ENDORSEMENTS

“This book is, in my opinion, an important milestone in the coaching

literature and it comes at the right time, one when coaching is
maturing into an influential profession in the mainstream. Coach-
ing has long needed a comprehensive guide and reference book of
this nature, and now it has one. Coaching must be continuously
self-reflective, and this book will stimulate that too. It explores and
explains in a readable, credible and academically sound form the
variety of different principles, methods, models and responsibilities
of coaches and coaching. It lays out the field for the reader to choose
from, in unusual depth. It is a real quality Handbook, in the best
meaning of the word.”
—Sir John Whitmore PhD, author of Coaching for Performance:
GROWing People, Performance and Purpose;
Executive Chair of Performance Consultants.
“The world of business coaching can rejoice—the book we have been
wanting and needing is here. This book harnesses the vast and com-
plex world of excellence in coaching and offers it to us digestibly,
delectably and with impressively accessible scholarship. I want
every coach and soon-to-be coach to read this book. The inner world
of coaching, cogently, warmly, thoroughly presented is a tour de force
and a gift to us all. There are many kinds of bible in the world—this
will be one of them.”
—Nancy Kline, President of Time To Think, Inc., and author
of Time To Think: Listening To Ignite The Human Mind and More
Time To Think: A Way Of Being In The World.

“Finally a coaching Whole Earth Catalogue in the form of a user-friendly

book has emerged that addresses the needs of practising coaches
versus someone’s theory about coaching. What comes through loud
and clear is that Stout-Rostron is the voice of the coach—she is in the
marketplace and has tested what works and what does not. This is a
masterful work that enables anyone who wishes to coach, whether
they are a peer coach or an executive, to find guidelines as well as
skills, tools, attitudes and behaviours that become developmental
building blocks in any good coaching process. This is a must-read,
essential for anyone wishing to help others in any corporate, educa-
tional or group setting. Very inspiring to read.”
—Mark R. Rittenberg EdD, Guest Professor, Executive
Education Division, Kellogg School of Management,
Northwestern University in Illinois, and President of
Corporate Scenes Inc in California.

“You simply must read this book if you are serious about being a
top-notch business coach. It is an excellent guide to best practices
based on clear theory, experience and business wisdom.”
—Carol Kauffman PhD ABPP PCC, Director of the Institute of
Coaching, and Assistant Clinical Professor at Harvard Medical
School, Department of Psychiatry, and Founding Co-Editor-
in-Chief of Coaching: An International Journal of Theory,
Research and Practice.
“This is an extraordinarily thorough book. It covers a great range of
practical guidance on matters that will concern the new coach, and it
also addresses the current issues for those concerned with coaching
worldwide, including the deliberations of the Global Convention on
Coaching. It is clearly written and very widely referenced. It addresses
a wide range of approaches to coaching while remaining firmly
embedded in an experiential learning tradition.”
—David Megginson, Professor of Human Resource
Development, Sheffield Hallam University, UK.

“I am struck by the incredible generosity of this book. Readers are

presented with a rich and thorough blend of theoretical understand-
ing and practical wisdom, delivered in a way that is highly accessible
and will be of considerable value to experienced and inexperienced
business coaches alike. The book reflects a deep passion and car-
ing for the emerging discipline of coaching; one that has been rarely
seen to date, and should be widely applauded. It is a very welcome
addition to my library!”
—Gordon Spence PhD MAPS, Leading Australian Coaching
Psychologist , Lecturer, and Program Director of the
Master of Business Coaching at Sydney Business School at
the University of Wollongong.
“Business coaching is so many different things to the diversity of
practitioners around the world. Each of us gets tricked into believ-
ing that it is only how we define coaching within our own minds,
from our own training, and our own geographical bias. This book
takes the diversity of multiple world perspectives on coaching. Read
it if you are ready for an adventure in coaching; where you see new
things in new contexts that can change how you live and work.
Your adventure can be short or long, reading parts of chapters or
the whole book at a time. The trip comes with its own translator—
everything is put in language we can all make sense of and use on
the spot. The author brings to this adventure one of the best minds
and practical guides to challenge us to think and act differently in
our coaching. Enjoy it as I have.”
—Lew Stern PhD, co-founder and Chairman of the
Executive Coaching Forum, founder and past director of
the Graduate Certificate Program in Executive Coaching at the
Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, President
of Stern Consulting, Co-author of The Executive Coaching
Handbook, and author of Executive Coaching: Building and
Managing Your Professional Practice.

“A book that will further advance your appreciation for and

understanding of the powerful intervention known as business
coaching.”
—Wendy Johnson, President and CEO, Worldwide Association
of Business Coaches (WABC).
BUSINESS COACHING INTERNATIONAL
The Professional Coaching Series
Series Editor: David Lane
Other titles in the series

The Art of Inspired Living: Coach Yourself with Positive Psychology

by Sarah Corrie

Integrated Experiential Coaching: Becoming an Executive Coach

by Lloyd Chapman, with contributing author Sunny Stout Rostron

Coaching in the Family Owned Business: A Path to Growth

edited by Manfusa Shams and David A. Lane

Coaching in Education: Getting Better Results for Students, Educators, and

Parents
edited by Christian van Nieuwerburgh

Swings and Roundabouts : A Self-Coaching Workbook for Parents and Those

Considering Becoming Parents
by Anna Golawski, Agnes Bamford, and Irvine Gersch

Internal Coaching: The Inside Story

by Katharine St. John-Brooks
BUSINESS COACHING
INTERNATIONAL
Transforming Individuals
and Organizations
Second Edition

Sunny Stout-Rostron
with contributing authors
Marti Janse van Rensburg
Daniel Marques Sampaio
First published in 2009 by
Karnac Books Ltd
118 Finchley Road
London NW3 5HT

Second Edition published in 2014.

Copyright © 2014 by Sunny Stout-Rostron

The right of Sunny Stout-Rostron to be identified as the author of this work

has been asserted in accordance with §§ 77 and 78 of the Copyright Design
and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A C.I.P. for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-78220-097-0

Typeset by V Publishing Solutions Pvt Ltd., Chennai, India

Printed in Great Britain

www.karnacbooks.com
CONTENTS

PREFACE xvi

FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION xviii

ABOUT THE AUTHORS xxi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xxv

CHAPTER ONE
About this book 1
What’s different about this book? 1
Where does coaching fit into the business? 3
Who should read this book? 5
Chapter contents 7
Coach’s library 12

CHAPTER TWO
The business coaching process 13
What is business coaching? 14

v
vi CONTENTS

Coaching and mentoring 16

Foundation-stones of business coaching 17
The Socratic method 17
Modern management theory 18
Managing complexity 19
Guidelines therapy offers business coaching 21
The impact of psychological theory on business coaching 25
Behaviour, goals and performance 26
Motivation and goal setting 29
Adult learning 29
Experiential learning 32
Business coaching worldwide 33
USA 34
UK and Europe 36
Australia 38
South Africa 39
India 40
China and other East Asian countries 42
Argentina and Chile 43
International standards 45
The future of business coaching worldwide 48
Coach’s library 49

CHAPTER THREE
The coaching conversation 51
The coaching conversation as a thinking partnership 52
Deepening your understanding of the business
coaching process 53
Listening, equality and the genuine encounter 55
Learning from experience 57
Purpose of the coaching conversation 58
Measuring results 60
1. Visible behavioural change 60
2. Improved performance and business results 60
3. Personal and professional development 61
Value of positive regard, empathy and appreciation 62
Goals and the coach/client relationship 64
Competences in business coaching 66
Why skills and competences? 67
Global Convention on Coaching (GCC) 68
 CONTENTS vii

International Coach Federation (ICF) 69

Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC) 70
European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) 71
Coaches and Mentors of South Africa (COMENSA) 72
Recommended competences 74
1. Building the coaching relationship 75
2. Listening and questioning 76
3. Developing self-awareness through the
process of self-reflection 76
4. Continuous learning and development 78
5. Expanding your knowledge and core coaching
skills base 79
6. Business and leadership coaching abilities 80
7. Upholding ethical guidelines and professional
standards 81
The need for research into core coaching competences 81
In conclusion 82
Coach’s library 82

CHAPTER FOUR
Working with question frameworks 85
Structure—working with question frameworks 87
Two-stage frameworks 88
Understanding intrinsic drivers or motivators 89
Functional analysis: the ABC of behaviour management 90
Functional analysis 91
Action learning approach 93
Three-stage frameworks 94
Contracting 94
What needs work? 95
Four-stage frameworks 97
Whitmore’s GROW model 97
O’Neill’s “executive coaching with backbone and heart” 100
Five-stage frameworks 101
Framework for change 101
Working for change 101
Working with the CLEAR model 103
Six-stage frameworks 105
Nancy Kline’s Thinking Partnership® 105
Six-stage Thinking Environment® coaching process 106
viii CONTENTS

Eight-stage frameworks 108

Well-formed outcomes (NLP) 108
Ten-stage frameworks 110
Business Best Year Yet® 110
Developing your own question frameworks 112
Coach’s library 113

CHAPTER FIVE
Exploring and understanding coaching models 115
Models 116
Coaching tools and techniques 117
How many models to use? 118
Purpose, Perspectives, Process model 118
The coaching conversation and the coaching
journey 122
Nested-levels model 123
The expert approach 123
“You have all the answers” approach 124
Learning level 124
Ontological levels—being and becoming 125
Learning conversations 129
Three levels of intervention—behaviour,
underlying drivers, root causes 130
Four-quadrant models (Hippocrates) 132
Insights four-colour model 133
Domains of Competence model (Habermas) 136
Ken Wilber’s four-quadrant Integral Model 137
Questions in the four quadrants 143
EQ model 144
GROW and CLEAR models 146
Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model 147
Using Kolb’s four modes of learning 148
Hudson’s Renewal Cycle model 158
Other circular models 161
I-T-O (Input, Throughput, Output) 161
The U-process 165
Scharmer’s U-process 165
In conclusion 170
Coach’s library 171
 CONTENTS ix

CHAPTER SIX
Diversity, culture and gender 173
Sunny Stout-Rostron, Marti Janse van Rensburg
and Daniel Marques Sampaio
Sunny Stout-Rostron writes 175
Diversity 177
What happens when it goes wrong? 180
Social and workplace transformation 181
Coaching across cultures 182
Daniel Marques Sampaio writes 190
Worldview 192
Assumptions 194
Engaging with difference 196
Binary oppositions 197
The challenge of putting equality into practice 200
A new map of the world 204
Marti Janse van Rensburg writes 208
Origins and similarities 209
Race 210
Gender 213
Communication styles 215
Language and linguistic patterns 216
Religion 220
Cultural differences in the workplace 221
Individualism versus collectivism 225
Context 227
Bringing it all together 229
Coach’s library 231

CHAPTER SEVEN
Existential and experiential learning issues 233
Freedom—an existential moment 235
What is existentialism? 236
Being versus doing 237
Existential dilemma: meaning and purpose 239
Four ultimate existential concerns 245
Existential themes at work 251
Management culture 252
The coach/client relationship 253
x CONTENTS

Coaching for meaning 257

Decision making 259
Past versus present versus future 259
Human systems 260
Relationships and systems 262
Using experience for learning 263
1. Experience is the foundation of and stimulus
for learning 264
2. Individuals actively construct their experience 264
3. Learning is a holistic process 265
4. Learning is socially and culturally constructed 265
5. Learning is influenced by the socio-emotional
context in which it occurs 265
Discovering barriers to learning 266
In conclusion 267
Coach’s library 268

CHAPTER EIGHT
Supervision, contracting and ethical concerns 269
Contracting with the reader 270
Contracting 271
Contracting the relationship 271
Contracting for change inside the bigger picture 274
Logistics: fees, legality and subcontractors 277
The scope of the contract 278
Supervision 282
What is coaching supervision? 284
What are the benefits of supervision? 289
Ethics 293
What ethical codes for coaching are in existence? 293
Confidentiality issues 297
What are ethical concerns? 300
The complexity of supervision and ethics 304
Models of supervision 308
The Seven-Eyed Model of Supervision 308
Supervision as a form of empowerment 313
Developing a professional approach 314
Coach’s library 314
 CONTENTS xi

CHAPTER NINE
Developing a body of knowledge—coaching research 317
What is research? 318
What motivates research? 319
What research is available? 320
Building your knowledge base 321
Developing a new model of research 324
An emerging profession 324
The ICRF 325
The need for collaboration 326
Coach’s library 327

CHAPTER TEN
Integration and synthesis 331
Continuous reflection, learning and practice 332
The complexity of the coaching process 332
Coaching from a systems perspective 333
Developing competence 334
Knowledge, wisdom and experience 335

APPENDIX
Competences in business coaching 337

BIBLIOGRAPHY 353

INDEX 373
LIST OF TABLES

1. Emotional intelligence: competences and associated skill 144

2. Style of talking and possible consequences thereof 216

xiii
LIST OF FIGURES

1. Purpose, Perspectives, Process 117

2. Nested-levels model 121
3. Levels of coaching intervention 129
4. Hippocrates’ four humours 131
5. Insights Jungian model (circularity and quadernity) 132
6. Hippocrates’ quadrants with Insights colours 133
7. Insights Jungian model (circularity and quadernity)
showing the eight primary Insights types 133
8. Habermas’ Domains of Competence 134
9. Ken Wilber’s model 137
10. Ken Wilber’s Integral Model 138
11. Questions in Wilber’s quadrants 141
12. EQ model, a four-quadrant adaptation 143
13. Kolb’s original Experiential Learning Model 145
14. Kolb’s adapted Experiential Learning Model 146
15. Coaching with Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model 147
16. Kolb’s adult learning cycle 149
17. Hudson’s four stages 157

xiv
 LIST OF FIGURES xv

18. Input, Throughput, Output 160

19. Scharmer’s U-process Model 164
20. U-process case study 165
21. Becoming—transforming self 239
22. The Seven-Eyed Model of Supervision 307
23. Sunny’s supervision model 309
PREFACE

This book aims to provide a wide spectrum of coaching theory and

standards, with a clear and accessible overview of business coach-
ing practice. It is structured as a practical, easy-to-access guide to
the most important aspects of business coaching, with a link to the
foundation-stones of business coaching internationally.
This book is not the publication of my own researched execu-
tive coaching model—which will be my next project—but aspires to
offer practitioners a general handbook or encyclopaedia of the very
best theoretical models, current practice and thinking in business
coaching.
Coaching is a new, dynamic and emerging profession, and this
book was written to explore the dynamics of this discipline as it
matures and grows worldwide. I have tried to accommodate a vari-
ety of learning styles in the book, and hope you will dip in and find
the chapters most relevant to you. My aim is to offer a wide perspec-
tive of differing approaches and models that coaching professionals
and practitioners will find immediately useable and applicable to
their business coaching interventions.

xvi
 P R E FA C E xvii

This book is dedicated to all coach practitioners and coaching

professionals in the hope that this helps take our emerging disci-
pline forward into a new and exciting chapter.

—Sunny Stout-Rostron
FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION

We are delighted to publish the second edition of Business Coaching

International in our Professional Coaching Series.
When the first edition was published, we wanted to produce a
book providing a scholarly yet accessible overview of key frame-
works influencing business coaching, alongside a perspective on
global developments in the field. The author, Sunny Stout-Rostron,
has been ideally placed to do this, as she combines extensive practice
with a researcher’s insights and unrivalled contacts worldwide. She
takes a varied set of concepts and links them through frameworks
that enable the reader to explore difference in a coherent way.
The effectiveness of Sunny’s approach, and the resulting value
that the work delivers to readers, has been evidenced by increas-
ing demand for the book, which has prompted a reprint. Business
Coaching International is popular not only with experienced, prac-
tising coaches, but is also used as a prescribed text by a growing
number of coach training and business school programmes around
the world.
In addition, this second edition has been thoroughly updated to
take account of the significant progress made on the professional
development of coaching since the book was originally published.
xviii
 FOREWORD xix

Recent developments covered in this edition include comprehensive

coaching standards in Australia, the work of the WABC standards
task force, revisions to the ICF and EMCC competence frameworks,
and the advent of the Global Coaching and Mentoring Alliance
(GCMA), which sees its purpose as professionalising the fields of
coaching and mentoring through developing a shared view of the
practice of coaching worldwide.
Coaching has emerged globally as a key intervention, drawing
on a very diverse range of theories to inform practice. It has also
attracted practitioners from an equally wide range of backgrounds,
who draw upon their various experiences in business, psychology,
therapy, management and organizational development, sports, con-
sultancy, and more. This means that different professional traditions
have influenced practice. Such a diverse base has been a consider-
able source of strength. It has, however, made it difficult for those
new to the field to find an accessible sourcebook that reflects the full
range of ideas. For experienced practitioners, the tendency to draw
upon their profession of origin has meant that an awareness of the
breadth, as well as the depth, of coaching knowledge has been lack-
ing. This book answers both needs.
It takes an in-depth look at the coaching process, its question
frameworks, coaching competences, and how to use current coach-
ing models. Through an exploration of ethics, contracting, super-
vision, the “relationship”—and a detailed look at the coaching
conversation—we believe that the authors have outlined the crucial
elements for individual, team, and organizational transformation.
This understanding is deepened by a detailed examination of issues
such as diversity within the international coaching marketplace,
management of the existential issues that affect meaning and pur-
pose for the executive, and emotional intelligence. However, this
variety is not tackled as a recipe for one approach, but rather takes a
deeper look at being an effective business coach.
So, what can readers expect from reading this second edition of
the book?
First, you will gain an accessible overview of the key ideas influ-
encing coaching today and a source to explore further through
detailed referencing and suggestions in the “Coach’s Library”. The
balance in this overview will provide the reader with a base point to
develop your own thinking about useful models.
xx FOREWORD

Second, through an investigation of “the significance, meaning

and structure of the coaching intervention within the coach–client
conversation”, it will help you to look at what you need to be to
become a coach and to coach more effectively. It will take you on a
philosophical journey and into a series of approaches you can use
to inform your work. The book, therefore, does not just provide an
overview but is a practical resource for coaching.
Third, it will explore specific areas relevant to the business coach,
such as leading a team; thinking strategically; managing people,
processes and tasks; maintaining relationships; promoting; network-
ing; succession planning; and continuing professional development.
There is a growing demand for professionalization of coaching prac-
tice, focusing on the importance of coach education and training,
and the development of increasingly authoritative principles of pro-
fessional practice and codes of professional ethics—all of which are
given up-to-date coverage in the book.
Fourth, it will explore issues relevant for the coach working with
the individual on matters such as developing self-awareness; man-
aging oneself in the workplace; becoming aware of relationships,
values and culture at work; managing relationships in a complex
and diverse environment; and developing a healthy lifestyle.
Finally, it will offer insights into ways of ensuring that coaching
happens effectively in organizations—covering strategy, implemen-
tation, measurement, competencies and supervision.
We asked a number of leading exponents of coaching to review
the book, and their endorsements echo our own view that this work
has exceeded our aim of providing a comprehensive, practical, well-
informed yet accessible introduction to business coaching.
We are delighted to offer this updated and revised edition of a
seminal work to you—to guide your journey to becoming the coach
you want to be (and that your clients deserve).

Professor David Lane

Professional Development Foundation
Series Editor
ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Sunny Stout-Rostron, DProf MA

Professional practice
Sunny coaches at senior executive and board level, and has a wide
range of experience in leadership development and business strat-
egy. With over 25 years’ international experience as an executive
coach, Sunny believes there is a strong link between emotional
intelligence and business results—she works with executive lead-
ers and their teams to help them achieve individual, team and
organizational goals. Sunny has played a leading role in building
the emerging profession of coaching, and her passion is to develop
the knowledge base for coaching through research and the critical
reflective practice of dedicated practitioners. She has developed a
range of international programmes for leaders and business coaches
in the corporate, legal and education fields. She is Executive Director
of Sunny Stout-Rostron Associates, a Research Advisor at the Insti-
tute of Coaching at Harvard/McLean Medical School, an Advisory
Board Director with the Professional Development Foundation UK
(PDF), and Founding President of COMENSA (Coaches and Mentors

xxi
xxii A B O U T T H E AU T H O R S

of South Africa). She completed her doctoral research in Executive

Coaching with Middlesex University London, and continues to lec-
ture and supervise coaching research at several graduate schools of
business to contribute to the development of executive coaches.

Coaching philosophy
Sunny’s philosophy is that coaching is about helping clients to
‘learn from and create wisdom from their own experience’. Look-
ing at ‘mastery of practice’ rather than simply ‘being the expert’
to progress our own and our clients’ personal and professional
growth, Sunny encourages coaches and clients to create the space
for conversations that get to the heart of issues and concerns that
can create change at an individual, team and systemic level. Her
coaching looks at deepening the level of conversation to move from
performance (what needs to be done differently), to learning (what
learning is needed cognitively and emotionally for change to hap-
pen both in terms of thinking, feeling and behaviour), and being and
becoming (who are you, how do you do you, and who do you want
to become).

Publications
As an author, Sunny’s books include: Business Coaching International:
Transforming Individuals and Organizations (2009/2011), Business
Coaching Wisdom and Practice: Unlocking the Secrets of Business Coach-
ing (Knowres, 2009/2012), and Accelerating Performance: Powerful
New Techniques to Develop People (Kogan Page, 2002). She is also a
contributing author to the UK Handbook on the Psychology of Coaching
and Mentoring (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013); Positive Psychology as Social
Change (Springer, 2010); Trends in Developing Human Capital (Knowres,
2010); The Complete Handbook of Coaching (Sage, 2009/2013); Develop-
ing Human Capital (Knowres 2010); and Sharing the Passion: Conversa-
tions with Coaches (Advanced Human Technologies, 2006).

Marti Janse van Rensburg, MBA (contributing author)

Marti Janse van Rensburg brings an extensive and varied business

background to her successful coaching practice. This broad experience,
 ABOUT THE AUTHORS xxiii

ranging from scientific research to corporate management, gives her

invaluable, hands-on knowledge and insight, both of which provide
a critical key to understanding clients and coaching in the corporate
world.
Marti’s clients range from Woolworths, Johnnic Publishing,
Standard Bank, Eskom, Sasol, Discovery, Liberty, IS, McKinsey &
Company, and AngloGold Ashanti, to the Southern Africa-United
States Centre for Leadership and Public Values (a joint venture of
the University of Cape Town and Duke University). Marti coached
and facilitated the Accelerated Leadership Development Programme
(ALDP) at Sasol through the Gordon Institute of Business Science
(GIBS) in Johannesburg.
In addition to one-on-one coaching, Marti facilitates team coach-
ing and leadership development for clients such as the Eskom CEO
Programme. She designed a countrywide training programme for
Standard Bank managers on how to give and receive feedback. She
also designed a performance coaching programme for Standard
Bank in conjunction with their Leadership Development Team, and
started their Leader-as-Coach Programme at the Global Leadership
Centre (GLC).
In 2003, Marti was involved in the ground-breaking Action
Reflection Learning (ARL) programme at the MIL Institute in
Sweden. Marti was a founding director of the professional associa-
tion Coaches and Mentors of South Africa (COMENSA), and is a
member of the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC).
She took part in the Global Convention on Coaching (GCC) Working
Group on a Research Agenda for Development of the Field during
2007–2008.
In her previous career, Marti was a researcher at the CSIR
before moving into the high fashion industry where she worked as
a designer and the owner of a training facility for designers. She
taught and consulted for ten years in fashion retail, which gave her
business experience in Asia. Marti has a degree in Chemical Engi-
neering from the University of Pretoria, and an MBA from the Gor-
don Institute of Business Science (GIBS) of the University of Pretoria
with a focus on executive coaching. Her coaching and leadership
development career over the past eight years has introduced her to a
range of international coaches, consultants and clients in Africa, the
UK, Europe and the USA.
xxiv A B O U T T H E AU T H O R S

Daniel Marques Sampaio, PhD (contributing author)

Daniel Marques Sampaio was born in Rio de Janeiro and has lived
in London for two decades. He gained degrees in the Arts from
Goldsmiths College, University of London, before being awarded a
PhD in Urban Studies (Brunel University, 2003), for a thesis on recent
regeneration initiatives in South and Southeast London. He has
worked in the UK, France, Holland, and Hong Kong. His recent
projects include the interdisciplinary research presented in Capital
Corporations Consumers Communications at the Alsager Arts Centre
of Manchester Metropolitan University (2007), and Private/Public,
a photographic project with Michael Jones Architects in London
(2009). He has also lectured widely in cultural and urban studies
in the UK, and spoken at several conferences. Daniel is currently
Lecturer in Photography (Contextual Studies) at the University of
Hertfordshire in the UK.
ACKNOWL EDGEMENTS

The purpose of this book is to share our research, teaching and

practice in order to contribute to the growing expertise and devel-
oping knowledge about our emerging profession of coaching. In the
preparation of this book, we owe a large debt of gratitude to Nick
Wilkins for his astute advice on editing issues.
Appreciation is extended to all of our readers: Carol Kauffman,
David Lane, David Megginson, Helena Dolny, Lew Stern, David
Peterson, Marc Kahn, Shani Naidoo, and Mark Rittenberg. In addi-
tion, I would particularly like to thank Marti Janse van Rensburg
and Daniel Marques Sampaio for their contributions to: “Chapter 6:
Diversity, Culture and Gender” and the Appendix.
The core concept underpinning this book is experiential learn-
ing. We constantly returned to how we work with clients: reflecting,
observing and sharing—knowing that, as a result, our coaching
practice and teaching will be the stronger for it. We hope yours will
be enriched too.

xxv
Coaching is unique, helping individuals to
systematize their conscious thoughts about
the immediate actions needed to address
specific practical issues, and to understand
the unconscious processes that may be
sabotaging their success

—Sunny Stout-Rostron
CHAPTER ONE

About this book

CHAPTER OUTLINE

• What’s different about this book?

• Where does coaching fit into the business?
• Who should read this book?
• Chapter contents
• Coach’s library

What’s different about this book?

Everything! This book is about the essential “practice” and “prac-
tices” of a business coach. The authors speak from their experience,
with practical examples, analyzing the complexities of the coaching
conversation—the basic tool of the business and executive coach.
They believe that business coaching can make a huge contribution to
leadership competence inside organizations and, in this book, com-
prehensively integrate their practical experience as business coaches
with their own research and teaching.
Business Coaching International takes an in-depth, dynamic and
integrative look at the coaching process, question frameworks,
1
2 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

coaching competences, and how to use current coaching models.

It examines key coach/client concerns such as ethics, contracting,
supervision and the “relationship” between coach and client. The
book also focuses on the hub of the coaching conversation—learning
from experience. The authors believe this is crucial for individual,
team and organizational transformation.
This book also explores:

• the diversity of the international coaching marketplace and how

the business coach needs to adapt accordingly;
• how to handle existential issues that affect meaning and purpose
for the over-stretched executive;
• where emotional intelligence fits into the matrix of core compe-
tences for the business coach; and
• the core theoretical underpinnings of business coaching that will
transform your business coaching practice.

Although there are many excellent studies available about coach-

ing, this book is specifically targeted to the diverse and multifac-
eted marketplace of coaching, coaching psychology and coaching
research. Whereas the majority of publications look at coaching as
a recipe, this book takes a deeper look at what it takes to become an
effective business or executive coach.
Business Coaching International investigates the significance, mean-
ing and structure of the coaching intervention within the coach-client
conversation, and takes a look at what, how and who you need to
be to coach. At the heart of the business coaching process, irrespec-
tive of the model or approach, is “the relationship”. This means that
business coaching is not necessarily about “doing” for the client,
but more about “being”—creating a safe thinking environment: a
space where thinking, feeling, insight and creative decision making
can take place. Applying the knowledge and techniques within this
book will deepen your practice.
Some of the tools and processes explored in this book will help
you to coach your executive clients in:

1. Business issues such as leading a team; thinking strategically;

managing people, processes and tasks; maintaining relationships;
promoting; networking; succession planning; and continuing
professional development.
 ABOUT THIS BOOK 3

2. Emotional intelligence (EQ) issues such as developing self-

awareness; managing oneself in the workplace; becoming aware
of relationships, values and culture at work; and managing
relationships in a complex and diverse environment.
3. Relationship issues, which dominate if executives do not lead a
healthy lifestyle, thus diminishing their effectiveness at work.
The anxiety of not coping, either at home or in the office, impacts
on the other half of an executive’s life.
4. Body, mind and stress issues such as maintaining health and
fitness, a balanced diet, and getting enough sleep.

Each chapter is designed to be a world unto itself. What we suggest

to make it fun, useful and intriguing for yourself is to read the first
chapter, then read those chapters most relevant to you right now.
Immediately you can begin to apply new thinking that will help
build the rigour of your own business coaching practice—whether
you oversee a stable of business coaches or run your own individual
practice.
As authors who coach, consult and lecture internationally, we
have written this book specifically for practising coaches and coach-
ing consultants, with tools, techniques, case studies and applica-
tions relevant to any business coach anywhere. We share with you
from our personal experience as executive coaches—two of us hav-
ing worked in organizations for nearly 30 years, much of that time
engaged in coaching senior managers and executives at the highest
level. We also share our various learning and research findings from
coaching inside organizations in the UK, Europe, USA and South
Africa. Marti and I have been involved in the Working Group on a
Research Agenda for Development of the Field within the Global
Convention on Coaching (GCC), looking at the development of the
coaching profession worldwide. This book also explores several
international developments that may have an impact on the super-
vision and regulation of coaching worldwide.

Where does coaching fit into the business?

Whether you are an external coaching consultant, head of Human
Resources (HR) or Organizational Development (OD) within your
organization, it is important that coaching is aligned with both the
business and the talent strategies. Within most organizations there
4 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

tends to be a unique combination of internal coach programmes

combined with training and mentoring to develop the “manager as
coach”, or the “leader as coach”, as well as team coaching—in addi-
tion to some kind of schema to recruit and bring in external coaches
for senior executives. There is some confusion between “team coach-
ing” and “group facilitation”. It is important for anyone coaching
teams or groups to be skilled not just in facilitating group learning
processes, but also in teaching coaching skills and competences for
individual team members who need to develop their own direct
reports in a coaching manner.
What we recommend is that both internal and external coaching
programmes are in alignment with each other, and with the business
and talent development strategies. It is crucial to be able to measure
the efficacy of internal and external coaching programmes, and we
would encourage some qualitative or quantitative measurement of
all coaching that takes place in the organization. One of the ways to
measure success is to have feedback sessions with the coaches two or
three times a year, with the coaches giving feedback on what is work-
ing and not working within the system, and on that which impedes
or supports the coaching and/or mentoring processes. Secondly,
ensure that there is a process in place to adequately supervise inter-
nal and external coaches, and build a systemic coaching programme
that is fully integrated with the company’s talent management sys-
tems and processes to create a feedback loop to senior management
and line managers as well as internal and external coaches.
Also crucial is some kind of qualitative and quantitative measure-
ment of the coaching process, identifying the return on investment
(ROI) for the organization. We recommend clearly specifying the
aims and objectives of the coaching process, both internal and exter-
nal. This requires the development of criteria for external coaches
that you recruit, as well as building a bespoke training programme
for internal coaches to cover the basics: the coaching process; an
understanding of coaching models and question frameworks; and
the theoretical and psychological underpinnings of coaching, includ-
ing the competences required for the coach.
These competences range from attention, active and deep
listening, intervention skills such as questions, reframing and
giving feedback, and experiential learning techniques, to an under-
standing of ethics and confidentiality, psychological processes
 ABOUT THIS BOOK 5

and organizational systems. Equally important are the ability to

interpret and understand management and/or psychological pro-
files, an understanding of and ability to work with diversity and
cultural competence, and the requirements of continuing profes-
sional development.

Who should read this book?

If you are a business coach working within a business, entrepre-
neurial, organizational or corporate environment, then this book
is for you. If you are a practising business coach hired externally
into organizations, an internal organizational coach working with
junior, senior and executive managers, a managerial leader who
uses coaching to develop your team, an HR manager/director set-
ting up an internal coaching programme, or if you are facilitating
coach-training programmes within an organization—then this book
is definitely for you.
No manager or executive leaves their personal life behind when
they walk into work. It is simply another role or function that frames
who they are. So it follows that business coaching cannot be effec-
tive without looking at clients holistically. Even if business coaches
primarily help clients to identify their core purpose, strategies,
developmental objectives, strengths, weaknesses and obstacles to be
overcome, business coaching also takes in all aspects of an execu-
tive’s life, from the meaning and purpose of the work that they are
doing, to managing people, processes and systems, as well as creat-
ing a balance between work and personal life.
This book is for you if you are:

• a master business or executive coach with an existing, successful

practice wishing to deepen your competence, knowledge and
skills because you believe in your own continuous improvement;
• a practising business or executive coach with varying levels of
expertise;
• a business coach new to the field keen to develop your expertise;
• a business coach who wishes to expand and improve your skills
and competence in the coaching process with a deeper under-
standing of the coaching conversation and its impact in the
workplace;
6 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

• a coach who wants to understand the coaching process within the

coaching conversation more fully, as well as the entire coaching
intervention over a period of time;
• an HR professional responsible for setting up the coaching inter-
ventions within the organization, and often find yourself in a
coaching role;
• a senior managerial leader who wants to understand the princi-
ples of business coaching because you are experiencing coaching
or considering it as a profession;
• a senior leader who needs to understand the role of the business
coach because you are responsible for leading, managing and
coaching your team or organization;
• an experienced external and/or internal business coach actively
engaged in business coaching;
• a coach or coach researcher actively engaged in business
coaching-related matters, for example, one-on-one coach training
or leadership/management development programmes;
• a coach who has one or more years of business coaching and who
needs an in-depth understanding of the coaching process and
coaching models;
• someone at the beginning stages of coaching in business, with
over five years’ business and organizational experience; or
• a coach practitioner who has delivered coaching services to small,
medium and large organizations, including public and private
institutions.

We hope the following chapters will give you a broader perspective

on your practice and the challenges that you face when coaching
individuals and teams. This is a growing field built on the cumula-
tive experience of business coaches, and we firmly believe that our
most powerful learning comes from experience. As a business coach,
you are helping your clients to learn from and interpret their own
experiences, and to understand the complexity of the environment
in which they work. We hope that our learning will make a substan-
tial contribution to your competence and practice.
It is critical in any organization that the coaching strategy is in
alignment with both the business and the talent strategies. Often the
HR department is not in alignment with the Coaching and Mentor-
ing unit, and often neither is in alignment with Organizational or
 ABOUT THIS BOOK 7

Leadership Development. Only when these are all working together

in an integrated way will you be able to develop a successful inter-
nal and external coaching programme and process with sustainable
and measurable outcomes.

Chapter contents
Chapter 2: The business coaching process
Chapter 2 takes a brief look at the origins and foundation-stones
of business coaching worldwide. Examined here are the core theo-
retical and psychological underpinnings of coaching, with an over-
view of the current reality for business coaching in the USA, UK,
and Australia, as well as in Argentina, India, China and other East
Asian countries, and South Africa. We outline modern management
theory from the 1970s to the twenty-first century, from transforma-
tional leadership to the learning organization, managing complexity
and talent development—and the way it influenced the beginnings
of corporate coaching.
Business coaches encourage their clients to think for themselves
and to develop an awareness of their own conscious and uncon-
scious behaviours, which may influence performance in the work-
place. Business coaching is essentially about the results experienced
through the dynamic relationship between coach and client, and
how those results impact on individual, team and organizational
performance.
This chapter addresses the influence of adult learning and expe-
riential learning on the business coaching process, where coach and
client probe the essence of an experience to understand its signifi-
cance and the learning that can be gained from it. Ultimately, how-
ever, business coaching needs to be aligned with all the leadership
and management development initiatives within the organization.

Chapter 3: The coaching conversation

This chapter explores the purpose and focus of the “coaching con-
versation” and the competences useful to the business coach. The
“coaching conversation” is the face-to-face or telephonic interac-
tion between coach and client. It is a “thinking partnership” (Kline,
1999/2004) where coach and client reflect on the client’s experience,
8 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

transforming it into potential for learning and action. How the

client takes responsibility for change can emerge from the coaching
conversation.
The focus of a coaching conversation is to help the client work
towards achieving their desired outcomes. The coach primarily
explores with each client what it is that is holding back or stopping
the client from achieving their goals. One example would be to iden-
tify and replace disempowering assumptions and paradigms with
empowering ones.
The final section of this chapter outlines the general approach to
competence frameworks developed by four international coaching
bodies in an effort to promote professionalism within the industry,
and recommends specific core competences to build your capacity
as a business coach.

Chapter 4: Working with question frameworks

This chapter explores the range of coaching question frameworks
available in the marketplace, e.g. those of John Whitmore, Nancy
Kline and Jinny Ditzler. It includes descriptions of how to use two-,
three-, four-, five-, six-, eight- and ten-stage frameworks, including
neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and Nancy Kline’s Thinking
Environment® processes, with examples for understanding. This
chapter is designed to have you look specifically at how you can
develop your own questioning process.
One of the most difficult paradigms for a coach to understand, as
opposed to being a teacher or a therapist, is to not provide answers
or solve the client’s problems for them. The greatest gift you can
offer is to help the client “consider ideas, approaches, strategies,
behaviours, and other approaches and actions” not previously con-
sidered (Ting and Scisco, 2006:51). Although technically coaches do
not offer advice, clients sometimes ask for an opinion, information
or advice; it is important that the coach give the required support or
guidance without telling the client what to do.

Chapter 5: Understanding and exploring coaching models

Today, coaches are trained in an eclectic range of coaching models.
This chapter explores a cross-section of coaching models which
influence the work of business and executive coaches worldwide.
 ABOUT THIS BOOK 9

Models help us to develop flexibility as coach practitioners. They

offer structure and an outline for both the coaching conversation
and the overall coaching journey. However, although models create
a system within which coach and client work, it is essential that they
are not experienced as prescriptive or rigid.
Coaching models help us to understand the coaching inter-
vention from a systems perspective, and the “structure” of the
interaction between coach and client. This chapter takes a practi-
cal look at how coaching models are constructed, and how they
can help you to flexibly structure the overall coaching journey as
well as the individual coaching conversation with your business
client.

Chapter 6: Diversity, culture and gender

The importance of acknowledging diversity is increasingly recog-
nized in our globalized world. In this chapter, Sunny Stout-Rostron
introduces the subject of diversity and power relations, looking at
how assumptions limit individuals and groups. Marti Janse van
Rensburg examines and analyzes race, gender and linguistic issues
in practical terms, and Daniel Marques explores the challenge to
worldviews and cultural understanding based on power relations,
privilege and binary opposites.
Power relations not only have deep roots in our cultural matrix—
our shared ways of doing things, of making sense of the world—
but can often also inform our personal views, choices, and actions.
Any form of power exacerbates difference and influences how we
perceive and react to behaviour. This is true in any area of life, and
nowhere more so than in the business context, specifically due to the
hierarchical nature of organizational systems.
In the business environment, the coach needs to become aware
of, and to manage, their own responses to questions of diversity,
before they can begin to coach a client on similar issues. This chapter
focuses on raising the business coach’s awareness of crucial diver-
sity issues both within themselves and their clients.

Chapter 7: Existential and experiential learning issues

Existential philosophy regards human existence as unexplainable,
and stresses freedom of choice and taking responsibility for one’s
10 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

acts. Within the business coaching context, the coach helps the client
to articulate existential concerns such as freedom, purpose, choice
and anxiety, and to identify and replace limiting paradigms with
empowering paradigms, thus leading to positive change.
These existential issues are relevant to the coach too. For example,
if you look at purpose—the coach might be tempted to confuse their
own individual purpose with that of the client, and in the process
be seduced to use their position or power to influence the client.
In existential terms, the meaning of individual experience is not a
given; it is subject to interpretation. This chapter explores existential
and experiential learning issues which confront the coach and client
at every stage during their coaching conversation.

Chapter 8: Supervision, contracting and ethical concerns

Coaching supervision is in its infancy, worldwide—and is influ-
enced by the role supervision plays for psychotherapists and
psychologists, who are required to be in supervision throughout
their training and years of clinical practice. This chapter examines
how supervision is defined and practised worldwide. COMENSA
(2006b:1), for example, defines the importance of supervision as
follows: “Accountability, effectiveness and professionalism are core
values for coaches and mentors. Supervision helps the coach/mentor
manage high levels of complexity, maintain continued professional
development, and have a mechanism for ensuring accountability
and ethical practice.”
This chapter discusses how you should go about being supervised
and/or play the role of supervisor. We look at the role ethics plays in
business coaching, and detail ethical codes that have been developed
in recent years through professional bodies such as the Worldwide
Association of Business Coaches (WABC), the European Mentoring
and Coaching Council (EMCC), the International Coach Federation
(ICF), and Coaches and Mentors of South Africa (COMENSA). Ethi-
cal dilemmas are as important as the professional codes themselves,
and the author explores some of the potential dilemmas that can
arise during a coaching intervention. A third corporate governance
issue for business coaches is the standard contract they draw up for
the client. Accordingly, the chapter makes recommendations on key
aspects to incorporate into a coaching contract.
 ABOUT THIS BOOK 11

Chapter 9: Building a body of knowledge—coaching research

One of the emerging disciplines in coaching is research. Another
way to describe it is to see it as an ongoing “critical appraisal” of
your own coaching practice. This chapter examines current global
thinking in terms of coaching research, stressing the importance of
writing up your findings as you work within the business environ-
ment. This requires more than just being coached yourself and tak-
ing part in supervision.
This chapter seeks to broaden the definition of research, having
identified possible contributing roles for coach practitioners, aca-
demic researchers and coaching psychologists. Collaboration
provides a dynamic and realistic way forward, meeting the needs
of all coaching stakeholders in order to cultivate the sustainability of
practice through a growing body of knowledge.

Chapter 10: Integration and synthesis

How can you move to the next level in your practice? If we talk
about “adult stages of development”, coaching as an emerging pro-
fession is currently journeying from adolescence into its adult phase.
A danger is that it becomes a fashion to call oneself a “coach”, or to
be a coach in training. In other words, rather than a respected profes-
sion, coaching becomes a passing bandwagon.
Chapter 10 looks at coaching today in terms of its global life
curve. Some markets are more mature, while others are working
through adolescence, with “hormones racing up and down”. Today,
worldwide, coaching needs direction and the continual building of
a knowledge base in order to define its move towards professional
practice. This may be where you, the reader, have a part to play.

Appendix: Competences in business coaching

The Appendix clearly lays out the required skills and competences
defined for general coach practitioners and business coaches by
four professional bodies, viz. the International Coach Federation
(ICF), the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC), the
European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC), and Coaches
and Mentors of South Africa (COMENSA).
12 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

These national and international bodies represent a valuable

spectrum of international standards and requirements for business
coaches today. There is considerable consistency among the profes-
sional bodies with respect to the skills and competences required for
a coach. However, until there is some kind of worldwide consensus
on core coaching competences, this chapter outlines the competence
frameworks offered by four of the professional bodies for coaching
practice.

Coach’s library
The Coach’s Library at the end of each chapter is an abbreviated list of
useful resources to include in your library for that topic. A full bibliography
is listed at the end of the book.

