possible culture clashbetween the long-term and applied researchdepartments. initially the research directorseems to have relied on downward commu-nication and appears not to have involvedthe managers who might have been able toexplain the views of the staff to him. takinga pluralist perspective he would, however,have been able to analyse the situation moreaccurately and even might have been able todiagnose for himself the issues that werelikely to concern the staff. this could haveinformed his approach and resulted in intro-ducing change more effectively into theorganisation.

Role behaviours versus personalitybehavioursA further issue which coaching psychologistsmay need to make managers aware of is thatfaulty diagnosis and consequent inappro-priate ‘remedies’ can also arise because of afailure of managers to distinguish betweenrole and personality behaviour. the conceptof organisational roles was established in thefirst part of the 20th century (barnard,1938). organisations decide what formalroles need fulfilling in order to meet organi-sation objectives. these roles become insti-tutionalised and ‘persevere’ over time, whilerole holders or job occupants do not(Ashforth, 2008). in the 20th century thesocial scientific concept of role becamefirmly established in its own right as beingdifferent from concept of the person or self(oatley, 1990). it seems reasonable, there-fore, to extrapolate from this to look at rolebehaviour as being something quite distinctfrom personality behaviour.

the need, on occasions, to helpmanagers distinguish between role andpersonality behaviour can be related to theabove case study of a pharmaceuticalcompany. it may be necessary to establishwhether a person’s apparently unco-opera-tive behaviour is because of the demands of

their job or because of their personality. Forexample, a manager may assume that a staffrepresentative is behaving in an awkwardfashion and resisting attempts to introducechanges because of their personality. themanager might attempt to get the staffrepresentative replaced in the mistakenassumption that someone with a more acqui-escent personality would be easier to dealwith. however, first of all the manager mayhave to be helped to realise that a staff repre-sentative will have been elected precisely torepresent the views of their fellowemployees. secondly, the manager mayencounter similar resistance even with areplacement representative because it is thedemands of the situation and the rolebehaviour associated with it that is dictatingthe employee’s responses.

there are other examples of how easy itis to mistake role behaviour for personalitybehaviour that can lead to quite inappro-priate diagnosis and, therefore, inappro-priate ‘remedies’. the essence of some jobsis to monitor the behaviour of others, forexample, jobs involving a significant amountof inspection of the work of others. A certainamount of tension may be indicative of aperson doing their job effectively. Lack oftension may even be an indication that theyare lacking in vigilance. A manager mayassume that the aggravation caused by anemployee undertaking such a role may beindicative of the need to replace them. itmay, however, be quite counter-productive toremove a person from an inspection job andreplace them with someone with a softerapproach. A familiar example of rolebehaviour changing when a person is inwork concerns that of parking attendants.You meet someone at a party withoutknowing their job, and you find them like-able. When you meet the same person out inthe street in their role as parking attendant,writing out a ticket for a car parking offence,they would seem instantly less affable.

A recent example of mistaking person-ality for role behaviour came in the form ofa disagreement between certain members of



parliament (mps) in the current uK govern-ment and the speaker of the house ofCommons. the speaker was heavily criti-cised by mps from the government bencheswho are members of the same political partyas he is. they accused him of disloyalty to theparty when he extended the number of ques-tions during prime minister’s question timeand reintroduced the option of mps callingministers to the house to answer questionson an urgent topic. the speaker said: ‘i wasparticularly concerned that ministers shouldbe accountable first and foremost to parlia-ment… the prime minister’s job is to captainhis team, his party, his government; my job isto referee. [i wanted] parliament to recog-nise that it isn’t just there as a rubberstamping operation for the government ofthe day. [it] is necessary and appropriate tocontradict and expose the government…’.(Jowitt writing in The Guardian, 15/8/2012).mps in the government may have felt that asthe speaker came from the same politicalparty, that he would chair parliament in theirfavour. some blamed the speaker’s person-ality ‘puffed up with his own performance’rather than recognising the actual nature ofthe speaker’s role.

Role of coaching psychologistsin the light of the above discussion, thecoaching psychologist may find that theyneed to help managers resist pressures totake action before the actual causes of organ-isational problems have been accuratelyidentified. pressure could be placed onmanagers due to the impatience ofcolleagues and other, more senior,managers. An individual manager may lackdiagnostic ability and often the too readyavailability of prescriptive solutions fromconsultants and others, which may notmatch the actual problems, may precipitateaction without adequate diagnosis (rees &porter, 2002).

