Coaching Philosophy and Approach
Coaching is the dedication of energy, specialized conversation, and relational skill in service of a person's development in a way that increases their own capacity to achieve the success they desire now and in the future. Coaching helps a person create and pursue opportunities and options that were previously invisible or believed impossible.
We have been coaching for many years in formal and informal settings.
- Business organizations
- Entrepreneurial ventures
- Career development, transitions, and reinventions
- Life transformations
We have coached individuals, groups, and organizations for performance, for development, for leadership, for change, and for other aspirations that our clients have.
Our Approach to Coaching
We rely on theories and principles from science, integrate with approaches proven in practice, and adapt for each unique client to help them learn, develop, perform, and achieve. A few of them are
- Psychology (humanistic, behavioral, cognitive, and positive psychology)
- Communication theory
- Leadership theories
- Organizational studies
- Systems and complexity
- Emotional intelligence
- Gender theories
- Cultural difference
- Adult development
- Adult learning
There are many ways to coach, and our education and practice at Fielding Graduate University and Case Western Reserve University encompass a broad range of theories that support effective coaching of people from many walks of life and business. Rather than relying on one method, framework or approach whose relevance to a client may be uncertain, we learn what kind of coaching a client needs and then provide it because of our expertise in a broad set of approaches.
We discuss more on the theories in Science Behind Our Approach and in the Manager's Coaching Source articles and blog.
Fundamental Beliefs Underlying Our Coaching
Although we provide many approaches to coach most effectively, we rely on a few principles that are most important for the foundation of an effective coaching relationship.
Growth-oriented View
Given the right environment and conditions, people have a tendency to pursue growth and development. The coach facilitates the client’s natural growth tendency to realize their unique potential.
Partnership of Equals
Coaching relationships differ from many practitioner-client relationships, like doctors, consultants, or attorneys, because the coach and client form a partnership of equals. The coach and client are each experts in complementary aspects of the partnership. The client is the expert in their own experience, and as a result, the coach refrains from advice-giving most of the time. Instead, the coach is the expert in the process of learning, development, generating insight, focusing energy and action, building accountability, and so on. The coach is accountable for facilitating a process that helps the client build and activate the capacities to achieve their own goals. The client is responsible for doing the work that develops capacities and generates desired accomplishments. The power of coaching comes from the quality of this partnership.
Empathy and unconditional positive regard
To understand a client’s situation, aspirations, challenges, and concerns fully, we listen without judgment to understand the client’s full experience. This approach builds the trust in the collaborative relationship and facilitates the client’s willingness to discuss sensitive concerns so that new possibilities open up. Unconditional positive regard does not mean the coach always agrees with the client – only that the coach listens deeply to ensure the client feels fully understood and not judged for their situation, perspective or actions.
Range of human experience and uniqueness of the individual
We rely on general principles and have a broad set of approaches and frameworks to draw from in a way that is personalized for each client. I have no cookie-cutter process or framework to use every single time because every client is different. Furthermore, when a client has a presenting issue in the business or career domain, it’s quite possible that personal, interpersonal, or things in seemingly unrelated domains are actually relevant to explore and develop. We respect a client’s wish to stay within a domain, and we let a client know when something indicates that other domains may be worth exploring in order to make the progress they desire.
Choice and responsibility (resourcefulness)
A fundamental belief underlying our coaching is that clients have a responsibility for their own experience. Even in the most challenging environments and situations, a certain degree of choice is available that gives the client the opportunity to change their experience within an environment or situation. The coach’s responsibility is to help the client expand awareness of options and to help the client seize opportunities to move in the desired direction. When clients bring their frustrations with other people or policies or environments that are wreaking havoc in their lives or careers, we still look for the places where the client has influence and choice to achieve an ideal outcome.
Conditions for coaching to be effective
The client has an aspiration or even an inkling of an aspiration, motivation to make progress, and willingness to learn.
The coach believes the client is naturally creative, resourceful, and whole. The coach is able to keep their own agenda, beliefs, biases out of the way so that the client can receive accurate feedback and discover and grow their own innate capacities to achieve success.