Coaches and Mentors of South Africa (COMENSA). (2006b). Interim

Policy on Supervision. Cape Town: COMENSA. Webpage: www.
comensa.org.za/dotnetnuke/ProfessionalPractice/Supervision/
tabid/79/language/en-ZA/Default.aspx
Lane, D.A. and Corrie, S. (2006). The Modern Scientist-Practitioner: A Guide
to Practice in Psychology. Hove: Routledge.
Stout-Rostron, S. (2006c). Interventions in the Coaching Conversation:
Thinking, Feeling and Behaviour. Published DProf dissertation. London:
Middlesex University.
Ting, S. and Scisco, P. (2006). The CCL Handbook of Coaching: A Guide for
the Leader Coach. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC). (2008a). Code
of Business Coaching Ethics and Integrity. Webpage: www.wabc
coaches.com/includes/popups/code_of_ethics_2nd_edition_
december_17_2007.html
CHAPTER TWO

The business coaching process

CHAPTER OUTLINE
• What is business coaching?
• Coaching and mentoring
• Foundation-stones of business coaching
– The Socratic method
– Modern management theory
– Managing complexity
• Guidelines therapy offers business coaching
– The impact of psychological theory on business coaching
– Behaviour, goals and performance
– Motivation and goal setting
– Adult learning
– Experiential learning
• Business coaching worldwide
– USA
– UK and Europe
– Australia
– South Africa
– India

13
14 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

– China and other East Asian countries

– Argentina and Chile
• International standards
• The future of business coaching worldwide
• Coach’s library

This chapter takes a brief look at the origins and foundation-stones

of business coaching worldwide. Examined here are the core theo-
retical and psychological underpinnings of coaching, with an over-
view of the current reality for business coaching worldwide as it
is emerging in the USA, UK and Europe, Australia, South Africa,
India, China and East Asia, and Argentina. Modern management
theory from the 1970s to the twenty-first century is outlined, from
transformational leadership to the learning organization, managing
complexity and talent development—and the way it influenced the
beginnings of corporate coaching.
Business coaches encourage their clients to think for themselves
and to develop an awareness of their own conscious and uncon-
scious behaviours, which may influence performance in the work-
place. Business coaching is essentially about the results experienced
through the dynamic relationship between coach and client, and
how those results impact on individual, team and organizational
performance.
The chapter addresses the influence of adult learning and expe-
riential learning on the business coaching process, where coach
and client probe the essence of an experience to understand its
significance and the learning that can be gained from it. Ulti-
mately, however, business coaching needs to be aligned with all
the leadership and management development initiatives within
the organization.

What is business coaching?

Research shows that one of the fastest-emerging disciplines in the
field of coaching is business coaching (WABC, 2008b). Business
coaches work with managers, leaders and senior executives to
improve their performance. One aim is to achieve long-term results:
to manage people, communication, conflict, projects and systems
more effectively. Business coaches also help their clients to manage
 T H E B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G P R O C E S S 15

the stresses which arise from balancing work and personal life in the
midst of a highly competitive and challenging work environment.
The Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC, 2011:1)
defines business coaching as:

Business coaching is the process of engaging in regular,

structured conversation with a ‘client’: an individual or team
who is within a business, profit or nonprofit organization,
institution or government and who is the recipient of business
coaching. The goal is to enhance the client’s awareness and
behaviour so as to achieve business objectives for both the cli-
ent and their organization. Business coaching enables the client
to understand their role in achieving business success, and to
enhance that role in ways that are measurable and sustainable.

It is here that I differ somewhat from the WABC definition, as I see

the inherent importance of aligning the executive’s intrinsic drivers
with their personal and professional goals. If an individual client is
unable to do so, the organizational environment within which they
work will be a source of stress to them, making it difficult—sometimes
impossible—for them to achieve specific, set targets.
Business coaching is essentially about the results experienced
through the dynamic relationship between coach and client, and
how such results impact on individual, team and organizational
performance. Business coaching focuses on an effective, sustainable
and measurable way of developing managerial leaders and their
teams. I view “managerial leadership” similarly to the way Jaques
and Clement (1991:4–6) describe it in their book Effective Leadership;
I see leadership as a process and an accountable function of manage-
ment, rather than as a role in itself.
One of the reasons why business coaching has become increas-
ingly popular is because organizations understand the importance of
getting the best out of talented people. It is now widely accepted that
the best way to do this is by investing in people’s professional devel-
opment and encouraging them to participate in decision-making
processes. It follows, therefore, that a key component of business
coaching is a focus on executive coaching—on the development of
senior managers and executives to improve their individual per-
formance, and by doing so to optimize organizational results.
16 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

A recent study by the American Management Association (AMA)

underlines that most coaching is provided to high-performing mid-
dle managers and junior managers on the fast track, while executive
coaching targets high potentials, problem employees, executives
and expatriates (American Management Association, 2008:20).
The origin of the word “coach” is from the French coche. It derives
from the Hungarian town, Kòcs, where the first coach/wagon was
built in the sixteenth century. As a verb, “to coach” was to convey
a valued person from where they were to where they wanted to be.
At the end of the nineteenth century, American college students had
coaches to support them in achieving their best; this is true for exec-
utive coaching today (Stout-Rostron, 2006a).
Although our modern-day use of the term “coaching” originated
from the world of professional sport, business coaching is a dis-
tinct, unique, emerging profession—differentiated from teaching,
training, counselling or mentoring. Particularly in countries where
sport is such a passion, many executives perceive themselves to be
more akin to high-performing athletes, developing competence and
achieving results through professional coaching, rather than dealing
with “personal problems” as in therapy or counselling.

Coaching and mentoring

Coaching may share some ancient roots with the discipline of
“mentoring”. The word “mentor” is often attributed to Homer’s
Odyssey, wherein Mentor is referred to as an advisor to Odysseus’
son, Telemachus. In 1699 Les Aventures de Telemaque (The Adventures
of Telemachus) was published by François de Salignac de la Mothe-
Fenelon (1651–1715), a French writer and educator. It has been
argued that in Homer’s original work, Mentor acted as more of a
caretaker than a “mentor”, and Fenelon reinterpreted this to idealize
his own role as tutor to the Dauphin (Stout-Rostron, 2006a). In so
doing, Fenelon created the modern-day mentor who embodies the
attributes of teacher, guide and counsellor—a definition which has
entered contemporary organizational jargon.
Whatever its origins, mentoring takes place in conversations
with clients, as does coaching—but while the coach uses ques-
tion frameworks and coaching models to help the client work out
solutions to specific issues, the mentor simply acts as an adviser,
 T H E B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G P R O C E S S 17

directly sharing their experience, expertise, advice and wisdom

with the mentee.
Not surprisingly, there is currently a great debate among experi-
enced business coaches as to whether being “directive” and “giv-
ing advice” is a mentoring rather than a coaching activity, possibly
encouraging the client to be too reliant on the coach.

Foundation-stones of business coaching

This section, an adapted excerpt from Stout-Rostron (2006a), sum-
marizes the origins and evolution of business coaching.

The Socratic method

The first great coach is often considered to be Socrates (469–399
BCE), who massively influenced modern thought. His greatest con-
tribution to modern-day coaching is the Socratic method, character-
ized by persistent questioning and self-analysis. The philosophical
statement “the unexamined life is not worth living” is attributed to
Socrates, and although he encouraged individuals to think for them-
selves, he never called himself a teacher nor published any of his
thoughts. Perceived to be a threat by the established Greek govern-
ing powers of the time, Socrates was tried and found guilty of sub-
verting the good order of Athens. In other words, he encouraged
his followers to think, ask questions and to challenge the traditional
“common wisdom” and assumptions of his epoch.
Today, best-practice business coaching uses a structured yet flex-
ible question framework to help clients think for themselves without
interference. Business coaches encourage their clients to think for
themselves and to develop an awareness of their own conscious and
unconscious behaviours which may impact on performance in the
workplace. The coach thus acts more as a “thinking partner” than as
a mentor, enabling the executive to operate at the top of their game
and to maintain the cutting edge of business innovation.
A great thinker of our own day, Nancy Kline, in her book Time to
Think, says that “one of the most valuable things we can offer each
other is the framework in which to think for ourselves”, and that “as
the thinker, knowing you will not be interrupted frees you to truly
think for yourself” (Kline, 1999/2004). In Chapter 4, we examine a
18 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

range of question frameworks used by business coaches today in

order to tease out the issues and concerns in which their clients are
struggling to take decisions.

Modern management theory

1970s—A mental approach to performance excellence
In the early 1970s, a seminal work by Timothy Gallwey (1974), The
Inner Game of Tennis, advocated that “learning how to learn” led to a
mental approach which would result in greater success than any mere
perfection of technique ever could. His approach initiated a trend
within organizations worldwide, developing a deeper awareness for
executives: that in order to improve individual and organizational
performance they first needed to access their own internal resources.
This “mental” approach to performance excellence was later
perfected by the neuro-linguistic, cognitive-behavioural approach to
coaching which advocated “using the brain for a change” (Bandler,
1985).

1980s—Corporate coaching for transformational leadership

Building on this mental approach to managerial performance, the
development of corporate leadership became big business in its own
right—and the advent of corporate coaching was a logical extension
of this movement. There are a variety of opinions as to when the
discipline of executive coaching began its ascent. Morris and Tarpley
(2000:144) suggest that it was in the late 1980s when a huge gap
became increasingly evident between what managers were com-
petently trained to do and what they were actually being asked to
achieve.
At the same time, the popularity of organizational gurus such
as Peter Senge and Stephen Covey encouraged the growth of the
self-help and pop psychology sections of bookshops. Today many
executives won’t be seen dead without their copy of the latest, most
fashionable manual on organizational thinking.
Covey advocated that individuals need to be the first to change if
any organizational transformation was to be sustainable. His work
signalled the beginning of the shift in the late 1980s towards corpo-
rate coaching. He advocated that the critical element of trust be built
 T H E B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G P R O C E S S 19

up within the organization, and he insisted that leadership began

with the individual executive.

1990s—The learning organization and executive leadership

The 1990s gave birth to the management concept of the “learning
organization”. This stressed that, in the face of complexity and
uncertainty, individuals and organizations needed to adapt capably
and continuously to changing work and social environments. The
learning organization provided a fresh perspective on how “learn-
ing” provided a key to more democratic organizational structures
and flexible processes.
In other words, the capacity to learn reinforced the ability to make
choices. Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline (1990) emphasized systems
thinking and the importance of organizational learning. According
to Senge (1990:14), a learning organization is “an organization that
is continually expanding its capacity to create its future”. Senge
(1990:376) also identified five critical practices within the learning
organization: personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team
learning and systems thinking.
Traditionally, the development of organizations and corpora-
tions supported business and performance development models,
but ignored the importance of values to individuals and teams. This
crucial lack therefore laid the foundation for the development of
coaching—not just for leaders and senior executives, but for indi-
viduals at all levels in the workforce looking to enhance their per-
sonal and professional lives.
At the same time, facilitating successful corporate leadership suc-
cession became a critically important need. As a result, corporate
consultants began to work in organizations with senior managers
and executives, and by the late 1990s the emergence of corporate
coaches contributed to the perception that “visionary leadership
training” (Hudson, 1998:3) was the way forward, in alignment with
executive coaching programmes.

Managing complexity
Today, in the twenty-first century, Shaw and Linnecar suggest
dispensing with the “compelling” myth of the “super-executive”
that has been built up since the early 1990s. They maintain that
20 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

“leadership cannot be mythical because we see it in action around

us every day” (Shaw and Linnecar, 2007:xiii). Perhaps one of the
reasons that the myth of the super-executive continues, apart from
media hype, is due to the complexity that executives have to man-
age daily. This complexity comprises the number and ambiguity of
variables operating within the organization, including the rate and
scale of change, and the environment in which people and systems
attempt to work together effectively.
Jaques and Clement (1991:xiv–xv) define the qualities that they
believe managerial leaders need to acquire as being

… the necessary level of cognitive complexity to carry the level

of task complexity; a strong sense of value for the particular
managerial work, and for the leadership of others; the appro-
priate knowledge, and skills, plus experienced practice in both;
the necessary wisdom about people and things; and the absence
of abnormal temperamental or emotional characteristics that
disrupt the ability to work with others.

The growing complexity of the twenty-first-century organization

puts great pressure on postgraduate business schools to develop
competent, experienced coaches who are able to walk alongside man-
agerial leaders learning to juggle enormous levels of cognitive, emo-
tional and organizational complexity. Every business leader needs to
balance the corporate mission, vision, culture, values, organizational
targets, as well as guide transformational development of resources
and systems, as part of the complexity of the organizational context.
In addition, the business coach has a responsibility to be a think-
ing partner to the managerial leader, and to keep a clear vision of
yet another complex system—that of client, coach and organization,
sometimes referred to as client, coach and sponsor.

LEADERSHIP AND TALENT DEVELOPMENT

Standard Bank, a leading banking and financial services group
in South Africa, has built a Global Leadership Centre (GLC)
to develop cognitive, behavioural and emotional competence
for their managerial leaders. Executives are able to make their
own choice of external coach from a suite of candidates selected
 T H E B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G P R O C E S S 21

through a rigorous screening process. Helena Dolny, Founding

Director of the GLC’s Coaching and Mentoring Unit, explains
that “Conducted behind closed doors, the executive coaching
relationship is private. Coaching is an unregulated industry; the
benefit of the screening process is greater confidence in terms
of the fit between the coach and what the company is trying to
achieve.”
Dolny says that the focus has been on providing a range
of coaching programmes for different purposes: performance
coaching skills for all line managers, peer coaching and team
coaching, as well as the flagship executive coaching programme.
She points out that, “The issues we constantly address are about
clarifying the difference between coaching approaches and var-
ying purpose, and secondly peoples’ concerns about the sus-
tained value of coaching and return on investment. Getting data
to support measurability is a major challenge.” Dolny believes
that a systemic implementation of coaching and mentoring pro-
grammes is the key to developing talent and supporting trans-
formation in the changing financial marketplace of a fledgling
democracy (Dolny, 2008).

Guidelines therapy offers business coaching

In this chapter, I refer to various psychologists and psychotherapists
whose practice and research have made a substantial impact
on the development of coaching: Irvin Yalom, an existential
psychotherapist at Stanford University, California; Dr Ernesto
Spinelli, an existential professor of psychology previously at
Regent’s College London; Carl Rogers, psychologist and developer
of the client-focused approach; and Bruce Peltier, psychologist and
executive coach based in San Francisco, and author of The Psychology
of Executive Coaching. The core skills of the Rogerian client-centred
approach—i.e. active listening, respecting clients, and adopting their
internal frame of reference—is in alignment with the central aim of
achieving results within the coaching conversation.
Because coaching is currently a service industry and an “emerg-
ing profession”, it does not yet meet the requirements for a “true
profession”. It is here that psychology and psychotherapy research
offer much insight into the complexity of human behaviour and
22 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

organizational systems for the business coach. For example, it is

crucial for the business coach always to refer pathology appropri-
ately and to keep coaching and therapy separate.
As defined by Grant and Cavanagh (2006:3), the key criteria to
becoming a profession are:

• creating significant barriers to entry;

• a shared common body of knowledge;
• formal qualifications at university level;
• regulatory bodies with the power to admit, discipline and mean-
ingfully sanction members;
• an enforceable code of ethics; and
• some form of state-sanctioned licensing or regulation.

Once a more rigorous and empirical body of academic and practi-

tioner research is available for the business coach, we will see the
emergence of professional coaches, both internal and external to
the organization. As a result of the International Coaching Research
Forum (ICRF), which was sponsored by the Institute of Coaching
in September 2008 at Harvard University, a community of coaching
researchers has developed a range of research proposal outlines to
advance the emerging profession. The Institute of Coaching is back-
ing the initiative with grants for academic and organizational coach-
ing research worldwide. In all countries worldwide, it is essential
that practising business coaches are encouraged to reflect the rigour
of their work in reflective practice, evidence-based research or peer-
reviewed journals. It is for this reason that I encourage an aware-
ness of the scientist-practitioner model of coaching aligned with the
development of a common body of “empirically tested knowledge”
(Grant and Cavanagh, 2006:2).
Historically, the models of therapy have shifted over the years.
The first model of the therapist-patient relationship was the “blank
screen”, where the therapist stayed neutral hoping the patient
would project onto this “blank screen major transference distor-
tions”. The second model was the therapist as archaeologist, dig-
ging through the past to understand “the original trauma” (Yalom,
2001:75). Although Freud often enquired into the personal lives of
his patients, Carl Rogers in his early years advocated non-directive
 T H E B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G P R O C E S S 23

therapy with minimal direction to the client. He later abandoned

this for a more participative, interactive style.
Harry Stack Sullivan defined psychotherapy as “a discussion
of personal issues between two people, one of them more anxious
than the other” (Yalom, 2001:108). Although the coach is not dealing
with the neuroses of their clients, a great deal of anxiety arises in
the professional working life of clients that needs to be addressed.
In therapy, the therapist gives feedback on the client/patient rela-
tionship as it occurs; in coaching, on the other hand, the feedback
is more focused on relationships the client experiences out in the
workplace.
This is where the coach needs to have a great deal of awareness
in order not to become part of the “client’s system”. Sometimes it
is useful to observe what is happening between coach and client,
and how this mirrors blind spots or areas of difficulty for the client.
This requires the coach to be able to ask questions, make candid
observations—or challenge the client’s perspective or view of a
situation—when this would be helpful to remove limiting assump-
tions or lead to a more positive result. A key difference is that thera-
pists interpret behaviour; coaches challenge and make observations
about client behaviour.

OBSERVING CLIENT BEHAVIOUR

One of the senior executives with whom I work would peri-
odically “explode” about an emotional event that had occurred
between him and another at work. It took me a few months to
help my client understand the impact of his “explosive” behav-
iour on others, and the need for greater self-awareness on his
part. The client’s own behaviour, in fact, was triggering a strong
emotional reaction in others. Once we began to discuss the types
of reactions that were occurring and to help the client see what
role he played in the interactions, he became aware of his own
defensiveness.
As his self-awareness grew, regarding the impact his behav-
iour had on others, we started to discuss how to build alliances
and heal a few broken relationships in a proactive and posi-
tive way. His insight into his own behaviour produced gradual
24 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

change that, over a period of a year, began to result in a more

positive response towards him by subordinates and colleagues.
Eventually trust and respect developed into strong support for
the work he was initiating in the organization. To this day, how-
ever, he still has to work on his own self-defensive tendencies.
Nevertheless, he has developed greater self-awareness, and his
gradual change in behaviour has given more authenticity to
his transformational projects—which, in turn, are beginning to
impact positively on the organization. He continues to grow the
trust that is now being placed in his abilities.

According to Peltier (2001:xxx), the positive themes to be gained

from therapy, and which impact the coaching intervention, are
insight, awareness of the goal, self-examination, intra-personal
understanding, talking about things (i.e. making things explicit),
rapport building, and special relationship feedback from an impar-
tial party within a confidential relationship.
Therapists can offer insight into the dynamics and motivations
of others, adult development, effective listening skills (restatement,
summarizing, physically listening, deep listening), resistance, and
co-operation. According to Peltier (2001), the basic ingredients of the
executive coaching relationship are based on a few common themes
from the psychology literature. I have paraphrased and reordered
these themes:

• active listening;
• adopting the client’s internal frame of reference;
• being a confidante, listener, personal advisor;
• being engaging and responsive;
• building trust and understanding;
• coaching for skill, performance, development, and the executive’s
agenda;
• directing the client toward a desired outcome;
• empathy;
• equal working partnership;
• forging the partnership;
• listening skills;
• providing challenge and support;
• understanding the dynamics of human behaviour;
 T H E B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G P R O C E S S 25

• offering an active partnership;

• offering two-way feedback;
• patience;
• respecting clients;
• being an objective, trustworthy source of feedback; and
• wanting to empower others by helping them to take responsibil-
ity for change.

In terms of the coaching intervention, Rogerian principles also lead

to success for the business coach (Rogers, 1961:61–63):

• creating a genuine, authentic, one-on-one relationship with the

client;
• achieving accurate empathy through unconscious positive regard
and acceptance;
• by really hearing the client and fully accepting them as they cur-
rently are; and
• reflecting what you hear back to the client so that they can fully
appreciate their situation as it is.

The impact of psychological theory on business coaching

Many countries around the world are in a period of rapid
transformation—economically, politically and socially. Individuals
must learn to adapt to and manage constant change, multicultural
diversity, and educational and linguistic differences. They also have
to confront major economic and life transitions within the work-
place. To be successful, business coaches require an understanding
of organizational systems and complexity, as well as an informed
“hands-on” familiarity with psychological theory.
In grappling with the development of managerial leaders, it is criti-
cal that business coaches understand the intrapersonal and interper-
sonal realms. Psychology and psychotherapy have well-established
traditions of specialized fields of study, ethics, supervision and
published research that are highly relevant to our fast-changing,
complex organizational and societal systems. I am not saying that
business coaches need to be psychologists; simply that they need a
practical grounding or “literacy” in psychological theory.
Business coaches work with executive behaviour and
performance—and behaviour is determined by the individual’s
26 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

perception of their social situation. Peltier, in The Psychology of

Executive Coaching, says that contemporary psychotherapy literature
is relevant and invaluable for executive coaches because it is systems-
oriented, drawing from models of humanistic, existential, behav-
ioural and psychodynamic psychology. This helps executives to
develop themselves and become more effective (Peltier, 2001:ix–xx).
Cognitive psychology focuses on current perceptions and on
subjective reality, and is the study of the mind, its ways and pat-
terns. Cognitive therapy helps people to begin to notice, and change,
their own thought patterns with powerful emotional and behav-
ioural benefits (Peltier, 2001:82). Neuro-Linguistic Programming
(NLP) is based on cognitive behavioural psychology, and involves
an understanding of the mental and cognitive processes behind
behaviour—hence providing vital coaching tools for the develop-
ment of communication and for the process of change:

NLP … provides psychological skills for understanding the

mental processes and patterns we use to achieve results. NLP
addresses how we use our senses to think, how language
relates to thought, and how our thinking strategies control our
experience and achievements. NLP provides a practical under-
standing of how the brain works: how people think, learn and
motivate themselves to change. It is essentially about how we
process information, and how this manifests itself in behav-
iour. It is how we use the language of the mind to achieve
specific desired goals. Like many learning tools, NLP refers
to how you organize your mental life: the basis of all learning
(Stout-Rostron, 2002:117).

Behaviour, goals and performance

To help clients improve their behaviour and performance, it is
useful for business coaches to understand the psychology behind
adult behaviour, goals and motivation. Sigmund Freud’s five stages
of psycho-development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) have
remained a benchmark for the interpretation and study of psycho-
therapy. According to Freud, the early years of infancy and childhood
establish the strengths, weaknesses and dynamics that continue into
adult life (Freud, 1901b).
 T H E B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G P R O C E S S 27

THIRD-POSITION THINKING
Third-position thinking is an NLP coaching technique to help
the client work with a situation involving another party (with
whom the client is having difficulty); the other party is not actu-
ally physically present in the coaching conversation. The coach
helps the client to think through a situation from three positions
(first position/the client’s own; second position/the other’s
position; third position/the client as their own “coach”). This is
a technique the coach uses to help the client physically stand in
first position (their own position); second position (the other’s
position); and third position (client adopts a meta-position or
that of the “coach”) in order to resolve a conflict or to see the
other person’s point of view. I use this frequently when the client
has an issue or difficulty with another party and needs to hear,
see and feel perspectives from all points of view. Because coach
and client enact it—and the client actually verbalizes what they,
as well as the other person, are thinking and feeling—it helps
the client to understand the bigger picture, and to determine
what needs to change in their own behaviour in order to effect
change in the other party’s behaviour.

Alfred Adler, who worked with Freud for ten years, reasoned
that adult behaviour is purposeful and goal-directed, and that life
goals provide individual motivation. He focused on personal val-
ues, beliefs, attitudes, goals and interests. Adler recommended that
adults engage in the therapeutic process using goal setting and
reinventing their future, using techniques such as “acting as if”,
role-playing and goal setting—all tools utilized and recognized by
well-qualified business coaches.
Carl Jung diverged from Freudian thinking, viewing the adult
years of an individual’s life as the phase where true identity emerges
in a process he called “individuation”. The terms “individuation”,
“archetype”, “extraversion” and “introversion” are based on the psy-
chological model of the relations between conscious and unconscious
minds. Jung suggested that individuals carry the world in microcosm,
and that the personal psyche is embedded in the archetypal psyche
(Stevens, 1994). In his pioneering work, Psychological Types, Jung (1977)
suggested that people have different preferences, which give them
28 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

alternative perspectives on situations. These varying perspectives

and “attitudes” are now seen as highly relevant to understanding
organizational and cultural requirements and the needs of people in
relation to motivation and leadership (Stout-Rostron, 2006a).
Erik Eriksson, who influenced the NLP movement, further inves-
tigated the adult phases of development. Eriksson viewed develop-
ment as a lifelong process, in which each individual must resolve
a series of polarities, which may be stimulated by crises or turn-
ing points, to become a normal, healthy person (Stout-Rostron,
2006a:25). Hudson’s renewal cycle helps us to understand an adult’s
experience of life and change.
Abraham Maslow, like many other psychologists, believed that we
need to resolve certain issues before we can move on to the next ones
that need resolution (from physiological needs, to safety needs, to
social needs, to esteem and self-actualization needs). Maslow broke
the mould of exploring pathology to understand human nature. He
looked at motivation and at motivators, believing that “individuals
naturally actualize themselves unless circumstances in their devel-
opment are so adverse that they must strive for safety rather than for
growth” (Yalom, 1980:280).
It is nevertheless important that the business coach be able to
discern pathology. As Jaques and Clement so succinctly put it, it is
important to discern “abnormal temperamental or emotional char-
acteristics that disrupt the ability to work with others” (Jaques and
Clement, 1991:xiv–xv). The coach must be able to distinguish when
the client should be referred to a registered psychotherapist for such
pathologies to be explored and resolved.
John Whitmore in Coaching for Performance (2002) highlights the
mind as the source of self-motivation, and insists that for people to
perform they must be self-motivated. Maslow said that all we have
to do is to overcome “our inner blocks to our development and matu-
rity” (Whitmore, 2002:110). The highest state in Maslow’s hierarchy
of human needs was the self-actualizing person who emerges when
“esteem needs are satisfied and the individual is no longer driven by
the need to prove themselves, either to themselves or to anyone else”
(Whitmore, 2002:111). Maslow saw this as a never-ending journey.
Associated with self-actualizing is the need to develop mean-
ing and purpose. Clients “want their work, their activities and
their existence to have some value, to be a contribution to others”;
 T H E B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G P R O C E S S 29

this relates to motivation because “people seek to engage in those

activities that help them to meet their needs” (Whitmore, 2002:112).
Through my work with coaching clients, I have come to believe that
coaches are responsible for helping both themselves and their clients
become aware of their own unconscious thinking processes, and
how these impact on their behaviour in the world. To understand
their own behaviour, clients need to understand their own intrinsic
drivers at a conscious level.

Motivation and goal setting

Motivational theories primarily focus on the individual’s needs and
motivations. I have typically worked with coaching clients to help
them understand more fully their intrinsic motivators (internal driv-
ers such as values, beliefs, and feelings), and how to use extrinsic
motivators (external drivers such as relationships, bonuses, environ-
ment, and titles) to motivate their teams. An important part of my
research, therefore, has been to develop an understanding of limiting
assumptions which create anxiety and prevent the client from mak-
ing decisions—or which may interfere with self-belief, self-esteem,
and self-management; with social or interpersonal management;
and even with understanding how to work effectively within a sys-
tem (such as the work environment).
The exercise below frequently forms part of an initial coaching
session with a client. This is often where I start a coaching inter-
vention, to determine what are the core values, beliefs and feelings
which guide or drive this particular client. It is a powerful expe-
rience for a client to come to grips with their own intrinsic driv-
ers, providing you, as the coach, with a tool to begin to understand
your client’s inner world. I recommend practising this exercise with
another coach before using it with a client.

Adult learning
The goal of adult learning is to achieve balance and transition
between new learning, skills development, and the cycles of adult
life. Frederick Hudson (1998:106) researched four phases in which
individuals and organizations experience change. Hudson’s four
stages of change (go for it; doldrums; cocooning; getting ready) are
30 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

useful in order to understand cycles of change, and the continuous

process of growth throughout adult life. In Chapter 5, we look at
how to use Frederick Hudson and David Kolb’s learning models as
processes in your coaching conversation.

CLIENT EXERCISE: INTRINSIC MOTIVATORS

This involves asking two questions. But write down all the
answers to the first question before asking the second question.
1. What is important to you professionally? (anything else?),
and
2. What is important to you personally? (anything else?).
Write down the answers in the client’s own words, exactly as
they say them. What I mean by “important” are the intangibles,
the unmeasurables, such as making a difference, collaboration,
integrity, leadership, professionalism, balance between work
and personal life, family, friends, health.
These intrinsic drivers are values, beliefs and feelings,
which are not to be confused with goals. Goals are measura-
ble, often quantifiable and tangible. Values are intangible and
unmeasurable.
Finally, ask:
3. What else is important? (anything else?)
This third question is to check that nothing has been missed.
Once clients have answered all the questions, have them inte-
grate their list of personal and professional drivers, eliminating
any duplicates. Ask if there is any one that is most important, or
which supersedes the others. Then rank the rest in decreasing
order of importance.

ALIGNING INTRINSIC DRIVERS WITH GOALS

Use this list to examine any goals to be set for this individual.
An individual’s goals always need to be in alignment with their
own internal, intrinsic drivers, otherwise there will be difficul-
ties for them in trying to achieve those goals. Intrinsic drivers
and motivators need to be in alignment with all goals set.
 T H E B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G P R O C E S S 31

An example of a conflict between goals or job responsibilities

and personal intrinsic drivers was a client who had given up
smoking; her top driver had become “health”. This executive’s
job was to edit an international journal for tobacco regulation
worldwide. Part of her role entailed translating regulations
from various countries into English; she herself was a qualified
linguist speaking 15 languages. Every day she was translating
“smoking can damage your health” over and over again. Even-
tually her health began to be affected as her key job responsi-
bilities and targets were in direct conflict with her new core
intrinsic driver—health. Her personal coach helped her begin to
think about the need to look for a new job.

Personal versus business goals

Another approach to this exercise, particularly if your client has
a tendency to view personal and business goals holistically, is to
identify business goals as short-term, medium-term and long-
term. A clear indication, when asked the question: “What are
your goals?” or “Where do you want to be in a year’s time?”
is that the client often responds with business goals. The next
question would then be: “What would you like people to say
about you at your funeral?” Typically, the answers here are
different. The conversation can then proceed to the difference
between personal and business goals, with a further question as
to the appropriate timeframe to achieve personal goals.
An example is a client who lists short- and medium-term
business goals as “moving up the corporate ladder to a senior
position” and a long-term goal as “owning my own business”.
The same client responded to the “funeral” question that he
would like to be seen as adding value to his community, being
loving and kind and always available for people who matter to
him. Often the drive to achieve business goals is in alignment
with the drive to achieve personal goals.

Adult learning theory has influenced coaching from the start.

Because the world is in constant flux, the goal of adult learning is to
achieve a balance between work and personal life. Although train-
ing was the methodology used in the 1980s and 1990s to develop
32 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

managers, today training is preferred as a methodology for skills

transfer. Coaching is thought to be a more powerful method to
develop a managerial leader’s ability to learn from experience and to
develop professional competence. Recent coaching research shows
that leadership development is often viewed as the purpose of most
coaching assignments (Underhill, McAnally and Koriath, 2007; cited
in AMA, 2008:2).
The coaching conversation is an excellent adult learning and devel-
opmental space. Most business coach-client relationships involve an
integration of personal and systems work. Personal work is intended
to help the client develop the mental, physical, emotional and spirit-
ual competence to achieve their desired goals; systems work may be
found within a partnership, marriage, family, organizational team or
matrix structure. Business coaching is holistic and encompasses the
systems of which the individual client finds themselves a part.

Experiential learning
A powerful influence on coaching, experiential learning is an active
process where coach and client probe the essence of an experience
to understand its significance and the learning which can be gained
from it. Experiential learning is directly influenced by the seminal
works of John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, Jean Piaget, David Boud, and
David Kolb.
The importance of experiential learning is that it emphasizes a
client’s individual, subjective experience. In existential terms, the
meaning of experience is not a given; it is subject to interpreta-
tion. Coach and client use the business coaching conversation to
actively reconstruct the client’s experience, with a focus on setting
goals which are aligned with the client’s intrinsic drivers, i.e. values,
beliefs and feelings.
How clients construct their experience is what Boud, Cohen and
Walker (1996:11), in Using Experience for Learning, term the individu-
al’s “personal foundation of knowledge”. Coaches need to be aware
that, often, more is lost than gained by ignoring the uniqueness of
each person’s history and ways of experiencing the world. This is
why many coaches will begin their first conversation with a client
by asking to hear their life story.
Boud, Cohen and Walker (1996) have defined the differences
between cognitive, affective and conative (i.e. expressing endeavour
 T H E B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G P R O C E S S 33

or effort) learning. Cognitive learning is more concerned with

thinking, where affective learning is concerned with values and
feelings, and conative or psychomotor learning is concerned with
action and doing. If learning at work is cognitive, affective and
psychomotor, then it involves feelings and emotions (affective), the
intellectual and cerebral processes (cognitive) and action (conative)
(Boud, Cohen and Walker, 1996:46–58).
We now know that not only is learning socially and culturally
constructed, but it does not occur in isolation from social and cul-
tural norms and values. Clients will reconstruct their own experi-
ence within the context of a particular social setting and range of
cultural values. In other words, coach and client do not exist inde-
pendently from their environment. The client’s experience impacts
on their own cultural competence, which we explore in Chapter 6
when looking at issues of diversity, culture and gender in coaching.
Other considerations may be language, social class, gender, ethnic
background, and the individual’s style of learning. In learning from
experience, it is useful to understand which barriers prevent the cli-
ent from learning. Often it is a matter of developing self-reflective
skills as much as self-management skills. What clients learn from
their experience can transform their perceptions, their limiting and
liberating assumptions, their way of interpreting the world—and
their ability to achieve results.

Business coaching worldwide

Internationally, coaching as a leadership discipline is fresh and
vibrant—with theoretical roots that are deep and strong. Underpin-
ning the field of coaching are the various disciplines of psychology,
and the relatively new disciplines of adult and experiential learning,
organizational development, and systems thinking. Coaching, as a
young and developing profession, has integrated a number of men-
tal models from existing professions: psychological, systemic, and
organizational.
In the 1990s, professional coaching was in its formative years in
Australia, the UK, Europe and the USA, while in emerging markets
such as Argentina, India, China and East Asia, and South Africa,
coaching is only just beginning to trail-blaze its way into the 2000s.
However, in all countries, there continues to be some confu-
sion between psychology and coaching. Although coaching is not
34 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

psychotherapy, it is developmental, and involves a similar format

of “conversation” with the client as psychotherapy. Influenced by a
diverse range of disciplines, academics and practitioners alike view
business coaching as related to organizational development, man-
agement consulting, leadership development, and human resources
management.
Even though the importance of academic and practitioner research
into the successes and failures of business coaching has been sign-
posted by both the Global Convention on Coaching (GCC) and the
aforementioned International Coaching Research Forum (ICRF)
based at Harvard, a much greater awareness and consciousness
of practitioner research is needed worldwide. A growing number
of Masters and Doctoral students are in the process of completing
research projects with papers beginning to be circulated worldwide.
And, in addition, new coach-training programmes are springing up
worldwide in university graduate schools of business at practitioner,
Masters and Doctoral level.
Some of the difficulties in the global marketplace stem from there
being too small a pool of diverse, qualified and experienced business
coaches to satisfy the growing needs of small, medium and large
organizations. Companies who employ internal and external coaches
are beginning to be more demanding of quantifiable and measur-
able results, value for money, distinguished accreditation, member-
ship of a recognized professional body with a clear ethical code, and
an assurance of continuing professional development (CPD) aligned
with published or organizational standards of competence.
Although it can be quite difficult to find information on business
coaching in the international marketplace, I refer to a number of pub-
lications below which you may find useful depending on the market
in which you are interested. I have not mentioned every country in
the world in which coaching is taking place. However, I have tried to
give a flavour of some of the issues and cultural differences emerg-
ing in different parts of the world.

USA
Diane Brennan (2008) discusses the emergence of coaching as an
industry in the USA during the early 1990s. Brennan explains that
the early coaching pioneers included individuals such as Thomas
 T H E B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G P R O C E S S 35

Leonard and Laura Whitworth, who, along with the formation of

the International Coach Federation (ICF) in the mid-1990s, raised
the media profile of coaching. Other organizations which emerged
a few years later were “Coachville and the International Association
of Coaching (IAC)” (Brennan, 2008:185).
Brennan (2008:185) explains that “what started as a handful
of individuals coming together in the US in the early 1990s” has
emerged as coaching, “an industry with services sought by organi-
zations and individuals across the country”. An international study
of coaching for the ICF by PricewaterhouseCoopers (2007) showed
that US coaches were “split nearly equally among the top three spe-
cialties of Life (18 per cent), Leadership (17 per cent) and Executive
Coaching (16 per cent)” (Brennan, 2008:185–186). As in most coun-
tries today, the focus of coaching in US organizations tends to be
dominated by leadership and executive coaching, with an emphasis
on coaching for individual executives and their teams.
The trend began in the US with coaches being recruited into a
variety of organizational departments, from organizational develop-
ment, to human resources, leadership and development, as well as
coaching and mentoring units. What is lacking today is valid bench-
marking and a measurement of the value coaching brings to organi-
zations, and its actual return on investment (ROI). The impact today
is seen in the burgeoning of commercial coach training programmes,
and the development of educational coaching programmes inside
graduate schools of business.
However, what is important is that the providers, educators and
buyers of coaching work together at an international level to debate
and fulfil the various recommendations of the ten groups who con-
tributed to the Dublin Declaration on Coaching (GCC, 2008g) pro-
duced as a result of the Global Convention on Coaching in 2008.
And, although coaching draws on multiple disciplines and is used
by many types of people in many environments, it is not necessarily
the case that everyone in the coaching community wants to see the
creation of a profession. Only by working together can the diverse
perspectives and diverse points of view be heard—and alliances
built. The “stakes in the ground” planted by all of the GCC work-
ing groups urge a collaborative and international approach—in par-
ticular, recommending guidelines and agreement concerning ethical
codes, education and development, core competences, supervision,
36 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

and research (GCC, 2008c). The importance of international

collaboration in the field of coaching cannot be over-emphasized;
collaboration prevents isolation, creates equality, and brings together
stakeholders from all corners of the globe. And although the GCC
has inspired participation by scores of stakeholders, many more
voices need to be heard.

UK and Europe
Although there is no officially recognized professional body over-
seeing the field of coaching in the UK and Europe, there are a variety
of coaching organizations promoting best practice. You will know
those most relevant to you, depending on the market within which
you work. A few of these organizations are:

• Association for Coaching (AC).

• Association for Management Education and Development
(AMED).
• Association for Professional Executive Coaching and Supervision
(APECS).
• Special Group in Coaching Psychology (SGCP) of the British Psy-
chological Society (BPS).
• British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
• Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
• European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC).
• ECI (European Coaching Institute).
• The Work Foundation (formerly The Industrial Society).
• Institute of Directors (IoD).
• Chartered Management Institute (CMI) (formerly the Institute of
Management).
• International Coach Federation (ICF).

Robin Linnecar (2008:1) explains that in the UK there has recently

been an attempt to “pull all these [organizations] together under
a common banner by issuing a Statement of Shared Values”, even
though there are “fundamental disparities on approaches to super-
vision of coaches, to name but one area”.
Dr Annette Fillery-Travis (2009:1) talks about the importance
of developing a coaching culture within the organizational con-
text. “In the UK, the coaching capability of organizations is a ‘hot
 T H E B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G P R O C E S S 37

topic’. … The question is: How do we embed coaching within

organizations in a way that fits their culture, context and needs and
achieves all (or most) of the benefits?”. Fillery-Travis (2008a:26) sug-
gests that “as the coaching profession develops, we are becoming
increasingly aware that we need to delineate coaching from other
offers in the market; identify the real value we can bring to our cli-
ents; and be able to advise the buyers of coaching on which coaching
interventions are fit for their purpose. To do this we need to have
evidence of what works and how. In effect, we need a thorough
grounding in both the theory and practice of what we do and the
research which underpins it”.
In Coaching and Buying Coaching Services: A Guide, published by
the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in
the UK, Jessica Jarvis (2004:21) states that one of the CIPD’s sur-
veys found that “four-fifths of respondents now use coaching in
their organizations”, but there remains a major concern about the
“number of ‘cowboy’ coaches entering the market who are inexperi-
enced, have little training and lack the appropriate knowledge and
skills”. Jarvis explains that one of the key problems in the UK is that
the “coaching industry is highly fragmented, with no single profes-
sional body or sets of standards and qualifications to guide buyers
of coaching services” (Jarvis, 2004:3).
Although coaching is a growing and emerging area of HR practice
in the UK, business coaching seems to be moving into a more mature
phase, similar to the USA. There is, however, some confusion about
the impact of coaching and its return on investment. According to
the UK CIPD survey (Jarvis, 2004:9), the key reasons that coaching is
being used in UK organizations are to:

1. Improve individual performance.

2. Deal with underperformance.
3. Improve productivity.
4. Career planning/personal development.
5. Grow future senior staff.
6. Foster a culture of learning and development.
7. Motivate staff.
8. Accelerate change in the organization.
9. Demonstrate the organization’s commitment to staff.
10. Improve staff retention and reduce the cost of sending staff to
external courses.
38 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

There is a vast array of coaching services in the UK, ranging from

self-employed coaches, through small and large firms of coaches, to
large consultancies who offer coaching services with an interest in
securing the larger-volume contracts. According to the CIPD, other
self-styled coaches operate “within a business psychology model of
coaching where their coaches are qualified occupational, counsel-
ling or clinical psychologists, or come from the relatively new field
of coaching psychology” (Jarvis, 2004:11–12).
One of the challenges in the UK is a “growing number of busi-
ness advisers and consultants who have reinvented themselves as
coaches and, without any further training, now operate as full-time
coaches” (Jarvis, 2004:11–12). This adds to the complexity of a dis-
cipline which is moving into maturity, but still lacks legislation and
regulation as an industry. For the time being, coaching continues to
be self-regulated worldwide.
According to the CIPD, coaching in the UK is at a critical junc-
ture. Coaching has “very quickly become a fairly significant part of
many organizations’ learning and development strategy”, although
“few HR professionals have in-depth expertise of managing coach-
ing activities, and in particular selecting and supervising external
coaches” (Jarvis, 2004:69).
It seems that, as in most other countries, there is not yet consen-
sus on what are the criteria for a good coach, or the best way to
evaluate the individual coaches or the results produced as a conse-
quence of coaching. The range and experience of coaching bodies in
the UK and Europe are in a position to encourage other professional
coaching bodies worldwide to continue to work together to push for
greater professionalism, quality standards and adherence to ethical
practice.

Australia
The state of the coaching industry in Australia is on a par with that
of the USA, particularly in the field of coaching research. Accord-
ing to Anthony Grant at the University of Sydney’s Coaching
and Psychology Unit, “coaching is now mainstream in Australia”
(Grant, 2008:93). An increasing number of professional develop-
ment programmes in coaching are being offered at Australian uni-
versities and management schools, with Australian commercial
 T H E B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G P R O C E S S 39

coach training organizations offering government-accredited coach

training programmes (Grant, 2008:93–95).
Grant adds that “some of this research is genuinely cutting-edge
and world-leading. In addition to the coaching-related research
being generated by a number of different universities, the Austral-
ian Research Council (a government research funding body) has
recently awarded at least three large government grants for research
into coaching”. As a result, coaching in Australia “shows important
signs of being a significant contributor to the global coaching move-
ment” (Grant, 2008:93–95).
The role of research is to determine the competences necessary to
educate and develop coaches worldwide, as well as to create a defi-
nition of coaching that the global community will accept.