A key part of the coaching psychologist’srole may be to encourage those with mana-gerial responsibilities to not only identifytheir managerial role but to do so in the

context of the organisation as a whole. theproblem of the over-specialised orientationof managers can be exacerbated by thosewith managerial responsibility not beingsufficiently involved in the discharge of suchresponsibility because of the attractions oftheir specialist work. this can be reinforcedby the specialist culture that may exist withina department or even a whole organisation.this has selection implications as somewould-be managers may have greater poten-tial to identify and accept the managerialrole more than others. this may be particu-larly the case in many Western countriesgiven common career progression patterns –loyalty and attachment may be to thespecialism rather than the organisation.Career progression may involve many movesfrom one organisation to another and is incontrast to career patterns in Japan, forexample, where staff, including managers,are much more likely to stay with the sameorganisation (storey, edwards & sisson,1997). A way in which one british-basedpetrochemical company sought to deal withthis problem was to distinguish in their selec-tion between staff with the appropriatespecialist skills and those with a moregeneric, if broadly specialist, backgroundwith a view to the latter following a broadercareer path.

A holistic approach can enable symptomsnot to be confused with basic causes.however, there are many factors withinorganisations that can encourage ‘tunnel-vision’ within departments. these includeorganisational structure, professional andpersonal loyalties, career structures anddepartmental rivalries. other ways in whichcoaching psychologists can help those withmanagerial responsibilities develop a moreintegrative approach is to encourage them todevelop their links with appropriatecolleagues in other departments, get involvedin project teams and undertake appreciationtraining in other specialist areas when neces-sary. in coaching managers to understandtheir role and that of others in their role set,coaching psychologists may have to help the



manager explore why they feel it necessary tointervene. skills needed by the manager insuch instances could include differentiatingbetween cause and effect.

ConclusionsA key managerial skill is problem diagnosis.unfortunately there can be many factors thatprevent accurate diagnosis. these includepoor selection and development of thosewith managerial responsibilities. this in turnmay need to lead to an examination of keymanagement skills which will enablemanagers to identify the cause of a problemand to differentiate between cause and effect.Coaching can be a useful way of developingthis key skill – whether it be done formally orinformally, internally or externally.

Coaching psychologists can helpmanagers take a systems approach that willenable a holistic approach to be taken toorganisational problems, just as is oftenneeded with medical diagnosis. problemsthat arise in other department may havetheir causes elsewhere. Coaching managersto take a pluralist perspective could enablemanagers to understand situations from theemployee’s point of view and thus aid betterplanning for the effective solution of prob-lems. it is also important that managersdistinguish between role and personalitybehaviour. it is all too easy, for example, totake a dislike to someone, who because ofthe demands of their job, is thrown intoconflict with you. ignoring or seeking toreplace the person may be the opposite of

what is needed. if managers are helped todistinguish between role and personalitybehaviour they may more correctly diagnosethe cause of an individual employee’sbehaviour.

this paper has sought to put emphasis onthe role that individuals play in organisationsand to draw attention to this as an alternativeexplanation for a person’s behaviour whendiagnosing the cause(s) of the problem.Coaching can be a way of enabling thosewith managerial responsibility to take abroader perspective to problems and desistfrom knee-jerk responses – to the benefit ofthose with managerial responsibilities, theircolleagues, the organisation and theirclients.

The AuthorsW. David Reesexternal Consultant and former principalLecturer, Westminster business school,university of Westminster.

Christine Porterhead of Department, human resourcemanagement, Westminster business school,university of Westminster.

CorrespondenceDr Christine PorterWestminster business school, university of Westminster, 35 marylebone road, London nW1 5Ls.email: [email protected]



Ashforth, b.e. (2008). Role transitions in organisationallife: An identity-based perspective. London: taylor &Francis e-library.

barnard, C.J. (1938). The functions of the executive.Cambridge, mA: harvard university press.

Colligan, t.t. & higgins, e.m. (2006). Workplacestress – etiology and consequences. Journal ofWorkplace Behavioural Health, 21(2) 89–97.

