The Coaching Relationship

Putting People First

Stephen Palmer, Almuth McDowall, Stephen Palmer, Almuth McDowall

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2010
• eBook ISBN: 9781135165352
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

The Coaching Relationship discusses how we can integrate process perspectives such as the quality of the coach-coachee relationship, and professional perspectives including the influences of training and supervision, for more effective outcomes.

Stephen Palmer and Almuth McDowall bring together experts from the field of coaching to discuss different aspects of the coach-coachee relationship, topics covered include:

• the interpersonal perspective
• the role of assessment
• ethical issues
• cultural influences
• issues of power.

The book also includes a chapter on the interpersonal relationship in the training and supervision of coaches to provide a complete overview of how the coaching relationship can contribute to successful coaching

Illustrated throughout with case studies and client dialogue, The Coaching Relationship is essential reading for practicing coaches and coaching psychologists wishing to learn more about the interpersonal aspects of coaching.

1
The Coaching Relationship: Putting People First. An introduction

Stephen Palmer and Almuth McDowall

Introduction

There is no denying that the essence of coaching is ‘putting people first’. Regardless of which techniques, frameworks or psychological underpinnings a coach might draw on, basic coaching processes all rest on interpersonal interaction in some way or another. The ultimate aims of coaching are to facilitate personal, and usually also professional, growth, learning and optimal functioning (e.g. Downey, 1999). Thus, the initial motivation is a focus on optimisation and improvement of performance as opposed to the elimination of any problems, the typical initial motive for counselling (Bachkirova, 2007). The importance of the relationship for both processes is equally high, however (Bachkirova, 2007). While there is research that provides a frame for understanding and managing the counselling relationship (we return to this issue in Chapter 3), the same is yet to be developed for coaching and coaching psychology (see O’Broin and Palmer, 2006).

This recognition of the fundamental importance of relationships in coaching provided the impetus for editing this book, which is particularly timely given the dearth of extant research on the subject and the growing importance of networks and relationships in society at large. In the following sections we provide a brief introduction to relationships in general, before linking our observations to a coaching context. The last section of this chapter provides the reader with an introduction to each of our main chapters.

Relationships and human functioning

Relationships are fundamental to human life as they ensure the survival of humankind and fulfil basic innate needs. As Maslow (1943) advocated more than six decades ago, our needs for love and belonging to others and gaining their respect need to be met (as well as having food and a roof over our heads) before we can realise our own potential (self-actualisation). While this model of human functioning has received much critique over the years from other researchers (e.g. Locke, 2000), research into such needs has recently undergone a resurgence (see Latham, 2005) as psychologists continue to seek a holistic explanation for the motivations of human behaviours.

Relationships in the modern world

Over the last two decades, the concept of ‘social capital’ (e.g. Field, 2008) has taken off rapidly in the social sciences. In essence, this concept proposes the simple theory that relationships and networks matter. Indeed, we have witnessed a shift in how society functions. Over the last decades, we have seen ‘locally embedded communities declining dramatically’ (Halpern, 2004: viii), such as local neighbourhoods, which are being replaced by different types of communities. Some of these have of course been facilitated by modern web technology. The success of social networking sites such as Facebook and Friends Reunited has made it easy to get in touch with existing or old friends and acquaintances and find new ones through rapidly grown networks. Social e-networks are also growing in importance in the business world, where business connections are made and vacancies advertised through online networks such as LinkedIn. However, writers such as Harkin (2009) argue that instead of bringing relationships closer, these new developments have contributed to social alienation and to huge amounts of productive time being wasted.

Given that networking through relationships is so essential to how society works, to what extent do we experience functional and healthy relationships? The evidence would suggest that patterns of relationships have certainly changed. In the UK, we are less likely to marry than we ever were (National Statistics). At the same time the demand for relationship counselling has soared with the advent of the global economic downturn (Penell, 2009). This is not to say that we have given up our faith in and need for personal relationships. For instance, we have witnessed an increase in ‘patchwork families’ over the last decade, where children might be jointly brought up by divorced parents for instance, each of whom might have a new partner who may also bring children from a previous relationship to the set-up. So while we intuitively might still assume that relationships are linear and have a distinct start and end, the reality may not reflect this assumption, as we may move in and out of relationships depending on our circumstances at the time.

Professional relationships

What about relationships in professional or work domains? It has long been argued that the ‘psychological contract’ has changed, as long-term employment relationships marked by very clear boundaries and contractual arrangements are in decline, and more short-term employment relationships, often involving ‘portfolio workers’ who negotiate their terms and conditions on a contract-by-contract basis, have become the norm (e.g. Rousseau, 1996). Stephen Taylor (2002) has presented research that showed that most people resign from their job because they are ‘sick of their immediate boss’, pointing to the fact that good relationships are key to retention and engagement in the workplace, Taylor saying that ‘the difficult bit [at work] is the area of interpersonal relationships’.