South Africa
In the UK, Europe and Australia there are a range of professional
coaching organizations. However, to date, there is no officially
recognized professional body overseeing the discipline for coach-
ing, although, as is discussed above, a number of associations are
actively attempting to work together to establish formal coaching
accreditation. In South Africa, in response to this need for a profes-
sional body to which coaches can belong, an important develop-
ment has been the founding of Coaches and Mentors of South Africa
(COMENSA).
COMENSA’s overriding brief has been to provide for the regula-
tion of coaching and mentoring in South Africa, in order to develop
the credibility of coaching as an emerging profession, and to align
national standards of professional competence to international
standards. One of the crucial and continuing roles of COMENSA is
to build relationships and alliances between the organizational buy-
ers of coaching and the individual and small-company providers of
coaching services, and to build connections with other professional
bodies such as the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches
(WABC), the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC),
and the International Coach Federation (ICF).
Since 1994 South Africa has been undergoing a process of
transformation from an apartheid racial tyranny to a democracy.
While leadership succession has been of paramount importance
40 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

in both developed and developing nations, the move to executive

and leadership coaching for individual executives in South Africa
emerged as a strong trend only during the early 2000s.
The emergence of business coaching in South Africa is related
to an explosion of talent development as the nation fast-tracks its
managers into executive positions in every field of industry, govern-
ment and education. Like much else in South Africa, coaching was
isolated from mainstream professional development due to interna-
tional restrictions during the years of apartheid. Only within the last
five to ten years has coaching sprung to the forefront of managerial
leadership development in South Africa, whereas in the global mar-
ketplace coaching is beginning to mature.
Coaching became more visible and accessible in South Africa at
the turn of the twenty-first century, as new coach training schools
sprang up, and graduate business schools accommodated “leader as
coach” programmes. Since 2005, organizational development (OD)
and human resources (HR) departments of large corporations have
been training “internal” coaches, and designing assessment pro-
grammes to bring external coach consultants into the organizational
“suite” of coaches needed for their top executives.
Supervision may be the new and innovative context in South
Africa for coach practitioners to contribute to the development
of self-reflective practice and practitioner research. This might
be a contributing factor to the move towards becoming more
“professional”.

India
The relevance of coaching to senior executives in India began to be
acknowledged in the early 2000s due to the growing complexity of
business. Deepak Chandra, Associate Dean of the Centre for Execu-
tive Education (CEE) at the Indian School of Business (ISB) explains
that “As a concept, Executive Coaching is still new in India. In our
past, the Gurukul system was an example of the one-to-one coach
for individual students. It was built on a deeper interpersonal rela-
tionship.” He acknowledges that in today’s globalized world, senior
management has been prompted “to counsel, seek, and simply talk
to a person who can be an amalgam of a sounding-board, a critic,
a seer, a friend, etc.” (ISB, 2007:1).
 T H E B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G P R O C E S S 41

India is in the early phase of coaching development. Gopal

Shrikanth, in his article “Coaching in the Land of Gurus and Sooth-
sayers”, says that “As in ancient Greece, Rome and China, India had
its share of historical ‘royal coaches’ like Krishna and Chanakya,
whose wisdom is enshrined in the Gita and Arthashastra. These
ancient ‘case studies’ are still analyzed by MBAs and corporate
leaders at business schools and research institutes.” He explains that
multinational corporations currently rely on their global coaching
partners to bring executive coaches into India. In fact, he encourages
English-speaking coaches from other countries to take advantage of
the opportunity to work with Indian executives. He explains that
it may not yet be well-known internationally that “India has made
such rapid strides over the last two decades in adopting and propa-
gating Western management practices” (Shrikanth, 2009:1).
In “Five Keys to Successful Business Coaching in India”, Kim
Benz and Sasmita Maurya (2007:22) note that Indian businesses are
largely a mix of two groupings:

1. The first group includes multinational organizations, entrepre-

neurs who have taken their business offshore, and local business
organizations with public holdings and stock market listings.
This group acknowledges that there is a need for coaching, but
only in a limited sense; in-company mentorship is the wider
practice. As long as there continues to be investment in develop-
ing high-potential employees by these organizations, the need of
this group for business coaches will increase.
2. The second group are “closely held businesses with no stock
market listing, partnership business/trading companies, and
independent business owners”. This group has less concern in
investing in the development of their staff, and tend to view
coaching “as an expense”.

What seems to set India apart in its adaptation to business coach-

ing practice, is that the coach/client association is spiritual as well
as professional. According to Commander Girish Konkar, CEO of
Beyond Horizons, “coaching is looked upon as a spiritual associa-
tion, as opposed to a ‘business/commercial’ association. Indian his-
tory describes the strong association with a guru throughout any
learning process” (Benz and Maurya, 2007:24).
42 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

China and other East Asian countries

In “Hybrid World: Coaching and the Complexities of Age, Values
and Asian Business”, Maya Hu-Chan (2007:7) suggests that “any
understanding of how to coach Asian leaders must begin with
an awareness of the generational changes sweeping the globe”.
In support, she cites a lead article in Fast Company magazine
contending that Generation Y in China has presented the corpo-
rate world with a new creative class which blends youthful inno-
vation with more traditional Chinese culture (Chen, 2007; cited in
Hu-Chan, 2007:7).
Hu-Chan (2007:7) notes that “The business coach entering today’s
global marketplace is challenged to address new dualities in busi-
ness and culture. In Asia in particular, a radical shift toward business
is blending with, but not eliminating, traditional values. The coach
must meet clients in a new virtual space”. She advocates a greater
understanding of the emerging synthesis of “traditional Asian ven-
eration of age as wisdom … counter-balanced by a wave of upstart
entrepreneurs” (Hu-Chan, 2007:7).
One of Hu-Chan’s (2007:8) key recommendations to coaches
working in Asia is to “develop a hybrid model for Asia meets the
West” and “flip the model for the West meets Asia”. She cites a sur-
vey by Korn/Ferry International in 2006, who polled 300 senior
executives as to what makes a business executive successful in Asia.
In response to the question “Should a Western business leadership
model be replaced in Asia by an Asian business leadership model?”,
35.5 per cent of the executives said no: a business leadership model
is required that is neither “Western nor Asian,” but includes “ele-
ments of all best practices” (Hu-Chan, 2007:7).
Hu-Chan (2007:8) makes the salient point that when coaching
business leaders in Asia, coaches should be careful not to be lured
by their own individual assumptions about Asian culture: “Don’t
assume that just because the leader is Asian he or she will have
an indirect communication style. Don’t assume that young Asian
leaders are all petulant children”. And she warns coaches to be
aware that “Asians aren’t always of the same ethnic background.
For example, in the Greater China region, there are 56 cultures and
ethnicities in Hong Kong, the mainland, and Taiwan” (Hu-Chan,
2007:9).
 T H E B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G P R O C E S S 43

The main message is to “understand emerging Asian business and

adapt your approach”. Hu-Chan talks about the rapidly transform-
ing culture of business in Asia, but certainly, one of the key learnings
that we can take from her study is that the coach needs to be cultur-
ally well-informed and constantly aware of their own assumptions,
keeping pace with “the emergence of Asia as a dominant force in the
world economy with China at the helm” (Hu-Chan, 2007:8).

Argentina and Chile

The following case study is a contribution from Professor Thomas
Kottner at the Institute for Integral Studies, and Director of the
Swilcan Institute for Integral Leadership in Buenos Aires. Profes-
sor Kottner shares a brief history on the evolution of coaching in
Argentina with reference to the development of coaching in Chile
(Kottner, 2008).

CASE STUDY: ARGENTINA AND CHILE

In Argentina, coaching had its start at the Organizational Learn-
ing Center (OLC) as part of the Technological Institute of Buenos
Aires (ITBA); the OLC was initially launched in agreement with
the OLC at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A range of
corporate organizations sponsored the programme in exchange
for executive coaching interventions. The original coaching pro-
gramme, “Leading Learning Communities” (LLC), was deliv-
ered to middle and senior management levels. However, at the
time, coaching did not achieve enough serious commitment at
executive level, which would have meant a greater systemic
impact on the organizations involved in the project. Because the
programme was considered to be too costly for organizational
budgets, the OLC was eventually disbanded.
The Argentinean OLC was managed by Fred Kofman, an
Argentinean who, at the outset, worked closely with Peter Senge
at MIT. Kofman trained in coaching at the Newfield Network in
Chile, which today has the strongest foundation for coaching
in Latin America. The Newfield Network, devoted to ontologi-
cal coaching, originated with Fernando Flores. Jim Selman, who
44 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

trained with Flores, later founded the Institute for Professional

Coaching in Buenos Aires when the Newfield Network split up.
Today this is the only state-approved institute for coaching in
Argentina. The specific type of coaching practised in Argentina
is primarily ontological coaching, with a focus on personal
change processes.
During the last few years, businesses have facilitated two
types of coaching intervention:

1. Executive coaching—with a focus on cognitive aspects for sen-

ior management, and a behavioural focus for middle manag-
ers. There is a deliberate distinction made between leadership
and management; leadership matters are managed with
ontological coaching.
2. Team building and performance coaching for operational teams—
there is a concern about the lack of measurable results for
team coaching, but it provides an alternative to individual
executive coaching, to which there is some resistance.

Kottner suspects that the OLC was unable to expand because

it did not embody a cross-cultural focus. He explains that local
businesses are not yet ready for long-term systemic learning and
development processes. This is primarily because, for the last
60 years, Argentina has had a significant economic crisis every
five years.
In Chile the situation is somewhat different. Coaching based
on neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is more popular
in Chile; NLP coaching is perceived to offer a more scientific
approach to leadership and management development. The
majority of coaches in the Chilean Association for Coaching
have a strong background in NLP, reinforced by the fact that
Joseph O’Connor, co-author of the book Introducing NLP (1990),
is the Honorary President.
During the last few years there has been a proliferation of
short courses in Argentina, mainly because it is good business.
However, many coaching programmes are offered without
an appropriate level of education or an understanding of the
requirements for professional delivery. One of the key issues
with the expansion of executive and business coaching is that
 T H E B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G P R O C E S S 45

coaches with a strong or academic background in business and

top management still represent a small minority.
A few years ago the Argentinean Association of Professional
Coaches was formed. It currently has about 280 active mem-
bers, with Jim Selman as an honorary member. The institution
has facilitated an annual Congress, with the previous Congress
inviting presenters from other Latin American countries to
share their coaching experience. Even though there is a myriad
of training offers, there are only 12 institutions or educational
initiatives approved with a standards seal by the Association.
There is still no certification from international coaching bodies,
which presents an interesting market opportunity.
Argentina has evolved as an individualistic society, and so
there is still little active involvement from members who wish
to expand the frontiers of coaching for the general benefit of the
profession. Language also presents a barrier to the incorpora-
tion of the diverse approaches which are sustained globally.
In Argentina, coaching is on a growth path as more and more
business executives are informed about its benefits, with a grow-
ing ability to discern the differences between the variety of pro-
grammes and types of coaching. The educational programmes
and the coaching on offer inside organizations will become more
professional as market demand grows. There is an absence of
relevant practices such as coaching supervision, and coaching
research is almost non-existent; both may grow, however, due
to the need for benchmarked evidence if the coaching market-
place is to develop (Kottner, 2008).

International standards
As the demand for business and executive coaching continues to
expand internationally, there is another area of development inside
organizations. Individual corporations are in the process of defining
their own standards of assessment to regulate the employment of
internal and external coaches. A key prerequisite for the future will
be that business coaches conform to organizational demands with the
specific ethics, supervisory framework, standards and competences
of those organizations. Business coaches are beginning to collaborate
46 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

and form alliances in order to offer coaching services to corporate

executives and their teams; this is taking place in professional bodies
and at graduate school level with, for example, the Graduate School
Alliance in the USA, which is conducting research into competences
and criteria for post-graduate coaching programmes.
Business coaching is the trend of the moment. If it continues to
develop at its current rate, conforming to internationally acceptable
standards, it will make a significant difference in developing the
competence and performance of individuals, managerial leaders,
their teams and their organizations. However, coaching on its own is
not a guarantee of success for senior executives in any organization
in any country; it is a critical component which needs to be aligned
with all the other leadership and management development initia-
tives for managers, leaders and executives within a company.
Business coaching should be aligned strategically with the overall
values and objectives of an organization. A question is then raised
for executives: if goals are to be motivationally achieved, are they
also aligned with the individual’s values, beliefs and feelings? Often
organizations merely pay lip service to organizational values, and
don’t necessarily create them as a synthesis of the core individual
values which make up the culture of the organization. Ethical dilem-
mas can arise during the coaching process if the executive needs to
make difficult choices which are incompatible with their own value
system.
Ethical challenges among executives are fairly universal. What-
ever country you are coaching in, one hears stories which are almost
identical to the situations faced by clients in other countries and con-
tinents. Let me tell you the story of Jim.

EXECUTIVE DILEMMAS
“Jim” (for confidentiality purposes, this and all other executives’
names in this book have been changed) is a senior dispensing
pharmacist who manages a major pharmaceutical retail chain
in southern California. He grappled with a personal and profes-
sional dilemma, having been asked to lay off highly qualified
and experienced staff in order to increase bottom-line profits for
shareholders—not an uncommon position for business execu-
tives today. His inner turmoil was highlighted by the fact that
 T H E B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G P R O C E S S 47

the families of his pharmacists would be economically affected

by the loss of one family member’s income with no guarantee
of replacing it, plus the loss of quality service to loyal custom-
ers. This was balanced against the short-term profits to be made
by shareholders, including himself as the owner of a recently
inherited share portfolio.
Jim also faced the problem of having to employ less qualified,
less experienced and therefore less expensive dispensers, who
would be unable to provide the quality service for which the
pharmacy was reputed. One of Jim’s concerns was that, although
larger profits would be made for the retail organization’s share-
holders, these would be at the expense of a seriously reduced
quality of expertise offered to a trusting public. A second unease
was that all of his experienced staff already worked extensive
hours; the enforced cuts to qualified staff would mean even more
gruelling working hours for those still gainfully employed, with
no seeming concern for the public on the part of shareholders.
“It’s a moral dilemma for me, not only because I am faced
with laying off people who are providing an expert quality serv-
ice, but the staff who remain will be asked to take even greater
strain, working longer hours yet providing an inferior service.
My heart absolutely goes out to the people who are being sacri-
ficed for short-term profits, as well as those who will step into
their shoes.
“The guy in the boardroom in LA who looks only at the fig-
ures, and never has to look people in the eye like I do, is only
interested in immediate gains. By the time those top executives
have departed the company in a few years, with large bonuses
and share options in return for their quick-buck strategy, my
dispensing pharmacists who meet the public will be facing
the serious frustration of the people we serve. Our customers
will be experiencing a steady decline in the service they have
become accustomed to. This may produce financial results for a
few years, but the real business decision would be a far-sighted
chairman who leaves a business that will flourish for 50 years.
This short-sightedness for easy gains is, fundamentally, not
good business sense.
On the other hand, I must admit that a couple of years ago
my pharmacist father left me a very solid portfolio of shares,
48 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

on which I need to make good financial returns as part of my

retirement planning. In the end, my decision has been to imple-
ment what I know to be a fundamentally unfair, unbusiness-
like, yet profit-driven decision. It is not business-driven in the
long term, because having built up our customer base on loyalty
and good service, we will now sacrifice quality of service and
expertise for immediate cash returns—but in the end I fear our
customers will drift away to our rivals.”
This is one of the most common dilemmas faced by execu-
tives today all over the world. It is a direct result of intense “bot-
tom-line” pressure, and is a repeated theme expressed to me
by many clients worldwide. Critically important is that coach-
ing helps the client to think through such issues and dilemmas,
asking questions, making observations and challenging the cli-
ent’s thinking—rather than offering advice on how they should
manage them.

The future of business coaching worldwide

If coaching is to emerge as a discipline with a professional future, a
wide variety of difficult conversations needs to take place in forums
such as the GCC, and at the events of professional bodies, where
practitioners and stakeholders can share their expertise and work
collaboratively together. Currently, there is an emerging collabora-
tion among coaching industry bodies, who are working together to
develop ethical codes, supervisory recommendations, professional
standards of competence, and regulations for certification of coaches
worldwide.
Working at a global level to develop coaching as a profession
are bodies such as the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches
(WABC), the International Coach Federation (ICF), the European
Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC), Coaches and Mentors of
South Africa (COMENSA), and the Chartered Institute of Person-
nel and Development (CIPD) in the UK. Worldwide professional
organizations continue to facilitate global dialogue to understand
the needs of coaching consumers, practitioners and educators, in
order to develop commonly agreed understandings, guidelines and
frameworks for coaching practice and coach training. In November
 T H E B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G P R O C E S S 49

2012, the International Coach Federation (ICF), European Mentoring

and Coaching Council (EMCC), Association for Coaching UK (AC),
and the Société Française de Coaching (SFC) formed the Global
Coaching and Mentoring Alliance (GCMA). The GCMA is a working
alliance (like its precursor the GCC), and sees its purpose as profes-
sionalising the fields of coaching and mentoring through develop-
ing a shared view of the practice of coaching worldwide
As a result of the GCC process and the work done by the Inter-
national Coaching Research Forum at Harvard (ICRF), it has been
recommended that we need empirical evidence proving that coach-
ing makes a difference for individuals, organizations, and society.
Because there still remains a lack of clarity and consensus as to what
professional coaching actually is, and what makes for an effective
and reputable coach, it has been agreed that research needs to be
conducted around the globe.
Business coaching has been defined in many different ways, but
is essentially a one-on-one collaborative partnership to develop the
client’s performance and potential, personally and professionally, in
alignment with the goals and values of the organization. In its form-
ative stages as a profession, coaching sits at an interesting juncture
worldwide—and business coaching, which is viewed as the primary
way to develop managerial leaders, is at the very cutting edge of the
way forward for this new, dynamic discipline.

Coach’s library
Baez, F. (2006). Coaching across cultures. WABC Business Coaching
Worldwide eZine, 2(4):20–23. Webpage: www.wabccoaches.com/
bcw/2006_v2_i4/edge.html.
Benz, K., and Maurya, S. (2007). Five keys to successful business coach-
ing in India. WABC Business Coaching Worldwide eZine, 3(2):22–24.
Webpage: www.wabccoaches.com/bcw/2007_v3_i2/hottopics.html
Bernthal, P. R., Bondra, J., and Wang, W. (2005). Leadership in China:
Keeping Pace With a Growing Economy. Pittsburgh, PA: Development
Dimensions International.
Burger, A. P. (Ed.). (1996). Ubuntu: Cradles of Peace and Development.
Pretoria: Kagiso.
Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and Korn/Ferry International (2007).
The Dream Team: Delivering Leadership in Asia. Los Angeles, CA: Korn/
Ferry.
50 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Fillery-Travis, A. (2008a). Where’s the evidence? First steps into the

literature. Based on the evidence, WABC Business Coaching Worldwide
eZine, 4(1):26–28. Webpage: www.wabccoaches.com/bcw/2008_v4_
i1/based-on-the-evidence.html.
Fillery-Travis, A. (2009). Collaboration and research—all for one and
one for all. WABC Worldwide Business Coaching eZine, 5(1). Webpage:
www.wabccoaches.com/bcw/2009_v5_i1/based-on-the-evidence.
html.
Grant, A.M. (2008). Coaching in Australia: A view from the ivory tower.
Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice,
1(1):93–98.
Hu-Chan, M. (2007). Hybrid world: Coaching and the complexities of
age, values and Asian business. WABC Business Coaching Worldwide
eZine, 3(3):6–9. Webpage: www.wabccoaches.com/bcw/2007_v3_i3/
feature.html.
Kline, N. (1999/2004). Time to Think: Listening with the Human Mind.
London: Ward Lock.
Kottner, T. (2008). A Short Brief on Coaching Evolution and Situation in
Argentina. Mimeo.
Legrain, E., and Fox, M. (2008). Leadership Coaching: Inspiration from Asia.
Singapore: Banksia Coaching International. Webpage: www.banksia-
coaching.com.
Peltier, B. (2001). The Psychology of Executive Coaching: Theory and Applica-
tion. New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge.
Shrikanth, G. (2009). Coaching in the land of gurus and soothsayers.
WABC Business Coaching Worldwide eZine, 5(1). Webpage: www.
wabccoaches.com/bcw/2009_v5_i1/hot-topics.html.
Stout-Rostron, S. (2006a). The history of coaching. In: McLoughlin, M.
(Ed.), Sharing the Passion: Conversations with Coaches (pp. 16–41). Cape
Town: Advanced Human Technologies.
Stout-Rostron, S. (2006b). Business coaching in South Africa. WABC
Business Coaching Worldwide eZine, 2(2):7–10. Webpage: www.
wabccoaches.com/bcw/2006_v2_i2/feature.html.
Stout-Rostron, S. (2013). Business coaching in 2020: Collaboration and
contribution. ETD Online, May.
CHAPTER THREE

The coaching conversation

CHAPTER OUTLINE
• The coaching conversation as a thinking partnership
• Deepening your understanding of the business coaching process
• Listening, equality and the genuine encounter
• Learning from experience
• Purpose of the coaching conversation
• Measuring results
– Visible behavioural change
– Improved performance and business results
– Personal and professional development
• Value of positive regard, empathy and appreciation
• Goals and the coach/client relationship
• Competences in business coaching
– Why skills and competences
– Global Convention on Coaching (GCC)
– International Coach Federation (ICF)
– Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC)
– European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC)
– Coaches and Mentors of South Africa (COMENSA)

51
52 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

• Recommended competences
– Building the coaching relationship
– Listening and questioning
– Developing self-awareness through the process of self-
reflection
– Continuous learning and development
– Expanding your knowledge and core coaching skills base
– Business and leadership coaching abilities
– Upholding ethical guidelines and professional standards
• The need for research into core coaching competences
• In conclusion
• Coach’s library

The coaching conversation provides a thinking environment where

business professionals are able to develop self-awareness and a
depth of understanding of themselves and others—embedding
newly acquired skills, competences and attitudes which subse-
quently impact the actions they take, and visibly demonstrate new
behaviours. This chapter explores critical aspects of the coaching
conversation, and outlines the key competences required by the
coach to ensure successful outcomes.

The coaching conversation as a thinking partnership

This chapter explores the purpose and focus of the coaching conversa-
tion and the competences useful to the business coach. The “coaching
conversation” is the face-to-face or telephone interaction between
coach and client. It is a “thinking partnership” (Kline, 1999/2004)
where coach and client reflect on the client’s experience, transforming
it into potential for learning and action. How the client takes respon-
sibility for change can emerge from the coaching conversation.
The focus of a coaching conversation is to help the client work
towards achieving their desired outcomes. The coach primarily
explores with each client what it is that is holding back or stopping
the client from achieving their goals, for example by identifying
and replacing disempowering assumptions and paradigms with
empowering ones.
The final section of this chapter outlines the general approach
to competence frameworks developed by four international and
 T H E C OAC H I N G C O N V E R S AT I O N 53

national coaching organizations in an effort to promote

professionalism within the industry, and recommends seven specific
core competences to build your capacity as a business coach.

Deepening your understanding of the business coaching

process
I define coaching as “a process that creates sustained shifts in think-
ing, feeling and behaviour—and ultimately in performance. By
asking the right questions, coaches help clients find their own solu-
tions”. Cavanagh and Grant (2002:4) define coaching as a “solution-
focused, results-oriented systematic process in which the coach
facilitates the enhancement of performance, self-directed learning
and personal growth of other individuals”. The AMA/Institute for
Corporate Productivity defines coaching as: “a short- to medium-
term relationship between a manager or senior leader, and a con-
sultant (internal or external) with the purpose of improving work
performance” (Douglas and McCauley, 1999; cited in AMA, 2008:8).
I see the business coaching process as one that helps business
executives and leaders to develop a clear understanding of their
roles and responsibilities. Business coaching, like sports coaching,
is about high performance, and is ultimately about sustained behav-
ioural change and breakthrough results.
Some practitioners have had a difficult time differentiating
coaching from other areas of practice or approaches by virtue of
its supposed lack of “unique characteristics” (GCC, 2008a:1). One
of the reasons for this is that some coaching providers see them-
selves as business consultants with their consulting services struc-
tured around the coaching process. It has been challenging to find
one authoritative definition of coaching in the marketplace, not just
because every professional body has its own slant on the coaching
process, but because there is no agreed global definition available.
So what do business coaches do? The critical value of business
coaching is in helping the individual executive to think clearly about
the core issues which present challenges to them in their job, career
and daily working life. Coaching is unique, helping individuals to
systematize their conscious thoughts about the immediate actions
needed to address specific practical issues, and to understand the
unconscious processes that may be sabotaging their success.
54 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Mentors focus on the development of the learner, and convey

knowledge of organizational values and routines, plus the manage-
rial system, thus helping the learner to navigate the organization’s
political system. Mentoring is personalized and domain-specific,
and creates an atmosphere in which to acknowledge and recognize
people.
In contrast, counselling is more personal and is aimed at specific
personal problems. Counsellors and psychologists bring to coaching
powerful, interpersonal change skills. The skills highly relevant to
the coaching world, which come to us from psychotherapy litera-
ture, are:

• active listening;
• assertive communication;
• cognitive restructuring;
• conflict resolution;
• empathy;
• giving and getting feedback;
• learned optimism;
• process observation;
• self-awareness; and
• systems theory.

Robert Hargrove (2003) suggests in Masterful Coaching that

“Coaching is having both the toughness and the compassion to skil-
fully intervene in people’s learning processes, and that a successful
coaching relationship is always a story of transformation, not just of
higher levels of performance”. John Whitmore (2002:8) in Coaching
for Performance says, “Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to
maximize their own performance; it is helping them to learn rather
than teaching them”.
These definitions suggest that learning is the key. This indicates
that helping your clients grow, develop and become who they want
to be, requires asking for their best thinking, rather than sharing
yours. Your asking of incisive questions to open up the thinking of
your client is “a powerful alliance designed to forward and enhance
the lifelong process of human learning, effectiveness and fulfilment”
(Whitworth, Kimsey-House and Sandahl, 1998:202).
 T H E C OAC H I N G C O N V E R S AT I O N 55

The three levels of coaching intervention with which we are

working as coaches are interconnected:

1. Doing: What tasks and goals need to be accomplished?

2. Learning: How will you develop the competences needed?
3. Being and becoming: Who are you as you grow, develop and
transform? (Weiss, 2004)

The coach needs to ask: what does the client need to learn to perform
better? And which skills and competences do they need to develop to
“do the doing” better? Then, as they develop new skills and compe-
tences in the workplace, how does that impact on how they “be who
they are”; and who is it that they want to become? When we look at
coaching models in Chapter 5, we will explore the various levels of
the coaching intervention that impact on the learning, growth and
development of the client.

Listening, equality and the genuine encounter

The structure of the coaching intervention needs to be framed by the
coach’s ability to listen, and to actively intervene only when needed.
Listening, asking questions and silence are core skills for the busi-
ness coach—as they help to create safety for clients within the exter-
nal physical environment, as well as enhancing the client’s internal
thinking environment.
A competence is simply a set of skills, and I include as part of
the competence active listening: listening for feelings, asking rel-
evant questions, giving feedback on clients’ listening skills, giving
feedback on the impression the client makes on you, paraphrasing,
physical listening, reflection, restatement, and summarizing.
It is also important that the coach/client relationship be based on
an assumption of equality. This is different to the therapist/patient
relationship, which is often not considered an equal relationship. In
a coaching relationship, neither coach nor client is superior to the
other; both are travellers on the client’s journey. A “safe thinking
environment” is built through the development of the relationship,
and research shows that the relationship is what can help with the
onset of change (Stout-Rostron, 2006c:79).
56 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Equality also means being willing to be influenced by the client.

I see this as a very important aspect of coaching. It is important that
coach and client change as the relationship grows. Yalom (2001:26–27),
well-known for his work with existential individual and group
coaching, urges us to let our clients matter to us, “to let them enter
your mind, influence you, change you—and not to conceal this from
them”.
For example, I recently learned a useful, amusing lesson from one
of my clients. Both client and coach are raising teenage girls, and the
thought from the client was “join them rather than fighting them”—
in other words, take out a page in Facebook as a way to communi-
cate at the level so desired by teenagers! This was quite an amusing
and valuable lesson to me as coach—I was willing to listen to how
my client related to her teenagers on the web forum as a different
way to keep the lines of communication open.
However, although coaching is an egalitarian relationship, the
focus is that of the coach on the client. Both individuals bring their
experience, expertise and wisdom to the relationship. In coaching,
the coach will adapt their style according to their model, but if the
major presupposition of the coaching interaction is one of equality, it
would be difficult to imagine a coach adopting the road of “minimal
direction” or interaction. More important is the development of the
relationship through the client/coach interactions.
Thus, I think it is important to share certain facets of yourself as
they relate to the situation at hand, or are related to the topic of con-
versation. This brings you into the conversation as a human being.
For example, I have shared with clients if there has been a particu-
larly stressful or emotional event in the life of our families, sad or
joyful (such as high school examinations, a wedding anniversary, or
even the loss of a loved one).
It is critical that the coach should not dwell on their own personal
issues, positive or negative—but only to comment if relevant to the
conversation in developing rapport and trust. After all, the purpose
of the conversation is about “them”. For example, one of my clients
was undergoing a divorce and was grateful that I had experienced
the turbulent emotions of divorce myself. She trusted me to help
her articulate her feelings and to think about the benefit of coun-
selling for herself and her children. Yalom (2001:92) talks about the
“genuine encounter”, and asks the difficult question: “How can one
 T H E C OAC H I N G C O N V E R S AT I O N 57

have a genuine encounter with another person while remaining so

opaque?”

Learning from experience

Learning, and particularly learning from experience, seems to be
one of the major components of the coaching conversation. Learning
from experience implies an understanding of the language and con-
tent of the client’s story, with the coach helping the client to recon-
struct their own reality by searching for meaning through dialogue.
In the context of the coaching conversation, when the client talks
about their experience, they are actually creating a narrative or story.
This type of storytelling constructs meaning in a different way from
merely describing an experience. There is so much power in lan-
guage and content that the significance of the client’s story comes
from both the structure of the telling as well as the interpretation and
significance given. In some cultures, for example in Latin America,
Africa and India, oral history and storytelling remain very important
methods of passing on ritual, tradition and customs. The coaching
conversation can literally be seen as an extension of “telling one’s
story” and looking for meaning and significance in the telling.
As humans, we are “meaning-seeking creatures” and we have
been “thrown into a world devoid of intrinsic meaning” (Yalom,
2001:133). It is not uncommon in the coaching conversation for a
client to ask the coach to help them figure out the “meaning of their
life”. Once trust has been established, these important philosophical
questions arise as business clients come to terms with the complexi-
ties, stresses and ambiguities of the corporate environment.
In therapy, the essential first step is for individuals to recognize
their role in resolving their own life predicament; it is similar in the
coaching context. The reason is simply that the client is the one with
the power to change their situation.
One of the roles of the coach is often to help the client identify
where they have control, and where they do not. An example would
be when the client’s stress is due to focusing on the behaviour of oth-
ers, over which they have little if any control. On the other hand, the
client has control over their own reaction and behaviour.
Learning, change and growth are the key principles of the coach-
ing environment. Experiential learning in education is common
58 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

to Kolb, Jung and Freire, with an emphasis on developing a

self-directed, purposeful life (Freire, 1973:65). Further, experiential
learning in education is seen as an active exploration of the per-
sonal, experiential meaning of abstract concepts through dialogue
among equals. With this as a precedent, we can look at the “coaching
conversation” not just as experiential learning, but as experiential
education: learning from one’s own life experiences.
The coaching intervention ranges from questions which explore
feelings, motivations, perceptions, assumptions and attitudes, to
reflected statements, reframed questions, role-plays, structured
question frameworks, observation, or silence. In this respect, Boud,
Cohen and Walker’s Using Experience in Learning (1996) had a pro-
found effect on my thinking about the coaching conversation, and
the space it opens up for coaches to help clients to learn from their
own personal experience.

Purpose of the coaching conversation

There are some key questions to consider when setting out on the
coaching journey with your client. For example, what is the objective
of the coaching conversation? Will part of your coaching process be
to create a “personal learning” or “professional development plan”
with your client (Harri-Augstein and Thomas, 1991:24;38)? What is
your overall strategy for working together, and what resources are
available to support you and the client at work (e.g. regular meetings
with the client’s line manager, or the Human Resources or Organi-
zational Development departmental heads)? Development plans
should contain the overall aims for the entire coaching journey, the
strategy of how to achieve them, developmental objectives, and the
“learning tactics” and core tasks that will enable the client to achieve
and implement their plan.

CASE STUDY: DRAFT MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Below is an example of a draft Leadership Development
Plan for one of my clients. The purpose and developmental
objectives are continually reviewed, and the actions change
with each coaching conversation. The Leadership Development
Plan is an organic, evolving document that is shared with the
 T H E C OAC H I N G C O N V E R S AT I O N 59

Line Manager. Rather than sharing the content of the coaching

conversation, client and coach can share the development plan
and results achieved with other stakeholders in the coaching
process. This protects client confidentiality.
Purpose:
1. To strategically position my professional career development
within the organization and consistently deliver results that
exceed expectations.
2. To motivate and empower my senior management team to
acquire specific competences to drive results and performance.
Developmental objectives:
1. Collaboration and team work—Building an effective team
that champions best practices, and puts the interests of the
organization first, as well as building strong, productive rela-
tionships across the organization.
2. Organization and talent development—Demonstrating the
ability to motivate and empower the team to achieve targeted
results, while putting the right people in the right jobs and
giving constructive, candid feedback to develop them.
3. Self-awareness and adaptability—Asserting personal ideas
and opinions through productive influence, and maintaining
an awareness of how my actions and behaviours impact on
others.
Strategy:
1. To develop leadership and management competence by
working with my coach, and developing the strategic
management skills of my team.
2. To develop self-awareness and adaptability by being willing
to listen to diverse points of view, developing some patience,
being flexible and adaptable as and when required.
3. Being focused on the career path development for my team,
and for myself in terms of succession planning.
Monthly actions:
Obstacles to achievement:
Results achieved:
Overall learning from the coaching journey:
60 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Measuring results
In working with an individual client, there is no point in simply
developing a leadership plan in isolation from the rest of the business
processes. If the coaching intervention is to be successful in organi-
zations, it is critical to develop a systemic, fully integrated coaching
strategy that is in alignment with both the business and the talent
strategies for the organization. Two key factors will be to identify
the efficacy of internal and external coaching interventions, and the
use of group or team coaching to develop key leaders (Peterson and
Little, 2008:46–47). I would add to this the complementary mentor-
ing programmes that are often aligned with business coaching inside
organizations as a way to develop talent at subordinate levels.
Moreover, although I agree that, in the business context, results
are often measured in three specific areas: behavioural change,
improved performance, and the individual’s personal and profes-
sional development (Shaw and Linnecar, 2007; cited in Ting and
Scisco, 2006:58–9), I define these categories a bit differently.

1. Visible behavioural change

It is essential that any changes in self-awareness and relationship
awareness show up visibly in the workplace through the client’s
behaviour; otherwise, it is difficult to measure what has changed
as a result of the coaching. Coaching is a complex process with
both qualitative and quantitative goals set. Your job as a business
coach is to develop the core competences of the managerial leader.
The development of those competences needs to show up visibly
in work-related and behavioural changes. The client’s work often
starts with growing self-awareness, increased emotional maturity
and improved interpersonal skills and competence.

2. Improved performance and business results

Performance improvement should have a direct effect on business
results. Although it is not always possible to quantify how coach-
ing has directly impacted performance, it is one of the key crite-
ria linked to business coaching. This may require a systemic and
developmental approach on the part of coach and client, integrated
with an understanding of the complexities of the client’s working
 T H E C OAC H I N G C O N V E R S AT I O N 61

context, market environment and level of competence. In Chapter 6,

we look at the issues of diversity, culture and gender, and examine
the impact these may have on the individual coaching client, the
context within which they work, and the developmental needs of
certain leaders due to their individual perspectives, culture, gender,
ethnicity and experience of isolation.

3. Personal and professional development

The personal development plan you create with your client relates
directly to the areas where it is perceived that they need to work.
Their plan will be linked to individual management assessment
profiles, 360° feedback surveys, and shadow coaching, which help
you to identify emotional, behavioural, cognitive and performance-
related issues. One of the essentials in creating this personal devel-
opment plan is to identify the skills and competences that will
impact each area, creating medium-term and long-term plans. This
includes the client’s learning journey, the importance of identifying
their learning style, and how they will be able to develop themselves
personally and professionally when they have ceased to work with
an external coach or internal organizational coach.

MISSING A CUE
Sometimes the coach misses a cue. A senior coach, working on a
contract with a successful international multimedia agency, was
tasked to help a bright young star, James (not his real name),
to improve his communication skills with his team. Considered
one of the most brilliant up-and-coming directors in the industry,
James’ intellectual capabilities overshadowed his “perceived”
ability to delegate, communicate his vision to his team, and to
motivate all those who worked alongside him. His ideas often
stayed in his head and, although he was adored by clients, his
team were sometimes confused as to their brief.
The coach and James regularly enjoyed an intellectual, if
perhaps less goal-directed or action-oriented conversation.
The result, after six months of coaching, was a very frustrated
senior board, which did not see behavioural or performance
change as a result of the coaching. The objective had been to
improve James’ leadership and communication competence
62 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

and, although James had matured emotionally and definitely

increased his awareness of himself and others, he had not trans-
lated his learning into visible behavioural change.
Insight leads to change. The business coach’s job is to facilitate
insight, which leads to observable behavioural change impact-
ing on performance. This is because organizations expect to see
clear effective deliverables. The AMA’s 2008 research study into
the reasons why organizations use coaching revealed that 79 per
cent wished to improve individual performance/productivity;
63 per cent to address leadership development succession plan-
ning; 60 per cent to increase worker skill levels; and 56 per cent
to improve organizational performance (AMA, 2008:11).

Value of positive regard, empathy and appreciation

A vital aspect of the coaching intervention is to be positively sup-
portive of the client. Carl Rogers called it “unconditional positive
regard”. Rogers identified three essential characteristics for an effec-
tive therapist/patient relationship that are useful to us in a business
coaching environment: unconditional positive regard, genuine-
ness, and accurate empathy (Rogers, 1961:47–49).
The business coach both models and communicates empathy in
each present moment of the coaching conversation. Not only do
empathy and positive regard build trust in the relationship, but this
may be one of the few places where the client is unconditionally sup-
ported in their personal and professional life. That does not mean
that the coach never challenges the client. It does mean, however,
that the client and coach work in a context that is safe for the client
to discuss weaknesses, failures, limiting thinking and obstacles to
achievement—and yet to feel neither threatened nor judged.
Empathy and positive regard are aligned with the fourth com-
ponent of Nancy Kline’s coaching process, appreciation. Kline’s
(1999/2004:62) definition of appreciation is “practising a 5 to 1
(5:1) ratio of appreciation to criticism”. The most important feature
of appreciation is that it needs to be a genuine appreciation of a
particular quality in the client, and it needs to be communicated
authentically. Appreciation may include positive comments about
a particular action or behaviour, or a quality the coach has recently
noticed in the client.
 T H E C OAC H I N G C O N V E R S AT I O N 63

The quality of your appreciation for the client will come not only
through your words, but also from your body language: your tone
of voice, facial expression, the look in your eyes ... and, finally, by
the enthusiasm and sincerity of your appreciation. Furthermore,
and most importantly, the human mind seems to work best with a
full picture of reality, and that realistic picture is completed with the
positive, appreciative comments of the coach as listener.
What is interesting about the concept of appreciation is that we
usually expect to hear “bad news” from others. It is rare that human
beings really truly appreciate each other on a regular basis. We are
used to hearing where we have failed, messed up, created chaos or
uncertainty. In other words, it is not our personal accomplishments
for which we often gain recognition, but for our mistakes or where
things have gone wrong. For some reason it is the negative side of
life that seems to be considered to be reality—especially in the more
aggressive corporate environment.
Appreciation highlights the importance of empathy, which is a
core component of emotional competence. When the client feels they
are being understood, it can contribute not just to their thinking, but
also to their ability to make difficult decisions, transitioning through
difficult stages of personal learning and development. Empathy is
critical for the coach’s competence in giving direct feedback, han-
dling uncomfortable feelings and encouraging self-awareness on the
part of the client. The emotional competences I refer to here are the
underlying skills of Goleman’s (2002:39) model: self-awareness, self-
management, social awareness, and social management.
The coach’s emotional competence has a direct impact on their
ability to offer support to their client. Giving support means a will-
ingness to “model” the giving of support. This modelling of excel-
lence is a key role for the business coach. However, it does not take
away from the importance of the coach being able to challenge,
make observations and ask questions about behaviour or perform-
ance that is not appropriate or going well.

CASE STUDY: AN EXAMPLE OF APPRECIATION

I have noticed that it is extremely difficult for people in the busi-
ness environment to be appreciative of each other; this is because
being appreciative of another acknowledges the essence of the
other’s “being”. It was wonderful to receive a message from the
64 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

CEO of an organization that I worked with recently that she has

started to include “appreciations” into her “blue hat” meetings
(meetings where facts only are discussed). These appreciations
allow people’s emotions or feelings to come to the fore in a safe
environment and in a businesslike manner.
This CEO indicated that the appreciations would take the
form of acknowledgement for deadlines met, projects completed
even with a lack of resources, the “up-skilling” of new staff, the
reaching of a target for the first time, as well as the recognition of
qualities that enabled the different individuals to meet stringent
requirements on a project, or to make it through a particularly
difficult training, or to handle a difficult client or customer. This
client, operating as “leader coach” with her team, has begun to
create an environment in meetings where achievements are rec-
ognized alongside the difficulties posed by the fast pace of the
working environment, the lack of resources or the lack of staff to
follow up once a project has been completed.
Research shows that appreciations help us to think better.
Experience has shown that appreciation is the one component
when coaching in a thinking environment that people feel most
fiercely about. They either defend or support the need for appre-
ciations, or fight against the need for them.
Appreciation offsets the thinking of individuals in the team
that they are not focused enough, not thinking critically enough,
not strong enough, skilled enough—just not good enough.
Appreciation also demonstrates a commitment on the part of
team members to their own quality of thinking and decision
making—and the value they place on the other team members.

Goals and the coach/client relationship

Business coaching places great emphasis on clarifying and achieving
goals. Often within the complexity of the organizational environment,
the client’s overarching goals may be set by a more senior power;
where that senior individual may have different worldviews, differ-
ent paradigms, and differing limiting and empowering assumptions.
It is therefore important that, as goals are set, they be related to the
intrinsic and extrinsic drivers of the client themselves. The client
 T H E C OAC H I N G C O N V E R S AT I O N 65

must have a “living sense” of what their goal may be (Spinelli, 1989).
In other words, the goal must be aligned with the values of the indi-
vidual as much as to those of the organization if it is to be achieved.
A secondary consideration is that goals change for the client over
time as the relationship develops. For example, as he grew in com-
petence and confidence over a two-year period, one of my clients
working in an international organization based in Johannesburg
changed his overarching goal from that of developing strong lead-
ership competence, to being considered one of the most competent
business leaders—not just within his own country, South Africa, but
in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa!
To develop the relationship effectively, the principles and con-
cepts of the Rogerian, person-centred approach is useful to us. This
is a relationship-oriented experiential approach, requiring the prac-
titioner to listen with acceptance and without judgement if clients
are going to be able to change (Rogers, 1961:33–35). If one of the core
aims of the coaching intervention is to help clients understand and
manage themselves and their own interpersonal communications,
and if we as the coaches are going to enable rather than teach our
clients, then our coaching interventions and the coaching process
constantly need to have goals in mind, and we need to be able to
clearly define the types of goals.
O’Neill (2000:104) maintains that sustaining your goals as a coach
gives you more focus. If you as the coach are aware of your goal,
you will stay in response mode rather than revert to automatic mode
when your stress is high. The next step is to ensure that your goal
is related to your client’s goal. This is an interesting way to look
at goals, as most executive coaches would first identify the client’s
goals and coach the client accordingly. O’Neill says be very clear
about your goal as coach throughout the session, so that you lose
neither signature presence nor backbone, nor heart.
The coach is responsible to ensure that goal-setting conversa-
tions get the best results. However, O’Neill suggests that it is best
if goal setting is slowed down at first, in order to speed up action
later (O’Neill, 2000:104). She differentiates between two kinds of
client goals, business and personal, and links the coaching effort to a
business result, highlighting and prioritising the business areas that
need attention. Business goals are about achieving external results;
personal goals are what the leader has to do differently in the way
66 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

they conduct themselves in order to get the business results they

envision. O’Neill (2000:104) cites Robert Crosby who has defined
three other types of goal:

1. Bottom-line goals—aligned with the reason the organization

exists.
2. Work-process goals—how the work is accomplished.
3. Human relations goals—how people collaborate to accomplish
goals.