Cuomo, A. (2009). troubled Asset relief scheme.referred to in: report damns huge bonuses atbailed-out us banks. robert Jebb, The Times, 31 July.

Fox, A. (1965). Industrial sociology and industrialrelations. Research Paper No. 3 Royal Commission onTrade Unions and Employers’ Associations. London:hmso.

hasson, G. (2011). Brilliant communication. London:person Life.

hayes, J. (2002). Interpersonal skills at work. London:routledge.

Johnson, p.e., Duran, A.s., hassebrock, F., moller, J.,prietula, m., Feltovich, p.J. & swanson, D.b.(1981). expertise and error in diagnosticreasoning. Cognitive Science, 5(3), 235–283.

Jowitt, J. (2012). John Bercow defends his record asCommons Speaker. Accessed 18 August 2012, from:http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/aug/14/john-bercow-defends-record-speaker?intCmp=srCh

Langlois, J.p. (2002). making a diagnosis. in m.b.mengel, W.L. holleman & s.A. Fields (eds.),Fundamentals of clinical practice (2nd ed.,pp.197–219). London: Klewer Academic publishers.

millett, b. (1998). understanding organisations: thedominance of systems theory. International Journalof Organisational Behaviour, 1(1) 1–12.

neville, L. (2009). Interpersonal skills for the peopleprofessions: Learning from practice. London: reflectpress Ltd.

oatley, K. (1990). role transitions and emotionalstructure of everyday life. in s. Fisher & C.L.Cooper (eds.), On the move: The psychology of changeand transition (pp.67–81). Chichester, england:Wiley.

porter, C. & rees, W.D. (2012), the managerial gapand how coaching can help. International CoachingPsychology Review, 7(1), 64–71.

rees, W.D. & porter C. (2008). Skills of management.London: Cengage Learning.

rees, W.D. & porter, C. (2005). results of a survey intohow people become managers and themanagement development implication. Industrialand Commercial Training, 37(5), 252–258.

rees, W.D. & porter, C. (2002). management bypanacea – the training implications. Industrial andCommercial Training, 34(6), 229–232.

storey, J., edwards, p. & sisson, K. (1997). Managers inthe making. Careers, development and control incorporate Britain and Japan. London, uK,thousand oaks, us and new Delhi, india: sage.

tichy, n.m., hornstein, h.A. & nisberg, J.n. (1977).organisation diagnosis and interventionstrategies: Developing emergent pragmatictheories of change. in W.W. burke (ed.), Currentissue and strategies in organisation development(pp.361–383). new York: human sciences press.

treasure, W. (2011). Diagnosis. in Diagnosis and riskmanagement in primary care: words that count,numbers that speak. oxford: radcliffe.



References

In this brieF report, i would like toargue for the development of communi-ties of coaching practice, based on my

experience of being a host for the regionalpeer practice group in Cambridgeshire,england. i will focus on the critical discussionabout the feasibility of developing coachingpractice at a group level, in which collabora-tive learning and collective practitioner’s skillsand experience can be invested to developgood communities of coaching practice.

to foster the growth of coachingpsychology and to provide effective learningenvironment for practitioners to share anddevelop ideas, skills and practice relatedissues, the special Group in Coachingpsychology (sGCp), the british psycholog-ical society (bps) has initiated the formationof ‘peer practice Groups’ at various regionsacross the uK in 2009. the aim was to offera trusted intellectual platform for peers toshare, develop and challenge ideas, experi-ences and practices in coaching and relatedareas in coaching psychology.

implementing new ideas in practice is achallenging task (Kitson, 2008), and contextplays an important part to put new ideas intopractice (Dopson & Fitzgerald 2005). it isthus a challenge for peers to accept viewsand ideas that are in contradictions to theirexisting practices and knowledge repertoire.however, the knowledge gained from peerpractice can help to develop communities of

coaching practice, similar to the notion ofgroup coaching. the increasing value ofgroup coaching has been justified by brownand Grant (2010) in their practical model ofGroup. the coaching approach in the peerpractice group context is offering arewarding collective learning experiencebecause the coaches learn from their inter-actions. Collective learning refers to ‘groupsof people who share a concern, a set of prob-lems, or a passion about a topic, and whodeepen their knowledge and expertise inthis area by interaction on an ongoing basis’(Wenger et al., 2002). the coach is expectedto learn from sharing of knowledge andexperiences (Culver et al., 2009) in peerpractice group sessions through variousprofessional development activities.

