The Handbook of Knowledge-Based Coaching

From Theory to Practice

Leni Wildflower, Diane Brennan, Leni Wildflower, Diane Brennan

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780470624449
• eBook ISBN: 9781118033388
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Development
• Index: Business

PRAISE FOR THE HANDBOOK OF KNOWLEDGE-BASED COACHING

"Definitive, with extensive references and a commitment to connecting theory to practice in every chapter, this important contribution is a delicious and wide-ranging exploration of the lineages that have shaped the modern practice of coaching."
— Doug Silsbee, author, Presence-Based Coaching and The Mindful Coach

"The translation of theories from multiple disciplines to the practice of coaching makes this book a must-read!"
— Terrence E. Maltbia, senior lecturer, Adult Learning and Leadership; and faculty director, Columbia Coaching Certification Program, Teachers College, Columbia University

"If you have an appetite for the scientific roots of what works best in coaching, and you are hungry for an easy-to-digest translation of the science to practice, this book is a feast and will be on your plate for many years to come."
— Margaret Moore (Coach Meg), founder and CEO, Wellcoaches Corporation; and codirector, Institute of Coaching, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School

"Whether you're a beginner or an experienced coach, this rollicking ride through dozens of the most important theories and perspectives in coaching will be a vital companion. With quick and helpful summaries of key ideas and their use—and selective bibliographies should you wish to go deeper into a particular area—this book will help you support your clients in a targeted and sophisticated way."
— Jennifer Garvey Berger, author, Changing on the Job: Growing the Leaders Our Organizations Need; and coeditor, Executive Coaching: Practices and Perspectives

"This is a book I have been missing. What a pleasure to read and what a stretching of my mind."
— Kim Gørtz, senior consultant, Copenhagen Coaching Center

"Anyone who is serious about improving the quality of coaching will find The Handbook an invaluable resource that reflects the breadth and richness of the growing evidence-based approach to coaching practice."
— David Clutterbuck, visiting professor in the coaching and mentoring faculties, Oxford Brookes and Sheffield Hallam Universities

PART ONE: Human Behavior and Coaching

In its adolescent phase, coaching was sometimes reluctant to acknowledge its parents.

There was a concern to establish the independence of this new activity, to assert the particular limits and possibilities of what we were doing, which expressed itself in a tendency to define coaching by what it was not—obviously not consulting and not exactly mentoring either, but above all not therapy or counseling or any form of psychology-in-practice.

No doubt there was an element of insecurity in these negative definitions, a fear of being overshadowed or subsumed, a suspicion that the connection was, at times, too close for comfort. But there was also a legitimate concern. Coaching did have something new and distinct to offer, and it was important to establish its separateness.

Now, from a position of relative maturity, the profession can more freely recognize and embrace its origins. It is clear that coaching draws on and fulfills some of the essential premises of humanistic and positive psychology, beginning with an assumption not of sickness but of well-being and aspiring not merely to remedy but to transform. It leans on the concept of adult development. It builds on the idea that there is a cyclical relationship between cognition and behavior.

These connections are not merely historical. The relationship between coaching and psychology is dynamic. We continue to draw on research from psychology, neuroscience, and other related fields; such knowledge is not the exclusive territory of the specialist, any more than mathematical knowledge is to be used only by mathematicians.

As coaches, we take from psychology the essential understanding that we humans are more alike than not, with similar needs and fears and impulses, and we find this recognition liberating and life-enhancing. And we recognize that while our work with clients is pragmatic and forward looking, we should not be frightened of the kinds of personal issues that have traditionally been considered the domain of psychologists.

chapter ONE

Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology

Alison Whybrow and Leni Wildflower

Psychology provides the primary theoretical underpinning to the theory and practice of coaching. The theories of humanistic psychology and Carl Rogers (1961) have formed the basis for many of the skills and assumptions used today in the coaching engagement. Coaching has also been significantly influenced by the psychological theories of Fritz Perls (Perls, Hefferline, & Goodman, 1994) and Gestalt therapy; Abraham Maslow’s work on self-actualization and peak experiences (1968); and Stanislav Grof (2000), Roberto Assagioli (2007), and transpersonal psychology.

CARL ROGERS AND THE CLIENT-CENTERED APPROACH

There is probably no single person more responsible for shifting psychology from a pathological, childhood-focused Freudian orientation to a present-day, positive orientation than Carl Rogers. A clinical psychologist with a PhD from Columbia University, Rogers began developing client-centered or nondirective therapy in the 1940s. He opposed the assumption that the therapist knows more than the client or has a more informed understanding of the client’s problem, and should therefore direct the progress of the therapeutic engagement. He objected not only to explicit forms of direction, such as offering a diagnosis or giving advice, but also to more subtle forms of control, such as asking direct questions.

Rogers took issue with the psychoanalytic and behaviorist approaches that were dominant at the time. Neither seemed to offer a particularly optimistic or noble vision of the human predicament. Both could be seen to fragment and diminish the wholeness of the individual. Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, had emphasized unconscious motivation, often destructive or antisocial in nature; the inevitability of deep internal conflict; and the search for early trauma as an explanation of adult dysfunction. Behaviorism, which had grown out of Ivan Pavlov’s study of the conditioned reflex, also put the focus on impulses and patterns of behavior beyond conscious control. From these perspectives, the individual is a stranger to herself. Certainly Jung, Freud’s chosen successor, had allotted a more positive and creative role to the hidden regions of the mind, envisioning in the collective unconscious and the archetypes that inhabit it an ancient repository of shared wisdom. But the dominant view among Rogers’s contemporaries was of the unconscious as a dangerous and disturbing terrain to be explored only with the guidance of a professional.