In setting goals, O’Neill reflects on Hargrove’s use of “breakthrough

thinking to achieve stretch goals” (O’Neill, 2000:104). Her suggested
interventions to achieve this are:

1. Which business results are needed?

2. What are the team behaviours needed to be different to accomplish
the results?
3. Which personal leadership challenges is the executive facing in
improving these results and team behaviours?
4. What are specific behaviours the leader needs to enhance or
change in themselves?

Yalom talks about two types of goals: content (what is to be accom-

plished), and process goals (how the coach wants to be in a session).
However, he also describes the importance of setting concrete attain-
able goals—goals that the client has personally defined, and which
increase their sense of responsibility for their own individual change
(Yalom, 1980:243).

Competences in business coaching

... being explicit about competences gives an identified path for
progression as a coach, and so can reduce any sense amongst
aspiring coaches that in the distribution of client work smoke
and mirrors are the governing factor (Ahern, 2003:374).

This section outlines the general approach to competence frame-

works developed by four international, regional and national
coaching organizations in an effort to promote professionalism
within the industry. Two questions that need to be addressed
 T H E C OAC H I N G C O N V E R S AT I O N 67

worldwide are why we need competences in business coaching,

and once we have identified the relevant competences for business
coaching, how should we measure them?
Four professional bodies have identified the skills and competences
required for general coach practitioners and business coaches: the
International Coach Federation (ICF), the Worldwide Association of
Business Coaches (WABC), the European Mentoring and Coaching
Council (EMCC), and Coaches and Mentors of South Africa
(COMENSA).
These bodies represent a valuable spectrum of national and inter-
national standards for business coaches today. There is considerable
consistency among the professional bodies with respect to the skills
and competences required for a coach. From their work I recommend
seven specific core competences to build your capacity as a business
coach. See the Appendix for greater detail as to how the selected com-
petences are structured and benchmarked for the coaching process.

Why skills and competences?

As coaching is at this stage very much a self-regulated industry,
coaching skills are rarely measured or assessed using valid and reli-
able assessment tools (Lidbetter, 2003). In general, skills and compe-
tence are defined by coaching associations as part of a philosophy, or
as a means to an end or a goal.
Defined and benchmarked skills and competences serve a dual
purpose: they give clarity in terms of how we might be selected as
a coach, and they give the emerging coaching profession guidelines
on what is expected and how to develop and improve. Although
there are currently no such barriers to entry for coaching, if coaching
is to progress further, from an emerging discipline to a fully fledged
profession, it will require the definition of specific skills and compe-
tences as part of a theoretically sound and empirically verified body
of knowledge.
This process was investigated and promoted by the Global
Convention on Coaching (GCC). It is also under scrutiny by the
Institute of Coaching based at the Harvard McLean Medical School,
a coaching research institute looking to build the body of knowl-
edge for coaching worldwide, and the International Coaching
Research Forum (ICRF). In September 2008, the ICRF, consisting
of internationally recognized researchers, coaching professionals
68 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

and other stakeholders, met at Harvard University to produce

100 research proposal outlines aimed at advancing coaching as
an evidence-based discipline. These papers are available online at
www.instituteofcoaching.org.
In the meantime, various national and international coaching
organizations have drawn up competence frameworks in an attempt
to self-regulate and professionalize the industry as far as possible.
These frameworks are outlined in the following section.

Global Convention on Coaching (GCC)

At the July 2008 GCC in Dublin, the Working Group on Core Com-
petences emphasized that coaching competences are not unique and
are shared with other disciplines. The Working Group defined compe-
tence as “… an underlying characteristic of an individual (e.g. motive,
trait, attitude, value, belief, knowledge, behaviour, skill) that is caus-
ally related to effective or superior performance in a role or job”, and
defined a formal competence model as “… a systematic list of core
competences of an effective coach, with procedural descriptions for
use in the coaching process with the relevant skills” (GCC, 2008f:1).
The Dublin Declaration on Coaching (GCC, 2008g:6) recommends
a collaborative approach among all stakeholders to identify com-
monalities, stressing the importance of research. The Declaration pro-
poses that an “international best practice competence framework”
be developed through dialogue and a research process. A key ques-
tion remaining, however, is “How to apply the framework to make it
usable in terms of coach selection, membership, training of coaches,
code of ethics?” (GCC, 2008g:16–17).
As a coaching practitioner or professional, the key lies in your
continuing self-assessment, supervision, learning and development.
As a result of critically reflecting on your own practice, I suggest
that you identify the core focus for your business, ensuring you have
competence in areas where you need to strengthen your practice.
Lew Stern in Executive Coaching: Building and Managing Your Profes-
sional Practice suggests four areas of core competence for executive
coaches (Stern, 2008:29):

• psychological knowledge;
• business acumen;
 T H E C OAC H I N G C O N V E R S AT I O N 69

• organizational knowledge; and

• coaching knowledge, tasks and skills.

In terms of your coaching knowledge, tasks and skills, I strongly

recommend that you focus on the following core competences which
have been studied or researched to some degree by the various glo-
bal coaching bodies to build your capacity as a business coach:
1. Building the coaching relationship;
2. Listening and questioning;
3. Self-awareness and the process of self-reflection;
4. Continuous learning and development;
5. Developing your knowledge and core coaching skills base;
6. Business and leadership coaching abilities;
7. Upholding ethical guidelines and professional standards.

International Coach Federation (ICF)

The ICF (2008a:1) points out that its framework of core coaching
competences was developed in order to:

• support greater understanding about the skills and approaches

used within the coaching profession;
• support members in calibrating their level of alignment between
the coach-specific training the ICF expects and the training mem-
bers have experienced; and
• be used as the foundation for the ICF Credentialing process
examination.

The core competences are grouped into four clusters according

to those that fit together “logically”. The ICF (2008a:1) empha-
sizes that the groupings and individual competences are not
weighted, i.e. they do not represent any kind of prioritization but
“are all core or critical for any competent coach to demonstrate”.
The ICF has definitions and related behaviours for each com-
petency, distinguishing between behaviours that should always
be present and visible and those that are called for only in certain
coaching situations. The 11 ICF competences are listed below in
their four groupings (with the related behaviours omitted for the
sake of clarity) with significant more detail in the Appendix (ICF,
2008a:1):
70 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

A. Setting the foundation:

1. Meeting ethical guidelines and professional standards.
2. Establishing the coaching agreement.
B. Co-creating the relationship:
3. Establishing trust and intimacy with the client.
4. Coaching presence.
C. Communicating effectively:
5. Active listening.
6. Powerful questioning.
7. Direct communication.
D. Facilitating learning and results:
8. Creating awareness.
9. Designing actions.
10. Planning and goal setting.
11. Managing progress and accountability.

A recent study tested the validity of these 11 competences. Griffiths

and Campbell (2008) interviewed five ICF-certified master coaches
and nine of their clients, and found that some competences were
well-supported, while others were not. They discovered some incon-
sistency in the competency grouping, suggesting that the compe-
tences were devised somewhat unscientifically rather than through
an empirically validated process. This supports the view that these
are guidelines only until further research is undertaken. Griffiths and
Campbell (2008) appears to be one of only two studies which endeav-
our to test the validity of competences. The complete ICF competence
framework can be found on the Federation’s website at www.coach-
federation.org, with more information in the Appendix to this book.

Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC)

Since 1997, the WABC has worked to define the emerging profes-
sion of business coaching and to distinguish it from other types of
coaching. In partnership with the Professional Development Foun-
dation in the UK, the WABC conducted extensive in-depth research,
literature reviews and consultations with business coaches and their
clients, into what defines a competent business coach.
The business coaching competences are divided into three areas
(WABC, 2008b:2):
 T H E C OAC H I N G C O N V E R S AT I O N 71

• self-management—knowing oneself and self-mastery;

• core coaching skills base; and
• business and leadership coaching capabilities.

Each area is defined with a list of competences, and each competency

is illustrated by examples of the behaviour expected of a proficient
master coach with at least five years’ experience (WABC, 2008b:2).
WABC also includes a section on the knowledge they believe the
business coach should have, which encompasses business experi-
ence, as well as knowledge of leadership and business theories
(WABC, 2008b:7–10). They are the only professional body to our
knowledge which lists diversity and multicultural issues as a com-
petency (see Competency 7 under “Business and leadership coach-
ing capabilities” in the Appendix).
WABC (2008b:2) states that “Newer business coaches are not
expected to demonstrate every competency listed here. Rather, the
competences provide a framework against which individuals can
map their training and experience. In this way, individual coaches
can use the competences to gauge their progress toward master-
level proficiency.”
The WABC (2008b) business coaching competence framework is
outlined in the Appendix, and the complete WABC Business Coach-
ing Competencies can be found on the Association’s website at www.
wabccoaches.com.

European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC)

The EMCC Competence Framework defines eight mentoring/coaching
competence categories, as follows (EMCC, 2013:4):

1. Understanding self—Demonstrates awareness of own values,

beliefs and behaviours; recognises how these affect their practice
and uses this self-awareness to manage their effectiveness in
meeting the client’s, and where relevant, the sponsor’s objectives.
2. Commitment to self-development—Explore and improve the
standard of their practice and maintain the reputation of the
profession.
3. Managing the contract—Establishes and maintains the
expectations and boundaries of the mentoring/coaching contract
with the client and, where appropriate, with sponsors.
72 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

4. Building the relationship—Skilfully builds and maintains an

effective relationship with the client, and where appropriate,
with the sponsor.
5. Enabling insight and learning—Works with the client and
sponsor to bring about insight and learning.
6. Outcome and action orientation—Demonstrates approach and
uses the skills in supporting the client to make desired changes.
7. Use of models and techniques—Applies models and tools,
techniques and ideas beyond the core communication skills in
order to bring about insight and learning.
8. Evaluation—Gathers information on the effectiveness of own
practice and contributes to establishing a culture of evaluation of
outcomes.

The EMCC’s European Quality Award for trainers of coaches and

mentors is based on these competence standards, in terms of a
quality standards project launched by the EMCC in 2006 (EMCC,
2008a:1). Eric Parsloe, chief executive officer of the Oxford School
of Coaching and Mentoring, said of the initiative: “Until now the
market has been awash with over-simplistic communication skills
programmes or pet theories presented in pseudo-technical for-
mats. Everyone can now distinguish the genuine article” (Scott,
2007:17).
The complete EMCC Competence Framework can be found on the
Council’s website at www.emccouncil.org.

Coaches and Mentors of South Africa (COMENSA)

During 2005–2006, Coaches and Mentors of South Africa
(COMENSA) developed a simple framework of standards of profes-
sional competence for coaches, which defined competences in five
functional areas at four levels of expertise. The five functional areas
were (COMENSA, 2006a:1):

• questioning;
• listening;
• building rapport;
• delivering measurable results; and
• upholding ethical guidelines and professional standards.
 T H E C OAC H I N G C O N V E R S AT I O N 73

The four levels of competence within each functional area ranged

from Level 1 (i.e. unacceptable) to Level 4 (i.e. master/expert)
(COMENSA, 2006a:1–3).
During 2007, COMENSA developed a revised competence frame-
work, the draft Membership Criteria and Standards of Competence
(MCSC) Framework, based on the EMCC’s Competence Standards,
defined in terms of the following “measurable outcomes”
(COMENSA, 2007b:21–26):

1. Self-awareness/Who we are—personal attributes for coaching:

1.1. Beliefs and attitudes.
1.2. Self-awareness.
2. Managing the process—what we will do as part of our coaching
practice to maintain and develop an effective and professional
approach:
2.1. Managing the relationship.
2.2. Managing the contract.
3. Ability to coach—skills we will use during the coaching process:
3.1. Communication skills.
3.2. Technical skills.
3.3. People development skills.
4. Facilitate learning and development—how we will demonstrate
that we are able to apply what we have learned.

The draft MCSC Framework includes examples of how the compe-

tences should be demonstrated within each of the following levels
of practice (COMENSA, 2007b:22–26):

• Minimum competence standards for all coach practitioners.

• Registered Practitioner (in addition to minimum competence
standards).
• Certified Practitioner (in addition to minimum competence
standards).
• Master Practitioner (in addition to minimum competence
standards).

The complete COMENSA draft Membership Criteria and Standards of

Competence Framework can be found on the Association’s website at
www.comensa.org.za.
74 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Recommended competences
All of these bodies recommend the competences of listening, ques-
tioning and managing the relationship. The WABC and COMENSA
(in its draft MCSC Framework) both identify self-awareness as
a core competence. COMENSA and the EMCC do not explicitly
recommend goals or outcomes. The WABC is the only body that
requires business competence. The Griffiths and Campbell (2008)
study suggested that a crucial process missing from the ICF com-
petence framework (and therefore from the competence frame-
works of the other bodies as well) is the establishment of a process
of self-reflection in the client. We discuss Kolb’s learning cycle in
Chapter 5, and if one of the intended outcomes of coaching is learn-
ing how to learn, then the ability to reflect is critical on the part of
both client and coach.
Connerley and Pedersen (2005:70) define “competences” as “the
skills, abilities, personal characteristics and other person-based
factors that help distinguish between outstanding performance and
average performance”. There are six competences singled out by
the ICF, EMCC, WABC and COMENSA as essential for the coaching
process (see the Appendix for more details on each one):

• building the coaching relationship;

• listening;
• questioning;
• self-awareness;
• self-reflection;
• continuous learning and development.

Based on the current competency frameworks of the four profes-

sional bodies outlined above, and global studies undertaken to date,
the competences which deserve the focus of any business coaching
practitioner to build their capacity, and to influence the developing
discipline of coaching, are:

1. Building the coaching relationship;

2. Listening and questioning;
3. Developing self-awareness through the process of self-reflection;
4. Continuous learning and development;
5. Expanding your knowledge and core coaching skills base;
 T H E C OAC H I N G C O N V E R S AT I O N 75

6. Business and leadership coaching abilities;

7. Upholding ethical guidelines and professional standards.

1. Building the coaching relationship

Coaching is ultimately defined by the relationship between the coach
and the client, as Flaherty (1999:10) states in defining his operating
principles of coaching: “Relationship is the most important one and is
based on mutual trust, mutual respect and freedom of expression”.
Because coaching is a relationship-based process, the coach must
be aware of their own potential assumptions, as well as those of
the client. Ideally coaches divest themselves of their own limiting
paradigms, so that they can more effectively question and probe the
client’s articulated reality and assumptions.
A relationship develops as a result of the “coaching conversa-
tion”, with client issues and concerns teased out by the skill of the
coach’s interventions. These interventions need, however, to be
part of a larger structure, such as a coaching model—as long as the
coach operates with complete flexibility within the model to cater
for the concerns of the client. A safe “thinking environment” is built
through the development of the relationship, and the relationship is
what helps with the onset of change. The coach must be conscious,
however, of staying outside the “system”—and in particular, not be
drawn into the client’s narrative or “story”. In this way, the coach
works with the client to assume responsibility for change.
To date, most of the research on the “relationship” or “encounter”
between client and practitioner has been undertaken in the field of
psychotherapy. My own research highlights the importance of the
coach working within a flexible coaching model, developing the rela-
tionship as the central focus of the conversation. At the heart of the
coaching process, irrespective of the model or approach, is the rela-
tionship. This means that it is not necessarily about “doing”, for the
client, but more about “being”—creating a safe space: a container for
thinking, feeling and insight to take place (Stout-Rostron, 2006c:v).
If the relationship is the ultimate determinant of success in the
client/practitioner relationship, then the “encounter” between
coach and client is where the real work is done, and it is not only
“the relationship” that affects the outcome—it is the “quality” of
the relationship that is of importance (Stout-Rostron, 2006c:37).
76 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

2. Listening and questioning

The coach practitioner “holds the space” (i.e. creating a safe think-
ing environment), and needs the skill of “immediacy” and empathy
in the immediate moment. Holding the here and now—holding the
client “where the client is”—is to do with support. And how does
the coaching intervention (in conjunction with specific components
such as listening, empathy, attention and ease) help to create the safe
thinking environment for the relationship to develop?
Listening, observation and the skill of asking questions help
the coach to develop the ability to be “inside” the coaching con-
versation, as well as to be “observing” the conversation. It is tak-
ing up a meta-position, while never leaving the micro level of being
present for the client. It’s crucial through listening, observation and
asking questions to observe the client’s patterns of thinking, lin-
guistic use of words, content and structure of the client narrative,
and specifically to begin to understand the client’s worldview and
patterns of thinking (Stout-Rostron, 2006c:152).
According to Spinelli, the three levels of listening are mental,
emotional and physical. For example, as a coach when you inter-
vene in the conversation with the client, what of you is in your
question, in your statement, in your intervention? How can you as
coach be open in the way you ask questions, intervene, or ask for
clarification? As coach you are asking to understand, and I would
suggest that in coaching, the coach turns toward the client with the
same “listening intensity” as is developed in psychotherapy (Stout-
Rostron, 2006c:52).
The core skills of the client-centred approach—i.e. active listening,
respecting clients and adopting their internal frame of reference—is
in alignment to achieving results within the coaching conversation.
However, it is crucial to refer pathology appropriately and to keep
coaching and therapy separate (Stout-Rostron, 2006c:86).

3. Developing self-awareness through the process

of self-reflection
I am able to control only that of which I am aware. That of
which I am unaware controls me. Awareness empowers me
(Whitmore, 2002:33).
 T H E C OAC H I N G C O N V E R S AT I O N 77

Experiential learning is a theoretical underpinning of coaching

throughout this book—for the client and for the coach in developing
their own individual skills and competence. Coaching differs from
consulting in that coaching does not solve problems or give advice.
It also differs in that the aim of coaching is to establish a sustainable
process of experiential learning for both coach and client. In essence,
your coaching is deemed successful if you have worked yourself out
of a job with your client.
If the client is to learn how to learn, they need to cultivate self-
awareness through reflection on their experience, values, intrinsic
drivers, the impact of these on others, the environment, and on
their own future goals. This process is often implicit in the coach-
ing relationship through the process of questions and actions that
develop critical reflection and practice. Griffiths and Campbell
(2008:8) confirm that:

The ICF competencies, by focusing on coach competency, fail

to articulate reflection as an essential coaching process … but
what emerged as an interesting phenomenon in this study, was
the tendency for clients to take on the role of questioning them-
selves. Through engagement with the coach in powerful ques-
tioning, gradually clients began to demonstrate the ability and
tendency to self-manage this process.

The ICF study further confirms that coaches often assume clients are
aware of their own values, but within the confines of the study this
appeared to be incorrect (Griffiths and Campbell, 2008). The clients
interviewed indicated they were not aware of their values, and that
acquiring a process of awareness and reflection led them to become
more aware of their emotions, their values and of the need to
clarify their goals. Whitmore (2002) supports this and states that the
goal of the coach is to build awareness, responsibility and self-belief.

CASE STUDY: JOURNALING

Marti recently met with a client with whom she had worked
a few years ago. The client took out a journal during the ses-
sion, and paged through it, filling Marti in on what was hap-
pening in her life. She shared her reflections from the journal on
78 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

her values, drivers and goals—and how she planned to achieve

each one. She shared her thoughts on whether her designed
plan was working effectively or needed adjustment. This is an
example of how she has embraced self-reflection, self-coaching
and a continuing development of self-awareness as a lifelong
process. She referred to her own process of self-coaching as one
of reading, listening to tapes, and journaling on a daily basis.
She continually checks her own personal and professional
plan to make adjustments and to reflect on whether she is on
schedule.
The ICF lists creating awareness as a competency, even though
developing self-reflection in the client is not explicitly stated.
Creating awareness is defined as the “Ability to integrate and
accurately evaluate multiple sources of information, and to
make interpretations that help the client to gain awareness and
thereby achieve agreed-upon results” (ICF, 2008a:1).
On the other hand, as a coaching practitioner, what can you do
to develop your own self-reflective practice; and how can you
encourage critical self-reflection in your smaller coaching forums,
as well as in individual and group supervision? Finally, how
can you advocate, influence and set up academic, practitioner or
organizational research into your larger coaching interventions
as a way of reflecting on the success and failure of coaching for
the individual client, their team and the organization?

4. Continuous learning and development

Coaching is not a collection of techniques to apply or dogma to
adhere to, rather it’s a discipline that requires freshness, innova-
tion and relentless correction according to the outcomes being
produced (Flaherty, 1999:10).

Shaw and Linnecar (2007) state that a coach training programme

doesn’t make a good coach; instead it shows that the coach has
started the process of learning about themselves and what they are
doing in any given situation.
The importance of being coached or “in supervision” cannot be
over-emphasized. Both ensure that the coach practitioner under-
stands what the client experiences, and both encourage the coach to
 T H E C OAC H I N G C O N V E R S AT I O N 79

work on their own issues so that they do not become entangled with
those of the client. With the emerging professionalization of coaching,
clients are now asking: “What are your coaching qualifications and
experience, and how do you continually develop your competence?”
It’s crucial to create your own professional development plan, no
matter how experienced you are. Although not yet mandatory in
coaching (in the way it is a fundamental underpinning of psycholog-
ical therapeutic practice), supervision is recommended by coaching
professional bodies worldwide. In addition, you can take part in the
variety of professional organizations available to you, e.g. by joining
a committee in your country’s relevant professional association, as a
way to develop yourself and the discipline of coaching.
The WABC Business Coaching Competencies include requirements
for self-management, including “Acknowledging your strengths and
development needs: Having a realistic perception of your strengths
and development needs” (WABC, 2008b:3). The important point is
to know your strengths and limitations, and to commit to your own
continuous learning and self-development.

5. Expanding your knowledge and core coaching skills base

At the Global Convention on Coaching in July 2008 in Dublin, the
GCC’s Working Group on a Knowledge Base for Coaching defined
“knowledge” in the broadest sense, to include: “… the knowl-
edge that coach and client bring to the coaching session, the emer-
gent knowledge that is borne out of the coaching process; and the
dynamic of the coaching relationship” (GCC, 2008e:1). One of the
Working Group’s key discoveries during its year-long dialogue was
that the knowledge base for coaches at present is largely driven by
the needs of the client, and is continually evolving.
Working with our own individual experience is a key to learning.
In actively reflecting on our experience, we can draw meaning from
it, literally entering into a dialogue with experience (Kolb, 1984) and
thereby turning it into useable knowledge.
For us as coach practitioners, this implies that we can never stop
learning. We must learn to reflect critically on our own core skills
and competences. Primarily, our responsibility is to use our own
practice as a way to continue our own learning process. The secret
is to balance the experiential learning that emerges in your coaching
80 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

practice, with a continual building of your core competence—with

capacity as a practitioner through continuing professional develop-
ment. This will help you to develop elasticity and flexibility in every
situation that you encounter in your coach/client sessions.
Gladwell (2008:47) mentions the 10 000 hour rule of practice to
achieve self-mastery. He talks about the pattern of successful sports
professionals, musicians and computer geeks who had practised up
to 10 000 hours to develop competence before they turned 20 years
old! Daniel Levitin, a neurologist, writes that “The emerging pic-
ture … is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve
the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert—in
anything” (Gladwell, 2008:40). Gladwell’s research shows that
the competences required for success are a combination of talent,
opportunity, practice, wanting to learn and vision.
For business coaching professionals, learning, reflection and
practice seem to be the key.

6. Business and leadership coaching abilities

Coaching can help business executives to fine-tune skills that are cru-
cial within today’s economic and market constraints. These include,
for example, the ability to exert influence across organizational
boundaries, to manage conflicts, and to create and articulate a vision.
Coaching has also been shown to help leaders develop a clearer
understanding of their roles and responsibilities. But perhaps more
importantly, coaching can help new leaders deal with the aspects of
transition, transformation and change.
There is a strong link between business results and emotional
intelligence (defined as self-awareness, self-management, social
awareness and social skill). In essence, coaching ensures that lead-
ers improve their emotional intelligence skills, leading to better
organizational performance. This includes achieving an optimal
balance between the needs of the individual, the team and the
organization. If the client has grown in term of self-awareness,
the organization will want to see this “demonstrated” at work: in
relationships, management competence, leadership behaviours
and EQ.
But, in order to do so—the coach needs to have an in-depth under-
standing of organizational systems: seeing the coaching intervention
 T H E C OAC H I N G C O N V E R S AT I O N 81

from a systems perspective, and understanding the need for

“structure” in the interaction between coach, individual client
and the organizational system. A danger of not understanding the
“system” in which the client operates is that the coach risks becom-
ing another part of that system.

7. Upholding ethical guidelines and professional standards

One competence that is often neglected in the coaching field is ethics.
One of the reasons that it is important for coach practitioners to belong
to a professional coaching body is that this commits them to the ethi-
cal code of that body. Psychologists and psychotherapists are bound
to their professional ethical code, and can be disciplined or struck off
their professional register if they violate the code in any way.
Because coaching is not yet a profession, and is not yet regulated,
it is up to each individual practitioner to uphold their own indi-
vidual, or their professional body’s, ethical standards.
The importance of an ethical code is that it identifies the core
values, standards and fundamental principles with which coaching
practitioners align themselves, and to which they agree to adhere.
Also, an ethical code provides a benchmark against which individ-
ual practitioners agree to be assessed.

The need for research into core coaching competences

The value of this section is to enhance your understanding of the
quality and type of existing competence frameworks. It is also
important to understand that the competence frameworks pre-
sented in this chapter have not yet been empirically researched,
and that such research is a critical next step. Given that competence
frameworks underpin the accreditation programmes that the mar-
ketplace is keen to purchase, both coaches and organizations alike
are encouraged to better evaluate any research which claims to sup-
port these frameworks.
The question is: “Where is the research?” The future of coach-
ing really depends in large measure on providing evidence-based
research to the end-user. With this in mind, those providing com-
petence frameworks need to ensure that they conduct empiri-
cal research to back up their claims, which will in turn enable
82 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

their frameworks to be aligned with education and credentialing

programmes worldwide.
The Foundation of Coaching in New York has folded their
Research Division into the Institute of Coaching based at Harvard.
They sponsor coaching research grants worldwide up to US$100 000
per year. A research advisory board decision taken in September
2008 agreed the importance of continuing research into core coach-
ing competences, as a key next step in identifying criteria for practi-
tioner excellence, and to take coaching educational requirements to
the next level.

In conclusion
In this chapter, we have examined the purpose and focus of the
coaching conversation and the need for it to be a solution-focused,
results-oriented, and systematic process which skilfully devel-
ops the client’s learning processes. We have defined the coaching
conversation as an alliance between coach, client and organiza-
tion, designed to maximize and transform thinking, behaviour and
performance.
The coaching conversation provides a thinking environment
where business professionals develop self-awareness and a depth of
understanding of themselves and others. Personal and experiential
learning is the key to coaching’s ability to embed newly acquired
skills, competence, attitudes and behaviours, thereby unlocking an
individual executive’s potential.

Coach’s library
Goldsmith, M., Lyons, L., and Freas, A. (Eds.). (2000). Coaching for
Leadership: How the World’s Greatest Coaches Help Leaders Learn. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer.
Goleman, D. (1996). Emotional Intelligence. London: Bloomsbury.
Hargrove, R. (2003). Masterful Coaching: Inspire an “Impossible Future”
While Producing Extraordinary Leaders and Extraordinary Results. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer.
Kets de Vries, M.F.R. (2006). The Leader on the Couch. London: Wiley.
Kline, N. (1999/2004). Time to Think: Listening with the Human Mind.
London: Ward Lock.
 T H E C OAC H I N G C O N V E R S AT I O N 83

O’Neill, M.B. (2000). Coaching with Backbone and Heart: A Systems

Approach to Engaging Leaders with Their Challenges. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
Peltier, B. (2001). The Psychology of Executive Coaching: Theory and Applica-
tion. New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge.
Peterson, D., and Little, B. (2008). Growth market. Coaching at Work,
3(1):44–47.
Shaw, P., and Linnecar, R. (2007). Business Coaching: Achieving Practical
Results Through Effective Engagement. London: Capstone.
Stern, L. (2008). Executive Coaching: Building and Managing Your Profes-
sional Practice. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Ting, S., and Scisco, P. (2006). The CCL Handbook of Coaching: A Guide for
the Leader Coach. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Weiss, P. (2004). The Three Levels of Coaching. San Francisco, CA: An
Appropriate Response. Webpage: www.newventureswest.com/
three_levels.pdf.
West, L., and Milan, M. (2001). The Reflecting Glass: Professional Coaching
for Leadership Development. New York, NY: Palgrave.
Whitworth, L., Kimsey-House, H., and Sandahl, P. (1998). Co-active
Coaching: New Skills for Coaching People Toward Success in Work and
Life. Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black.
Yalom, I.D. (1980). Existential Psychotherapy. New York, NY: Basic
Books.
CHAPTER FOUR

Working with question frameworks

CHAPTER OUTLINE
• Structure—working with question frameworks
• Two-stage frameworks
– Understanding intrinsic drivers or motivators
– Functional analysis: the ABC of behaviour management
– Functional analysis
– Action learning approach
• Three-stage frameworks
– Contracting
– What needs work?
• Four-stage frameworks
– Whitmore’s GROW model
– O’Neill’s “executive coaching with backbone and heart”
• Five-stage frameworks
– Framework for change
– Working with the CLEAR model
• Six-stage frameworks
– Nancy Kline’s Thinking Partnership®
– Six-stage Thinking Environment® coaching process

85
86 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

• Eight-stage frameworks
– Well-formed outcomes (NLP)
• Ten-stage frameworks
– Business Best Year Yet®
• Developing your own question frameworks
• Coach’s library

At its core the coaching relationship is a strong personal

connection between two individuals that typically occurs
out of public view and whose workings may even appear
mysterious to outsiders. Coaching is fundamentally a process
for facilitating learning and change which is another way to
describe development (Ting and Scisco, 2006:36).

This chapter explores the range of coaching question frameworks

available in the marketplace, for example those of John Whitmore,
Nancy Kline and Jinny Ditzler. A framework is a structure that tends
to be linear, progressive and visible. A question framework is a
sequence of questions with steps or stages. Stages indicate the pos-
sibility of nonlinear “movement” between the parts; steps indicate a
number of linear or progressive questions as part of its process. The
GROW and CLEAR models have developed detailed, linear ques-
tion frameworks as part of their process.
Descriptions are provided on how to use two-, three-, four-, five-,
six-, eight- and ten-stage frameworks, including NLP and the Think-
ing Environment® processes, with examples for understanding. This
chapter is designed to have you look specifically at how you can
develop your own questioning process.
One of the most difficult paradigms for a coach to under-
stand, as opposed to being a teacher or a therapist, is to not
provide answers or solve the client’s problems for them. The
greatest gift you can offer is to help the client “consider ideas,
approaches, strategies, behaviours, and other approaches and
actions” (Ting and Scisco, 2006:51) not previously considered.
Although, as I have outlined, coaches typically don’t offer advice,
clients will sometimes ask for an opinion, information or guid-
ance. It is important, in the circumstances, that the coach gives the
required support or observation without telling the client what
 WORKING WITH QUESTION FRAMEWORKS 87

to do. The client’s own insight and learning is crucial for change
to happen.

Structure—working with question frameworks

Whether your practice is aligned or not to a specific coaching model,
your question framework creates a structure for the coaching con-
versation. Each individual coaching session synchronizes with the
overall journey you embark on with your client. I will refer to the
“coaching intervention” as the questions, observations and chal-
lenges that the coach makes during the coaching conversation with
the client.
There needs to be a clear structure to your conversation. Accord-
ingly, this chapter examines creative uses of existing question
frameworks, while Chapter 5 explores coaching models in depth,
examining how question frameworks are integrated into those
models. The purpose of this chapter is to consider various linear
question processes which help coaches explore client issues from a
neutral perspective, i.e. one that is non-directive of the client.
Specific sequences of questions are useful for the business coach,
either as a way to get started with a new client, or simply as a tool
to be used as part of their own coaching model. Common experi-
ences, which shape the culture of a society, may impact on those
frameworks that are more useful to you than others. Most countries
are increasingly complex, multicultural societies, yet within organi-
zations there will be commonly shared values, beliefs and assump-
tions about leadership, management, responsibility, experience and
language.
There are also subtle influences on organizational culture and
individual behaviour due to the mix of history, family background,
language, religion and education within an organization. Another
important factor may be whether an organization works with an
individualist or collectivist attitude to leadership and management.
Within some societies there is often a mixture of the two.
The culture of the coach may also differ from the culture of the cli-
ent. For example, I originate from a results-driven, action-oriented,
continual-learning American culture, which emphasizes an app-
roach that is “individualistic, egalitarian, performance-driven,
88 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

comfortable with change, and action-oriented” (Hoppe, 2004:135;

cited in Ting and Scisco, 2006:133). This may reflect a belief about
leadership and development which may need to be aligned with
the client’s beliefs if their cultural assumptions reflect a collective
rather than an individualist focus. This collectivist preference could
put more emphasis on relationship-oriented group results. We dis-
cuss the impact of diverse cultural experiences and various cultural
frameworks on the coaching context in Chapter 6. What is important
is for the coach to be open and flexible to the assumptions, beliefs
and culture within the client organization.
The following examples of question frameworks are generic.
It is up to the individual coach to determine where and when these
frameworks may be useful as a structure for a coaching conversa-
tion, or simply as a tool to be used within the conversation. I indicate
at the end of the chapter where you can find more information on
each framework.
For the remainder of this chapter we will look at two-, three-,
four-, five-, six-, eight- and ten-stage question frameworks to begin
to understand the basic structure of coaching interventions. My aim
is to help you to look at how—and what—you do as a business
coach, to develop and expand your own competence through new
learning.

Two-stage frameworks
In the early 1990s, when I first started to coach team leaders and
executives who headed the teams I was training, I worked with
simple question frameworks (two-, three- and four-stage question
frameworks). The first question framework I worked with was a
two-stage framework, which ultimately led to an understanding of
the core components of emotional intelligence, i.e. self-awareness,
self-management, social/relationship awareness, and social/
relationship management (Goleman, 1996).
At that time, I used this two-stage question framework to help
clients determine their underlying values, beliefs and feelings as a
preparation for setting goals and understanding their own intrin-
sic drivers and sources of stress and conflict at work. It was an
insightful position to begin a coaching conversation, as it went to
a deeper level than just understanding what was working, what
was not working and what (if anything) could be done differently.
 WORKING WITH QUESTION FRAMEWORKS 89

This two-stage framework looks at intrinsic drivers or motivators,

and helps us to understand if the client’s goals are in alignment with
their key drivers.

Understanding intrinsic drivers or motivators

This simple two-stage framework provides an insightful position
from which to begin a coaching conversation. Part of the briefing
before doing this exercise is to talk with the client about the dif-
ference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Motivation is
intrinsic to our underlying values, beliefs and feelings. The coach
wants to find out what constitutes those internal or intrinsic driv-
ers for their client. I explain to the client that external (or extrinsic)
motivators come into action when someone else tries to tap into or
engage our internal motivators, to encourage us or make us want to
do something.
The questions help the client to discover their own intrinsic drivers
or motivators, and help both coach and client to identify whether the
client’s personal and organizational goals are in alignment with their
personal and professional internal drivers. As suggested in Chapter 2,
the team and the organization depend on the individual achieving their
goals. In order to do so, goals must be in alignment with internal driv-
ers or motivators, otherwise there will be internal conflict or stress.
When I demonstrated this in front of a group of learner practi-
tioner coaches, they were surprised at the depth of the answers. This
is because the coach is uncovering the individual’s core feelings,
values and beliefs. These can touch on individual existential anxie-
ties. It will be very difficult to achieve the individual’s goals without
harnessing their intrinsic drivers. This process is important, as the
individual’s motivators must be aligned not just to their own goals,
but also to the goals of the team and the organization.
Typical responses are intangibles which cannot be measured e.g.
achievement, balanced life, peace of mind, recognition and acknowl-
edgement, a higher purpose, affiliation, financial security, honesty,
integrity, balance, freedom to choose, doing something of value,
giving something back, support, and teaching.
If you use this question framework, explain to the client that exter-
nal motivators come into effect when someone tries to “engage” our
internal motivators, to encourage us or to make us want to do some-
thing. Examples of extrinsic motivators are the working environment,
90 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

feedback, recognition and titles, salaries and bonuses, personal health

plans, holiday leave, education and training, an overall salary pack-
age, and benefits such as a company car or share options.
To understand what makes the client tick and what drives them,
and before setting goals, it is important, firstly, to understand val-
ues, beliefs and feelings that underpin their individual behaviour.
As coach, you are looking for the intangibles, the unmeasurables.
If the client replies with a measurable goal (such as a specific sal-
ary or titled position in the organization), ask “What is important
about that?” (you are helping them to search for an intangible such
as financial security or recognition/acknowledgement). As I indi-
cated in Chapter 2, for each motivator, the coach can ask “What’s
important about that?” Another important question for the coach
to ask is “Anything else?” At the end of this activity, ask the client
which motivator, if achieved, would allow the rest to follow:

1. What is important to you about your professional life? What is

important about that? Anything else?
2. What is important to you about your personal life? What is
important about that? Anything else?

Other applications of this framework are to ask questions relevant to

a particular project or issue, such as:

1. What is important to you about your job/this project?

2. What is important about that?
3. Anything else?

Functional analysis: the ABC of behaviour management

Cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is the study of the mind and its patterns, and
has to do with memory, perception, formation of language and the
roles of various brain functions. Cognitive psychology focuses on
conscious rather than unconscious thinking processes. It is used
to help people learn to notice and change their own thoughts with
powerful emotional and behavioural benefits. The philosophy
behind cognitive psychology is that what you choose to think
determines what you feel and what you do. Specific thoughts create
 WORKING WITH QUESTION FRAMEWORKS 91

and control feelings, and thinking is largely within the realm of

individual control.

Behavioural psychology
If learning in the coaching environment can be defined as the process
that leads to potential behaviour change, then behavioural psychol-
ogy is useful to us as it looks at how internal states and external stim-
uli influence our behaviour. Ultimately, the behavioural approach is
useful because “frequently a powerful and successful person pos-
sesses one or two sets of dysfunctional behaviours that cause repeti-
tive difficulties” (Peltier, 2001:xxiii). The underlying belief is that
“if something happens to you repeatedly, you are probably reinforc-
ing it in some way”. In other words, behaviour is a “function of its
consequences” (Peltier, 2001:44).
The strength of the cognitive behavioural approach is that it
encourages measurement (always welcome in any organization),
and identifies when small behavioural changes can make an impact
on executives in high positions. The flip side is that it can be prob-
lematic to identify and quantify specific behaviours to be changed,
and it can be difficult to break down new behaviours into something
that is measurable and easy to learn.

Functional analysis
Functional analysis is a two-stage question framework derived from
cognitive behavioural psychology. The results from functional anal-
ysis help clients to learn about their own behaviours, the effect the
environment has on how they think and behave, and which new
behaviours may motivate change in themselves and others.
In functional analysis, the coach helps the client to clarify a specific
behaviour that needs to change, and identifies what precedes the
behaviour, and what are the consequences of such behaviour. This
helps the client to decide which changes (if any) can be made to the
antecedent in order to change the behaviour and the consequences.
The antecedent is what precedes behaviour; behaviour is what
behaviour the client wants to change; consequences refer to things
that happen right after the behaviour to change. In this questioning
process, the coach helps the client to think not just about their
92 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

behaviour—but also about the thought process which impacts that

behaviour.

Stage 1: Identifying the old behaviour

Antecedent: What precedes the behaviour the client wants to
change?
Behaviour: What is the behaviour the client wants to change?
Consequence: Which things happen right after the behaviour the
client wants changed?

For example, one of my clients, a line manager, wanted to change

the way she reacted with one of her direct reports who became
defensive whenever questioned about unsatisfactory results in
monthly team meetings. The line manager picked several situations,
and we worked out the antecedent, behaviour and consequence.
We identified the antecedent: the direct report would cross his arms,
frown, look down, interrupt the line manager, and deny that the
results were the result of his actions. The behaviour immediately
triggered, on the part of the line manager, was an exclamation of
disbelief that the direct report could even dispute his responsibility;
this behaviour often took the form of raised voices, with both loudly
interrupting each other and the line manager finally claiming sen-
iority and ending the argument. She realized that she often seemed
out of control. The consequence was a clear lack of respect from one
to the other, with the direct report behaving passive-aggressively,
and the line manager abruptly ending the communication.

Stage 2: Identifying the new behaviour

Antecedent: What can the client do or say differently (i.e. changing
behaviour) that will make a positive change to that behaviour?
Behaviour: What will the new behaviour look like, sound like
and feel like?
Consequence: Which things may happen right after the new
behaviour?

The projected antecedent was for the line manager to catch herself
in the moment that she observed and experienced the direct report’s
aggressive body language and verbal refusal to accept responsibility
for his actions. She planned to do this by pausing before answering,
 WORKING WITH QUESTION FRAMEWORKS 93

waiting to ensure the direct report had finished, asking him if he had
anything more to contribute, then carefully setting out the boundaries
for how the communication was to continue. She practised this with
her coach by working out how to acknowledge the direct report’s
reply, and how to set boundaries; she practised making a link to
what she wanted to say, giving direction for the way forward. She
practised envisioning her behaviour as one of calm, being in control,
breathing steadily, keeping her attention on the eyes of the direct
report, and not in a hurry. The consequence she visualized was of
being relaxed, in control of herself and the situation, finally resolv-
ing the situation with gravitas and respect for both individuals.
In our coaching sessions, we continued to work on “how” she
could stay calm, relaxed and cool when triggered, and we began
to work on the various disempowering assumptions that she had
embraced as the manager of this particular individual.

Action learning approach

Action learning is used by hundreds of companies around the world.
These companies employ action learning for strategic planning, devel-
oping managers, creating high-performance teams and becoming
learning organizations. Action learning is a dynamic process to solve
problems while focusing on what needs to be learned and how learn-
ing can benefit the individual, the team and the organization overall.
Action learning helps you respond more effectively to change.
Developed by Professor Reg Revans in England, action learning
took off when adopted by Jack Welch at General Electric in the USA.
Action learning is an experience-based approach to developing peo-
ple that uses work on meaningful problems as a way to learn. Action
learning typically comprises the following activities: experiential
learning, creative complex problem solving, acquiring relevant
knowledge, and co-learning group support.

Stage 1: The problem

When the client has a problem to identify, understand and resolve,
ask them to work through the following questions:

1. Why does the problem exist?

2. When does it happen? When is it worse?
94 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

3. Which other problems does it cause?

4. Why is it difficult to solve?
5. Who is responsible?

Stage 2: The solution

Working with the client, take the same problem and only talk about
the solution:

1. How would you like the situation to be?

2. If the problem were solved, which things would be happening?
3. What parts of the solution are happening now?
4. Which resources do you have?
5. What are some ways you can use the resources to help bring
about more of the solution?

This is a very useful question framework to use with group

coaching. The teams work in small groups, first with the problem
questions, followed by the solution questions. The two stages are
important. For clear thinking to happen, the problem and the solu-
tion stages need to operate separately. It is a useful two-stage proc-
ess, as individuals often need to articulate what is wrong before
being able to think through possible alternative options or solutions.
For example, in one of my media client organizations, the leadership
team found this a very useful framework to help resolve situations
that went awry with customers. Rather than having an “inquiry”
into what had happened, how much money was lost, whose fault
it was—the team began to use this as a thinking process. It moved
them away from a “blame” culture to a solution-seeking, collabora-
tive culture.

Three-stage frameworks
Contracting
There are a variety of question frameworks available to the business
coach, and I refer to some of the better known ones to help you use
them creatively, referring to those I don’t explore in depth but which
may be useful to you. These are valuable for coach practitioners,
and for managers who prefer to use a coaching style with their
 WORKING WITH QUESTION FRAMEWORKS 95

direct reports. A practical three-stage framework to use during the

contracting session follows.

Stage 1: What does the client need to change and do?

The coach and client meet to decide the potential for a coaching
relationship. Coach and client also meet with the sponsor (i.e. the
line manager, HR or OD department) to agree on the basic param-
eters of the coaching relationship (timing, fees, objectives and confi-
dentiality agreements).

Stage 2: How will the client go about changing?