Coaches from a peer practice group havethe opportunity to develop a commonframework of knowledge about goodcoaching practice through critical discussionand collaborative learning. the collectiveeffort to offer good and ethical coachingpractice to benefit the coaches can beachieved from deep engagement in learningfrom peers’ coaching experiences, coachingliterature and from practicing coachingtechniques in a group setting. this opportu-nity can be seen as a natural outcome of theinteraction between coaches with or withoutany intentional motivation to developcoaching practice related issues, techniques

International Coaching Psychology Review l Vol. 8 No. 2 September 2013 89© The British Psychological Society – ISSN: 1750-2764

Brief Report

Communities of coaching practice:Developing a new approachManfusa Shams

The collaborative learning approach and negotiated professional activities of peer practice groups can provideexcellent opportunities to develop ‘Communities of coaching practice’, with an aim to foster the growth ofpractical application of coaching psychology. This paper aims to open up discussion on this issue. Keywords: Communities of coaching practice; peer practice group; coaching psychology; collaborativelearning; coaching approach.

and tools for wide consultation within thecoaching practitioner’s groups.

the notion of ‘situated learning’ (Lave &Wenger, 1991) is relevant to discuss thelearning from peer practice group discus-sions. the social interaction in peer practicesession can help to challenge issues, and toidentify appropriate interventions foraddressing the challenging issues. if anygroup discussion on coaching practice is sopowerful to make a change in coachingapproach and practice, then, we can applythe outcome of the group discussions todevelop communities of coaching practiceapproach, in which both formal andinformal aspects of the group discussionscan be embedded in the delivery of thepractice. For example, coaches are continu-ously learning from their interactions withothers in peer practice group sessions, andalso from their participation in coachingpractice development activities, critiquingand challenging selected professional issues.

to formalise and capture the knowledgegained, and shared understanding of goodpractice in coaching, we need to identify thelearning processes of coaches in peerpractice groups’ meetings with an aim todevelop a collective approach in coachingpractice. the knowledge gained from groupdiscussions, and the learning activities drawnto facilitate the discussion can provide excel-lent resources to develop further insights incoaching practice at a group level. Forexample, coaches tend to highlight an issuein coaching practice for seeking constructivefeedback and suggestions, and this leads tofurther knowledge seeking behaviour,similar to a spiral loop (shams & Law, 2012).the peer practice group offers relevantresources, skill building activities and profes-sional engagement with formal events.Although there is no formal technique tocapture the level of knowledge gained andskills developed in a peer practice session forcoaching psychologists, however, the level ofengagement can indicate the acceptance ofshared learning and acknowledgment of theimportance of group practice in coaching.

the collaborative learning approach inthis context is related to both acquisitionand participation metaphors for learning(trudel & Gilbert, 2006), in which coachescan gain formal learning from variousprofessional activities in peer practicesessions (acquisition metaphor). the partici-pation metaphor is gained through partici-pation in the discussion and deliveringrelevant ideas, thoughts and criticalappraisal of the existing coaching practices.to drive these learning metaphors to reach acommon goal of developing ethical andeffective communities of coaching practicemay require strong leadership and an envi-ronment to foster the growth of professionalpractice in coaching. the learning can benegotiated as is evident from the selection ofactivities during peer practice group meet-ings. the shared intellectual discussion andongoing social interaction can ensure thesmooth operation of a collective vision tofoster the growth of coaching psychologypractice. For example, we had a productivediscussion on leadership and coaching inwhich coaches from our peer practice groupwere able to challenge the existing coachingpractice, and to offer alternative pathwaysfor coaching leaders, thus facilitating discus-sion on shared understanding of leadershipbehaviour from a coaching psychologyperspective. i hope this brief report willspark further debate on, ideas of, and chal-lenging issues in communities of coachingpractice.

The AuthorDr Manfusa Shams, C.Psycholhost – Cambridge peer practice Group, Cambridge, england, uK.