In contrast, Rogers argued that given a healthy therapeutic environment, people can be trusted to understand and resolve their own problems, that they are naturally inclined toward what is good for them, and that they have a huge capacity for positive growth. Rogers’s work rested on several critical principles. To establish the right kind of environment, the therapist must first of all be genuine in his relationship with the client. In a word favored by the existentialists (a significant influence on Rogers’s thinking), the therapist must be authentic. Rogers saw no place for the kind of professional façade designed to preserve the therapist’s detachment, anonymity, or authority. It follows that the therapist might find it appropriate at times to disclose thoughts or feelings of his own. Just as important, there is no place for judgment. The therapist must communicate unconditional positive regard for the client, who should feel genuinely accepted and valued.

Within this relationship, the essential work of the therapist is to listen attentively to the client to understand the world as the client experiences it. This listening must be not only empathetic but accurate: the therapist should be willing to check that he has understood correctly. He must be sensitive to implied meanings as well as explicit ones, and to feelings and thoughts not fully grasped by the client. The purpose of client-centered therapy is to enable the client to become more open to experience, to develop greater trust in herself, and to continue to grow, pursuing goals of her own choosing. This development of a stronger and healthier sense of self is sometimes referred to as “self-actualization.” Rogerian therapy imposes no particular structure and is not based on a set of techniques, but is highly dependent on the nature of the relationship the therapist establishes with the client, a relationship in which the therapist must be present in the most profound sense.

In the late 1950s, Rogers began working with other theorists and practitioners interested in promoting a more holistic approach to psychology, including Abraham Maslow. This led to the formation in 1961 of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, and it became possible for humanistic psychology to be identified as a “third force” in psychology after psychoanalysis and behaviorism.

Coaching clearly owes a great deal to client-centered therapy in its emphasis on treating the client with respect, trusting her instinct for what she needs, and allowing her to take the lead in shaping the purpose and direction of the process. It was important in its time as a corrective to what some have experienced as the disempowering experience of more traditional forms of psychotherapy. Perhaps its major drawback is that it does not allow any mechanism for feedback to assist the essentially healthy client in correcting unhelpful or dysfunctional behaviors.

Coaching Applications

• Establish collaboration as the basis for the coaching relationship. It is your responsibility to actively engage your client in dialogue with such questions as What would you like to work on today?
• Practice empathetic listening. Attend carefully to your client’s experience, imagine that you are in her shoes, ask for clarification, and communicate to her your understanding of her situation.
• Communicate to the client that he has the knowledge, emotional strength, and personal power to make the changes he desires. Use his experience and understanding as the basis for your work together.
• Work to create a relationship with your client that is caring and mutually respectful. This relationship is fundamental to the success of the coaching endeavor. Metastudies in psychotherapy have demonstrated that it is the relationship, not necessarily the type of therapeutic intervention used, that produces a positive experience and growth. The same is almost certainly true of coaching.
• Be authentic in the coaching relationship. Be yourself. Give open and honest feedback to the client to support her exploration and learning. At the same time, value her without judgment wherever she finds herself in life. This is what it means to hold her in “unconditional positive regard” and is fundamental to your role in empowering her to change.

FRITZ PERLS AND GESTALT THERAPY

Approximately translated, gestalt is German for “form.” Gestalt therapy was founded in the 1940s by Fritz and Laura Perls. Rooted in the idea that the mind has a capacity to see things in their wholeness and to construct forms out of fragmentary information, it is concerned with helping the individual observe herself in the broader context of a web, or field, of relationships. It can be seen as a process of experimentation and observation. In contrast to a tradition of experimental psychology that has tended, on the model of the physical sciences, to break things down into their component parts, the Gestalt approach is essentially holistic.

The philosophy underlying Gestalt therapy is existentialist in its view that most people live in a state of self-deception, accepting conventional notions that obscure the reality of how the world is; that this leads to feelings of anxiety and guilt; and that to live authentically, people must continually rediscover and reinvent themselves. Therapists and clients engage in dialogue, with the aim of observing the process rather than its content. Dialogue is understood to include all forms of communication, such as body language and movement as well as speech. Perceptions, feelings, and actions are considered to be more reliable kinds of data than explanations or interpretations. Relationships experienced in the present moment, including that between therapist and client, are more immedi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Series page
• Dedication
• PREFACE: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• PART ONE: Human Behavior and Coaching
• PART TWO: Human Interaction and Coaching
• PART THREE: Organizations, Leadership, and Coaching
• PART FOUR: Traditions from Self-Help, Personal Growth, and Spirituality
• PART FIVE: Coaching Specific Populations
• PART SIX: Creative Applications
• PART SEVEN: Components of Effective Coaching
• Afterword: Challenges Ahead
• REFERENCES
• THE EDITORS
• THE CONTRIBUTORS
• Name Index
• Subject Index