The coach, client and sponsor contract together on the methods
they’ll use to improve the client’s capabilities, and the performance
measures that they’ll use to assess progress.

Stage 3: How do we make the learning stick?

The coach and client agree how they will embed new behaviours,
highlighting the impact of such behaviours on the individual, team
and organization. Also agreed is the structure of the development
plan to be created that will visibly show up results achieved as part
of the coaching journey.

What needs work?

A simple three-stage question framework will assist you as coach/
manager to understand the power of asking questions as opposed to
telling. This emphasizes the importance of developing active listen-
ing skills and opens up the coaching conversation to the client’s key
concerns in their job and life as a whole.
These questions open up the individual’s thinking on a subject
where they are stuck, or where they cannot see a situation clearly,
as well as helping the client to identify the core issues the coaching
journey will tackle:

1. What is working?
2. What is not working?
3. What (if anything) can you do differently?
96 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

CASE STUDY: WHAT NEEDS WORK?

A recent experience has led us to re-evaluate the balance between
the simple “use of questions” by the coach, and the impor-
tance of the “relationship” between coach and client, and the
way that relationship develops. One of my students and I dem-
onstrated this elegantly simple coaching process in front of a
larger group of 20 students. I asked the student the three simple
questions:

• What’s working?
• What’s not working?
• What, if anything, can you do differently?

The purpose of the demonstration was for observation and feed-

back on what had worked and what had not worked between
coach and client, and to learn how important specific questions
are in the process.
As it turned out, how the questions were asked, and how
attentive and focused the coach was on the client, and the coach’s
ability to “sit” with the client in her thinking space, proved to be
the most powerful parts of the process. I interrupted the process
several times to turn back to the group to discuss where coach
and client were in the process. As long as the client knows explic-
itly during teaching demos what is to happen (i.e. that the coach
will stop and turn to the audience periodically), the client will go
right on thinking until the coach turns back to the conversation.
In this three-question process, the client’s core values started to
be uncovered. The question process allowed a key value, “health”,
to pop up. As it turned out, it was the crucial value. What allowed
the client to explore this value (which had been held internally but
which was never made explicit or articulated in action, commitment
or taking responsibility) courageously was the non-judgemental
focus and complete attention of the coach on the client through the
most difficult moments in the coaching conversation.
So, the integration of the question framework with the key
components that help to build the relationship seems funda-
mental to the success of the coaching intervention. The coach
helps to create the space for the client to feel safe, even when
surrounded by 20 fellow students.
 WORKING WITH QUESTION FRAMEWORKS 97

Four-stage frameworks
Whitmore’s GROW model
GROW and CLEAR are models, as they metaphorically represent
a coaching process. GROW indicates growth through goal setting,
and CLEAR signifies clearing the client’s presenting issue.
However, because both models allow you to design a framework of
questions in preparation prior to the coaching conversation, they both
embody useful question frameworks to describe in this chapter.
John Whitmore’s GROW model is a basic four-stage coaching proc-
ess which easily structures a goal-setting session with the client, and
adds greater depth to the coaching conversation. It is useful for learner
coaches who need to understand the importance of structure, deep lis-
tening and how to ask questions. Although it is primarily a goal-setting
tool, it can be used in many different formats. The basis of Whitmore’s
four-stage question framework is his definition of the essence of coach-
ing: “Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own
performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them”
(Whitmore, 2002:8). The GROW question framework is structured as
follows (adapted from Whitmore, 2002:54–55;173–176):

Stage one: What is your Goal?

Stage two: What is the Reality?
Stage three: What are your Options?
Stage four: What Will you do?

Although many master executive coaches think the GROW model is

very simplistic, its importance derives from the fact that Whitmore iden-
tified three essential concerns of coaching: developing self-awareness,
taking responsibility for learning, plus the use of questions as the
coach’s primary tool. The questions that can be used in each of the
four stages are useful, not just for setting goals, but also for developing
an understanding of the fundamental structure of a coaching question
framework. The rationale behind the GROW model is fundamental:
to build awareness and responsibility in the client through the effec-
tive use of the right questions (Whitmore, 2002:14–19;32–38;44–46).

Stage one: What is your goal?

Outline the client’s key goals for the year, their overarching goals, and
then the goal for this particular coaching conversation. GROW is about
98 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

working with the elimination of external and internal obstacles to goal

achievement. Furthermore, help the client to identify the type of goal,
i.e. performance goal, end goal, dream goal (Whitmore, 2002:59):

• What would you like to get out of the session?

• Where do you want to be by the end of our time together?
• What would be the most helpful thing for you to take away from
the session?

Stage two: What is the reality?

Here the coach invites the client to tell their story—in other words,
to say what is currently going on for the client as it relates to this
goal. The coach should invite self-assessment, and the question
could be, “What is happening for you right now as it relates to this
objective?” At this point, the coach may take the client back to rede-
fine the goal if it is not specific enough, then to clarify the current
situation. Whitmore (2002:67–74) suggests that the reality questions
provide the most straightforward means of self-assessment. He sug-
gests rarely using “how” and “why” because they invite analysis
and opinion. Asking “why” invites defensiveness and keeps the cli-
ent in the conscious thinking process. Whitmore (2002:74) suggests
reality questions that emphasize the value of action and the differ-
ence between action and thinking:

• What action have you taken on so far?

• What were the effects of that action?
• What are the internal obstacles?
• What are the internal blocks?
• What assumptions could be limiting your thinking?

Stage three: What are your options?

This focuses on what the client could do. This will encompass pos-
sible action plans and strategies, a development of some alternative
perspectives, and brainstorming options. What could the client do,
from realistic to fantastic thinking? The options stage of GROW is not
about finding the right answer; it is about creating as many courses
of action as possible. Whitmore (2002:81–82) focuses on the implicit
 WORKING WITH QUESTION FRAMEWORKS 99

assumptions that people carry around with them—again the arena

in which I prefer to work with clients. Examples of implicit assump-
tions are:

• I can’t do it.
• We’ve never done it like that before.
• I will never get permission to do it like that.
• They won’t give me the budget to spend.
• No one in the team has the time to fix it.
• I expect the competition has already thought of it.

The options phase is to stop the client from finding reasons why
not to do something. It is to encourage the brainstorming of options
without judgement and to eliminate assumptions that stop the client
from achieving what they want to achieve. Some alternative ques-
tions for the options phase are:

• What if you had a large enough budget?

• What if you had more staff?
• What if you knew the answer? What would it be?
• What if that obstacle did not exist? What would you do then?
• What do you really want?
• What are all the different things you could do to achieve it?
• What else?
• What are you willing to commit yourself to?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages?

Stage four: What will you do?

Step four refers to what clients will do. What did they learn? What
are they going to do differently? What can change? This is the practi-
cal, summing up and writing down of the action steps to be taken
to achieve the goal set originally under “G”. This stage moves the
client into decision mode with precision and detailed timelines
(Whitmore, 2002:89–90). It is about “will”—what will the client do?
Hence the questions:

• What are you going to do?

• When are you going to do it?
100 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

• Will this action meet your goal?

• Which obstacles might you meet along the way?
• Who needs to know?
• What support do you need?
• How and when are you going to get that support?
• What other considerations do you have?
• Rate the percentage of certainty you have that you will carry out
the actions as agreed.

O’Neill’s “executive coaching with backbone and heart”

Mary Beth O’Neill (2000) focuses on patterns of behaviour and
coaching conversations with leaders to develop their business goals.
Her style is action-focused and systems-oriented. She makes many
suggestions about the framework within which the executive coach
works, and suggests a sequence of questions to help the coach inter-
vene successfully with the client.
O’Neill describes the essence of coaching as “helping leaders
get unstuck from their dilemmas and assisting them in transferring
their learning into results for the organization”. She has coined the
term “signature presence” (O’Neill, 2000:xiii–xiv). Signature pres-
ence means “using one’s presence in the moment at the time of
intervention”.

A four-question sequence
According to O’Neill (2000:5–7), the coach’s question framework
needs to embrace four essential ingredients with complementary
questions:

1. Which business challenges are you facing? How much time

have you got?
How can you be results-oriented in relation to a leader’s problem?
2. What keeps you from getting the results you want?
What do you need to work or do to be a partner to the leader?
3. What is challenging for you about this situation given the
disappointing results?
How can you develop an ability to engage the executive in specific
leadership challenges?
 WORKING WITH QUESTION FRAMEWORKS 101

4. What specifically do you expect from your team that would

directly lead to higher results; and what will be required of you
to produce those results through your team?
Here, link team behaviours to bottom-line goals, pointing out the
need to set specific expectations for their teams.

The journey of the individual executive and the coach are parallel
journeys. You are helping that individual to find more of their own
signature presence; at the same time you are being clear, objective
and staying aligned with their issue.

Five-stage frameworks
Framework for change
Peltier (2001) states that one of the reasons people feel they cannot
change is that they would have to acknowledge they were previ-
ously wrong. He mentions the components of emotional intelligence
(self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, social skills)
and uses Goleman’s definition of emotional intelligence: “the capac-
ity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivat-
ing ourselves and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in
our relationships” (Goleman, 1996:317). I have rephrased an inter-
vention, suggested by Peltier (2001:139) and based on Silberman’s
(1986) model for change, as a coaching question framework:

Stage 1: What is the situation now?

Stage 2: What is the situation as you want it to be?
Stage 3: What will keep the situation from changing?
Stage 4: What action steps can you take?
Stage 5: What resources are needed to help you make the change?

Working for change

Stage 1: What is the situation now?
One of my female executive clients, Patience, was working in a male-
dominated engineering environment. She realized that it would be dif-
ficult for her to accelerate her learning and development without the
mentoring or sponsorship of a senior executive. Although she had been
102 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

put forward for several leadership development programmes, she was

not making progress within her own division of this large corporate.

Stage 2: What is the situation as you want it to be?

The situation that Patience aimed for was not necessarily a promo-
tion. She had attended several of the leadership and management
development programmes offered within and outside the organiza-
tion; however, she did not have any direct reports other than those
with a dotted-line responsibility. She wanted to practise the skills
that she had learned on the various programmes, but had no way
to build her competence or capacity. Those who had a dotted-line
responsibility to her were about 10 to 15 years her senior. She had
worked two years in the organization, and her direct reports had
each completed up to 10 years.

Stage 3: What will keep the situation from changing?

We spent an entire coaching session on this question. As Patience devel-
oped in self-awareness, she realized that she was the only one who
could effect change. She was waiting for something to be offered to
her, based on merit and her good work during the previous two years.
However, unless she built alliances, and communicated her manage-
ment development aspirations, nothing would happen. There was
another difficulty: her line manager was ineffectual and not particu-
larly interested in her achievements or developmental aims. As far as
he was concerned, she was in a coaching relationship, and he needn’t
do anything further for her except increase her salary year after year.

Stage 4: What action steps can you take?

She decided to put together her own leadership development plan,
making sure that it was aligned with divisional and organizational
values. Part of the plan was to build her network within the organi-
zation, which was sizeable and international. As we devised the
plan, working step by step, she identified the skills and competences
that were areas for improvement; and she identified her skills and
competences that were not being utilized. As a business analyst, she
realized that she needed to find a mentor outside the organization to
 WORKING WITH QUESTION FRAMEWORKS 103

help with her development. She wanted to move into an international

position eventually, so began to build her network in the interna-
tional office. She continued to work on her management and inter-
personal skills to manage her tendency to “introversion”, and began
taking classes in a foreign language to improve the possibility of
eventually moving into that market.

Stage 5: What resources are needed to help you make the change?
The resources she required were:

• finances for the various programmes which she personally

funded;
• a sponsor for the organization’s upcoming management develop-
ment programme;
• time and energy to apply herself to learning a foreign language on
a weekly basis; and
• a health and fitness programme to begin to achieve a greater
work/life balance.

Finally, she realized that her networking and alliance building skills
were most useful to her, catapulting her into greater “visibility”
within the environment. This paid off, and she was offered respon-
sibility as project manager on a sizeable project. This would give
her the chance to build her contacts across diverse organizational
functions and to “project manage” a team of people. This framework
moved the client from frustration, to a sense that she was in control
of her own career path.

Working with the CLEAR model

CLEAR metaphorically represents a process to help the client
“clear” a presenting issue. CLEAR is an acronym for contracting,
listening, exploring, action and review. CLEAR provides a slightly
different perspective on what to focus on in a coaching session, pro-
viding a sequence of questions to help the coach move progressively
from contracting to reviewing learning, actions and decisions made.
This is a very useful and straightforward framework for managers
to use with direct reports.
104 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Stage 1: Contracting: Opening the discussion, setting the scene,

establishing the desired outcomes, and agreeing the ground rules
CLEAR looks not only at the goal of the session but allows for wider
contracting issues such as time available for both parties, as well as
specific ground rules to be observed, such as confidentiality. Ques-
tions to ask are:

• How would you like me to coach you today?

• What helps you learn?
• What blocks your learning?

Stage 2: Listening: Active listening as a catalytic coaching inter-

vention helps the client develop their understanding of the situation
and generate personal insight

• What am I hearing in the content of the words?

• What am I hearing that isn’t being said?
• What isn’t being heard or said?
• What could I ask that would help the client to reflect?

As a guideline, listen 75 per cent of the time and speak only 25 per
cent of the time in your coaching session. Rather than focusing on
your next response, concentrate on what the individual is trying to
communicate through the content of their message: their non-verbal
signals, metaphors, stories and limiting assumptions. In this context,
you can paraphrase or reframe the client’s words to clarify under-
standing and to avoid your own assumptions.

Stage 3: Exploring 1: Helping the client to understand the personal

impact the situation is having on them and Exploring 2: Challenging
the client to think through possibilities for future action in resolving
the situation
All behaviour is driven by what we think or feel, and it usually has a
wider implication than the specific incident or event. Exploring can
be used to help the client understand their own assumptions about
other people’s behaviour as well as their own:

• Has this happened before? Has anything similar happened before?

• What was the outcome/result?
 WORKING WITH QUESTION FRAMEWORKS 105

• How did your behaviour/reaction affect the situation?

• What did you feel when so-and-so said … or did …?
• What outcome would you prefer?

Stage 4: Action—supporting the client in choosing a way ahead

and deciding the next step
In Stage four, the client should ideally figure out the next steps for
themselves. Be careful not to advise an action or behaviour that
worked for you in similar situations. Your experience might be inval-
uable and useful, but it does not necessarily mean that your way is
the best way for the client to learn or change behaviour. In experien-
tial learning, the client’s insight is the best indicator of change:

• What do you think you can do?

• Is there anything else you could possibly do?
• How will this (action step) help you achieve your goal?

Stage 5: Review—closing the intervention, reinforcing ground

covered, decisions made and value added. The coach also
encourages feedback from the client on what was helpful about
the coaching process, what was difficult and what they would like
to be different in future coaching sessions
This stage adds reflection, which is a missing ingredient in the wrap-
up stage of GROW. Summarize what was discussed and agreed and
ask the client to reflect and review the process:

• What worked for you in this session?

• What did not work?
• What else would you have preferred either of us to do or say?

Six-stage frameworks
Nancy Kline’s Thinking Partnership®
Nancy Kline’s question framework comprises a six-stage process
underpinned by ten components or behaviours, positive philosophical
choice, and incisive questions. One of the key theories which deter-
mines how we work with clients in the “coaching conversation” is
that of “positive philosophical choice”. Kline’s Thinking Partnership®
is based on the “chosen philosophical view that human beings
106 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

are by nature good: intelligent, loving, powerful, multitalented,

emotional, assertive, able to think through anything, imaginative
and logical”. Kline says that “behaviour to the contrary is seen as
the result of assumptions generated over a lifetime by events, condi-
tions and attitudes in a person’s environment” (Kline, 2005:4). The
Thinking Partnership® model is based on positive philosophical
choice and ten thinking components:

1. attention (listening with interest and without interruption);

2. equality (treating the other as a thinking peer; keeping agreements
and boundaries);
3. ease (offering freedom from internal rush or urgency);
4. appreciation (a 5:1 ratio of appreciation to criticism);
5. encouragement (moving beyond internal competition);
6. feelings (allowing sufficient emotional release to restore thinking);
7. information (supplying facts; managing organizational denial);
8. diversity (welcoming divergent thinking and diverse group
identities);
9. incisive questions (removing assumptions that limit ideas); and
10. place (creating a physical environment that says to the other,
“You matter”).

Six-stage Thinking Environment® coaching process

In Kline’s Thinking Environment® sequence, the crucial work is to
identify and replace limiting assumptions with a more powerful
worldview by choosing one core limiting assumption at a time that
is relevant to the presenting issue. Kline’s framework is based on six
stages of questioning (Kline, 2005:4–21):

1. Exploration (What do you want to think about?)

2. Further goal (What would you like to accomplish in the rest of
this session?)
3. Assumptions (What are you assuming that is stopping you from
[insert goal])?
• What is the key assumption?
• Is that assumption true?
• What are your reasons for thinking that? (Look for alignment
with positive philosophical choice, logic and information).
 WORKING WITH QUESTION FRAMEWORKS 107

Transition question:
– (If it is true or possibly true): That is possible, but what are
you assuming that makes that assumption hold you back from
[insert goal]?
– (If it is not true): As [insert untrue assumption] is not true,
what are your words for what is true?
Invitation question:
– Given that that assumption is stopping you from achieving
your goal, what could you more credibly assume that would
help you achieve your goal?
– Would you be interested in choosing that view for a few
minutes?
– So, it is not true that (restate the untrue limiting assumption).
What would be your words for what is true (for a liberating
alternative to that assumption)?
4. Incisive question (if you knew [insert true liberating assump-
tion] how would you [insert goal]?).
5. Recording (client records incisive question and action to be
taken).
6. Appreciation (key component: what quality do you respect/
admire in each other?).

According to Nancy Kline (1999/2004:100–1), team effectiveness

depends on the calibre of thinking the team can do. Yet most teams
do not operate within a thinking environment with the ten compo-
nents necessary to enhance quality thinking and decision making.
Teams are the most strategic place to begin organizational change,
but the limiting assumptions of each team member and the limiting
assumptions of the group as a whole need to be identified and
replaced with empowering assumptions.
Although this is one of the purest coaching question frame-
works I have encountered, its ultimate success in the coaching con-
text is in the client’s implementing the goals that are set as a result.
This question framework helps us to understand the process of
identifying limiting assumptions and replacing them with more
empowering assumptions. This is a transformative process for the
individual client.
In the Thinking Environment® question framework, awareness
and insight is the context within which the coach works with the
108 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

client to identify, understand and change those limiting assumptions

that are most getting in the way of the client’s taking responsibility,
setting goals, taking action, growing and learning.

Eight-stage frameworks
Well-formed outcomes (NLP)
NLP is a cognitive behavioural representation system. Neuro refers
to the nervous system (the mind), through which our experience is
processed via five senses: visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, olfactory and
gustatory. Linguistic refers to language and other non-verbal com-
munication systems through which our neural representations are
coded, ordered and given meaning. This includes pictures, sounds,
feelings, tastes, smells and words (self-talk). Programming refers to
the ability to discover and utilize the mental programmes that we
run (our communication to ourselves and others) in our neurologi-
cal systems to achieve our specific and desired outcomes.
NLP interventions are based on the NLP communication model
and can include third-position thinking, circle of excellence, rapport
exercises and setting well-formed outcomes. NLP is based on the
clinical practices and research of Alfred Korzybski (General Semantics
1930–40); Paul Watzlawick (Linguistics 1950s); levels of language and
theory of logical types (logical levels); Richard Bandler (Computer
Linguistics); John Grinder (Gestalt Linguistics); Milton Erickson (hyp-
nosis); Gregory Bateson (syllogism); Fritz Perls (Gestalt Therapy); and
Virginia Satir (family therapy) (McLoughlin and Stout-Rostron, 2002).

Well-formed outcomes: Practical exercise

NLP can be defined as how to use the language of the mind to con-
sistently achieve our specific and desired outcomes. The various
ways to achieve a well-formed outcome are well documented in the
NLP literature. The following question framework will assist the
coach in setting well-formed outcomes with the client.

1. Stated in the positive:

• What specifically do you want?
2. Specify present situation:
• Where are you now?
 WORKING WITH QUESTION FRAMEWORKS 109

3. Demonstrable in sensory experience:

• Evidence procedure.
• How will you know when you’ve got your outcome? Imagine
you have it now:
– What are you seeing having got it?
– What are you hearing having got it?
– What are you feeling having got it?
– What are you doing having got it?
– What will others be seeing, hearing and feeling that lets
them know that you’ve got it?
4. Is it congruently desirable?
• What will this outcome get for you or allow you to do?
5. Is it self-initiated and self-maintained?
• Is it only for you? (You cannot set goals for others. You can
only set goals for yourself.)
6. Appropriately contextualized:
• When, where and with whom do you want it?
• When, where and with whom do you not want it?
• For how long do you want it?
7. What resources are needed?
• What do you have now, and what do you need to get your
outcome?
• Have you ever had or done this before?
• Do you know anyone who has?
• Act as if you have it.
8. Ecology check:
• For what purpose do you want this?
• What will you gain or lose if you have it?
• Is it worth the cost to you?
• Is it worth the time it is going to take?
• Is this outcome in keeping with your sense of self?

An alternative well-formed outcomes exercise

Here is a version for setting well-formed outcomes advocated by
Peter McNab (2005):

1. What do you want?

• (Is it stated in the positive? Is it initiated and controlled by
you? Is it sensory-based?)
110 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

2. Where, when and with whom do you want it?

• Have you considered different contexts? Is it ecological? Is it
sensory-based?
3. How will you know that you have it?
• Is it sensory-based, appropriate, and timely?
4. What do you get out of your current behaviour?
• What will you lose? How will you maintain this in your
desired state?
5. Ecology #1
• How will your outcome affect other aspects of your life? Who
and what else will it affect?
6. Ecology #2
• Under which conditions would you not want to implement
your goal?
7. What (if anything) stops you having your desired state already?
• If so, what additional resources do you need?
8. What are you going to do? When are you going to do it?
• Give appropriate detail with the first step precisely defined.

Ten-stage frameworks
Business Best Year Yet®
Best Year Yet® is both an individual and a team coaching process.
Business Best Year Yet® works with a ten-stage coaching interven-
tion to create aligned individual and team plans by identifying and
replacing limiting paradigms, creating a new vision, aligning organ-
izational strategy with the team’s top ten goals.
The coach helps the individual or team to set goals and develop
new guidelines, new values and a new empowering paradigm or
vision. Not dissimilar to the Nancy Kline Thinking Environment®
process, the central focus is on the moment of change (transformation
of a disempowering paradigm to an empowering one). The ten ques-
tions help the coach to focus the client first on the past 12 months,
and second on creating a new vision for the next 12 months. This is a
useful one-on-one coaching tool, as well as a tool for a team coaching
process. As coach, you can use the ten questions developed by Jinny
Ditzler (1994), which follow, as a question framework to help the
client to set goals that will reflect their new paradigm or mindset.
 WORKING WITH QUESTION FRAMEWORKS 111

Having worked with the Best Year Yet® process for nearly ten years,
I have described each of the ten steps for you to use in an individual
coaching process. For those who want to use the team coaching proc-
ess, you will need to contact Best Year Yet®. For more information on
this process developed by Jinny Ditzler, refer to her book, Your Best
Year Yet: The 10 Questions That Will Change Your Life Forever (1994).

Best Year Yet® coaching exercise

1. What were your accomplishments over the last 12 months?
• What was the secret of your success?
• What worked?
• Why were you able to achieve what you did?
2. What were your biggest disappointments, frustrations and
unmet expectations in the last 12 months?
• What didn’t work and why not?
• What would have worked better?
3. What did you learn?
• What can you learn from your own excellence?
• What can you learn from the things that didn’t work?
• Pick three and turn them into guidelines for your next
12 months.
4. In what way do you stop yourself from achieving your best,
and how can you change?
• What is it that you do and say that stops you from achieving?
• What do you say to yourself (write it down!) to justify these
reasons or excuses?
• Pick the most powerful one or two that would create the
greatest change if they worked for you rather than against you.
Now brainstorm the words that would turn it into a future-
oriented, powerful, positive way forward.
5. What is it that gets you up in the morning, motivated and ready
to go?
• What is important to you about work? About home? About life?
• Choose those unmeasurable intrinsic drivers: such as achie-
vement, recognition, health, being loved, giving something
back—these are the intangibles that are really driving you
from within.
• Which ones most represent who you are?
112 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

6. Which key roles do you play, i.e. what hats do you wear,
professionally and personally?
• i.e. owner, manager, boss, employee, partner, peer, husband,
wife, mother, father, son, daughter, sister, brother, friend.
• Choose the top eight.
7. Which hat (or role) needs to be your major focus to make the
next year your best one yet?
8. Write down three goals for each role.
9. From your list, choose the top ten goals which will make the
difference for you.
10. Now, what will most help you to achieve them?

Developing your own question frameworks

In this chapter, I have introduced you to a range of question frame-
works that help structure the business coaching conversation. It is
useful for you to begin to develop your own range of questions as
they relate to your coaching model. At the end of each session with a
client, write up your reflections on the conversation, making a note
of the overall structure of the conversation and the sequence of ques-
tions that you used. In the next chapter, we explore various coaching
models available in the business environment today, and coaching
question frameworks that are specific to those models.
Question frameworks are simply tools for you to structure the
coaching conversation. As you develop your work with your clients,
choose question frameworks that are suitable to your personal style
of working and the needs of your client. Gradually, as you begin to
refine your own coaching model, it will become clear which ques-
tions are most useful to you.
One of the core skills of the business coach is the ability not just
to ask questions but to ask incisive questions that will help the client
to explore their own attitudes and assumptions about themselves
and others in the workplace. Having done so, they are better able to
develop an awareness of self and others, which in turn allows them
to manage relationships more successfully.
What is shown to be transformative and to create the greatest
change in the coaching conversation is the identification and trans-
formation of limiting assumptions into empowering assumptions
through the use of a question process.
 WORKING WITH QUESTION FRAMEWORKS 113

Change happens when the client transforms limiting assumptions

into empowering ones—and then commits themself to action
as a result. The coach’s job is to understand this process and to
help the client create empowering assumptions—and thus a new
attitude or mindset—which could be the beginning of a new para-
digm or worldview. This can take place at any stage of the coaching
process.
However, there needs to be a high degree of trust between the
coach and the client. The relationship needs to be strong. It is in the
safety and confidential nature of the coach/client relationship that
the client will feel free to be challenged on their limiting thoughts,
feelings or behaviour (Stout-Rostron, 2006c:225).
During the coaching conversation, the process of asking ques-
tions has to be done from a point of no prejudgement or assumption,
really clarifying and understanding the thinking of the client. This
is difficult, as each individual operates within their own worldview
and limiting paradigms, and each coach approaches the coaching
conversation with their own assumptions and biases, and must
therefore learn to bracket such assumptions and biases and put them
aside. This is a core skill for a coach: to learn to bracket their own
assumptions and biases (Stout-Rostron, 2006c:147). For example, if
as a practitioner you are going to reframe or say something about
the client’s process, just describe it, do not impose your assumptions
on what they are saying. This is a difficult but crucial point for a
coach.
The coaching conversation, ultimately, seems to be less about the
mechanics of the coaching intervention than about the art of inte-
grating pure, sheer presence and non-judgmental attention on the
client, combined with the skill of asking the right question at the
right time. It is the development of awareness that leads to knowl-
edge and action. The coaching intervention is simply the bridge
between reflection, awareness, learning, knowledge and action.

Coach’s library
Bandler, R., and Grinder, J. (1992). Reframing and the Transformation of
Meaning. Moab, UT: Real People Press.
Ditzler, J. (1994). Your Best Year Yet: The 10 Questions That Will Change
Your Life Forever. New York, NY: Warner.
114 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Kline, N. (1999/2004). Time to Think: Listening with the Human Mind.

London: Ward Lock.
Kline, N. (2004). Keynote address. In: Coaching in a Thinking Environ-
ment. Wallingford: Time to Think.
McDermott, I., and Jago, W. (2001). The NLP Coach: A Comprehensive Guide
to Personal Well-Being and Professional Success. London: Piatkus.
McNab, P. (2005). Towards an Integral Vision: Using NLP and Ken Wilber’s
AQAL Model to Enhance Communication. Crewe: Trafford.
O’Connor, J., and Seymour, J. (1990). Introducing NLP. London: Aquarian/
Thorsons.
O’Neill, M. B. (2000). Coaching with Backbone and Heart: A Systems
Approach to Engaging Leaders with Their Challenges. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
Revans, R. W. (1983). The ABC of Action Learning. Bromley: Chartwell
Bratt.
Whitmore, J. (2002). Coaching for Performance: Growing People, Perfor-
mance and Purpose. London: Nicholas Brealey.
CHAPTER FIVE

Exploring and understanding

coaching models

Listening and observation are key skills for the business

coach. Developing the skill of observation is partly to develop
the ability to be ‘inside’ the coaching conversation, and to be
‘observing’ the conversation. It is to take up a meta-position,
while never leaving the micro level of being present for the
client (Stout-Rostron, 2006c:152).

CHAPTER OUTLINE
• Models
• Coaching tools and techniques
• How many models to use?
– Purpose, Perspectives, Process model
• The coaching conversation and the coaching journey
– Nested-levels model
– The expert approach
– “You have all the answers” approach
– Learning level
– Ontological levels—being and becoming
– Learning

115
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• Learning conversations
– Three levels of intervention—behaviour, underlying drivers,
root causes
• Four-quadrant models (Hippocrates)
– Insights four-colour model
– Domains of Competence model (Habermas)
– Ken Wilber’s four-quadrant Integral Model
– Questions in the four quadrants
– GROW and CLEAR models
– EQ model
– Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model
– Using Kolb’s four modes of learning
– Hudson’s Renewal Cycle model
• Other circular models
– I-T-O (Input, Throughput, Output)
• The U-process
– Scharmer’s U-process
• In conclusion
• Coach’s library

Models
Today, coaches are trained in an eclectic range of coaching mod-
els. This chapter explores a cross-section of models that influence
the work of business and executive coaches worldwide. I highlight
the work of Daniel Goleman, John Whitmore, David Lane, New
Ventures West, David Kolb, Frederick Hudson, Thomas Cummings
and Christopher Worley, and Ken Wilber.
Coaching models help us to understand the coaching interven-
tion from a systems perspective, and to understand the need for
“structure” in the interaction between coach and client. Models help
us to develop flexibility as coach practitioners. They offer structure
and an outline for both the coaching conversation and the overall
coaching journey—whether it is for 20 hours, six months, a year
or more. However, although models create a system within which
coach and client work, it is imperative that models are not experi-
enced as either prescriptive or rigid.
The coaching conversation is about the client, not the coach. If the
model is too prescriptive, it means the coach has their own agenda to
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 117

fulfil, rather than attempting to understand the client’s issues. In this

chapter, I discuss four-quadrant models, circular and U-process
models. I explore the flexibility you have to combine models and to
construct your own if you so wish.
A model represents a system with an implied process. It is a
metaphor or analogy used to help visualize and describe the jour-
ney. Models systemically visualize or represent a process that can-
not be directly observed. In other words, a model represents more
than what you are looking at. If you can develop a model that
encompasses the coaching conversation and the entire coaching inter-
vention, you will begin to work with considerably greater ease within
your practice. This is how we will look at models in this chapter.
A coaching model is representative of what happens, or will
happen, in the coaching conversation (micro) and in the overall
coaching intervention or journey (macro). I recommend here sim-
ple models that can represent both the micro and macro coaching
interventions.

Coaching tools and techniques

What is a coaching tool and what is a coaching technique? A tool is
an instrument used to produce certain results; the tool is what you
engage with as a coach inside the coaching conversation. For exam-
ple, a hammer and nails are tools used to build a house; the tools
you work with in the coaching conversation are profiles, assess-
ments, questions, reframing statements, listening, question frame-
works and models. A technique, on the other hand, is the technical
skill, ability or competence you have developed to use that tool. For
example listening is a tool, and active listening is a technique. This
is where your experience, expertise and hours spent coaching come
into effect. Often your tools and techniques fall into a specific part of
your model’s process.
The model is the process you use to work with your client. It
embodies all of your tools and techniques, including the question
frameworks I discussed in the previous chapter. Although you
might be dying to explain your model to your client, they might
not be particularly interested! They might be more interested in the
tools and techniques that they will directly observe and experience
with you. Often, if you are coaching other coaches, they will want to
118 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

be debriefed on which tools, techniques and models you have used

when working with them.
So, a model is a simple representation of the journey which can
encompass the skills, experience and expertise coach and client
bring to the coaching conversation. Part of the model may include
the actions the client takes as a result of your coaching conversations
when they go back into the workplace, and their own inner work
throughout the entire coaching journey as they develop greater self-
awareness and adaptability.

How many models to use?

There are varying degrees of thought when training coaches. Some
schools train their coach practitioners to use only one coaching
model. Other coach training schools teach a variety of models and
advocate choosing one of them, or learning how to flexibly integrate
a few models to develop your own.
The key purpose of this chapter is to introduce you to a variety
of models (not all) for your own learning and development. If you
prefer one particular model that is taught in the marketplace, it
is essential to go through the training to ensure you have a depth
of understanding in its use. Eventually, you may want to choose
whether to work with one model, an integration of several models
or to develop your own. That is not for us to prescribe. There are
many valuable and useful models available to you.
Whatever you decide, I believe that knowledge is power, and
the more understanding of available models you have, the more
intelligent your choice will be. When I teach coach practitioners in
models and question frameworks, I look at how to integrate differ-
ent models to construct your own. However, my purpose in this
chapter is simply to explore a variety of coaching models and to
give examples of how to facilitate a coaching conversation with
each one.

Purpose, Perspectives, Process model

The key principle I want to convey is that it is essential to adopt
a structured approach to your coaching conversation. This does
not mean that you cannot let the conversation grow and be
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 119

Figure 1. Purpose, Perspectives, Process.

Source: Lane and Corrie (2006).

explorative—I mean structure in a big-picture way. That is the beauty

of any model: having the freedom to explore within each part of
the model. The Purpose, Perspectives, Process model (see Figure 1)
was developed by David Lane of the Professional Development
Foundation (PDF) and the Work-Based Learning Unit at London’s
Middlesex University (Lane and Corrie, 2006).

Purpose (where are we going and why?)

What is the purpose in working with the client? Where are you
going with this client? What does the client want to achieve? Where
do they want to go in their overall journey with you as their coach?
For example, one client working in the telecoms industry said in
our first session together, “I need your help because everybody in the
organization distrusts me and I’m in a pretty senior position. What
can I do about it? I’m highly respected by those subordinate to me in
position and disliked and mistrusted by those superior or equal to me
in position.” As coach, your questions will relate to client purpose,
i.e. “Where are we going, and what’s the reason for going there?” It is
usually better to ask a “what” question rather than a “why” question.
For example, “Why are we going there?” sounds intrusive and can
create a defensive posture on the part of the client. “What” questions
help to create a bigger picture of the journey; “what” creates perspec-
tive. This client’s purpose was to “build alliances and trust with peers,
colleagues and superiors throughout the organization”.
Part of the client’s purpose will be aligned with the questions they
bring to the coaching process. Their questions are often related to
“why” they want to go where they want to go, and they are testing
120 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

you to see if you can help them to arrive at their final destination. Your
job is to understand what is motivating them, what is driving them.
For example, I worked with a group of people whose underlying
purpose was to build a business partnership together in the field
of leadership development. They peppered me with questions as to
how they could achieve what they had set out to achieve as their
overarching strategic purpose. My job was to understand their vision
and the driving interests underlying their vision. With the telecoms
client for example, his purpose was to develop better relationships
with his peers and colleagues, and building alliances became his
overarching theme in the work we did together.

Perspectives (what will inform our journey?)

What perspectives inform the journey for both coach and client?
What informs our journey, i.e. what informs the client and what
informs the coach? Both coach and client come in with their individ-
ual backgrounds, experience, expertise, culture, values, motivations
and assumptions that drive behaviour.
Not so long ago, I had a call from a potential client within the
energy industry. He was a general manager and asked if we could
just chat. We chatted about his perspective on his background, expe-
rience, career and his current job. We discussed his perspective in
terms of his position within the organization, his style of leading
and managing his team of people, the impact and influence of his age
on his career prospects, and finally he said, “I have got as far as I can
get with what I know now—and I need to know more, somehow”.
We then discussed my perspective, i.e. what informs the way
I work with clients, what informs my experience and expertise and,
based on our mutual perspectives, he asked, “Would we have some
kind of synchronicity or a match in order to work together?” He
wanted to understand what models, tools and techniques I used as
he wanted to create his own leadership development toolbox for
his senior managers. He also wanted to understand how to handle
mistakes: did I make them and what would my education, training
and work experience bring to our conversation?
One of the things I am very careful of with clients is never to
“over-talk” my perspective; and it’s also important for clients to
understand that you are constantly learning from your mistakes.
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 121

The coaching intervention is about them, not you. Perspectives

are informed by both the client and the coach’s cultural and struc-
tural interpretation of the world—defined by their family, edu-
cation, learning, qualifications, faith, spirituality, experiences,
expertise, personality traits, values, feelings, motivations, assump-
tions and behaviour. In this first contracting conversation, we
worked through the model beginning with perspectives:

Perspectives—how we might bring our two worlds together;

Purpose—what he ultimately wanted from the coaching experi-
ence; and
Process—how we would work together to achieve his outcomes.

The process (how will we get there?)

Using this model helped me to begin to understand the above cli-
ent’s needs, to develop rapport, and to identify not just his overall
outcomes but a way to begin working together. At this stage of the
model we contracted, set boundaries, agreed confidentiality mat-
ters, outlining the fee paying process and the development of a lead-
ership development plan. We also agreed on timing (how often we
would see each other and the individual client’s line manager). What
assessments would be useful for the individual client to complete?
How would we debrief those profiles? We also discussed potential
coaching assignments and timing for the overall contract (including
termination and exit possibilities if either party was unhappy) and
explored how to obtain line manager approval. Finally, we set up a
separate meeting to agree the process with the line manager and the
Group HR Director.
A model is a metaphor for the journey and embodies a structured
process. This model can help you in three ways: to contract with the
client, to structure the entire coaching journey, and to guide your
coaching conversation. Out of the specific conversation about proc-
ess emerged the client’s purpose, the way our perspectives fit together
to help him to achieve his purpose, and the process within which we
would work to achieve the outcomes desired.
This model can be used for the regular coaching conversations
you have with your client. The client arrives and brings into the
conversation a possible “menu” of topics to be discussed, or even
122 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

just one particular topic. One of my clients in the media came to me

one day saying, “My purpose today is to understand why I am sabo-
taging my best efforts to delegate to my senior managers” (purpose).
As the coach, I wanted to understand all of the perspectives under-
lying the client’s aim for this conversation (perspectives), as well as
identifying the various tools or techniques that could be used in the
process.
In this instance, I suggested that we use the Nancy Kline six-stage
Thinking Environment® question framework to explore his goal
(process). After an hour of exploratory thinking, my client identi-
fied a “further” goal for the session. The questions in this process
led him to articulate assumptions never actually voiced before. We
moved eventually from a disempowering assumption to a liberat-
ing assumption that allowed him to identify action steps to delegate
skilfully and artfully in a format that he would adhere to.

The coaching conversation and the coaching journey

This model can represent the process for just one coaching conversa-
tion, but it can also represent the overall journey. For example, the
client comes in with their purpose, “I would like to work with you;
no one else will work with me as they find me too difficult”. This
client’s purpose became to find a coach who would work with him,
to help him to identify how he could not just develop the interper-
sonal skills to work successfully with others—but to demonstrate his
new learning through visible behaviour change at work. The coach’s
and the client’s perspectives will be unique and different. In working
with the client, you bring not just perspective, but your observations
as to how this client seems to be working within the organizational
system.
In terms of process, the coach may ask the client to do a range
of assessment profiles, or you may shadow the client at work to
experience how they facilitate meetings, and interact with custom-
ers, subordinates, superiors and colleagues. This way you can make
observations (your perspective), being careful not to interpret as a
therapist would, and to ask questions that would enable the client
to develop self-awareness and self-management skills and compe-
tences that will ultimately lead them to interact more successfully
with others in the workplace.
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 123

Nested-levels model
The next model was developed by New Ventures West (Weiss, 2004).
This model introduces the concept of horizontal and vertical levels
in coaching models. It is a “nested-levels” model. Although some-
what different from the U-shape model, which I discuss later in this
chapter, it is based on a similar idea of depth. The nested model
works first at the horizontal level of “doing”, eventually moving
into deeper “learning” one level down; reflecting about self, others
and experience at a third “ontological” level where new knowledge
emerges about oneself and the world (Figure 2).
In her web article, Pam Weiss talks about the two different camps
of coaches. In jest, I call them the New York versus the L.A. camp.
The New York camp says, “I’m the expert, let me fix you”. The L.A.
camp says, “You are perfect and whole and have all of your own
answers”. Joking aside, each of these camps falls short, even though
coaches often fall into one or the other. The role of coaching is actu-
ally about developing human beings. It is not really about “exper-
tise” versus “you already have all your own answers”.

The expert approach

Clients are not broken and do not need fixing as the experts might
think. Clients may be anxious, stressed, nervous, overworked and
even narcissistic—but they don’t need fixing. They are mostly
healthy human beings going about their jobs and lives, experienc-
ing their own human difficulties. Your job as coach is to help the
clients to “learn” for themselves so that when you are no longer
walking alongside them, they have become “self-directed” learners
(Harri-Augstein and Thomas, 1991) and do not need you anymore.

Figure 2. Nested-levels model.

Source: Adapted from Weiss (2004).

124 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

The second view about “expertise” also has limitations. The role of
expertise is that, as coach, you are an expert; but coaching is not
about the coach giving all the answers; that tends to be the role of the
consultant, i.e. to find solutions for the client.

“You have all the answers” approach

The “you have all the answers” assumption is partially true; but
there are several limitations according to Weiss. The first one is that
we all have blind spots, and it is your job as coach to help the client
to identify their blind spots. Secondly, it’s perhaps a bit of “mythical”
thinking that the client has all of the answers already; the flip side
of that argument is that, if it does not work out, the client assumes
blame and fault. In other words, “If I have all the answers, I should
be able to do it myself without help”. If that is not the case, they
could feel, “Oh dear, if I am not able to do it myself, then perhaps
I’m a failure”.
Both of these approaches are “horizontal”; in other words they
skim the surface of the work you can do with the client. Both help peo-
ple to maintain the lives they currently have. The expert “New York”
approach helps the client to do it better, faster, more efficiently, and
the “L.A.” approach may withhold the coach’s insights and obser-
vations, which could help to build the client’s awareness of their
blind spots. What is important, rather than “fixing” the client, is the
skill of “observation” on the part or the coach. There is no problem
in helping the client to do it better, faster or more efficiently—that
is often what the organization hopes for in terms of performance
improvement. However, it is important for the client to gain the
learning they need to address blind spots and to build their own
internal capacity and competence.

Learning level
If you continue to help people to accomplish tasks, achieve goals
and to keep on “doing”, they risk falling into the trap of being
“busy” and possibly overwhelmed. They may, however, not neces-
sarily get the “learning” they need to develop self-awareness and
self-management. I know all too well about this trap of being exces-
sively busy. If we keep “doing” without reflection we eventually
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 125

burn out. To keep individual executives performing better and

better, they need to work at one level lower—at the level of learn-
ing. They need to learn how to “do the doing” better. As soon as an
executive begins to work with a coach, they begin the possibility of
working at one or two levels deeper.
As coach you will be asking questions to help clients reflect,
review and gain useable knowledge from their experience. In this
model, the higher levels don’t include the lower ones, but the lower
levels include the higher ones. So, we need to help clients address
their purpose one level down, at the level of learning. At this level
you may ask questions such as, “how are you doing; what are
you doing; what are you feeling; how are your peers/colleagues
experiencing you/this; what is working and what isn’t working;
what is useful learning for you here; what needs to change and
how?”