Manfusa Shams


TitleCommunities of coaching practice: Developing a new approach

brown, W.s. & Grant, m. A. (2010). From GroW toGroup: theoretical issues and a practical modelfor group coaching in organisations. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research andPractice, 3(1), 30–45.

Culver, m.D, trudel, p. & Werthner, p. (2009). A sportleader’s attempt to foster a coaches’ communityof practice. International Journal of Sports Science &Coaching, 4(3), 365–383.

Dopson, s. & Fitzgerald, L. (2005). Knowledge to action?Evidence-based health care in context. oxford: oxford university press.

Kitson, L.A. (2009). the need for systems change:reflections on knowledge translation andorganisational change. Journal of AdvancedNursing, 65(1), 217–228.

Lave, J. & Wenger, e. (1991). Situated learning:Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge:Cambridge university press.

shams, m. & Law, h. (2012). peer coachingframework: An exploratory technique. TheCoaching Psychologist, 8(1), 46–49.

trudel, p. & Gilbert, W. (2006). Coaching and coacheducation. in D. Kirk, D. macDonald & s.o’sullivan (eds.), The handbook of physical education(pp.516-539). London: sage.

Wenger, e., mcDermott, r. & snyder, W.m. (2002).Cultivating communities of practice. boston, mA:harvard business school press.

References


t the time oF WritinG my secondChair’s Letter for the InternationalCoaching Psychology Review, the

Wimbledon tennis Championships are infull swing. Watching one of the matches, i have witnessed what appears to be the fullspectrum of psychological states – fromtension through to determination, anxiety toelation and disappointment to pain. As thetournament gradually sifts through theplayers, sorting them into the victorious andthe defeated, a number of players havealready withdrawn due to injury – areminder that the pursuit of exceptionalstandards of performance sometimes comesat a cost and does not always sit comfortablywith enhanced well-being.

i am very much hoping that these kindsof issues will feature strongly in our 4th euro-pean Congress in December. the theme –Enhancing Well-Being and Performance – seemscritically well-timed and it is hard to think ofa professional group for whom this topicwouldn’t be essential CpD. now is the timewhen the scientific Affairs board, inconjunction with the Conference team, arepulling together the keynotes, presentationsand skills workshops that will comprise thecontent of the event and i confess to beingexcited about seeing the final programme!there is an eagerness also for new contribu-tions. so if this theme appeals to you, andyou have ideas you would like to share withyour professional community, please dosubmit an application (details of how to doso can be found by following the links on thewebsite at: http://www.sgcp.org.uk).

it is not just the sGCp for whom confer-ences have been a priority of late. in may, i had the opportunity to attend the 3rdinternational Congress of Coaching psycho-

logy in rome where, jointly with stephenpalmer, i had been invited to deliver akeynote. the society for Coachingpsychology (sCp) italy were gracious andgenerous hosts, welcoming their interna-tional colleagues with a warmth and enthu-siasm that was consistent with their statedintention for the event to be a critical mile-stone for the field.

the sGCp is clearly held in high regard,such that at the start of the second day wewere invited to ‘take the stage’ in order topromote our own european Congress. myassurance that, amongst the other benefits ofattendance, ‘A british winter was not to bemissed’ was perhaps asking the delegates toextend their disbelief a little too far!nonetheless, expressions of interest andintention to attend were subsequently forth-coming. the free publicity was, of course,welcome. but more than this was the spirit ofgenerosity and interest that underpinnedthe invitation which was a personal reminderof why it matters to me to be a part of thiscommunity. the very genuine desire forengagement, sharing and respect for one

Report

Special Group in Coaching Psychology NewsSarah Corrie

A


TitleSpecial Group in Coaching Psychology News

another’s work was one that i foundrefreshing and, frankly, rather moving. At atime of economic, political and professionalpressure it is all too easy for disciplines toseek security through differentiation anddivision. ours is one that remains steadfastlycommitted to diversity and inclusivity and ibelieve that these are qualities we shouldstrive to maintain.