Implications for coaching and coaching psychology practice

The above observations have implications for coaching practice. First, the increasing recognition that relationships are important is likely to contribute to the continued growth of coaching in the workplace, which frequently tackles issues arising from other interpersonal aspects within the confines of a two-way coach–coachee relationship. Thus, as others have also recognised (de Haan, 2008), relationships are at the heart of coaching. Not only is the content of coaching sessions frequently in some way concerned with relationships, the process itself is always based on relationships. These necessarily involve the coach, the coachee, but often also a client (commissioning organisation). Moreover, coaching may also involve others directly, such as a line manager who may be party to any outcomes, or indirectly through coaching techniques such as circular questioning.

In addition, we recognise that while some coaching relationships have a very clear timeframe, goal and purpose, there are other coaching scenarios that do not fit into this bracket. From our own experience we can, for instance, think of examples where a coachee had first been seen in his or her teens, and then came back to the coach for career coaching advice several years later, embarked on their chosen career and then sought the coach’s services again at a later stage. This complexity provides the rationale for the present book, as the nonlinearity of relationships, the often complicated interpersonal dynamics and potential confidentiality issues need to be considered in a proactive rather than reactive way in coaching. We have deliberately taken an edited approach, where we have asked contributors who are all knowledgeable in particular fields to contribute particular chapters. While we recognise that this book cannot cover everything, we have carefully chosen a range of topics to assist coaches to build their own framework for understanding and managing relationships in coaching.

Introduction to The Coaching Relationship: Putting People First

Whereas most coaching books focus on particular models and approaches or different types of coaching such as personal or executive coaching, this book focuses on different interpersonal aspects of the coach–coachee relationship. In Chapter 2, Alanna O’Broin and Stephen Palmer introduce an interpersonal perspective on the coaching relationship. They take themes from relationship science, which resonate with themes from the coaching and coaching psychology literature, and demonstrate how the coaching relationship can be seen as unique. They emphasise the actions and properties of both coachee and coach in the whole coaching process. In Chapter 3 they build on the previous chapter’s introduction to an interpersonal perspective on the coaching relationship. They spotlight five further topics that are important to the coaching relationship such as the psychological contract in coaching, and coach–coachee matching, and also consider the relevance of game theory to executive and business coaching.

In Chapter 4, Almuth McDowall and Lynne Millward focus on feeding back, feeding forward and setting goals. The chapter looks at feedback in terms of both process and content, with a particular focus on both the role of interpersonal relationships and potential outcomes, such as performance and mood. They draw on diverse theoretical interventions including Control Theory (Carver and Scheier, 1981) and Regulatory Focus Theory (Higgins, 1997). In Chapter 5, Chris Smewing and Almuth McDowall discuss assessment in coaching. They outline different types of assessment, concentrating on the workplace, and discuss the results of a survey investigating the current usage of different assessment instruments in a coaching context. Importantly, they consider the circumstances when assessment instruments should or should not be used.

In Chapter 6, Christine Oliver considers reflexive coaching: linking meaning and action in the leadership system. She takes a systemic approach to the coaching relationship and task. She outlines the relevance of a systemic orientation, a framework for understanding and methodological tools and then applies them to a case study where an executive struggled with a leadership challenge. In Chapter 7, Lina Daouk-Öyry and Philippe Rosinski investigate coaching across cultures. They define culture and coaching from a multinational perspective and recognise that coaches are increasingly facing a new challenge in their practice – the influence of culture (St Claire-Ostwald, 2007). Using examples and case studies, they explore the ways in which individuals can differ through the Cultural Orientations Framework (COF™) (Rosinski, 2003).

In Chapter 8, Peter Welman and Tatiana Bachkirova consider the issue of power in the coaching relationship. They identify the form of power that is an issue and compare it with related concepts. Then they explore why coaches need to pay attention to this phenomenon. The chapter ends with a list of useful recommendations for coaches. In Chapter 9, Elaine ...

Table of contents

• Essential Coaching Skills and Knowledge
• Contents
• Editors and contributors
• Preface
• Foreword
• 1 The Coaching Relationship: Putting People First. An introduction
• 2 Introducing an interpersonal perspective on the coaching relationship
• 3 Building on an interpersonal perspective on the coaching relationship
• 4 Feeding back, feeding forward and setting goals
• 5 Assessment in coaching
• 6 Reflexive coaching: linking meaning and action in the leadership system
• 7 Coaching across cultures
• 8 The issue of power in the coaching relationship
• 9 Last things first: ending well in the coaching relationship
• 10 Coaching relationships and ethical practice
• 11 The interpersonal relationship in the training and supervision of coaches
• Final reflections
• Glossary
• Web resources
• Index