Ontological levels—being and becoming

The third and fourth levels of coaching intervention are that of who
the client is and who the client wishes to become in terms of thinking,
feeling and behaviour (I have added the level of “becoming”). Your
questions move from “what do they need to do”, and “how do
they need to do it” (doing), to “how does their style of learning
impact on how they do what they do; what do they need to learn
in order to improve thinking/behaviour/feeling/performance/
leadership” (learning); to questions about “what do they need to
understand and acknowledge about themselves, who are they, how
do they be who they are, and what needs to change (being and
becoming)?”

CASE STUDY: LEVELS OF LEARNING

My client, working in the field of IT technology security, wanted
to lead and manage his team more effectively, and to build
trust not just with team members but also with colleagues,
superiors and clients (doing). In order to do so, he needed
to identify what the interpersonal skills and competences
were where he already had “unconscious competence”, and
which new skills and competences he needed to learn in order
126 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

to build alliances and develop better relationships (learning).

Even more so, he needed to understand who he is, what his
essence is, what do people sense about him, how do others
perceive him, and how does he behave when perceiving others
(being), as well as who he wanted to become (becoming) in
terms of his thinking, feeling and behaviour.
We agreed to do a range of assessment profiles, including
a 360° feedback, for him to gain a sense of how others expe-
rienced him in the workplace. He was surprised to learn that
he was experienced negatively as someone who barked orders,
was impatient to the point of intolerance, and seemingly had
no empathy for real feelings and people’s individual lives. This
helped him begin to identify who he was perceived to be and
who he needed to become in terms of his behaviour if he was to
achieve his goals (doing).
One of the ways we began to identify how to go about changing
(learning) was from my observations of him in the workplace, at
social business occasions, and inside the coaching conversation.
Gradually, this executive client began to take a greater interest in
others, beginning to articulate his assumptions about his team’s
capabilities and learning to understand how his assumptions
were sabotaging the process of learning for his direct reports.
Although the process took over a year, this executive became
clear about his own style of learning and those of his team. He
slowly began to engage differently with others at all levels in
the workplace. Although trust cannot be easily built, his behav-
iour enforced the perception that he was proactively trying to
change. This encouraged his direct reports, peers and superiors
to be confident that his “being different” was something he was
working on even if it was not perfectly embodied.

CASE STUDY: DOING

Another client, a senior leader in the financial sector, was an
authoritative, but gentle giant, whose size was somewhat alarm-
ing to his subordinates and direct reports. He embodied a sense
of self-assurance and exactitude, which kept people at a dis-
tance. On top of that, he lost his patience with fair regularity. The
original purpose of our work together was to help him begin to
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 127

manage his “short fuse”; in fact, our goal in working together

was to help him develop “a longer fuse” that would impact on
how he behaved (doing). We first identified how his short fuse
impacted on his performance and on that of his team, and we
looked at quite a few specific examples to identify what trig-
gered his short fuse and loss of temper. Once we had identified
the triggers, we could begin to look at how to change them.
So, what assists people in getting things done? Above all, it
is about clarifying goals, creating action steps, taking respon-
sibility and being accountable. In order to perform more effec-
tively, we need to help clients shift down a gear to learn how to
work with competence (a set of skills) rather than just learning
a specific new skill.

Learning
Your job as the coach is to help the client be open to possibilities
of learning something new, and to help them relate to them-
selves and others at a deeper level. With my financial client, at
the level of “learning”, we identified his need for a greater sense
of self-confidence. It was important for him to feel that he could
deal with ineffective behaviour and performance at work. His
effective handling of difficult situations would be visible to the
more senior authorities upon whose recognition he depended
if he was to move upwards in the organization. He needed to
know that he had the skills and competence to get people to
perform at their best. Executives in the corporate world usu-
ally know how to play the game of politics, but they often don’t
know how to win over the people who drive results for them.
This client began to develop a greater set of interpersonal
skills and competences. These helped him to build a bond with
his direct reports and their subordinates. They began to trust that
he was bringing change to the division and gradually, due to his
hands-on style, they began to trust their new perceptions of him.
He grew in leadership competence, managing team forums and
regional road shows for the staff. As he developed leadership
competence in his direct reports, he also gradually built bridges
with staff. He was willing to understand the challenges faced by
employees in the field.
128 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

CASE STUDY: ADDRESSING THE PERSON VERSUS THE

ISSUE
Another client, employed on the technological side within the
energy industry, was working about 60 hours a week, driving
two hours a day, and doing an MBA part-time. On weekends, he
had to find time to study and to be with his family. He and his
wife had a new baby. On Sundays, he refereed a football team for
disadvantaged adolescent boys. How high were his stress lev-
els? We identified his need to learn how to create balance in his
life, and to find a way to bring exercise, diet and nutrition into
the equation—just thinking about it made him more stressed! He
also needed to learn to let go of control. Eventually he found an
entrepreneurial young man who was willing to drive him back
and forth to work during the week. This freed up two hours a day
when travelling that he could devote to study, sleep or emails.
On the football field, he took to running with the boys. He
and his wife also bought an exercise bike, which everyone in the
family began to use. They worked out an economic way to add
fresh vegetables and fruit to their diet. For the client, it was about
learning how to “do the doing” better; at a deeper level becom-
ing the more balanced person he wanted to be. This shifted the
gears in the coaching relationship. It was a move from simply
addressing the issue to addressing the person.
To use this model, you could ask questions such as:

1. What is it that the client wants to do? What is their aim or

purpose in working with you?
2. What do they need to learn in order to make the change?
What in their thinking, feeling and behaviour needs to change
in order to do the doing better? How can they use their own
experience to learn what is needed?
3. How do, and how will, their thoughts, feelings and behaviour
impact on how they “be who they are” and “who is it that
they want to become”? In this way, we work at horizontal
and vertical levels. At the end of the day, the client’s new
attitudes, behaviours, motivations and assumptions begin
to impact positively on their own performance and their
relationships with others.
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 129

What is our aim with this model? Is it to shift any limiting

sense of who they are so that they can interact and engage with
the world in new ways? As the client begins to shift, it has an
impact on others with whom they interact in the workplace. It
also means addressing issues systemically, from a holistic per-
spective, whether it revolves around health, stress, anxiety, per-
formance or relationships with others. Our task as coaches is
to widen the circle, enlarge the perspective of the client, and
help them to learn from their own experience to reach their
potential.

Learning conversations
One of the core areas where coaches work with clients is that of
learning. If you are guiding, directing and giving your clients all
the information they need, it will be difficult for them to ever be
free of you. From your first conversation as a coach, you should
be trying to work yourself out of a job—in other words, to help
your clients learn to be without you. Harri-Augstein and Thomas
(1991:27–29) define learning as follows: “From birth each person
strives to understand; grows and develops; reaches for greater
awareness; constructs personal worlds; achieves at least some
needs and purposes; invests new patterns of thoughts and feel-
ings; acts to validate these; builds new personal worlds, habita-
tions into stable routines; survives; declines; lives through personal
and social crises ...”
At the end of each coaching session with my clients, we complete a
learning contract to fully integrate the learning with goals set and
commitment to action:

1. Vision—Refine their vision: where is the client going?

2. Strategy—Outline the strategy: how is the client going to achieve
their vision?
3. Outcomes—What are the specific outcomes that need to be
accomplished in the next few weeks in order to work towards
achieving the vision and putting the strategy into action?
4. Learning—Help the client summarize what was gained from the
session in order to help underline self-reflection, continuing to
130 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

help the client understand that they are responsible for their own
thinking, their own doing, and their own being.

The learning contract is adapted from Learning Conversations, which

are based on research into learning conversations and self-organized
learning developed by S. Harri-Augstein and L. F. Thomas (1991:24).
If learning “is the conversational construction, reconstruction and
exchange of personally significant, relevant and viable meanings with
awareness” (Harri-Augstein and Thomas, 1991:23), then meaning and
experience inform our learning. Individuals learn something, take
two steps forward, three back, and a few more forward. Although
learning is an uncomfortable space until competence is developed,
it is critical that learning is significant and relevant to the journey. It
is helpful if the client embodies new learning personally and physi-
ologically. It is about helping them to reconstruct their own thinking
and feeling to gain perspective and become self-directed learners.
The conversation with your client centres on what is meaning-
ful to them. If significance and relevance are to emerge from your
coaching conversation with them, your conversation is going to be
around what they need. It has nothing to do with what you need or
think they need. What do they need to learn; what is significant and
relevant to them? It doesn’t matter what is relevant to you; it matters
what is relevant to them. So, it is important to be aware of your own
assumptions in the coaching conversation.

Three levels of intervention—behaviour, underlying drivers,

root causes
This concept is introduced in the CCL Handbook of Coaching by Ting
and Scisco (2006:19–21). The coaching framework of nested levels
with which we worked above identified doing, learning and being.
This framework can be adapted in another way for the coaching
conversation. Instead of looking at doing, learning and being/
becoming, we can look at behaviour, underlying drivers and root
causes. It is important to be careful here due to the mistaken impres-
sion that coaching is therapy. Coaching is not therapy, although it
can be therapeutic. Often when things go wrong it is due to poor
practice on the part of the coach, perhaps from not setting proper
boundaries (Ting and Scisco, 2006:19). The coaching waters deepen
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 131

Figure 3. Levels of coaching intervention.

Source: Adapted from Ting and Scisco (2006:20).

gradually, moving from the behavioural to the underlying drivers

and root causes (Figure 3).

Behaviour
If we work at the level of behaviour, we look at observable actions:
what the client says and does, what they don’t say and do and their
verbal and non-verbal language. Typically, the questions to ask are
“what’s working, what’s not working, and what could you do or say
differently?”
Sometimes behaviour is connected to difficult life experiences.
Or, perhaps there is a family history of psychological disorders, such
as addiction or chemical abuse. We need to differentiate between
these behaviours and those associated with intrinsic drivers. This
will be apparent through the ease and degree of consciousness with
which these behaviours can be discussed.

Underlying drivers
If we work at the level of underlying drivers, we are looking at the
client’s personal style, orientation (introvert or extravert), culture,
worldview, assumptions, values, beliefs, core needs and life experi-
ences. Remember the two-stage exercise we did in Chapter 2? The
question was “What is important to you about your professional
and personal life?” You may spend the entire coaching journey help-
ing clients to be aware of their underlying drivers and assumptions
which impact on behaviour. It is at this level where it is useful to
look at any assessment profiles your client has completed, which
may identify conscious and unconscious thinking, feeling and
behaviour.
132 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Root causes
If we look at root causes, we begin to work with the client’s life
experiences, most often their experiences in the workplace. However,
they may bring into the conversation traumas they have experienced.
There may even be the presence of a psychological disorder, and it is
therefore critical for a coach to know when to refer a client to a thera-
pist. Ting and Scisco (2006:23) suggest a few guidelines: (a) when
the client needs to delve into past life experiences, and (b) when the
client needs to relive and heal past wounds. It is at the level of root
causes that coach and client may start to identify repetitive patterns
of behaviour that need to change for the client to be successful. For
example, a history of losing one’s temper, taking things personally,
or creating conflict in the workplace.
A great way to start any coaching intervention is to ask the cli-
ent to tell their life story. The coach begins to understand some of
the client’s current issues and presenting challenges, and begins
to observe the client’s patterns of thinking, feeling and behaviour.
Because we work with Kolb’s theory of “understanding experience
in order to transform it into useable knowledge”, this model helps
us to determine the context in which the person is operating, where
the individual and systemic problems may be occurring, and how
the organizational values and culture impact on individuals and
teams. It is at this level that the coach’s ability to observe, challenge
and ask appropriate questions can be most transformational.

Four-quadrant models (Hippocrates)

It is thought that the first quadrant model was Hippocrates’ Model
of the Four Humours. Although today medical science has moved
on from the diagnostic aspect of Hippocrates’ theory, his behavioural
observations remain so relevant that many modern personality stud-
ies are based on Hippocrates’ theory of the four humours: sanguines,
cholerics, melancholics and phlegmatics (Stout-Rostron, 2006c:A40–
A41). The model equates the liquids in the body with the four seasons
and four elements: black bile, earth and autumn represent melan-
cholics; phlegm, water and winter represent phlegmatics; blood, air
and spring represent sanguines; yellow bile, fire and summer repre-
sent cholerics. Before exploring other four-quadrant models, it is use-
ful to understand the model of the four humours (Figure 4).
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 133

Figure 4. Hippocrates’ four humours.

Source: Stout-Rostron (2006c:A40–A41).

In terms of temperament:

Cholerics: appear to be tough-minded natural leaders

(choleric refers to the bile, which Hippocrates thought controlled
anger). Cholerics are known to have a short fuse and are referred
to as A-types.
Sanguines: are outgoing, optimistic, high energy and fun-
loving (sanguine means blood and is related to optimism and
high energy).
Phlegmatics: observe from the sidelines and tend to
comply with other’s demands (the term originates from bodily
phlegm, which was thought to make a person steady, peaceful
and passive). This profile is seen as the cool dude, very laid
back.
Melancholics: like orderly lives and are prone to mood changes
(melancholy represents black bile and melancholics therefore
have a tendency to depression). Melancholics are considered to
have depth of intelligence; this profile is sometimes noted as that
of a typical artist.

Insights four-colour model

The Insights model is based on the four colour quadrants of the
Insights profile (blue, red, yellow and green). The four colours are
used to represent “energies” that interact with the personality, and
134 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

the subsequent archetypes (observer, reformer, director, motivator,

inspirer, helper, supporter, coordinator) are an aid to understanding
oneself (see Figure 5). The Insights profile is the result of extensive
psychological research, particularly Jung’s work on the personality.
In 1921, Carl G. Jung published Psychological Types, and the Insights
Discovery profile (with some similarities to MBTI®) is based on this
aspect of Jung’s work (Insights, 2008).
The colour energies on a good and a “not so good” day are:

UR Fiery red: Positive, affirmative, bold, assertive (Upper

Right quadrant): (bossy, aggressive on a bad day).
LR Sunshine yellow: Cheerful, uplifting, spirited, buoyant
(Lower Right quadrant): (idealistic, feet not on the ground, over-
enthusiastic on a bad day).
LL Earth green: Still, tranquil, calming, soothing (Lower Left
quadrant): (sickly sweet, needy on a bad day, over-sentimental,
over-sensitive).
UL Cool blue: Showing no bias, objective, detached (Upper Left
quadrant): (Lacking empathy and compassion on a bad day).

We can also represent Hippocrates’ model using the colours of

the Insights framework (Figure 6).
Our system of knowledge and beliefs can be seen as a set of para-
digms. In the coaching conversation, we are often looking to identify
and shift disempowering paradigms. This profile looks at conscious

Figure 5. Insights Jungian model (circularity and quadernity).

Source: Stout-Rostron (2006c: A40–A41).
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 135

Figure 6. Hippocrates’ quadrants with Insights colours.

Source: Adapted from Insights (2008) and Stout-Rostron (2006c).

Figure 7. Insights Jungian model (circularity and quadernity) showing

the eight primary Insights types.
Source: Adapted from Insights (2008) and Stout-Rostron (2006c).

and less conscious personas; introversion and extraversion: Jung’s

attitudes/orientations; thinking and feeling: Jung’s rational functions;
sensing and intuition: Jung’s irrational functions. This profile identi-
fies eight archetypes within the circle, and four energy colours in the
over-laying quadrants (Figure 7). These archetypes and the profile
itself is only one of many useful assessment tools, which can be used
as an assessment tool at the beginning of a coaching intervention.
136 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

In this chapter, we explore coaching with models structured in a

specific way. The four quadrants in each model are positioned as in
the Jungian Insights model, with “interior” on the left, i.e. what is
not visible individually and collectively; and on the right, what is
made visible through behaviour, i.e. what is external individually
and collectively. In the Insights model in Figure 5, the “thinking”
function is in the top two quadrants (blue and red), the “feeling”
function in the bottom two quadrants (green and yellow); the left-
hand quadrants represent the interior, and the right-hand side the
exterior of the individual and the collective.

Domains of Competence model (Habermas)

Part of a coach’s discipline is to be able to use and understand
models to structure the coaching intervention, helping the client
to develop self-awareness and to change behaviour. Habermas’s
Domains of Competence model (Figure 8) is a precursor to under-
standing Wilber’s four-quadrant model. Habermas’ model defines
the “general structures of communication” that enable clients to
engage in successful interaction (Wilber, 2000b:82–83). Habermas
defined three domains of reality in the world that exist concurrently:
I, We, It (see Flaherty, 2008 for an excellent detailing of Habermas’
domains of competency). The right-hand drawing in Figure 8 is the
original example in James Flaherty’s Coaching: Evoking Excellence in

Figure 8. Habermas’ Domains of Competence.

Source: Adapted from Weiss (2004) and Flaherty (1999).
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 137

Others (Flaherty, 1999:83). I have adapted it to a holistic model for

our use on the left.

I: The domain of the individual

This domain relates to the subjective world of the individual who
sees the world through their own eyes. Access to this domain is
through self-observation and the development of self-knowledge.
The skills required are those of self-observation, self-knowledge,
self-management, self-remembering, self-consistency and daring.
The competences are purpose, self-knowledge, self-correction and
persistence. The basis of this domain is subjective and the qualities
are those of vision, passion, integrity, trust and curiosity.

We: The domain of the collective or the community

This is the collective view of how we see the world. This view is
embodied in social practices, roles, rituals, meaning, narratives
and values that determine what is possible. Access to this domain
is through dialogue, conversation and relationships. The skills
required to access this domain are listening, speaking, setting stand-
ards, learning and innovating (Braaten, 1991). The competences are
relationship, communication, leadership and inspiration. The basis
of this domain’s reality is “subjective”. The qualities of this reality
are empathy, reliability, openness, and faith.

It: The domain of the external or objective world (Wilber, 1996)

This domain is that of science and technology, objective nature,
empirical forms and processes. It deals with objects, and access to
this domain is by becoming observant, analyzing, predicting and
building models. The competences of this objective domain are
processes, technology, measurement and statistics, and the quali-
ties of this domain are rigour, objectivity, persistence, creativity and
focus.

Ken Wilber’s four-quadrant Integral Model

Ken Wilber has written prodigiously about the evolution of his
model, and various adaptations of his Integral Model are taught in
138 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

South African coach training institutions. Wilber’s Integral Model

is an elegant way to map the essentials of human growth and
development—socially, psychologically and spiritually. Wilber inte-
grates five factors essential to facilitating human growth which he
calls quadrants, levels, lines, states and types. However, in this book,
we are going to work only with his four quadrants, which refer to
the subjective and objective realities within each of us (Figure 9).

PRACTICAL EXERCISE
Our clients operate in all three of these domains, and we can
devise questions in each to further client development. As an
exercise, devise questions that you could ask, relevant to each
domain. These questions are to help your clients understand the
lens through which they see the world, and to help them begin to
think about, experience and see the world through others’ eyes.
James Flaherty says this model represents the essential domains
of life in which a “leader must be competent” (Weiss, 2004).
Examples of possible questions:
I Domain: How can you continue your own self-development?
What are your short-term and long-term goals? How can you
balance both work and personal life? What are your blind spots
and how can you work with them?
We Domain: How can you use your skills of communication
and persuasion to inspire people to action? What is your value to
the team? How can you build competence in the team having lost
a valued member? What are the values and goals of your team?
It Domain: What are the processes that are working in the
organization? What technical processes need to be written up
for your training, learning and development manuals? What
processes are not being strictly adhered to and how can you best
apply them?

Wilber’s (2006:17) philosophy is that “every level of interior

consciousness is accompanied by a level of exterior physical
complexity”. In other words, the more consciousness we have in
the interior, the greater our corresponding understanding of the
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 139

Figure 9. Ken Wilber’s model.

Source: Wilber (2006:36–39).

complexities of the exterior world. If as coaches we are helping

clients to learn from experience, then it is important that we under-
stand the I (inside the individual), the we (inside the collective),
the it (outside the individual), and the its (outside the collective)
(Wilber, 2006:20–21).
My purpose is to help you design coaching questions that emerge
within each of the quadrants, to develop your client’s growing con-
sciousness in their interaction with “self” and the “world”. All four
quadrants can show growth and development. Wilber explains that
the unfolding four quadrants can “include expanding spheres of
consciousness ... Self and culture and nature can all develop and
evolve” (Wilber, 2006:25). All four quadrants need to be taken into
account if we want to work as integrally as possible with our clients,
helping them to integrate perspectives and awareness.
Initially, to use this as a coaching process, we can look at the types
of question you might ask clients within each quadrant to build per-
spective on themselves and their own issues. This is a very complex
model and we are working with it in its formative stages. We can
devise questions from a macro and a micro perspective, whether
for contracting, for the overall coaching journey, or the individual
coaching conversation. Try to devise your own questions before
140 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Figure 10. Ken Wilber’s Integral Model.

Source: Adapted from Pampallis Paisley (2006).

looking at the examples listed after the following descriptions for

each quadrant (Figure 10).

Upper Left (UL)

I (UL) is inside the individual, i.e. self and consciousness; the indi-
vidual’s values, vision, their purpose, their culture, their norm. In
this model, the upper left (UL) is interior, individual and inten-
tional. The internal you is represented by your values, your beliefs,
your morals, your feelings, your emotions, your self-confidence and
self-assurance. The UL represents what goes on inside of you and is
not visible to the external world.

Upper Right (UR)

It, the UR quadrant is described as exterior, individual and behav-
ioural. The UR shows how your values, beliefs, feelings and emo-
tions show up through your behaviour and interaction with others
in the external world. It is outside the individual, i.e. to do with the
body, brain and behaviour. This is how the individual shows up in
their behaviour with another individual out in the world; it is their
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 141

interpersonal skills, competences, what they say and do; what they
don’t say and do. Once this behaviour is visible, i.e. what you say
and do, and what you don’t say and do, this behaviour is repre-
sented in the upper right quadrant (UR).

Lower Left (LL)

We, the lower left, is interior, collective and cultural. We is inside
the collective, i.e. culture and worldview of the organization or the
society; the values, culture and beliefs of the team, organization,
society, nation of which the individual is a part. This is represented
by an awareness of your relationships with others, with the values
and beliefs of the collectives in which you operate.
For example, your organization (superiors, subordinates, peers)
or family, or within the communities of your spiritual life—these col-
lectives all share similar values. Your organization may, for instance,
be underpinned by family values or health or may be capitalising on
consumer needs with which you are in alignment.

Lower Right (LR)

Its (LR) is outside the collective, i.e. the social system and its
environment. This is represented by the systems, rules, regulations
and procedures within the corporate environment and society within
which the client works. The lower right quadrant (LR) is represented
by the exterior collective and the systems within which you live
and work, i.e. the rules, regulations, processes and procedures that
operate within your family, society, workplace, region, nation and
the world. The shared values and the shared relationships meet each
other in harmony or conflict in this quadrant.
Teams or companies within the system are, for example, able to
work collaboratively. Or on the other hand, due to gender inequali-
ties, an organization may only pay lip service to the development of
women in leadership, pulling candidates from training and devel-
opment programmes without understanding the negative impact
it might have on women wishing to move into management roles
within that organization.
According to Wilber (1997), these four quadrants enable us to map
every phenomenon, every interest, every area and every process in
life according to internal and external processes. As coaches, we can
142 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

use this model to help clients to understand themselves, developing

self-awareness and a conscious awareness of their interior life.
Coaches can also use this model to help clients understand the
impact of their interactions with others in the external world, and
the way they manage themselves and their relationships within the
cultures and systems (family, community, organization, society and
nation) within which they live and work.

CASE STUDY: HOW THE QUADRANTS ARE REPRESENTED

—IN THE WORKPLACE
Recently, I have been working with an executive, Ben, in a
retail manufacturing industry that has a history of success.
Ben’s divisional performance (LR) and his individual per-
formance (UR) have always been rated as excellent. However,
in the last two years, Ben has suffered an extreme loss of self-
confidence and worrying health problems. This was due to
working with a destructive line manager whose behaviour was
extremely negative over a two-year period. This line manager
undermined Ben constantly, shouting and humiliating Ben in
meetings (LR), as well as displaying constant aggressive behav-
iour one-on-one (UR).
Eventually, the constant undermining of Ben began to impact
negatively on his performance (UR). The work between coach and
client (UR) has been to rebuild the confidence and self-esteem of
this individual by increasing his levels of self-awareness (UL).
The coach instituted a 360° feedback (LL) and discovered that
Ben was highly thought of throughout the organization (LL).
However, the organization was very concerned about Ben’s
mental and physical health (UL). Gradually, through a combi-
nation of one-on-one coaching conversations between coach
and client with Ben and various senior executives to whom he
reports (UR), and coaching conversations in the collective team
(LR), Ben has begun the process of working on his confidence
and his health by learning new interpersonal skills and compe-
tences (UR), developing greater self-awareness of his own and
others’ assumptions (UL).
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 143

Questions in the four quadrants

What are the questions we can ask in each of the four quadrants to
use Wilber’s model in the coaching process? Devise your own ques-
tions before looking at the examples below (Figure 11).

Upper Left (UL): What is going on for you; how are you
thinking and feeling?
Upper Right (UR): Where are you in relation to the other?

Figure 11. Questions in Wilber’s quadrants.

Source: Questions devised by author to fit Wilber’s four quadrants.
144 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Lower Left (LL): How would you describe the culture, values
and relationships in your organization?
Lower Right (LR): Where are you in relation to the system/
world in which you live and work?

CASE STUDY: HOW THE QUADRANTS ARE REPRESENTED

—IN SOCIETY
In May 2008 South Africa experienced a flood of violent,
xenophobic behaviour. It had been brewing on the individual
interior level (UL) for many years among individuals who felt
discriminated against in society. As Jonathan Faull wrote in the
Cape Times: “Many poor, urban citizens of South Africa’s cit-
ies feel under- or unrepresented, buffeted by the tides of pov-
erty, subsistence, criminality and the desperate competition for
resources and opportunity …” (Faull, 2008). In poorer areas,
foreign nationals have grouped together by nationality to pro-
tect themselves and to continue to live within a semblance of a
culture that they understand (LL). Locals, nationals and foreign
nationals have managed to co-exist with each other with the
odd external flare-up or demonstration of conflict at an indi-
vidual level (UR) and between cultures (LR). The xenophobic
attacks have been at a systemic level (LR): mobs and criminal
gangs have instituted an array of violent attacks against poorer,
isolated foreign nationals. The attackers’ sense of frustration
and discrimination shows up in the attacks on individuals (UR)
and on groups of foreign nationals (LR). The sense of despair is
due to a lack of jobs, housing and the continuing poverty within
which many continue to live (LR).

EQ model
We can relate this model to the four quadrants of the EQ model. In
the upper left is a developing self-awareness, which people do not
see. That self-awareness shows up in your behaviour. In the upper
right are your interactions with other individuals (self-management).
In the lower left is your developing awareness of values, beliefs,
feelings and culture (relationship awareness), and in the lower
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 145

right, managing relationships at a systemic level (relationship

management), i.e. how teams or companies interact within an organ-
ization, and how families work together in a family system.
The EQ (Emotional Intelligence) model developed by Daniel
Goleman (1996) provides fuel for investigation inside the coaching
conversation, usually starting with questions about self-awareness
and self-management, moving at a later stage to develop relationship
awareness and relationship skills (such as interpersonal communi-
cation, managing people, and handling conflict). I have overlaid the
EQ model with the Insights and Ken Wilber’s (2006) four quadrants
(left side for intrinsic, right side for extrinsic; individual in the north,
collective in the south) (Figure 12). This EQ model can represent the
journey you and the client engage in together. The coach uses the EQ
model to help the client learn how to manage themselves and rela-
tionships. The coaching journey begins with developing the self.
As clients develop self-awareness, they become more aware
of what they say and do, and how they engage with others
(self-management). As they begin to engage differently with others
they gain an understanding and awareness of the culture, values
and beliefs that exist within that organization, and the diverse rela-
tionships operating concurrently in teams (relationship awareness).

Figure 12. EQ model, a four-quadrant adaptation.

Source: Adapted from Goleman (1996), Wilber (2006) and Insights (2008).
146 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Table 1. Emotional intelligence: competences and associated skill.

Self- Self- Relationship Relationship
awareness management awareness management
(Team awareness) (Team management)
Knowing self Interpersonal Organizational Team behaviour;
behaviour culture (values, Client management
beliefs, feelings)
Resistances Communication Environment Conflict
skills management
Purpose Management Politics Systems integration
skills

Source: Stout-Rostron (2006c).

As their awareness grows, they also become more aware of how the
system operates, how teams cooperate with each other or not, and
how units, divisions, staff, customers and stakeholders interact with
each other (relationship management) (Table 1).

GROW and CLEAR models

John Whitmore (2002) developed the GROW model, which we
explored in the previous chapter, as an excellent goal-setting proc-
ess. GROW is confusing as it has been described as both a model
and a question framework. It actually is a model which is useful
to structure the coaching conversation, i.e. it is a metaphor for the
growth which you hope your clients will experience in the overall
coaching journey. It is a model representative of the process of that
growth using a goal-setting framework of questions that hopefully
leads to awareness, responsibility and change. GROW can be used
as a goal-setting process: identifying a goal, discussing the client’s
current reality, exploring the client’s options, and summarizing out-
comes and what the client will actually do differently.
CLEAR as a model implies a contracting process, identifying the
rigour of listening, exploring the client’s issue at depth, asking ques-
tions throughout the coaching process, and finally reviewing where the
client is at the end of the coaching conversation. In the previous chapter
we explored the sequence of questions that can be thought about prior
to the coaching conversation using CLEAR. However, the general rule
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 147

with models is that questions emerge during the conversation itself as

they relate to the context, complexity and situation of the client.

Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model

The coaching conversation is essentially reflecting on experience.
Coach and client reflect the client’s experience and behaviours,
devising new thinking, feeling, behaviours and actions. Kolb says
that learning is not just an active, self-directed process, but also a
process where knowledge is created through the transformation
of experience (Kolb, 1984:42). Sometimes you just cannot get the
learning on your own, which is where the role of a coach or mentor
comes in. The coaching conversation helps to transform their experi-
ence into workable knowledge; learning then becomes an “emergent
experience” within a cycle of continuous learning.
Below is my adaptation from the original Kolb model, showing
the learning modes and integrated learning styles. However, for the
four-quadrant models we are practically working with in this book,
I have positioned “thinking” in the top right and left quadrants;
“feeling” in the bottom two quadrants; “interior/intrinsic” on the
left, and “exterior/extrinsic” on the right. Thus, following Kolb’s
original model (Figure 13), is the version of Kolb’s model to be used
in the coaching process (Figure 14).

Figure 13. Kolb’s original Experiential Learning Model.

Source: Adapted from Figure 3.1 in Kolb (1984:42).
148 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Figure 14. Kolb’s adapted Experiential Learning Model.

Source: Stout-Rostron (2006c).

Using Kolb’s four modes of learning

This is a very useful coaching model, as all clients come into the
coaching conversation with their concrete experiences. Coach and
client reflect and observe, think and theorize based on the client’s
observations, and agree what new thinking, feeling and behaviour
need to take place back in the working environment (Figure 15). If
the client stays in doing, action and concrete experiencing (e.g. if we
coach continuously without reflection, observation and evaluation)
it would not be possible to gain new learning (for both coach and cli-
ent). Many businesses get stuck because they create business plans,
put them into action and complete them but do not take enough
time out to review and evaluate. The integration of the quadrants
into learning styles is explored in depth in Chapter 6 on diversity,
culture and gender.
The basis of this learning process in coaching is to integrate the four
adaptive modes of Kolb’s learning model (concrete, abstract, reflective
and conceptual). Kolb (1984:41) insists that knowledge is the result of
“grasping of experience and transforming it into divergent, assimila-
tive, convergent and accommodative knowledge”. A further defini-
tion of the coaching conversation could be “an integration of reflection
and thinking on action and experience”. Kolb’s definition of each of
his experiential learning quadrants is particularly helpful:
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 149

Figure 15. Coaching with Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model.

Source: Stout-Rostron (2006c).

CE (concrete experience) is about feeling and experiencing;

RO (reflective observation) is about observing and watching;
AC (abstract conceptualization) is about thinking and conceptu-
alizing; and
AE (active experimentation) is about doing and being in action.

Kolb’s model can be used to structure the coaching conversation and

the coaching journey overall. We gain knowledge through our own
experience; each individual filters their worldview through their own
experience. In reflecting on our concrete experiences, we can trans-
form experience into some kind of useable knowledge. Some people
prefer to step into the experience itself; others prefer to watch, reflect
and review; some like to conceptualize, hypothesize and theorize; oth-
ers like to experiment with doing something new. All four work in
conjunction with each other. Essentially, each one of us integrates all
four learning modes, but we tend to have a preference for one or two.

What Kolb’s four learning modes indicate

Concrete experiencers: adopt a receptive, experience-based
approach to learning that relies heavily on feeling-based judgments.
150 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

CE individuals tend to be empathetic and “people-oriented”.

They generally find theoretical approaches to be unhelpful and prefer
to treat each situation as a unique case. They learn best from specific
examples in which they can become involved. Individuals who
emphasize concrete experience tend to be oriented more toward peers
and less toward authority in their approach to learning. They benefit
most from feedback and discussion with their coach and peers.
Reflective observers: adopt a tentative, impartial and reflective
approach to learning. RO individuals rely heavily on careful obser-
vation in making judgments and prefer learning situations such
as lectures that allow them to take the role of impartial objective
observers. These individuals tend to be introverts and require a typi-
cally greater reflective approach to the coaching session. Coaching
needs to be very reflective for them to access the learning needed to
move forward.
Abstract conceptualizers: adopt an analytical, conceptual appr-
oach to learning that relies heavily on logical thinking and rational
evaluation. AC individuals tend to be oriented more toward things
and symbols and less toward other people. They learn in imper-
sonal, authority-directed learning situations that emphasize theory
and systematic analysis. They are often frustrated by, and benefit
little from, unstructured “discovery” learning approaches, such as
activities and role-plays. The coach needs to be able to provide a
structured thinking approach to the session, and could use the Kolb
model to help the client to access the other learning modes.
Active experimenters: adopt an active, “doing” orientation to
learning that relies heavily on experimentation. AE individuals learn
best when they can engage in such things as projects, homework,
developing new techniques inside the coaching conversation that
they can take back out to the workplace, and in group discussions.
They dislike passive learning situations such as lectures, and tend
to be extraverts. AE clients can be active and noisy and may require
focused energy in the coaching environment.

Case study—Using Kolb’s learning modes as a coaching process

In the case study below, the coach’s comments are in italics; the cli-
ents are in standard type. The coach determined during a previous
coaching session that it would be useful with this client (who was a
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 151

coach) to work with a specific concrete “coaching” experience, as the

client had had trouble using the Kolb process as a coaching model
with his client.
The aim of the coaching conversation below was to help the
coachee to understand how to use the four modes of the Kolb expe-
riential learning process in a coaching session with his own clients.
Having read the definitions of each learning mode and the following
case study, think about how you can use this model in certain coach-
ing situations.
What is your goal? To build my confidence in the coaching process
and to pay attention to structure; and to do so I want to try to under-
stand how to use the Kolb model as a coaching process.
OK, so would you like me to use the Kolb model for this conversa-
tion, and then we can reflect back at the end to understand how we moved
through the four modes, from concrete experience, to reflective observation,
abstract conceptualization and active experimentation? Yes, and would
we always start with concrete experience?

Figure 16. Kolb’s adult learning cycle.

Source: Adapted from Kolb (1984:42).
152 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Not always; it depends on what the client needs. You said that you have a
specific experience that you wish to start with, so I am suggesting we begin
with your specific concrete experience. Okay, let’s go.

Concrete experience (CE)

Can you tell me a little more about this goal, sharing your experience so
that I can understand the issue? I want to explore the triggers that
prompt me to be too hasty when I am coaching. Usually, as I end
the coaching conversation, I find that I have been very judgemental
of the client, and I always rush to close. In other words, I make way
too many assumptions. I want to understand what I can do to guard
against rushing.
So tell me a little more about what happens that makes you rush in this
coaching session. If you like, tell me a little about both your thoughts and
feelings, as well as what you feel physically in your body as you coach.
I feel helpless, frustrated, with a huge sense of urgency and anxiety
that sits in my gut, yet I still feel that I need to get it done at a high
level. And I start to concentrate more on what I am feeling and tend
to stop focusing on my client. In other words, I am more aware of a
sense of myself than I am of my client.
Anything else? It’s useful to look at what you are thinking and feeling,
whether it’s anxiety or a sense of urgency. Looking at this one specific
instance may be a really useful way for us to look at what happens, not just
in this instance, but also when this has happened to you in previous coaching
sessions. Yes, it’s a similar experience in all of my coaching sessions.
And one of my assumptions is that it’s both a sense of urgency
underpinned by some kind of anxiety about getting it done.
This is the second time you have spoken about your “assumptions”. Yes.
I think I’m making too many assumptions.
Can you remember any of the things you are assuming as you begin to
feel that anxiety? Can you visualize or feel yourself back in that situation
and describe how you are experiencing it? Yes, some of the assumptions
are that I might not be able to help; that I should already know the
answers; that this is too difficult already.
Ok, and what was your goal during the coaching session for yourself?
I want to complete the Kolb coaching process and give value to the
client.
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 153

Reflective observation (RO)

So we’ve explored your experience a bit and identified some of the
assumptions that may take your focus off of the client. Rather than sitting
inside the experience as if it’s happening now, let’s look back at this
experience as something you’ve experienced in the past. When you were in
the coaching session, what triggered your assumptions? I cannot recall;
only that time seemed to be one of the triggers.
So when time became a trigger, what kinds of things were you assum-
ing? That I should jump in with answers for the client; that I should
make suggestions about what they should do; and that perhaps I’m
not the right person to do this; and also I sort of feel like they “need
fixing”. When you got to the end of the session what did you assume?
That I hadn’t completed stuff and that I hadn’t really acknowledged
them, or something about them.
So, as we reflect on this, it seems that you actually had some clarity on
your own thinking and feeling which can be useful for us to learn from.
Is there anything else about your assumptions that got in your way? Just
that I spend so much time thinking about my own thoughts that
I am not listening effectively to the client.
And what would you prefer to do? I want to focus on the client. I want
to let go of my thoughts.
Okay, so what can we learn from this that will help you learn next time?
I think that I need to find a way to centre and focus before I start
the coaching conversation, so that I am entirely focused on them
throughout.
You spoke earlier about having your attention in several areas at once,
identified as the three streams of attention described in Nancy Kline’s
Thinking Environment® [Kline, 1999/2004].
I would like to do that; be focused on them, know what my
responses are and still create an environment conducive to
coaching.
If you are able to do that, will you experience the coaching conversation
differently from your current experience? Yes, I will feel that I can add
value to the client, which is what I want. And I feel that this process
may be perfect for me to use.
What do you mean by perfect? I think it is structured yet has flex-
ibility, and I think I can trust the process.
154 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

And so if you were to have faith in this process, how would that help
you? I would calm down, and let go of my anxiety and that sense
of urgency. Anything else, now that we are reflecting? What else do you
think you need to learn from this specific experience? I think it’s about
self-balance.
Can I just check that I understand what you mean by “self-balance”?
For me, self-balance forges self-respect and respect for others.
So self-balance in the coaching relationship is self-balance for the coach
as well as self-balance for the client? What I’m going to suggest is that
we move from reflection on this specific conversation to think about and
conceptualize what the conversation may look and feel like if there is self-
balance for both coach and client? Great, I’m happy with that. I think
that if I have dealt with some of the assumptions that we have dis-
covered then that will help, but also I need to feel centred and bal-
anced before entering into the conversation.
Okay, shall we explore and perhaps transform or overturn some of
these disempowering assumptions before moving on? Yes, please ...
[Coach and client identify the key limiting assumptions, and the
coach helps the client to identify if they are true or false, identify-
ing several more empowering assumptions and constructive ways
of thinking. They then move into the next phase, continuing to use
the Kolb experiential learning process.]

Abstract conceptualization (AC)

Do you mean, noticing and observing what you think and feel, and
letting go of assumptions that might disempower both you and the cli-
ent? Yes, I need to focus on the client, knowing that if I just listen
that in itself is empowering and gives some space for thinking
together.
So, you want to refocus and give attention back to the client. What else?
I need to find some way to … create a sense of groundedness, like
being rooted but still flexible.
Some of the language you use is sometimes reflective of NLP [neu-
rolinguistic programming—see Chapter 2 for a discussion of this
approach]. So I wonder if it is “anchoring” you are thinking of? Yes,
I need some sort of physical anchor to move me out of my head to
be able to create a focus on listening and being present for the client
at all times. That will help me shift some of these assumptions. Can
you help me with that?
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 155

Sure, tell me what would work best as an anchor for you? A question,
a thought, something you do physically with your hands? That would be
the simplest and not distract the client.
In other words, you need to use something physical and tangible to take
the focus off your own disempowering thinking? Yes, that would be per-
fect. I don’t want to get up and pace up and down as that would be
distracting. I want to do something that calms both my mind and
my body.
Okay, so that would help you to refocus; sounds useful. [Coach and
client agree on the anchor, and the coach helps the client to create an
anchor that will work in every coaching conversation to create focus.
“The process of anchoring involves linking a specific sight, sound or
touch with an experience that is present. For example, a situation in
which you are associated. This process enables you to use the anchor
to re-access the same experience” (McLoughlin and Stout-Rostron,
2002:48).] Anything else that would help you to refocus on the client? No,
that is perfect.
Do you think that this one gesture will be enough to help you anchor and
refocus on the client? Yes.
OK, so in the coaching conversation, this will help to manage self-
balance; what else would be useful to think about in terms of self-balance
for the client? Well, actually it was an assumption to think the client
needs self-balance. It’s actually me who needs it, so I think this is a
start!
What else might be valuable—to think about how you use your self-
balance and refocus back on the client? I don’t know.
It’s a tough one. My observation is that if this has happened once it
may happen again. So in what way could you work going forward? It’s
something about being present for the client in the way I frame
questions and reflect back what they are saying. If I am “anchored”
I will easily be able to do it because I know that I have done it
before.
Great, so essentially to refocus and give attention you would need to fire
your anchor. In the same way, if self-balance continues to come up, will the
other reflective practices that you have prepared help you? Definitely, and
this is how I will use them ...
Anything else that when you conceptualize the coaching conversation
would be helpful to you? Yes, I will ...
Anything else that would be helpful for you to focus on the client?
156 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Active experimentation (AE)

Ok, so we’ve been working on conceptualizing and moving away from your
disempowering thinking. Shall we think about how you actually could do it
differently, and think differently, when coaching? Yes, let’s try it.
So now we will actively think about how you would do it. Let’s start by
thinking about how you would have done the old conversation differently
... I would be so focused on the client that I am hearing what she has
to say, and I am actually thinking about where we are in the process,
in terms of structure, in the coaching conversation.
Can you think of something coming up to think about how you would
do it differently? Yes, in fact I am going to practise this at home first,
focusing on the kids as they tell me about their school day. I’m going
to fire my anchor and listen to my wife. Usually I just interrupt and
don’t let any of them finish what they have to say. I guess I’m fixing
them too! I think it’s a practice that I have to begin at home in order
to make it something that begins to come naturally.
That sounds great—it’s always hardest to do any kind of new thinking
and behaviour at home. Also, I think I need to use my anchor to put
on the “pause button”. In other words, I need to pause before I say
anything. This is something I need to experiment with.
Pushing the pause button sounds like a great anchor. How will you reflect
how effectively you are in pressing the pause button? Perhaps I should
make a few notes ...
Would you like to write down some of these new active practices, and in
our next session, we can reflect on what has worked for you? These are use-
ful new practices. [Client makes notes.] Is there anything else you would
like to accomplish to actively experiment with doing something differently?
No, I think this will do and I am already developing some awareness
of myself that will help with self-balance. I think actually that I may
keep a small journal at the end of the day that will help me to adopt
these practices. I have several coaching sessions with new clients
before I see you again, and I will reflect on what’s worked and what
hasn’t when I see you next.
Fine, anything else that comes to mind that would be useful going out
into the world and doing it differently? No, I like this process and just
want to reflect a few minutes on how we went through the four
modes of the Kolb process, and how I might use it and my anchors
in my next coaching session. If we could do that, then I think I’m all
set. Thanks.
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 157

Great, let’s finish with that. Okay, let me think it through with
you. We seem to have stepped into the “concrete experience” itself
when you asked me to think about how I felt, what I was think-
ing, and what I was assuming in that one specific coaching con-
versation with my client. We then moved into a reflective space,
as I reflected on those thoughts, feelings and assumptions and we
thought about what I had learned from that session in reflection.
We then talked about the coaching conversation in a kind of think-
ing manner, i.e. we conceptualized a different way forward, and
in fact we moved into active experimentation as we developed
anchors. So, in fact, we already have begun to experiment. Then
we worked with anchors and talked about how pause buttons can
best be put to use at home and in my next coaching session. I have
an action plan and will report back on how I do in our next session.
I think it’s about more self-awareness, focusing on the client, and
thinking about new behaviours as I am beginning to think and feel
differently.
Is there anything else you need from this conversation? No thanks.
Can I ask what you gained from working with this process? I think that
I understand the Kolb model better, particularly the conceptualiza-
tion stage, and I feel quite comfortable to try it in a coaching session
for myself.