the keynote stephen and i delivered,which we entitled, ‘An international perspec-tive on the development of coachingpsychology as a profession and evidence-based discipline’ introduced the audience tosome fascinating data (collected by bothstephen palmer and Alison Whybrow) onthe contexts, practices, and sense of identityof coaching psychologists in the uK. studiessuch as this are critical in enabling us tobetter understand and profile the activities,needs and contribution of our professionalcommunity. Additionally, a consideration ofthe evidence-base that underpins our disci-pline, and how we understand, interpret anduse that evidence, provided a welcomeopportunity to debate what we do and do notknow about the impact of coaching inter-ventions and what might reasonably beexpected of a discipline and a professionthat is in many ways still emerging.

the international Congress in rome hadattracted delegates from a wide variety ofsectors – academic and professional – withan interest in coaching interventions and itwas a joy to see how many individuals, at allstages of their careers, had consideredattending to be a worthy investment.however, there is clearly much work still tobe done. i was struck by the number ofpeople who approached me with questionsnot just about the work of the sGCp butabout the identity and scope of coachingpsychology itself. in order to publicise thecontributions that coaching psychologistscan and do make we need to consider howbest to promote our field, and to be perhapsmore vocal about our contribution than wehave been in the past.

promoting the work of coaching psycho-logists can, of course, take multiple forms.since my last letter, three developments areperhaps particularly worth highlighting. thefirst is that the sGCp has tasked a small sub-group of its members to undertake a reviewof the market and consider ways in which itmight be possible to increase the visibility ofcoaching psychology in the market place.

second, is the continued work on thepost-Qualification Coaching psychologyregister, currently led by mary Watts in hercapacity as past Chair. there is considerableflexibility in terms of routes to joining theregister, but with flexibility comes uncer-tainty. the sGCp wishes to remain flexible,embracing psychologists from various back-grounds whilst recognising the need forclear guidance regarding routes to profes-sional development and registration. tohelp facilitate clarity additional documenta-tion is currently being prepared and theintention is to provide a seminar at theeuropean Congress in December that will‘walk’ individuals through both generalaspects and the detail of routes available tothem. particular attention will be paid toindividual academic and professionalhistory and circumstances, demonstratingan approach to registration that is bothrigorous and flexible.

A third development is one that promisesto increase our links and broaden ourcommunity. i was recently approached by theinternational society of Coachingpsychology (isCp) who has issued an invita-tion to the sGCp to enter into a memo-randum of understanding with them. thesGCp Committee identified a number ofbenefits to members of such a relationshipincluding free affiliate membership of theisCp and access to their website and journal,Coaching Psychology International. more strate-gically, a common purpose and set of valuesallow for a new partnership in the pursuit ofdeveloping the work and standing ofcoaching psychology in the internationalcommunity. i shall be progressing this with


Author name

the society in the weeks ahead and willprovide an update at the AGm in December.

As always, my thanks to my colleagues onthe main Committee who work so diligentlyand tirelessly, and from whom i continue tolearn so much. Without their on-goingsupport my role as Chair would be neitherpleasurable nor possible. We are, however, ina stage of transition. A number of Committeemembers are moving on after years of dedi-cated service. With increasing work-relatedpressures, individuals find themselvesneeding to reassess their priorities and makedifficult choices about the various calls ontheir time. Yet this remains a time forbuilding relationships and networks. Weneed to expand our community andensuring new faces on the Committee is oneimportant way of taking forward the work ofthe sGCp and its numerous projects infurthering the credibility, reputation andstanding of coaching psychology. so therewill shortly be a call for nominations forvarious roles. please do give serious thoughtto putting yourself forward and contact me ifyou would like any further information. Your Committee needs you!

i look forward to seeing you at the heriot-Watt university in edinburgh on 12 and 13 December for what i know is goingto be a wonderful european Conference!

With my very best wishes.

Sarah CorrieChair, Special Group in Coaching Psychology.

