What are the active ingredients of effective coaching?

It seems as if there is not a lot of research on this at the moment, since coaching is a relatively new area of research.

But the authors of Hidden in Plain Sight: The Active Ingredients of Executive Coaching suggest that we could attain at least some insight into this.

They suggest that since there is a deep well of thorough research as to what factors account for successful outcomes in psychotherapy, maybe these factors are important also in the context of coaching.

The more similar the two practices are, the better the odds that the same factors are important. And the similarities are significant, given that both practices revolve around a dialogue-based change process.

In any case, it could be worthwhile to consider the insights that have been made in the therapy setting.

So what are the factors then?

I) Expectancy and hope

When we believe that we are going to improve in some aspect, this expectation tends to increase the likelihood that we actually do improve.

Building on that insight, the authors suggest that a coach could try to highlight his or her qualifications and credentials so that the coachee can have faith in the process and its outcomes.

They also emphasize that the coach’s own expectations as to the improvements that the coachee can make will affect the coachee’s ability of actually doing so.

They suggest that the coachee will pick up on both the explicit as well as the implicit signals that the coach might express. In light of this, it may be worthwhile for the coach to attend to his attitudes and seek to have faith in the coachee’s possibilities.

II) The relationship

In the therapy setting, while the expectancy and hope factor accounts for 15% of psychotherapy outcome, the relationship between therapist and client accounts for a massive 30% of psychotherapy outcomes.

That’s a huge number, 30% of the the outcome variation of therapy depends on the extent to which the therapist manages to create and maintain a positive relationship with the client!

Then how can the coach create and maintain a strong relationship? The authors highlight the importance of three facets of an ideal relationship: mutual agreement about goals, mutual agreement about how the client will work on these goals, as well as an affective bond between therapist and client.

Then coaching should focus on goals that are important to the coachee, and the way the coachee works towards goals should make sense to him.

As for an affective bond, the extent to which this exists depends heavily on the extent to which the therapist manages to express warmth, acceptance and understanding.

Maybe this means that the outcomes depend on the extent to which the client experiences that there is some degree of affection and an unyielding positive regard from the therapist.

In light of the importance of the relationship, coaches should make the relationship a high priority right from the start of the engagement. Because when trust goes out the door so does the coachee.

III) Theory and technique

Unfortunately, expectancy and hope can only go so far. In trying to borrow from the therapeutic setting the authors note that the therapeutic practice is usually supported by ”rigorous research”, which makes for a ”deep understanding of how people change and how to help them do so”. The ideal would be if coaching could also be guided by research as much as possible.

Although knowledge in terms of theories and techniques are important, the authors stress that it is also important how you use them. Use them to improve the relationship, use them to instill hope, and use theories and models you believe in and can deliver with competence and confidence.

So the three important general factors of coaching that have been highlighted are 1) expectancy and hope, 2) the relationship between coach and coachee, and 3) theory and technique.

Source:

• McKenna, D.D. & Davis, S.L. 2009, “Hidden in Plain Sight: The Active Ingredients of Executive Coaching”, Industrial and Organizational Psychology.