Reflecting on the case study

In the above coaching conversation, the coach first helped the cli-
ent determine his goals for the session, and structured the con-
versation using the Kolb model. The coach made sure that she
constantly clarified the way forward with the client, not moving
before he was ready. Furthermore, she tried to mostly use the cli-
ent’s words. Once or twice she reframed what the client had said
to check whether she had understanding. The coach referred to
thinking, feeling and assumptions right through the conversation,
having picked that up from the client. And, to end the conversa-
tion, the client reviewed the cycle, reiterating the experience, what
was reflected, what the new concept was to work differently in the
coaching conversation, and how they experimented with a way
forward. Using this model, the coach was able to help the client
articulate how he experiences the world, and where his levels of
discomfort were in the coaching process. The coach also confirmed
158 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

that NLP was part of his experience before they worked to develop
new anchors; previously, disempowering assumptions were his
anchors. In all of these ways, the coach was able to safely create
an environment to use the Kolb model, which the client wished to
learn as a coaching structure. Finally, the coach moved from the
specific situation to create anchors and an understanding of how
to use the Kolb model in a coaching situation, i.e. she moved from
the specific to the general.

Hudson’s Renewal Cycle model

Frederick Hudson’s (1998:79) model is useful in order to understand
an adult’s experience of life and change. Hudson’s renewal cycle
can be used to structure the coaching conversation and the overall
journey. I have placed Hudson’s four quadrants where they are most
aligned with the Insights four colours (Figure 17). The quadrants
integrate relatively well with the Insights four colours: yellow for
“getting ready” to go back into the world, red for actively “going
for it”, blue for the “doldrums” and green for “cocooning”. Often
when you overlay one model over another, it is not always a perfect
match.
As a coaching model, the coach can start wherever is most useful
for the client, and in whatever sequence is needed (Stout-Rostron,
2006c):

1. Go for it (summer)—In phase one, the individual is purpose-

ful, active, busy, committed, optimistic, and energized as a team
player.
2. Doldrums (autumn)—In phase two, the individual is bored,
restless or feeling stuck, reactive, in denial, angry, sad, pessimistic,
low in energy, a loner, and resistant to change.
3. Cocooning (winter)—In phase three, the individual is turned
inward, meditative, experimenting, exploring, disoriented, healing,
quiet, deconstructing and reconstructing the self, tapping into
core values, tapping resilient emotions, spiritual, and doing inner
work.
4. Getting ready (spring)—In phase four, the individual senses
a new purpose, searching, networking; this phase is creative,
free and uncommitted, naively optimistic, recovering perhaps
forgotten childlike and spontaneous abilities.
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 159

Figure 17. Hudson’s four stages.

Source: Adapted from Hudson (1999:106) and Insights (2008).

We can create an analogy for each of these phases with the seasons
of the year. As in autumn, the client is in the doldrums, in the dark
and resistant to change. Cocooning is like winter, where the client is
deconstructing, reconstructing, doing some inner work, meditative.
Getting ready is like spring, and the client is seeking new purpose,
searching, maybe looking for that new job, the inner child is at work.
The going for it phase is like summer, where the client is busy with
a new sense of purpose, committed and optimistic and energized.

CASE STUDY: USING HUDSON’S MODEL FOR COACHING

The doldrums
A young woman who wanted to change careers, Shannon, came
to me for coaching. Shannon wanted to work with someone
who could understand the passion she had for her AIDS NGO
work, and she wanted someone to help her think through the
next steps to develop her career. Although qualified as a law-
yer, Shannon was working in marketing and promotions rather
than on the legal side. She was in the doldrums, working about
12 hours a day, exhausted, not feeling that she was working at
a senior enough position to make a difference. She was highly
committed to the work she was doing. In some ways, I was also
a mentor for her. One aspect of a mentor’s
160 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

job is to introduce the client to their own network to help

the client to build alliances and relationships. This moves them
the next step in their career. In our first session, we talked
about the doldrums, which is how she described her current
thinking and feeling, and what was different to when she first
began her work in this NGO.
Cocooning
In our next few sessions, we talked about her need to do a bit of
cocooning, to sit back and reflect, using the coaching sessions as
a space to do so. We agreed she would cocoon as long as it took.
We thought about the following questions:

• What do I really want to do?

• Shall I stay or leave my job?
• Do I want to leave South Africa to pursue my studies?
• Would that be the right thing to do?
• Can I grow my skills and education by staying in South
Africa?

Eventually Shannon realized she thought she was ready to

begin to think about making a move from her current job, but
she was not yet willing to leave the projects in which she was
immersed.
Getting ready
We met a few times, and gradually she began to articulate a pos-
sible way forward. As we moved into the getting ready phase,
she looked at her options and decided that she would first begin
to build her network, and create relationships that could open
doors for her. She attended a few courses, including a master
class in the Thinking Environment® with Nancy Kline, and par-
ticipated in several business breakfasts on Leadership Skills
for Women. She made contact with the two NGOs with whom
I had contact, searching for opportunities to continue her edu-
cation by studying and working abroad. She was clear that her
ultimate aim was to return to South Africa with new skills that
could be applied to the AIDS organizations. I knew two people
in the NGO world who were potential employers. Shannon met
with these two international NGOs who had offices in South
Africa although their head offices were in the States.
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 161

After a period of about six months, Shannon thought she was

ready to move into action. This would normally be the go for it
phase. However, was she ready to go for it? She applied for a schol-
arship to study further at Georgetown University in Washington
DC. When she was accepted, her words were, “I don’t under-
stand why I am not jumping for joy. It is an incredible opportu-
nity, I am going to get a visa for four years. I am going to study
in the States. I am going to have a research job. What is wrong
with me? It’s right there.” The question always worth asking
is, “What does the client need now?” Here she was ready for a
change but, although a marvellous opportunity was within her
grasp she could not understand why she didn’t just “go for it”.

Going for it
We talked about what she needed in order to get back into
action. She decided to stick with her current NGO job. There
were projects still to complete before she could move out of the
country and take up the scholarship. She felt she could not let her
colleagues down by not implementing her current programmes.
In this way, she revitalized her passion for her current job. We
discussed ways to create boundaries to manage her working
hours. In speaking to her several months later, I learned that she
was on track to take up the scholarship the following year. Her
intention was to return to South Africa when she was qualified,
looking then to accept a new and more empowering role.

Other circular models

I-T-O (Input, Throughput, Output)
Models in coaching are very useful to us as a way to structure the
entire coaching intervention, and the individual coaching conver-
sation. However, all models must provide flexibility, not rigid-
ity. The following model is an open systems model developed for
change management by Thomas G. Cummings and Christopher G.
Worley (2004). It is used by i-Coach Academy, London and is taught
in their Masters in Coaching degree in the UK, USA and South Africa.
This model can easily be used to structure the coaching conversa-
tion, or to structure the overall coaching intervention (Figure 18).
162 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Figure 18. Input, Throughput, Output.

Source: Cummings and Worley (2004).

Input (Why)
As a coach (and for the client), where do you come from and what
are you informed by? This is the input part of the coach’s frame-
work, the why (i.e. why you’re working together as coach and
client). It assumes the “input” or beginning stage of the coaching
conversation between coach and client. Input is what informs you as
a coach, the underlying theories you are working with, your experi-
ence and expertise, your philosophy and values, and the constructs
that underpin your worldview. Questions you might ask the client
in the input stage are:

• What is on the menu for our conversation today?

• What do you want to think about?
• What are your key issues or challenges?
• What are your priorities?

Throughput (How/What)
The process the coach uses in the coaching conversation is the
throughput of the coaching framework. It is the how, in other
words, what the coach actually does in the coaching conversa-
tion. This second stage, throughput, is represented by the tools,
techniques, models, processes, mechanics and systems the coach
brings into the coaching conversation. Typical questions you could
ask may be:

• What are your observations about your thinking?

• What are your questions about your thinking?
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 163

• What can you learn from your thinking?

• What are you assuming that is stopping you/limiting you/
holding you back?
• What makes that stop you?

Output (What for/purpose)

The third stage is the purpose (what for) in the coaching process and
relates to the client’s outcomes. Output represents the actions, goals,
results and measurements expected from the coaching conversation,
including an outline of what the client has learned, will do differ-
ently and goals set.
Output is represented by the results, objectives and outputs
which the client gains from the coaching conversation. It is rep-
resented by the client arriving at their desired outcome. Output
relates to where the client is going, how results can be measured
and what has changed as a result of the coaching. Typical questions
might be:

• What action are you now going to take?

• What has changed in your overall vision, strategy and goals?
• What is the overall learning this session?
• What will you do differently as a result of today?

Contracting with I-T-O

To contract the overall journey, coach and client discuss what each
brings to the relationship, and the overall aim of coaching for the
client (input). Coach and client then discuss how the coaching will
take place: timing, boundaries, fees and the tools and techniques to
be used by the coach, and the way the client would prefer to work
(throughput). They also discuss the overall results and outcomes
the client hopes to achieve from the coaching intervention, results
that need to be visible to the organization, and thinking, feeling and
behaviour that the client would like to change (output).
As a rule, when using this model, I start the coaching conversation
with input: “Where are you now?” “Where do you want to get to by
the end of this conversation?” “What do you want to talk about?”
“What’s on the menu for today?” Once we have identified what
164 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

needs to be worked on, I move into throughput: using whichever

question frameworks, tools or techniques are relevant to the process.
For output, we summarize actions, learning and outcomes from the
conversation.

CASE STUDY: I-T-O

Input
With one of my current executive clients, Rosalyn, coach and cli-
ent chatted for an hour about where Rosalyn was in her personal
and professional life. She felt that she was somewhat chaotic in
her approach to her new position as Director of Transformation
for her organization. After an hour’s thinking, she identified her
goal for the coaching session: “I’d like to create a transformation
workshop that can be facilitated throughout the entire organiza-
tion. So, I need to do some thinking around how I can do it and
who can do it for me, and whether I should subcontract you,
another external consultant, or facilitate myself. I’m thinking
about creating a series of national transformation workshops.
What do you think?” Coach and client agreed to work on an
outline for the workshop as a start.

Throughput
The coach asked the questions that would help Rosalyn to think
through a framework for the one-day programme. Coach and cli-
ent identified the assumptions that were stopping Rosalyn from
thinking she was the person to facilitate the transformational
workshops. We discussed who might be the facilitator, and it
emerged that she was the right person: she had the relevant
skills, organizational knowledge, experience and an under-
standing of diversity and empowerment in South Africa. She
also had a better understanding of organizational culture than
an external consultant might have. We agreed that, as her coach,
it was more constructive for her if I simply helped her to design
the programme.

Output
To conclude, we reflected on what she had gained from the ses-
sion. She concluded that she felt empowered to be both designer
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 165

and facilitator for the pilot session with the board. She decided
to think during our next session about how to develop other
facilitators for the process. She wanted to be the trainer of the
facilitators. She also decided to put forward a proposal for a
deputy who would help her with administration and policy-
making. She came to the conclusion that transformation needed
to start at the top, otherwise the complexity of transformation
would not be fully embraced. We summarized her action steps,
finished the outline for the programme, and explored how she
could present her ideas to the board.

The U-process
The U-process is sometimes known as the process of transition, while
many have also experienced it as similar to Kübler-Ross’s cycle of
grieving, or as a mid-range change theory. Kübler-Ross’s stages of
death and dying are denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depres-
sion and acceptance. This stage theory has been controversial, prima-
rily because the theory denies the individuality of human beings and
other needs of the dying, such as having some control in their own
treatment and destiny, the role of culture, religion, personality, family
dynamics and so on (Gorle, 2002). Although the staging theory has
experienced limitations in its interpretation, in the coaching field this
U-process is more typically represented in Scharmer’s U-process.

Scharmer’s U-process
In the process of transition, the client can move from anxiety, through
happiness, fear, threat, guilt, denial, disillusionment, depression,
gradual acceptance and hostility to moving forward.

The change process

The U-process is considered a mid-range change theory with a
sense of an emerging future. Scharmer’s process moves the client
through different levels of perception and change, with differing
levels of action which follow. The three main elements are sensing,
presencing and realizing. These represent the three basic aspects of
the U (Figure 19). This process helps the client to work at different
166 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Figure 19. Scharmer’s U-process Model.

Source: Adapted from Senge, Scharmer, Jaworski and Flowers (2005:88).

levels of perception and change, and allows different levels of actions

to follow. All three are extensions of the learning process. As the coach
and client move into the U, sensing is about observing and becom-
ing one with the world; presencing, moving to the bottom of the U,
is about retreating and reflecting and allowing an inner knowing to
emerge, and realizing as you move out of the “U”, is about acting
swiftly and with a natural flow from the knowledge and understand-
ing that has emerged.
The U-theory suggests co-creation between the individual and
the collective—i.e. the larger world. It is about the interconnection
or integration of the self with the world. At the bottom of the U,
as described by Scharmer, is the “inner gate” where we drop the
baggage of our journey, going through a threshold. The metaphor
used here is that of “death of the old self”, and “rebirth of the new
self”, the client emerges with a different sense of self. On the Web
is a lovely dialogue between Wilber and Scharmer where they dis-
cuss the seven states and the three movements in this one process
(Scharmer, 2003).
Superficial learning and change processes are shorter versions
of the U-movement. In using this as a coaching process, the client
moves downwards into the base of the U, moving from acting, to
thinking, to feeling, to will. This is to help the client to download
with the coach, to let go and discover who they really are, to see
from the deepest part of themselves, developing an awareness that
is expanded with a shift in intention.
Otto Scharmer, in an executive summary of his book, Theory U:
Leading From the Future as it Emerges, describes the U-process as
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 167

Figure 20. U-process case study.

Source: Scharmer (2007:6).

five movements: co-initiating, co-sensing, presencing, co-creating

and co-evolving (Scharmer, 2007:5–8). Scharmer describes this
as moving “first into intimate connection with the world and to a
place of inner knowing that can emerge from within, followed by
bringing forth the new, which entails discovering the future by
doing” (Scharmer, 2007:6). The following case study demonstrates
the five-step process.

Case study: The Global Convention on Coaching (GCC)

From July 2007 until July 2008, Marti and I took part in the Global
Convention on Coaching. I was chairperson of the GCC’s Working
Group on a Research Agenda for Development of the Field, and Marti
participated in the Working Group dialogue process. The GCC was
originally established to create a collaborative dialogue for all stake-
holders in coaching worldwide, with the ultimate aim of profession-
alizing the industry. Nine initial working groups were formed by
the GCC’s Steering Committee to discuss critical issues related to the
professionalization of coaching, producing “white papers” on the
current realities and possible future scenarios of these issues. These
white papers were presented at the GCC’s Dublin convention in July
2008. This case study summarizes the working group process of the
research agenda, which comprised a 12-month online dialogue proc-
ess, with the addition of monthly telephone conversations, during
2007–2008.
168 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

1. Co-initiation
Co-initiating is about building common intent, stopping and lis-
tening to others and to what life calls you to do. In the Working
Group for the Research Agenda, the group built common intent by
first setting up the group, defining their purpose and beginning
to discuss the process that they wanted to use for their dialogue.
It was agreed that the chairperson and facilitator would invite spe-
cific individuals to join the Working Group, and those members
would suggest other individuals who might have a key interest in
the research agenda for the field (i.e. the emerging coaching profes-
sion). The group began their online dialogue, once all had accepted
the invitation and received instructions on how to use the online
GCC web forum. It was agreed that there would be three commu-
nities working together: the Working Group and the Consultative
Body for the Research Agenda, and the Steering Committee who
were responsible for the leadership and management of the other
groups.

2. Co-sensing
Observe, Observe, Observe. Go to the places of most potential
and listen with your mind and heart wide open. The chairperson
and the facilitator of the Working Group had to learn to co-facilitate,
observing each other’s skill and competence. They had to be willing
to listen to each other, observing each other’s style in facilitating an
online dialogue. They needed to create the group, and to facilitate
the way forward with the group, learning to take constructive criti-
cism and appreciation from each other, guiding the group forward
without being prescriptive. Both chairperson and facilitator agreed
to co-chair the process, remaining mentally and emotionally open to
each other’s divergent opinions, ways of being and styles of inter-
personal communication, whether working with the group online
or by phone.

3. Presencing
Connect to the source of inspiration, and will. Go to the place of
silence and allow the inner knowing to emerge. Each individual
in the process read, reflected and regularly added their thoughts
and feelings to the online forum. Debate, conflict and agreement
emerged—with chair and facilitator taking responsibility to keep the
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 169

group on track without being prescriptive. The chair and facilitator

had to connect, each one to their own individual source of inspira-
tion and to bring that together as one voice to guide the group.

4. Co-creating
Prototype the new. In living examples to explore the future by
doing. This entailed harnessing the energy of the Working Group to
draft a current reality document of their online and tele-conference
dialogue; this document was revised four times. They brought in
a facilitator for the Consultative Body who entered the Consulta-
tive Body dialogue at stage 1 (co-initiating), but entered the Work-
ing Group dialogue at stage 3 (presencing). Trying to move forward
with their own Working Group process, yet move the Consultative
Body from stage 1 to stage 2 (co-initiation to co-sensing) was a com-
plex, parallel process. The chairperson and facilitator enlisted the
help of a copywriter and editor to manage the writing process of the
white paper during the Working Group’s co-creation (or stage 4).

5. Co-evolving
Embody the new in ecosystems that facilitate seeing and act-
ing from the whole. The final stage of the process was the physi-
cal gathering at the Dublin convention. This took place in three
stages: pre-convention, during the convention and post-convention
(post-convention work has just begun). Several months prior to the
convention, all nine working groups began to work together online
and by telephone to share their own varied stages in the U-process;
in this way they learned from each other as they gathered momen-
tum moving towards Dublin which was to be the culmination of
their year-long project. Some groups had lost participants during
the 12 months through disagreement; others managed to harness
the energy to move through each of the stages together. The three
processes were:

• Pre-convention: Preparation for the presentation of a white paper

by nine committees; this was for their committee’s current global
reality and future possible scenarios for their topic, with the addi-
tion of a tenth committee four months prior to Dublin.
• Convention: Physical presence, dialogue and debate in Dublin
with each of the working groups. This was paralleled with virtual
170 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

online feedback on a daily basis from those not able to attend the
convention (however, there were difficulties with this process
which frustrated some who could not access the virtual dialogue
during that week).
• Post-convention: Continuation of the process with a new format.
The work to take place in diverse groups regionally and nation-
wide, to proceed to the next step building the emerging profes-
sion of coaching. Post-convention, a Transitional Steering Group
(TSG) began work to harness the energy of those wishing to con-
tinue. The new GCC saw its role as an organic one, continuing to
facilitate a global dialogue, rather than forming another coach-
ing organization. The GCC Transitional Steering Group (TSG),
with representatives from the USA, UK, Australia, Argentina,
Singapore and South Africa, designed a web-based networking
platform for the 17 000 GCC members who had signed up to the
Dublin Declaration on Coaching (GCC, 2008g).

This U-process is applicable to large innovation projects where the

unfolding takes place over a long time; a year in this instance. The
team composition in such projects as this will change and adapt to
some degree after each movement: in the GCC process the working
group for the Research Agenda had lost and added new members,
whereas the consultative body was a looser entity with only certain
members playing a strong role. This was a process of discovery,
exploring the future by doing, thinking and reflecting. As Scharmer
explains, it facilitates an opening. Facilitating an opening process
involves “the tuning of three instruments: the open mind, the open
heart, and the open will” (Scharmer, 2007:8–9).
At any one time there were three U-process journeys taking place
for the Research Agenda: within the working group, the working
group interacting with the consultative body, and the working group
interacting with the steering committee.

In conclusion
Coach practitioners have a great deal of flexibility when work-
ing with coaching models. In this book, we work from an expe-
riential learning premise because the client always brings their
experience into the coaching conversation. The client’s experience is
 E X P L O R I N G A N D U N D E R S TA N D I N G C OAC H I N G M O D E L S 171

underpinned by a range of factors, including culture, education, life

experience and personality.
This chapter has explored a few models that hang on a frame-
work of circularity, quadernity and the U-shape. As it is not possible
to work with every coaching model available in the marketplace, we
have not delved into Maslow’s triangular model, Beck and Cowen’s
spiral dynamics model, Ned Herrmann’s four-quadrant, whole-
brain business model, or Will McWhinney’s Paths of Change model.
I leave those for you to explore, and hope that you have gained a
sense of the flexibility models can offer the coach practitioner, as
well as the elasticity in overlaying one over another. Simplicity is the
prerequisite.
I hope that this chapter has introduced some new learning and
the curiosity to experiment with new structures within your coach-
ing conversations. It may be that you add one or two of these models
into your coach’s toolkit; or that you register for a coach training
programme to learn to work with a new model for your own con-
tinuing professional development.

Coach’s library
Cummings, T. G., and Worley, C. G. (2004). Organization Development and
Change. Mason, OH: South-Western College Publishing.
Flaherty, J. (2008). Detail of: Habermas’ Domains of Competency. Webpage:
coaching.gc.ca/documents/coaching_essential_competences_for_
leaders_e.asp.
Goleman, D. (1996). Emotional Intelligence. London: Bloomsbury.
Harri-Augstein, S., and Thomas, L. F. (1991). Learning Conversations, Self-
Organised Learning: The Way to Personal and Organizational Growth.
London: Routledge.
Hudson, F. M. (1999). The Handbook of Coaching: A Comprehensive Resource
Guide for Managers, Executives, Consultants, and Human Resource Pro-
fessionals. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Insights (2008). Insights Model. Webpage: www.insights.co.uk.
Kline, N. (1999/2004). Time to Think: Listening with the Human Mind.
London: Ward Lock.
Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learn-
ing and Development. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Lane, D. A., and Corrie, S. (2006). The Modern Scientist-Practitioner:
A Guide to Practice in Psychology. Hove: Routledge.
172 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Scharmer, C. O. (2007). Addressing the Blind Spot of Our Time: An Executive

Summary of the New Book by Otto Scharmer: Theory U: Leading from the
Future as it Emerges. Theoryu.com. Webpage: www.theoryu.com/
execsummary.html.
Senge, P., Scharmer, C. O., Jaworski, J., and Flowers, B. S. (2005). Presence:
Exploring Profound Change in People, Organizations and Society. London:
Nicholas Brealey.
Ting, S., and Scisco, P. (2006). The CCL Handbook of Coaching: A Guide for
the Leader Coach. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Weiss, P. (2004). The Three Levels of Coaching. San Francisco, CA: An
Appropriate Response. Webpage: www.newventureswest.com/
three_levels.pdf.
Wilber, K. (2000a). A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business,
Politics, Science and Spirituality. Dublin: Gateway.
CHAPTER SIX

Diversity, culture and gender

Sunny Stout-Rostron, Marti Janse van Rensburg and
Daniel Marques Sampaio

CHAPTER OUTLINE
• Sunny-Stout Rostron writes
– Diversity
– Transforming limiting assumptions
– What happens when it goes wrong?
– Social and workplace transformation
– Coaching across cultures
– Argentina
– Asia
– Coaching Latinos
– Stepping into Africa
• Daniel Marques Sampaio writes
– Worldview
– Assumptions
– Engaging with difference
– Binary oppositions
– The challenge of putting equality into practice
– A new map of the world

173
174 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

• Marti Janse van Rensburg writes

– Background and similarities
– Race
– Gender
– Communication styles
– Language and linguistic patterns
– Religion
• Cultural differences in the workplace
– Individualism versus collectivism
– Context
• Bringing it all together
• Coach’s library

This is a general introduction to a vital subject with which all

business coaches need to get to grips. It is neither an academic
assessment nor designed for those who are already experts in the
field. This is for the general practitioners who need to reflect on their
own levels of awareness and their personal approach to diversity,
culture and gender differences.
Today we all coach within diversity, and our clients operate in
diverse environments. People assume “diversity” is only about
gender or race, but diversity is both about the differences and the
similarities between individuals and groups. Any form of power
exacerbates difference and influences how we perceive and react to
behaviour. This is true in any area of life, and nowhere more so than
in the business context, specifically due to the hierarchical nature of
organizational systems.
In the business environment, the coach needs to become aware
of and manage their own responses to questions of diversity, before
they can begin to coach a client on similar issues. This chapter
focuses on raising the business coach’s awareness of these crucial
diversity issues, both within themselves and within their individual
and organizational clients.
In this chapter Sunny Stout-Rostron introduces the subject of
diversity and power relations, looking at how assumptions limit
individuals and groups. Power relations not only have deep roots in
our cultural matrix—our shared ways of doing things, of making
sense of the world—but they can often also inform our personal
views, choices, and actions. Daniel Marques Sampaio then explores
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 175

the challenge to worldviews and cultural understanding based on

power relations, privilege and binary opposites. Finally, Marti Janse
van Rensburg examines and analyzes in practical terms issues of
race, gender and linguistics which may influence and impact on the
work of the business coach.

Sunny Stout-Rostron writes

Some years ago when I was facilitating a programme in London,
I walked into the conference room and heard: “Oh my goodness,
look … it’s a woman”, I heard one of the executives whisper behind
my back to a colleague. “Good morning everyone”, I said with a
smile, choosing to ignore this rather coarse chauvinism. “And, even
worse, she’s a bloody American”, he groaned.
It was not clear whether this man, highly placed in his organi-
zation, intended me to overhear his comments. He probably did.
Like many competitive executives who climb the corporate ladder,
he was almost certainly flexing his muscles and trying to intimidate
me from the outset. Instead, however, he’d given himself away.
So, rather than confront such prejudice openly, I now knew who was
likely to be somewhat difficult during the seminar. It would be my
job to demonstrate that his assumptions were entirely misplaced,
and were in all likelihood one of the reasons why his organization
was experiencing personnel difficulties and considerable internal
conflict. And so it proved.
In my work, it constantly amazes me what assumptions people
immediately draw from the fact that I speak with an American accent.
Frequently, without asking me any questions, some feel entitled to
lecture me about the ills of this or that facet of American policy, or
assume that they know how I think or voted—even though I have
lived and worked outside of my own country for nearly 40 years
now. But it does frequently remind me of the assumptions that we all
constantly make upon meeting another person. It is this sensitivity
to diversity that coaches need to be acutely aware of at all times—
and they can do so only by beginning to work on their own uncon-
scious or unquestioned attitudes and personal responses first.
With globalization, as the world increasingly “shrinks”, diver-
sity becomes an ever more pressing topic, one we are faced with
every day. Too often, however, I feel that the discussion of diversity
176 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

can take on a slightly patronizing tone: one that subtly suggests we

must be nice to people who are in some way different to us, and
graciously allow them to sit at our own table. Diversity, if it is to
mean anything of real significance, must surely mean that there is
an absolute assumption and acceptance of equality.
Diversity comes in many shapes, sizes and sounds. As I currently
work in South Africa, the most easily identifiable mark is that of skin
colour. But there are, particularly in this country, many variations
and subtleties; these can include language and even food.
I have been involved with companies where diversity-related
problems seemed intractable. In one instance, although colleagues
from different cultures within the same organization finally felt
that they had the freedom to talk openly, their sense of resentment,
even bitterness, came down to the fact that one individual in a team
would often talk socially, without even thinking, in a language that
was not easy for other colleagues—even though they could have eas-
ily switched to a language which everyone understood. In another
instance, a facilitation which had gone well, and had unblocked
many misunderstandings within an organization, nearly blew up
into a walk-out at lunch time. The food on offer was common daily
fare for one social group, but not familiar to the minority of del-
egates, who felt they were being slighted.
“Oh, but they shouldn’t be so sensitive,” wailed the manager
who’d organized the event. “That’s what we always order for cor-
porate events. I didn’t even think about it!” His words, alas, proved
exactly what the disgruntled participants most feared: they simply
hadn’t been catered for. The organizer didn’t even think about it:
he just arranged for what seemed “normal” to him, and expected
everyone else to conform. This wasn’t meant maliciously. But it
reflected exactly the pattern of unawareness that was causing all
the problems within that particular company. It wasn’t overt atti-
tudes or easily identifiable prejudices that were undermining the
smooth running of the business. It was all those commonplace, eve-
ryday, unconscious assumptions—social, linguistic, culinary—that
constantly made the minority feel that the majority were simply
bulldozing over their personal feelings and collective sensibilities.
In this case, it was an absolute revelation to those senior executives
who had been causing offence—without exception white, male
South Africans. Most were appalled and upset to discover how their
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 177

behaviour had been perceived and experienced, and were extremely

anxious to learn how they could develop from this experience—and
broaden their own hitherto limited horizons.
Such unconscious attitudes are, mostly, the privilege of power.
In many ways diversity is, ultimately, about power and the lack
thereof: who has power, and who does not. This can take many
forms. In another instance, I facilitated a team forum at a major
organization which all the senior women managers were about to
leave. They were of different ethnic backgrounds, languages and ages;
the only common factor among them was that they were women.
It soon became clear that the male culture in that company—and
this included those men who in South Africa would be considered
“previously disadvantaged” from the apartheid past—tolerated an
aggressive and even open disrespect for women, even to the types
of crudely sexist jokes which were told in front of them. Such was
the atmosphere that not even the most senior women executives
dared to speak up. Instead, they chose to leave the institution. When
all this eventually spilled out at the facilitation, the men expressed
amazement and shock. They had never considered that their behav-
iour was unacceptable: it just seemed “normal” to them. This was
another manifestation of the unthinking exercise of power.
So diversity can take many guises. This is why I felt it was
appropriate to tackle the subject from three very different perspec-
tives: mine, as an American woman who has lived and worked in
the United Kingdom, Europe, USA and South Africa; Dr Daniel
Marques Sampaio, a Brazilian from Rio de Janeiro whose first lan-
guage is Portuguese, but who now lectures at two British universi-
ties; and Marti Janse van Rensburg: female, white and Afrikaans,
who is working within the complex diversity of modern-day South
Africa, speaking English and Afrikaans on a daily basis.

Diversity
Diversity is about difference: in equality, power, and worldview.
Equality and power are in many ways related. Power creates its
own self-justifying worldview. This often becomes an unexamined
rationalization for the dominant group’s power. The mirror image
of this is that it negates the view of those without power. Thus it
can be very difficult to get those with power to see the prejudiced
178 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

limits of their bias—particularly their limiting assumptions about

the powerless—because it is precisely that which justifies their
monopoly of power. On the other hand, to achieve full equality—
politically, professionally and personally—those without power also
need to come to grips with their own limiting assumptions (often
dictated by those who have had power over them). In both cases, for
the powerful and the powerless, being able to discard such limiting
worldviews is liberating.
On an individual level, many problems are also fuelled by
our own self-limiting assumptions. We see through the filters of
our own worldview, as we are all products of our personal histo-
ries, language, culture, experience, education, gender and social
conditioning.
Having worked for many years with Nancy Kline in the Thinking
Environment®, I have come to understand how important it is for
us as business coaches to first help ourselves, then our clients, by
exploring the roots of our own discriminatory attitudes and behav-
iours. We do this by starting to examine “untrue” limiting assump-
tions that society and organizations make about people on the basis
of their “group” identities and their place in the hierarchy of work
and society (Kline, 1999:88–89).
Although people live and work in a diverse world, we have
become suspicious and mistrusting of our differences. In doing so
we discriminate against, and disempower, others on the basis of their
difference, rather than welcoming these differences and encompass-
ing other worldviews to enhance our own.
When working with a client in the coaching conversation, it is use-
ful to help them learn to remove the limiting assumptions they hold
about themselves, others and the systems in which they live and
work. We actually need diversity in order to approach difficult situa-
tions with fresh thinking. Only true, liberating assumptions can free
individuals and groups and help them to reclaim their self-esteem
and influence. This of course means developing an awareness of our
own prejudices, biases, limiting thinking and life conditioning.
Nancy Kline defines diversity as “difference and equality” (Kline,
1999:87). To truly honour diversity requires genuinely diverse think-
ing with an appreciation for difference, an elimination of punish-
ment for difference, and crucially highlights authority issues (who
has the power?) and the fundamental issue of individuals being
encouraged and permitted to think for themselves.
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 179

In working with teams in the thinking environment we often

ask, “do we think better if there is an amount of diversity, safety
and openness; and if so, why?” (Kline, 1999). One answer is that
diversity simply gives us a more complete picture of reality. Another
question is, “if the norm is power in organizational teams and in
societal groups, how can we create “safety” to help people to think
clearly?” (Kline, 1999). An answer to this question is that, “we think
best in the midst of diversity” (Kline, 1999). To appreciate the power
of diversity, however, we need to operate from a foundation of
really believing that people are created equal. We all need to work
on developing an internal ease in the world of difference that we
face everyday.
There is diversity in experience, race, ethnicity, background, edu-
cation, culture, history, language, faith, belief, capability and dis-
ability. It is crucial in the working environment to help individuals
become aware of all the groups they identify with—particularly the
less visible. The circuits of discrimination are complex. Every day
we witness (or experience) instances of prejudice or bias, driven by
untrue limiting assumptions that everyone in some way carries with
them; sometimes knowingly, often unconsciously. For example, my
mother-in-law, who had been a well-known and very glamorous
stage actress in her youth, used to comment that the older she got,
the more invisible she became. “I can walk into a room full of people
that I don’t know nowadays,” she’d say, “and no one will notice
or bother with me. I’m just the little, white-haired, old lady in the
room”.
Cultural competency is awareness, cultural knowledge and
understanding of our human differences that may affect our work
relationships and our interpersonal relationships (Stout-Rostron,
2006c:27). Our purpose here is to help business coaches begin to
develop an awareness of the complexity of diversity, and through
their own inner journey be able to identify and name all the diver-
sity issues which face them and their clients on a daily basis.

TRANSFORMING LIMITING ASSUMPTIONS

This is a simple but powerful exercise that my colleagues working
as consultants in the Thinking Environment® have learned work-
ing with Nancy Kline. The late, wonderful Margaret Legum and
180 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

her business colleague, Dorrian Aiken, have been instrumental

in taking this work to greater depths within organizations in
South Africa. It is important to first identify your own untrue
limiting assumptions; only then can you begin to help your cli-
ents to do so.
The following exercise is one used when working with diver-
sity in a Thinking Environment® (Kline, 2005). Make a list of
the groups with whom you identify, and about whom society
makes assumptions that limit the power, confidence and dignity
of each of those groups. Of those groups choose the three that
you most identify with, and list the assumptions made about
those groups that are most limiting to their power, dignity, hap-
piness and influence. Choose the one assumption you believe
is the most limiting; do you think it is inherently true for this
group? What instead would be your words for what is a liberat-
ing, true alternative assumption?
Finally, ask yourself, “if you and the world knew that truth,
what would change for you and the world?” The assumptions
that we hold about ourselves are the most limiting. In work-
ing through this, and similar exercises, you can start to develop
an acute awareness of the preconceptions, limiting assumptions
and prejudices that you work with everyday.

What happens when it goes wrong?

How can we deal with the situation when diversity goes wrong in
practical terms? Diversity mistakes can be emotional—and when
any situation becomes emotional, individuals often lose perspec-
tive. If business coaches can help clients to develop greater emo-
tional intelligence, particularly self-awareness and self-management
skills, any diversity situation can be improved.
Working with diversity in business can also go beyond cultural
differences, bringing in a range of other perspectives. For example,
in business it is rare for the marketing and finance functions to see
eye-to-eye, or to have the same intention of outcome. Marketers and
accountants not only occupy different functions within the organi-
zation, they will have developed differences in personal and profes-
sional worldviews.
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 181

Working with the EQ model that we explored in Chapter 5 can

be helpful. Questions to ask your client are: What are they thinking
and feeling; what are they assuming, and is it inherently true; what
is working; what is not working? How can they use their own self-
awareness to bring perspective to the situation? How might they
manage what they say and do differently, to create a better result and
to manage any conflict that has arisen? How will their new behav-
iours impact on the values and culture of the team and the organiza-
tion, and ultimately on the business and business processes?

Social and workplace transformation

South Africa
In Using Experience for Learning, Costas Criticos (1996) reflected
on social and political conditions in South Africa, exploring how
apartheid affected the experience and learning of all members of
its society. Criticos writes about the challenges which South Africa
faces as a result of the apartheid years. He points out that two of the
most important South African institutions that actually challenged
the apartheid government and created space for dialogue were the
churches and the universities.
His description of apartheid describes a pathology of racist
oppression. This pathology was created by the tension “between
contradictory experiences and contradictory explanations of soci-
ety” (Criticos, 1996:157). He explains that even so, “learning” can
live inside the conversations and dialogues that are produced by
these tensions. As Criticos explores the liberating nature of expe-
riential learning in South Africa, it is clear that very different learn-
ing emerges from such dramatically divergent experiences as those
of the powerful and those of the powerless. Whether privileged or
previously disadvantaged, the nature of recent historical experi-
ence in South Africa is so momentous and all-pervasive that it must
inform—whether consciously or unconsciously—many of the atti-
tudes of both executives and coaches.
Although diversity in the workplace will continue to be an
important topic for continued transformation in South Africa,
affirmative action in business remains a controversial topic in
both emerging markets and developed nations. Worldwide, issues
182 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

of culture, gender, language and race remain an important arena

for business coaching—continuing to require that executives and
business coaches be skilled in managing all aspects of diversity.
This means being able to see through a multiplicity of lenses—
experiencing the world not just through your own individual
perspective, but beginning to experience and understand the world-
views of those whose experience, education, background, hopes
and fears are very different from your own. The business coach also
needs to see through the lens of the organization, the individual
executive being coached, the society and community within which
both operate—and to understand how their own limiting assump-
tions may prevent them from understanding other points of view.

Coaching across cultures

Argentina
In Chapter 2 we read about the development of coaching in
Argentina. Organizations in Argentina are often influenced by the
latest international management theory, without always taking
into consideration the social and cultural factors that would make
those management processes work well in a Latin American envi-
ronment. For example, managers often share an understanding of
participative leadership, but they do not necessarily manage their
teams accordingly. This experience can be confusing for team mem-
bers who might have been inculcated in participative discourse, yet
continue to experience or be managed in a style of command and
control. This creates a strong opportunity for executive coaching,
even where cultural resistance to coaching may be the result of a
powercentric attitude. There is an assumption that coaching may
show up certain managerial weaknesses; this creates resistance in
a culture where even female executives tend to exercise a macho
approach to business relationships (Kottner, 2008).

Asia
In Leadership Coaching: Inspiration from Asia, Elisabeth Legrain and
Michael Fox (2008) foresee the need for leadership which accommo-
dates cultural differences in the workplace. They look to Asian cul-
ture as a “source of inspiration to draw on,” advocating that Asian
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 183

culture may be the inspiration needed “for corporate coaching to

develop transcultural leadership capacity”. One of the paradoxes
they bemoan is that, in our global society today, Asian people are
adapting Western behaviours which may be considered “aggressive”
in their own culture (Legrain and Fox, 2008:1). They suggest that
organizations could seriously benefit from Asian “transcultural
leadership” which takes its inspiration from a recognition of cultural
differences. They look to Asia for its approach to self-awareness in
martial arts practice, and propose that powerful coaching is one
which, “like martial arts practice, takes the client on their individual
journey to build deep awareness of their capacities, their culture,
values, passions and motivations” (Legrain and Fox, 2008:2).
In “Asian perspectives in coaching”, See Luan Foo emphasizes the
diversity and strategic position of Singapore, “situated in the vibrant
Asia-Pacific Region and home to some 6 000 multinational corpo-
rations” (Foo, 2004:7). Foo suggests that coaches keep in mind the
difference between Asian and North American values. He describes
Americans as more individualistic, with a less collective orienta-
tion; and Asians as more collective and less individualistic. Perhaps
even more importantly, he explains that Asians tend to be reflective
and less direct in their communication; while Americans tend to be
action-oriented, and quite direct and assertive. Foo (2004:8) under-
lines the need for “mutual understanding, collaboration, respect and
shared values”. His suggestion to coaches is to learn to appreciate
diversity and difference, and to develop an understanding of two
diametrically opposed cultures: one a culture focused on perform-
ance and success (i.e. doing), versus another with a focus on quality
and relationships (i.e. being).

Coaching Latinos
The following case study addresses several critical aspects of coach-
ing in a cross-cultural context. It also reminds us that coaches need
to equally balance the values and culture of the organization with
the values and culture of the individual being coached.

COMPLEXITY IN CULTURAL DIVERSITY

In her article about Coaching Across Cultures, Francia Baez
(2006), Vice President of Human Resources for a multinational
184 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

organization in Latin America, talks about the cultural

differences coaches need to be aware of when coaching Latinos.
Her article states that Latinos are expected to “represent 25 per
cent of the US population by 2050” (Baez, 2006:20). Due to the
complexity of the cultural mix in the USA, Baez explains eight
criteria that can help coaches working within this cross-cultural
context.
1. Collectivism and relationships
It’s important for coaches to understand the importance of estab-
lishing relationships that encourage openness and approach-
ability, and to avoid being too directive. When coaching Latinos,
being too directive may encourage submissive behaviour, as
hierarchy and knowledge are culturally highly regarded (Baez,
2006:20–21).
2. Family and relationships
Baez (2006:21) indicates that Latinos may treat work relation-
ships as extended familial relationships. She suggests that
coaches and line managers should be aware of the cultural need
for Latinos to discuss potential work decisions with family. This
is because family and professional life are not separated in the
same sense as within an Anglo-American context.
3. Religion
Although religion is usually excluded from the workplace in
most cultures, Latino work behaviours are often guided by
religious principles. The significance of this, according to Baez
(2006:21), is the need for a more holistic coaching approach
to management. An equivalent of this is being experienced in
South Africa where organizations have begun to create an envi-
ronment for prayers during the working day in accordance with
the cultural rituals of their employees.

4. Time orientation
Baez (2006:21) explains that although time is a valuable and lim-
ited asset in business, Latinos tend to have a more relaxed view
of time than Anglo-Americans. Importance is paid to small talk,
and the coach needs to “warm up” to the coaching conversa-
tion. This is comparable to African culture, where time spent in
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 185

greeting is significant in building and maintaining relationships.

This is often heard in radio phone-in programmes in South
Africa; callers first greet the radio presenter and ask after their
health before settling in to discuss the subject at hand.
5. Communication
Feelings play a major role in Latino communication, and the
coach needs to be sensitive when a directive style is required
so that the client does not feel diminished. Conversely, a Latino
being coached may show respect to the coach/manager by agree-
ing with one of their suggestions, but may have no intention of
following it up. Once the coaching relationship is established
there may be more self-disclosure by the client than mainstream
US culture is accustomed to, as Latinos are less sensitive to pri-
vacy issues (Baez, 2006: 21).
6. Body language and distance
The acceptable physical distance between individuals in inter-
personal communication is different in every culture. Baez
(2006:21) indicates that a “Latino may inadvertently decrease
interpersonal space to the point of causing discomfort in some-
one of a different cultural background. Latino culture is a contact
culture.” It is also important that the coach understands the cul-
tural background to relatively intense and prolonged touching,
eye contact and facial expressions, which are generally meant to
be signs of sincerity.
7. Gender Issues
All cultures have defined gender roles. Baez (2006:22) indicates
that “Latino men are typically raised to be dominant, paternalistic
providers and protectors”, while Latinas are socialized to show
“nurturing behaviour expressed by playing a supporting role”.
These are important cultural factors for any coach to be aware of.
8. Problem-solving and linguistic styles
One of the difficulties Baez shares is that Latinos may avoid
confrontation, choosing to “protect relationships by being indi-
rect. Although some may demonstrate authority by adopting
an aggressive style, this approach is viewed negatively” (Baez,
2006:22).
186 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

In any culture, the coach needs to understand the meaning

of indirect linguistic signals and body language, which could
easily be misinterpreted in a business environment where issues
may be addressed in a direct manner.