Sarah Corrie


TitleSpecial Group in Coaching Psychology News


Report

Interest Group in Coaching Psychology NewsDavid Heap

The nAtionAL Committee of theinterest Group in Coaching psychologyrecently held a strategic planning work-

shop in Adelaide.the main outcomes of the meeting were:

l our Vision statement for the group is‘excellence in Coaching’. We felt this bestexpressed the simple essence of ourpromise as psychologists to our clients andthe coaching industry. it will be the themeof our activities over the next year and forour next conference in 2014.

l We will maintain our focus on ourtraditional audience of coachingpsychologists and increase our attentionon clients and buyers of coaching services.our rationale is that we should build onour strengths of strong evidence-basedintervention skills and techniques andaddress our consistent relative weaknessof marketing and promoting what we do.

l We will increase our collaboration withcolleagues from the College of sport andperformance psychologists and College oforganisational psychologists. this isunderway and whilst we have always hadclose connections with other psychologistsand Aps Groups, this partnership willbecome more evident over the comingmonths.

one event where this will be put intopractice will be our next conference, whichwill be held in melbourne over the weekendof 16–18 october 2014. please block out thistime in your diary now. the theme willreflect our new vision of ‘excellence inCoaching’. We’ve starting planning early forthis conference to make sure that we outdothe fabulous 2012 manly conference in everyrespect.

We have maintained a busy programmeof state-based events over the past fewmonths, with very successful tours by DonnaKarlin and sunny stout-roston as well asworkshops by a range of local presenterssuch as Kieran White in Victoria, paulineWillis in Western Australia, and tony Grantand michael Cavanagh in Queensland.

An exciting initiative in nsW is for theiGCp to offer pro-bono coaching services tonot-for-profit organisations. inspired by Lewstern’s keynote address at the 2012 interna-tional Congress of Coaching psychology atmanly, we aimed to identify opportunities forour members to contribute to society byusing their coaching skills to support anddevelop leaders on the frontline of deliv-ering sorely needed services to the commu-nity. iGCp nsW recently sought expressionsof interest from coaching psychologists to beinvolved in a pilot leadership developmentproject aimed at enhancing the effectivenessof leaders and emerging leaders in relation-


Title

ships Australia. We had an overwhelmingresponse with more than 40 highly qualifiedand experienced responses. We are currentlyin the process of briefing participants withcoaching commencing in september. Wewould like to encourage anyone who is inter-ested in participating in a similarprogramme and we are more than happy topass on our experience. similarly, if you havealready been involved in such a programmeplease let us know. Contact me [email protected] and lets build ourcommunity of expertise in this very worth-while activity.

David HeapConvenor,APS Interest Group in Coaching Psychology.

Interest Group in Coaching Psychology News


International Coaching Psychology Review– Volume index 2013

Volume 8, No. 1, March 2013

4 Editorial: Editorial: Research in Coaching Psychology: Qualitative and Practitioner PerspectivesStephen Palmer & Michael Cavanagh

Papers6 Signalling a new trend in executive coaching outcome research

Erik de Haan & Anna Duckworth

20 ‘The assessment needs to go hand-in-hand with the debriefing’: The importance of a structured coaching debriefing in understanding and applying a positive psychology strengths assessmentBrenda Roche & Kate Hefferon

35 Towards a systems model of Coaching for Learning: Empirical lessons from the secondary classroom contextQing Wang

54 Developing a healthcare leadership coaching model using action research and systemsapproaches – a case study: Implementing an executive coaching programme tosupport nurse managers in achieving organisational objectives in MaltaHo Law & Reggie Aquilina

72 A framework for family life coachingKimberly Allen

Practitioner-based Research80 The experience of team coaching: A dual case study

Catherine Carr & Jacqueline Peters

Response99 What is personality change coaching and why is it important?

A response to Martin, Oades & CaputiHugh McCredie

Rejoinder101 What is personality change coaching and why is it important?

A response to Martin, Oades & CaputiLesley S. Martin, Lindsay G. Oades & Peter Caputi


Volume 8, No. 2, September 2013

4 Editorial: Emerging themes in coaching psychologyStephen Palmer & Michael J. Cavanagh

Papers6 A preliminary exploration of the working alliance and ‘real relationship’ in








Manfusa Shams


Sarah Corrie


Reports104 Special Group in Coaching Psychology 8th Annual Conference

Judit Varkonyi-Sepp

109 Special Group in Coaching Psychology NewsSarah Corrie


113 SGCP Research Award Winners 2012Alison Whybrow

4. Online submission process(1) All manuscripts must be submitted to a Co-ordinating Editor by email to:

Stephen Palmer (UK): [email protected] Cavanagh (Australia): [email protected]

(2) The submission must include the following as separate files:l Title page consisting of manuscript title, authors’ full names and affiliations, name and address for corresponding author.l Abstract.l Full manuscript omitting authors’ names and affiliations. Figures and tables can be attached separately if necessary.

5. Manuscript requirementsl Contributions must be typed in double spacing with wide margins. All sheets must be numbered.l Tables should be typed in double spacing, each on a separate page with a self-explanatory title. Tables should be comprehensible

without reference to the text. They should be placed at the end of the manuscript with their approximate locations indicated inthe text.

l Figures can be included at the end of the document or attached as separate files, carefully labelled in initial capital/lower caselettering with symbols in a form consistent with text use. Unnecessary background patterns, lines and shading should be avoided.Captions should be listed on a separate page. The resolution of digital images must be at least 300 dpi.

l For articles containing original scientific research, a structured abstract of up to 250 words should be included with theheadings: Objectives, Design, Methods, Results, Conclusions. Review articles should use these headings: Purpose, Methods, Results,Conclusions.

l Overall, the presentation of papers should conform to the British Psychological Society’s Style Guide (available at www.bps.org.uk/publications/publications_home.cfm in PDF format). Non-discriminatory language should be used throughout. Spelling should beAnglicised when appropriate. Text should be concise and written for an international readership of applied psychologists.Sensationalist and unsubstantiated views are discouraged. Abbreviations, acronyms and unfamiliar specialist terms should beexplained in the text on first use.

l Particular care should be taken to ensure that references are accurate and complete. Give all journal titles in full. Referencingshould follow BPS formats. For example:Billington, T. (2000). Separating, losing and excluding children: Narratives of difference. London: Routledge/Falmer.Elliott, J.G. (2000). Dynamic assessment in educational contexts: Purpose and promise. In C. Lidz & J.G. Elliott (Eds.),

Dynamic assessment: Prevailing models and applications (pp.713–740). New York: J.A.I. Press.Palmer, S. & Whybrow, A. (2006). The coaching psychology movement and its development within the British Psychological

Society. International Coaching Psychology Review 1(1), 5–11.l SI units must be used for all measurements, rounded off to practical values if appropriate, with the Imperial equivalent in

parentheses.l In normal circumstances, effect size should be incorporated.l Authors are requested to avoid the use of sexist language.l Authors are responsible for acquiring written permission to publish lengthy quotations, illustrations, etc. for which they do not

own copyright.

6. Brief reportsThese should be limited to 1000 words and may include research studies and theoretical, critical or review comments whose essentialcontribution can be made briefly. A summary of not more than 50 words should be provided.7. Publication ethicsBPS Code of Conduct – Code of Conduct, Ethical Principles and Guidelines.Principles of Publishing – Principle of Publishing.

8. Supplementary dataSupplementary data too extensive for publication may be deposited with the British Library Document Supply Centre. Such materialincludes numerical data, computer programs, fuller details of case studies and experimental techniques. The material should besubmitted to the Editor together with the article, for simultaneous refereeing.

9. Post acceptancePDF page proofs are sent to authors via email for correction of print but not for rewriting or the introduction of new material.

10. CopyrightTo protect authors and publications against unauthorised reproduction of articles, The British Psychological Society requires copyrightto be assigned to itself as publisher, on the express condition that authors may use their own material at any time withoutpermission. On acceptance of a paper, authors will be requested to sign an appropriate assignment of copyright form.

11. Checklist of requirementsl Abstract (100–200 words).l Title page (include title, authors’ names, affiliations, full contact details).l Full article text (double-spaced with numbered pages and anonymised).l References (see above). Authors are responsible for bibliographic accuracy and must check every reference in the manuscript and

proofread again in the page proofs.l Tables, figures, captions placed at the end of the article or attached as separate files.

St Andrews House, 48 Princess Road East, Leicester LE1 7DR, UKTel 0116 254 9568 Fax 0116 227 1314 E-mail [email protected] www.bps.org.uk

© The British Psychological Society 2013Incorporated by Royal Charter Registered Charity No 229642

Contents4 Editorial: Emerging themes in coaching psychology

Michael J. Cavanagh & Stephen PalmerPapers6 A preliminary exploration of the working alliance and ‘real relationship’ in








Manfusa Shams


Sarah Corrie


International Coaching Psychology...

Documents

Transcript of International Coaching Psychology...