Stepping into Africa

Below is an interview with Marilyn Johnson, General Manager for
Africa of an international engineering corporation with a US head
office. Johnson is an African American who grew up in the southern
USA with civil rights issues at the fore. Johnson shares her experi-
ence of living and working in South Africa for three years, managing
plant facilities and sales managers in a variety of African countries,
as well as managing cultural and skills diversity within the work-
place. She shares how she has learned to adapt to a variety of cultural
environments, with all of the challenges that this encompasses.

CORPORATE INTERVIEW
People
Can you give us your perspective on living and working in
Africa?
From my personal perspective, Africa has millions of people
who are multilingual. They speak more languages than any
other people in the world. They are creative and innovative—
but Africa has been stereotyped, like many other communities
round the world. The perception of Africa is that Africans suffer
from extremely high crime and poverty, with a high degree of
illiteracy and an enormous lack of education. Seen though the
eyes of prejudice, they are seen as dumb.
Yet if one takes a wider look at Africa, African people can be
seen as among the most capable, if not the most versatile, people
in the world. They are highly multilingual, with some speaking
eight to 12 languages including English. Africans are also the
poorest of people, with large numbers living in informal settle-
ments in homes that are simply one- to two-room shacks. There
are men and women selling their crafts on street corners in all
African cities, albeit that they are often excellent craftsmen and
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 187

artisans. Although I travel all over the African continent, I live

in South Africa which is renowned for its sophisticated banking
system, excellent wine and the healthiest food I have ever expe-
rienced in my work and travels around the world. That certainly
bucks the stereotype!

The culture of the corporation

As an African American female executive, how did you end
up in Africa?
The corporation for which I work had identified Africa as the
next emerging market; growth potential for the corporation is
expected to exceed US$200 billion by 2020. I was selected for
my ability to turn around difficult markets. Yet for political and
stereotypical reasons the new thinking and priority is to move
to Eastern Europe. The perception is that Europe is safer, and
the thinking is that European markets will not only outperform
developing markets, but that it is easier to do business there—
primarily because of the northern hemisphere bias of white
versus black. White cultures are perceived to be First-World,
consumer-oriented, capitalistic, educated and sophisticated.
In reality, corporations face onerous labour regulations, and self-
oriented, individualistic cultures, versus the African collective
and communalistic culture which supports a workplace that is
team-oriented, supportive and loyal. Based on these aspects,
objectively, the corporation should continue to opt for African
cultures and countries.

Working on a daily basis in the business

How does diversity affect what you are trying to do?
Being the first black, female, American General Manager for
the corporation has brought its challenges and rewards. The
successes during my tenure have been “extraordinary” to say
the least. We have exceeded expectations, accomplishing tasks
ahead of schedule, working cross-functionally across other busi-
ness divisions in the corporation. We have also made profound
contributions to the community, donating more than 500 000
rands (approximately US$50 000) to the local community. This
includes building a Habitat for Humanity Home for children
suffering from AIDS; making grants to Children’s Day Care
188 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Centres; funding homes for the elderly; sponsoring gardening

projects; and opening an on-site health clinic for employees from
the local community.
Although the South African location was an existing division
of the corporation, it had not received any investments during
the years prior to my arrival, of either capital or people. Asked
to take this position, I was tasked with making improvements to
bring the entire African operation and staff into alignment with
all of the other divisions in the corporation. In addition to busi-
ness growth, my role also includes integrative training, skills
development and coaching initiatives to introduce and develop
a culture that will allow the African countries where we are
located to be in alignment with the other First-World cultures
who operate within the corporate entity.
With the assistance of a colleague who moved to South Africa
during the same time period as me, we exceeded Head Office
expectations by making the required changes and providing
the “right” working environment for employees. Our plant was
awarded the organization’s “Safety Award” for being one of the
safest facilities.

Personal experience in South Africa

What are the contradictions experienced in your work
in South Africa?
Candidly, the main problems and contradictions that I have
experienced in South Africa are as a direct result of the secrecy,
lack of transparency and various internal corporate intrigues
taking place at Head Office in the USA. Quite frankly, the behav-
iour at corporate headquarters is in contradiction to the views
they espouse: the behaviour that they typically attribute to the
African continent is in fact a mirror of their own failings.

What did you do to coach your team?

As the leader-coach, I used coaching and mentoring as an inte-
gral part of management training, customer care programmes
and talent development. In spite of the corporate politics and
the challenges, the business has grown 29 per cent in sales
revenue, and 19 per cent in profit over the previous year. This
was achieved through continuous communication across all
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 189

functions, staying customer-focused, and individually coaching

the manufacturing team members. The aim of coaching was to
help each individual focus specifically on customer care and
open-door relationships with both customers and employees.
Most important of all, I worked with an executive coach to keep
my motivation levels high, and to have a thinking partner for
strategic thinking and difficult decisions.
As General Manager, I maintained an open-door policy, mak-
ing frequent visits to the plant, and implemented safety “star
reward” and service recognition programmes which had never
before existed. We implemented a variable compensation bonus
programme to encourage all shop floor employees to work col-
laboratively to achieve company targets. Their efforts would be
rewarded by them participating in the company’s performance
bonus programme.

What are the lessons learned from your hands-on strategy?

I’ve learned to trust myself and my intuition, being willing to
build trust in a diverse group of people across geographical
plants, actively encouraging employees to participate in man-
agement decisions. I and my management team facilitated focus
group meetings, and provided mentoring and coaching pro-
grammes to develop people throughout all of our markets. Tak-
ing the time to develop people is one of the key lessons I have
learned, and it has provided the leadership development, suc-
cess and fulfilment that I have achieved personally while work-
ing on this assignment.

What, if anything, would you do differently next time?

My best advice to an executive stepping into a new culture and
new marketplace is to first visit the country several times for
extended periods to become familiar with the laws, culture and
environment before accepting the position. Prior to stepping into
the position my visits to South Africa were minimal. Nor had I
visited the other African countries where the corporation was
already established. More and/or more extended visits would
have given me a broader perspective on the work required,
and would have enabled me to better understand the different
labour regulations, as well as the significance of the project.
190 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

HOW TO USE THIS

Self-awareness and practice
What lenses do you see through based on your background, cul-
ture and gender? Use first-, second- and third-position thinking
to step into the other’s shoes and to see from a new perspective.
This is an NLP coaching technique (discussed in Chapter 4). The
coach helps the client to identify their lenses from three indi-
vidual positions (first position/their own; second position/the
other; third position/themselves as coach seeing with a new
perspective). Physically stand in first position (the client’s own
position); second position (the other’s position); and third posi-
tion (that of coach) in order to resolve a conflict or see the other
person’s point of view.
Use this for yourself and your clients. I use this technique fre-
quently when the client has an issue or difficulty with another
party and needs to hear, see and feel perspectives from all points
of view. When coach and client enact it, the client actually ver-
balizes what they think, feel and see—it helps you (or the client)
to understand the assumptions that influence the lens through
which you (or they) see the world, and helps to determine what
needs to change in your (or their) behaviour in order to interact
more effectively with others.

Daniel Marques Sampaio writes

In this section, Daniel Marques Sampaio challenges the assumptions that
inform our views of the world—assumptions about ourselves, our cultures
and our identities. He examines how we can engage with difference, and
looks at the historical use of dualities or binary opposites to make sense of
the world. In setting out the challenge of putting equality into practice, he
argues the need to create a new map of the world.
Something I hear all the time is: “But you don’t seem very
Brazilian!” If, like me, you are from Rio, a lot of people seem to
expect you to be a football fan, or a walking/talking carnival parade,
your every entrance announced by a “ta-dah!”
After nearly 25 years in London I still don’t know how to respond,
or even if I should say anything at all. That’s because such comments
come not only from people in Britain, but also from other Brazilians,
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 191

who seem to think that I am not “like them”, or at any rate not like
what some believe both they and I ought to be like. Of course, most
people don’t mean to be malicious. They may be simply expressing
surprise that someone who was born so far away is not that different
from them; or, conversely, that someone who grew up “with them”
might behave, even think, in a way they consider “foreign”.
Born in Rio de Janeiro, I moved to London more than two decades
ago. Most of my adult life, therefore, has been spent in the UK, where
I studied, and where I live and work. Mine is not an experience of
exile, a forced departure from the homeland, but a personal decision:
a “rational choice”. Yet this doesn’t mean that I am not constantly
questioned about my origin and about my allegiances: “So, do you
often go back home?” No, I want to say, my home is in London!
As a university lecturer, I am immersed in an environment thor-
oughly defined by diversity. My campus sometimes resembles one
of those intergalactic bars in films like Star Wars, with a multiplicity
of accents: a mix of national, cultural and social backgrounds and
styles. There are students in ethnic dress, members of subcultures,
fashion-conscious students, even the occasional corduroy-jacket-
with-elbow-patches type. Despite worldwide developments in edu-
cation policy that seem to be turning universities everywhere into
skills factories, it is still for many a place to discover themselves, to
expand their minds and unlock their potential. In this sense, being
an education professional has much in common with coaching: both
lecturers and coaches are concerned with questioning the assump-
tions that we make about the world, about our place in it. More
fundamentally, both professions take that questioning further, by
reconsidering the way we act, so as to chart new paths of action that
steer clear of limiting worldviews.
Accepting diversity and equality is about probing many things,
including the way we think about identity—especially our own. It
is about examining models of identity based on a defensive, even
reactionary, antagonism towards what lies “outside”—models such
as certain types of nationalism, or forms of identification based on a
rejection of “the Other”, with all the negative connotations that term
carries. It is about questioning the perception of what is foreign: of
what originates elsewhere, or of those who view the world differ-
ently. This need to re-evaluate our limiting worldviews is what I
wish to examine here.
192 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Worldview
Leading in a multicultural and diverse environment is like
playing several instruments. It partly calls for different atti-
tudes and skills: restraint in passing judgement and the abil-
ity to recognize that familiar tunes might have to be played
differently. Our natural tendency is to watch the world from
behind the windows of a cultural home and to act as if people
from other countries, ethnicities, or categories have something
special about them (a culture) but home is normal. Awareness
means the discovery that there is no normal position in cultural
matters (Hofstede, 2005:ix).

In recent decades significant changes have taken place in the way

the world is organized, thought about, and represented—none more
so than in the area of, and increasing sensitivity to, cultural diver-
sity. After two world wars, countless local conflicts, and following
a century that was arguably packed with more radical social, cul-
tural, scientific and technological change than any previous one, we
seem to be living in a world where old certainties and assumptions
no longer apply. Many old power relations, relating to imperialism
and collectivism, have been swept away by the “march of history”.
This image of a whirlwind carrying away worldviews is, however,
by no means new. As early as 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
had already noted in the Communist Manifesto (with a rhetorical stri-
dency to match Marx’s famously dishevelled hair and beard) that
with capitalism, “All fixed, fast-frozen relations, with their train of
ancient and venerable prejudices and opinions, are swept away, all
new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. All that
is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last
compelled to face with sober senses his real conditions of life, and
his relations with his kind” (Marx and Engels, 1848:4).
One such old certainty that finds itself continually questioned
concerns our personal place in the world, and the primacy of our
worldviews. The contemporary, globalized world is one in which
everything is in flux. This process involves the flow of material
goods—everything from foodstuffs to furniture, as well as all kinds
of technical artefacts; financial and trading flows; and, particularly
important for any debate on diversity, flows of information, of peo-
ple, or worldviews.
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 193

To understand how deeply these flows touch us in our everyday

lives picture, for instance, the writer of this chapter, a Brazilian-
British university lecturer in London, typing these words on a lap-
top, and as soon as a draft is ready, it is emailed to his colleague,
a British-American who was born in California, and now lives in
South Africa. This immediacy of communication—an email sent
from London to Cape Town in a matter of seconds—encapsulates
the changes that executives and managers face on a daily basis.
Communication might be relatively unproblematic in a situation
where we both have similar education, and where we both inhabit
broadly similar linguistic, social and cultural worlds—a professional
and intellectual world that seems to have taken to globalization like
fish to water. But even in this exchange there are areas fraught with
misunderstanding and confusion—linguistic and cultural. Nothing
can be taken for granted. Imagine, for instance, a situation in which
language is a means not only of expressing and sharing ideas, but
also of preserving our identity. How would these changes—in the
immediacy of connections, in the availability of communication
channels, in the sudden geographical closeness between people who
previously lived so far apart—impact on us?
These are questions that coaches must ask not only their clients,
but also themselves: what would our relationship with the world
be like if we were in that position? How would we respond to it?
We must be aware of the need to differentiate between those who
benefit from globalization, and those for whom all that mobility, all
that interconnectivity, represents at best a challenge to their world,
and at worst its undoing.
Some years ago I attended a conference on globalization in which
a researcher gave a paper on economic aspects of migrations. After
the presentation, answering a question from the audience, he made a
throwaway remark about youngsters in the favelas, the shanty towns
of Rio de Janeiro; he bemoaned their inability to escape their lives,
which he attributed to their “closed minds”, and said that those kids
were, in economic terms, a “dead weight”.
Now, I grew up in Rio de Janeiro, and like many cariocas, I have
first-hand experience of the wild social, cultural and economic dis-
parities of that city. I am fully aware of how difficult it is to break
out of poverty, which perpetuates itself in a vicious circle; but I am
also aware that the residents of the favelas are anything but closed-
minded. These are people who have produced some of the world’s
194 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

best footballers, and who every year put on the greatest street party
in the world—who have, in short, made a significant contribution to
a global culture. Far from being a “dead weight”, they are responsi-
ble for a great deal of global interest in Rio that in economic terms
translates into tourism revenue. Yet they are also imprisoned by the
very social, cultural and economic situation from which their contri-
bution to globalization springs. So, maybe the researcher made that
particular comment through ignorance rather than through malice.
Yet the argument remains valid, that to engage with diversity in a
meaningful way, we need to be open-minded to the changes brought
about by global processes, changes that manifest themselves both in
the opening up of new avenues for action, and in the shutting down
of others.

Assumptions
What these changes mean is that all the assumptions that inform
our views of the world—assumptions about ourselves, our cul-
tures and our identities, as well as about the cultures and identities
that we experience through distance and unfamiliarity—have to be
reconsidered. It is precisely those filters of distance and unfamiliar-
ity that ensure these assumptions are maintained in the first place.
It is through the safeguarding of distance and unfamiliarity, that cer-
tain qualities and characteristics can be ascribed to some customs
and cultural practices, and can be marked as different—these peo-
ple who share the same customs, who define their cultures through
these practices, are seen as the bearers of difference.
As soon as what is distant becomes near, as soon as the once unfa-
miliar is found in everyday life, we then experience a sense of dislo-
cation so aptly described by Hofstede in the above opening quote:
the impression of an upset in the “normal” ordering of our world.
For many this appears to be a destabilising experience, which can be
dealt with by retreating into one’s own sense of identity, by draw-
ing a clear distinction between those with whom we do belong, and
those with whom we don’t—to the “cultural home” mentioned by
Hofstede. However, to anyone concerned with exploring, question-
ing, and overcoming limiting assumptions and worldviews (espe-
cially coaches and other professionals), this sense of dislocation
presents both major challenges and exhilarating opportunities.
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 195

The challenges are those derived from engaging with cultures,

ways of being, and practices that are different from our own. On
the one hand we shouldn’t fall into the trap of pretending that such
differences do not exist: the “benevolent” attitude which says that
“we all belong to the same family”, to “humankind”. This attitude,
often well-intentioned, fails to acknowledge that sometimes people
do define themselves precisely through some of those markers of
difference: i.e. race, gender, sexuality, culture, language, religion,
and so on. These differences may form the very core of who they
are, and should not be erased by a desire to include all others into
an all-encompassing category—us—this may be insensitive to their
specificity.
This sensitivity to the elements that go into the making of an
individual is crucial to coaching practice. It is also something that
coaching shares with other professional activities. For example,
some years ago I conducted some research on a Brazilian novelist,
Clarice Lispector. Her novels had fascinated me since my teens, even
though I was not sure what it was that attracted me so much: some-
thing to do with her oblique (some would say obscure) style. Yes, but
more than that—it was a sense that this showed me not only another
way of thinking, but also a different way of being. In the course of
attempting (ah, the innocence of youth!) a translation of one of those
novels, I came across a comment by the French philosopher, Hélène
Cixous, who put the finger right on the root of that fascination: for
Cixous, Lispector’s entire work was “a book of respect, a book of the
right distance”.
It is this respectful understanding of the “right distance”, this
ability to perceive someone in all their individuality which is the
problem—and is one of the most important attributes of a good
coach. This is, ultimately, the ability to see and accept equality.
On the other hand, the great Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe
(1977), in “An Image of Africa”, writes critically of the classic Joseph
Conrad novel, Heart of Darkness, set in the Congo: “Quite simply it is
the desire—one might indeed say the need—in Western psychology
to set Africa up as a foil in Europe, as a place of negations at once
remote and vaguely familiar in comparison with which Europe’s
own state of spiritual grace will be manifest” (Achebe, 1977:782).
This is the danger for the coach. It is critical to see where the power
relations reside.
196 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Crucially, one must also avoid the trap of defining people through
such differences in a way that locks them into the role of “repre-
sentatives” of their gender, race, culture, religion: as if a particu-
lar woman “represented” what “being a woman” could mean, or
a Muslim person could be seen as a “spokesperson” for the whole
of Islamism, regardless of their individual histories, desires, and
choices.
Here again, Chinua Achebe is an acute observer. For anyone from
a dominant culture, or even in a dominant position, there is always
the temptation (even subconsciously) to assume they know best. It is
a potentially fatal trap for coaches. This is how Achebe puts it: “To the
colonialist mind it was always of the utmost importance to be able to
say: ‘I know my natives’, a claim which implied two things at once:
(a) that the native was really quite simple and (b) that understand-
ing him and controlling him went hand-in-hand—understanding
being a precondition for control and control constituting adequate
proof of understanding” (Achebe, 1988:48).

Engaging with difference

Yet if the challenges are great, so are the opportunities. Engaging
with difference provides us with the imperative to question some
of our most deeply held assumptions about who we are, and the
limits of what we can think and do. On the one hand, the technologi-
cal and social possibilities associated with globalization, such as the
transmission across the world within seconds of images of one cul-
ture to another, linking people geographically far apart, can help to
break down rigid ideas of cultural stereotypes. Personal experiences
of globalization seem to indicate that we now live in a world where
difference can no longer be safely ascribed to things far away from
us, and therefore easy to ignore. If we live in a world of continuous
contact and interchange, then all that which was previously put into
a black box and safely consigned to being “other” and “different
from us”, can now be experienced in our daily lives. This everyday
contact with difference shows us that there is no single true way of
seeing or understanding the world—there are many different and
potentially valid ways of making sense of the world.
On the other hand, globalization can just as easily help reinforce
old stereotypes and even build up new ones. The popular media
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 197

provides some of the most powerful voices of globalizing forces, and

often reinforces such stereotypes. The Kenyan novelist and essayist
Ngũgı̃ wa Thiong’o, one of Africa’s most prominent intellectuals,
has made the important point that crass racial stereotypes portrayed
in the hugely popular novels of nineteenth- and twentieth-century
writers like Rider Haggard, Elspeth Huxley and Robert Ruark (to
which we could add some of the works of “airport” novelists such
as Michael Crichton, or the popular sprawling sagas of a Wilber
Smith), helped to create and shape the template for images currently
shown on TV. In his seminal essay, Decolonizing the Mind, Ngũgı̃
writes: “Thus imaginative literature had created the necessary racist
vocabulary and symbols long before the TV and the popular media
had come to dominate the scene” (Ngũgı̃, 1986:93).
Ngũgı̃ makes the vital point that African children, who encoun-
tered literature in colonial schools, also learned to see the world as
Europeans did: “the entire way of looking at the world, even the
world of the immediate environment, was Eurocentric. Europe was
the centre of the universe. The earth moved round the European
scholarly axis” (Ngũgı̃, 1986:93). This is what he calls the colo-
nization of the mind. Yet how much more alluring are such easy
Eurocentric assumptions, replete with lazy clichés, for the former
colonizers today? This is precisely the pitfall which coaches must
avoid. The key is that we are all, in different ways and in varying
degrees, shaped by our cultural background—therefore our way of
making sense of the world is culturally determined.

Binary oppositions
Within Western cultures it has been noted that one of the key
ways of making sense of the world is through binary oppositions.
This is, indeed, one of the key theoretical models propounded by
Structuralism, in particular within the works of Claude Lévi-Strauss
(1908–2009) in Anthropology, and Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–
1913) in Linguistics—see Sturrock (2003) for a summary. It involves
the idea that people construct meaning through the recognition of
“opposites”—that people can only define what something is by
knowing what it isn’t: we know what being rich is because it isn’t
the same as being poor, we know that being masculine is different
from being feminine, we know white is not black.
198 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Binary oppositions put the world into clearly defined categories—

this” and “that”, “self” and “other”—and these categories can be
helpful, reassuring, convenient. Moreover, “common sense” seems
to tell us that there are basic differences: between rich and poor,
between white and black, between masculine and feminine.
However, upon closer examination, what we assume to be “com-
mon sense”—i.e. the “basic difference” between two opposites—
turns out to be an expression or way of seeing the world that is formed
by unexamined assumptions. One such unexamined assumption is
that these binary opposites, helpful and convenient though they
may appear, actually correspond to human experience of mean-
ing. In fact, we experience meaning in much more subtle and com-
plex ways, which suggest not so much an “either/or” distinction
but more a sliding scale of values and qualities. For example, what
we think of as the distinction between “masculine” and “feminine”
is an extreme simplification of a wide range of social and cultural
perceptions of masculinity and femininity. These perceptions under-
pin the attribution of certain roles, identities and characteristics to
men and women. In this sense, categories such as “masculine” and
“feminine” are socially constructed; they depend on perceptions
of gender which are contingent on the social or cultural beliefs of
a particular society (see Abizadeh, 2001). In many societies, char-
acteristics such as assertiveness, initiative and leadership are seen
as masculine, whereas obedience and a concern for the domestic
sphere are seen as feminine qualities. Thus, men and women whose
behaviour does not match those roles, identities, or characteristics,
may be considered less masculine or feminine.
Binary opposites are often experienced as levels of intensity within
a sliding scale of values and qualities. As noted by feminist critic
Joan Scott, in an article discussing equality and difference: “Fixed
oppositions conceal the extent to which things presented as
oppositional are, in fact, interdependent—that is, they derive their
meaning from a particularly established contrast rather than from
some inherent or pure antithesis” (Scott, 1994:286).
This division of experience into binary oppositions also reflects
a particular structure of power: one side of the opposition has tra-
ditionally been privileged (and often exercised that privilege) over
the other: men (and masculinity) have traditionally been privileged
over women (and femininity); whites over blacks; rich over poor.
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 199

Historical experiences of shifting power relations helped solidify

these privileges—practices of colonialism during the last two centu-
ries is a case in point, affirmed by one side dominating or enjoying
greater privileges over the other. The colonizer was privileged over
the colonized, a practice supported and consolidated in layers of
other power relations based on race, class, culture, etc. Conversely,
the overthrowing of many oppressive political and social systems
has often retained some forms of discrimination based on a “turn-
ing the tables” mentality (the oppressed becoming the oppressor),
which kept the context of unequal power relations unchanged.
However, where hierarchies are challenged, or the cultural
comfort zones are bypassed, the results can be socially disturbing.
In Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Malcolm
Gladwell (2007) discusses moments of anomaly, upheaval, and social
disturbance which are triggers for change in society. His discussion
of these disturbing moments is significant for coaching practition-
ers, who must consider both the macro scale of historical processes,
and the micro scale of personal transformation.
Taking his cue from the biological sciences, Gladwell seeks to
explain some of the changes that mark everyday life. He notes that
“ideas and products and messages and behaviours spread like viruses
do”, describing tipping points as “moments of critical mass, the
threshold, the boiling point” in which change takes place (Gladwell,
2000:7;12). As an idea, a message, or a specific behaviour tips over
a certain threshold, it can trigger change. In looking at diversity
historically, it is interesting to think about those moments when an
idea went from being important to a specific minority group (even if
that minority group is statistically significant) to being a new basis
for a fundamental way of understanding the world. For example,
the actions, life and philosophies of Mahatma Gandhi—virtually
unknown in Britain until after World War II. But now, Gandhi is
an almost universally recognized name and ideal; most people can
articulate his fundamental beliefs of non-violence.
In historical, as well as personal terms, these are the moments
where difference strikes us with its full potency: as the entire edi-
fice of unexamined power relations has its arbitrary foundations
exposed, values and worldviews borne out of the experience of priv-
ilege have to be reconsidered. This can be seen in both small-scale
(social rituals) or large-scale (political reform) events. Thus, when
200 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

thinking about gender, individual concern and desire for change

and equality increases in tandem with large-scale events such as
women’s suffrage and feminism. In relation to race and ethnicity,
consciousness of diversity appears as part of a series of events that
includes the abolition of slavery, decolonization, and civil rights
movements.
The notion of diversity has arisen from challenges to those world-
views based on power relations considered “normal” for long peri-
ods of time; for some, these power relations have become the very
foundation-stone of human relations (e.g. apartheid)—as attested,
in its most extreme fashion, by the Hobbesian image of “the war of
all against all”. These power relations have deep roots in our cul-
tural matrix, i.e. our shared ways of doing things, of making sense
of the world—but they can often also almost unconsciously inform
our personal views, choices, and actions. It is at this level of assump-
tion, particularly with regard to a cultural way of understanding
the world, that coaches need to work with their clients in order to
understand how to manage diversity in the workplace.
Dualities such as masculine/feminine, white/black, rich/poor,
etc., divide the world into easily manageable categories. Such divi-
sions also solidify these opposites, making them inflexible or totemic.
However, as argued above, experience seems to suggest there are
stages between conditions, rather than being complete polar oppo-
sites; the very division of the world into binary opposites under-
lines the accepted hierarchical foundations for power relations that
inform our most unexamined worldviews.

The challenge of putting equality into practice

In a professional context, the limiting effect of such worldviews can
be felt in particularly acute ways. Discrimination on the basis of
gender, for instance, is a fact of life in most countries in the world.
Many women experience occupational segregation because of cul-
tural and social attitudes towards what might be considered “female”
versus “male” jobs. In her 2004 update of Breaking Through the Glass
Ceiling: Women in Management (Wirth, 2001), Linda Wirth supple-
ments research conducted by the International Labour Organization
in a sample from 63 countries with the most recent international sta-
tistical data.
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 201

Despite representing over 40 per cent of the global labour force,

women still have lower labour market participation rates, higher
unemployment rates, and significant pay differences compared to
men. Gender segregation in the workplace tends to manifest itself
in two main ways: (1) on the concentration of women in tradition-
ally “feminised” jobs such as nursing, teaching and administration;
and (2) on the difficulties in rising to senior positions or higher-paid
job categories in comparison with men. Despite such segregation,
Wirth’s report provides evidence that women are breaking into
fields such as law, science, engineering, and information and com-
munication technology (ICT), which have been traditionally male-
dominated. That progress is, however, balanced by the constraints
that many women face in the workplace, such as sexual harassment
or isolation.
A further difficulty experienced by women in the workplace
is that women are more likely to have shorter careers than men,
because they might leave full-time employment in order to fulfil
family responsibilities, which leads to slower promotion and lower
salaries (Wirth, 2004:1–3). At the root of this dilemma is the inflex-
ibility of labour practice in public policy and business; this practice
makes few concessions to women’s traditional job of raising children
and managing a family. This inflexibility, although affecting women
most acutely, also poses problems for men, who can be reluctant to
take advantage of paternity leave or similar opportunities for time
with family, for fear of being passed over for promotion, or of being
seen to be lacking in commitment to the job.
Interestingly, Wirth observes that, as employers start to recognize
that family-friendly policies can have benefits not only to male and
female employees but also in helping to increase overall business
productivity, “personal characteristics of integrity, diligence and sin-
cerity, traditionally attributed to women, are increasingly viewed as
qualities that can enhance a company’s image in a world riddled
with corporate misconduct” (Wirth, 2004:18).
A growth in self-employment among women has also been
observed in recent years. This is explained in two arguably interre-
lated ways: one explanation may be that women have been attracted
to self-employment by a desire for autonomy and flexibility, as well
as to escape the constraints encountered in large organizations,
i.e. the “glass ceiling”. The other explanation might be that the
202 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

rise in entrepreneurship is due to the erosion of jobs in public and

private sectors, caused by restructuring and downsizing. This is a
phenomenon that particularly affects women who tend to occupy
non-strategic positions in these sectors—another form of gender seg-
regation. In many countries, such as the United States, Great Britain,
and Denmark, women have reported high levels of satisfaction with
their new working lives (Wirth, 2004:33–36).
This growth in entrepreneurial activity among women can also
be interpreted as a contradiction to the standard stereotyping of
women as passive and timid, and as lacking traits considered to be
“masculine”, such as initiative, competitiveness, and decisiveness.
However, by focusing on the professional experience of “women”
generally, Wirth’s report does not address a number of aspects of
women’s relationship to the workplace. “Women” do not constitute
a generic, universal, undifferentiated category; a woman’s experi-
ence of work and other aspects of life depend on many other vari-
ables, such as race/ethnicity, age, class, culture, religion, etc.
This meeting point of gender and other diversity variables is the
subject of another important comparative study, Gender Equality,
Cultural Diversity: European Comparisons and Lessons (Dustin, 2007).
Although its focus is on cultural and religious factors, rather than
on social and economic aspects of diversity in relation to gender,
this study offers important insights on the roots of power imbal-
ance and institutionalized discrimination which afflict members
of minority communities. Bearing in mind that the study consid-
ers challenges to diversity specific to Europe, these power imbal-
ances include the continuous portrayal of members of religious
and cultural minorities in homogenising and often negative ways.
The study also makes a related observation that individuals or
groups, without a prior history of interest in women’s rights, have
on many occasions used the concept of gender equality to pursue
anti-immigration and Islamo-phobic agendas—by, for instance,
equating the use of the hijab with oppression of women, despite
many Islamic women’s assertions that their decision to wear it was
based on free will (Dustin, 2007:1–3).
Many countries have passed legislation specifically designed
to stamp out racial discrimination. In Britain, the Race Relations
Act 1976 (amended by the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000),
makes racial discrimination and harassment unlawful, and provides
the right to challenge negative discrimination in the courts or at
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 203

an employment tribunal. However, it has also been widely noted

that social inequality caused by discriminatory practices cannot be
tackled simply through preventive or punitive jurisdiction: formal,
legally recognized equality may not be enough to provide all with
equal opportunities.
This recognition of the limits of the use of law as a neutral tool
for the means of resolution of social disputes informs the policies of
affirmative action (also known as “positive discrimination”). Marc
Bossuyt, an expert in international law and a judge in the Constitu-
tional Court of Belgium, defines affirmative action as “… a coherent
packet of measures … aimed specifically at correcting the position of
members of a target group in one or more aspects of their social life,
in order to obtain effective equality” (Bossuyt, 2002:3).
However, policies of affirmative action can also encounter resist-
ance. Objections have been made from an ideological point of view,
claiming that the liberal “ideal” of equality of opportunity is to
create the conditions for equality, such as equal access to educa-
tion and jobs, while leaving individuals free to pursue their own
personal betterment within those conditions. Policies designed to
address inequalities through positive discrimination can therefore
have a jarring effect when confronted with such an ideal notion (for
a review of these objections, see Krstić, 2003). It has also been noted
that it is the most fortunate segments of the groups designated as
beneficiaries of affirmative action who seem to get the most out of
such policies: middle-class white women, for instance, will often
benefit more than lower-class women of other ethnicities (Bossuyt,
2002:4).
Affirmative action in business is a controversial topic, although
the statistics often tell their own story. According to the Septem-
ber 2008 Employment Equity Commission report in South Africa,
there is still “gross under-representation of Africans, Coloureds [i.e.
people of mixed race], and people with disabilities in key areas of
the labour market” (Johwa, 2008:4). There are fluctuating, sometimes
even regressive figures for black representation according to Jimmy
Manyi, then President of the Black Management Forum (BMF) and
Chair of the Employment Equity Commission. Manyi pointed out
that the number of blacks decreased 8.7 per cent to 41.3 per cent of
the total in professional and middle management level, while black
Africans experienced the largest decline, falling 14.9 per cent to reach
24.1 per cent (Johwa, 2008:4).
204 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Apparently, white women had made the largest gains in the

corporate marketplace, which has led the Commission’s Chair to
recommend that white women be removed from the definition of
affirmative action’s “graduation principle” as the “prejudice against
white women cannot be compared to that suffered by black women”
(Johwa, 2008:4).
At any rate, what this indicates is the importance of considering
diversity in its many facets. The stratification of gender with racial/
ethnic, religious, and cultural perspectives is a particularly critical
configuration for most countries at this historical juncture—in which
processes of globalization create a stimulus greater than had ever
existed for the transnational mobility of individuals, both male and
female. The cultural challenges brought about by these processes are
experienced in daily life. Expressions of gender, sexuality, ethnicity
and culture—such as dress, behaviour and language, once consid-
ered private matters of choice—are now contested ever more pub-
licly. What is the position of coaching professionals, then, in such a
configuration? Where is the coach placed in this newly emerging
map of the world?

A new map of the world

The argument being made here is not simply that coaching practi-
tioners should acknowledge the hierarchies and effects of inequality
which are produced by dividing the world into binary oppositions,
or that they should make themselves familiar with diversity leg-
islation relevant to the particular culture and nation within which
they are working. What is important, is for coaching professionals
to question their own views of the world, including their own place
in the “map” of that world.
As noted before, our world is becoming more and more inter-
connected due to the processes of globalization. Cultures, ethnic
groups and customs that once were separated by vast distances now
find themselves in close contact, experienced as a matter of routine
in everyday life. A walk in cities like London, Paris, New York, São
Paulo, Dubai and Shanghai is enough to demonstrate this. These are
no longer simply national cities, but international meeting points.
The contemporary city offers more than a metaphor for diver-
sity; its very physical structure is a manifestation of change in the
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 205

ways that the world is reorganizing itself. Medieval cities used to be

enclosed by walls. In the contemporary, global city, what matters are
roads, airports, railways—installations designed to open up the city,
to ensure that it remains diverse, to facilitate the movement of people
and ideas. Similarly, for the coaching professional, engagement with
diversity offers the opportunity to tear down the walls that enclose us
within our own limited personal views, to open up new mental roads,
to travel through new intellectual and personal paths, to develop and
explore hitherto neglected tracks for action and imagination.
It is therefore not simply that diversity—as a set of policies within
the public realm but also as a way of viewing the world—is here to
stay, but that it can provide us with exciting opportunities to move
beyond our habits of thinking, behaving and ways of organizing our
worlds. Because living with diversity gives us a much more complete
picture of reality—one that takes into account the plurality of experi-
ences that compose the world—it can function as a catalyst for an
expansion of our capabilities at both personal and collective levels.
This, however, is not achieved without a personal commitment to
self-examination. We need to examine our idea of where we are in
relation to others. If we think of our own view of the world as a kind
of map, then we have to think about where we place the centre of
this map—and who designed the map in the first place.
This is something most of us take for granted. But it would be a
salutary exercise for all coaches to re-think their own ideas of the
world map—and their personal place within it. Professor Mahmood
Mamdani, of Columbia University, writes:

When the sixteenth-century Italian missionary Matteo Ricci

brought a European map of the world—showing the new dis-
coveries in America—to China, he was surprised to find that
the Chinese were offended by it. The map put Europe at the
centre of the world and split the Pacific, which meant that China
appeared at the right-hand edge of the map. But the Chinese
had always thought of China as the ‘Middle Kingdom’, which
obviously should have been at the centre of the map.
To please his hosts, Ricci produced another map, one that
split the Atlantic, making China seem more central. In China,
maps are still drawn this way, but Europe has clung to the first
type of map. The most commonly used map in North America
206 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

shows the United States at the centre of the world, sometimes

even splitting the Asian continent in two … today, the most
widely used world map has Western Europe at its centre. Based
on the Mercator Projection, it systematically distorts our image
of the world: even though Europe has approximately the same
area as each of the other two peninsulas of Asia—pre-partition
India and Southeast Asia—Europe is called a continent, whereas
India is a subcontinent, and Southeast Asia is not even accorded
that status; at the same time, the area most dramatically reduced
by the Mercator Projection is Africa (Mamdani, 2004:28).

In other words, maps are not the simple objective records that
most people take them for. They are loaded with presuppositions
and omissions. Maps broadly reflect power relations and cultural
assumptions—and in this sense, maps also reflect our own uncon-
scious attitudes and inherited cultural assumptions. “We” tend to
see ourselves as occupying the centre of the world, while other cul-
tures are satellites orbiting around us on the periphery. This is an
accurate image of precisely what coaches must avoid: they are not
the centre of the universe, with the clients—particularly if from dif-
ferent cultures—merely drawn in by the coach’s gravitational power.
They must be galaxies of equal measure.
It can be hard, even unsettling, to adjust life-long held assump-
tions. The Peters Projection Map, for example, was created in 1974 in
order to redress the traditional imbalance created by the projections
first set out by the sixteenth-century cartographer Gerhard Mercator,
which are still largely in use today. While necessarily creating other
distortions, the Peters Projection more accurately reflects the cor-
rect size of the continents, particularly restoring Africa to its rightful
size.
To these representational changes in the way spaces are located on
maps, we must add also technological ones. When looking at a map
printed on a piece of paper, for instance, we usually approach it in
the traditional way, locating North, South, West and East by follow-
ing the conventional “top, bottom, left, right” direction. So, Europe,
North America and parts of Asia are seen in the North, while the
remaining areas of the world are seen in the South. But think of a
map as seen on a computer screen, in an application like Google
Earth, for example. In a map like that, the relationship between the
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 207

person and the charted territory takes on an entirely new dimension,

as the points of reference are not fixed—we can see, and “enter”, the
map from any direction.
Maps using the Peters Projection have been used in Leadership
Development seminars in the United States to demonstrate that there
are indeed other ways of conceptualizing the world, and that our
own “space” may actually be smaller and less central than we had
always assumed. To this we can add that our points of reference—
our bearings—may also need to be reconsidered. Our understand-
ing of North, South, West, East, as well as top, bottom, left and right,
with all the symbolic associations that these points of reference
imply, may also need to be reconfigured. Fascinatingly, some facili-
tators have reported that a variety of clients, faced with these new
perspectives, have reacted with disbelief or even anger.
The centre has long been seen as the West, with the periphery con-
sisting mostly of the West’s former colonies. In his important work
Orientalism, the scholar Edward Saïd deconstructed the long history
of Western scholarship which purported to portray “the Orient,” but
which was frequently not only patronising, but as much an instru-
ment of colonial control as of scholarship. Saïd wrote:

Orientalism was ultimately a political vision of reality whose

structure promoted the difference between the familiar (Europe,
the West, ‘us’) and the strange (the Orient, the East, ‘them’). This
vision, in a sense, created and then served the two worlds thus
conceived. Orientals lived in their world; ‘we’ lived in ours. The
vision and material reality propped each other up, kept each
other going. A certain freedom of intercourse was always the
Westerner’s privilege; because his was the stronger culture, he
could penetrate, he could wrestle with, he could give shape and
meaning to the great Asiatic mystery, as Disraeli once called it
(Saïd, 1991:43–44).

This does not differ so greatly from some of the images served up
today by much of the Western media, particularly TV, especially
when fashionable notions such as a “clash of civilizations” have been
widely aired. In his later work, Culture and Imperialism, Saïd argues
that the huge changes that occurred in the post-colonial era and a
shift in the balance of power have led to a sense of unease in the
208 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

West: “The sense for Europeans of a tremendous and disorienting

change in perspective to the West-non-West relationship was entirely
new, experienced neither in the European renaissance nor in the
‘discovery’ of the Orient three centuries later” (Saïd, 1994:237).
Today such uncertainty can lead to entirely fresh possibilities.
“History and geography are transfigured in new maps, in new and
far less stable entities, in new types of connections”, wrote Saïd
(1994:384).
In the context of diversity, it is precisely such “connections” which
coaches must strive to create or facilitate. New roads and pathways
must be cut out of the walled cities of our minds. But coaches, too,
must “decolonize” their minds. They must rethink their understand-
ing of what constitutes the centre and what comprises the periphery,
so as not to place themselves as the symbolic centre of a relationship
in which the client occupies, even if only temporarily, the outer edge.
This requires commitment and constant vigilance on the part of the
coach, as well as an awareness of the complex processes—social, cul-
tural, economic, personal—that go on to make us what we are. Only
then can they help create the new, more realistic and equitable maps
that clients need to chart.

Marti Janse van Rensburg writes

Marti Janse van Rensburg discusses other diverse influences such as race,
language and gender in order to help coaching practitioners work with
greater knowledge, understanding and wisdom with their clients in an
increasingly complex business environment.
I recall going to school when I was five years old wearing built-up
boots to correct a knee problem and being teased mercilessly by a
group of kids, the same age, same colour and speaking the same
language as me. For all intents and purposes we were the same.
I was also teased for not being able to read as my parents thought
that learning to read in school was soon enough. I was a relatively
happy child, the first-born grandchild on both sides of the family
and well-loved. This was a shock to me, and it did not get easier.
I learnt to read very quickly, and six months into my first school year
I had read all the prescribed books for the first five years of primary
school. This made me more of a freak.
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 209

Throughout my 12 years of school, I often felt the odd one out

in spite of the fact that in apartheid South Africa I was in a school
with hardly any recognized diversity. The kids were uniformly
white, Afrikaans-speaking, and all linked to some version of a Prot-
estant Christian church. The fact that at 14 years old, I suddenly
grew to be six feet tall didn’t help. I made friends with the other
odd kids at school, and even though we had our differences, I found
that they were more tolerant and understanding than the so-called
“in-crowd”.
Later I studied chemical engineering at a conservative Afrikaans
university; the engineering faculty being even more conservative.
I was the first female ever to sit on the engineering house committee.
Even at university, I found I was drawn to the “strange ones” with
whom I could explore odd thoughts and philosophies.
This is not a sad story. I learnt from an early age to try and under-
stand what motivates people, what are their rules, and how they are
different. I wondered if there was something in their difference that
might be useful to me. This process started a life-long journey where
diversity for me was not about race, gender or religion—but rather
how we are similar in values and beliefs, as well as how we are dif-
ferent. I wondered, where did these values and beliefs come from
and should they be questioned? In this way, I began to question the
underlying assumptions the people around me were operating from,
and I have continued to explore these in my work on myself and in
my coaching and facilitation work with others.

Origins and similarities

We can all trace our ancestry back to Africa about 150 000 to
200 000 years ago when we shared a common ancestor or mother
(Kaessmann and Pääbo, 2002). During an ice age approximately 80 000
years ago, a group of early humans left Africa for Yemen. These peo-
ple, an estimated 250 of them, created all the other races in the world
today. About 70 000 years ago some of this group moved to the
Indian sub-continent, and continued into Indonesia and Australasia.
With the thawing of the ice age, humans moved into the interior of
Asia and Europe and only arrived in Europe approximately 42 000
to 43 000 years ago from India and the Middle East (Olson, 2007).
210 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

The final migration was roughly 15 000 to 35 000 years ago

during another ice age, when some of the hominids inhabiting the
Arctic went into North and later South America (Olson, 2007). This
means that the entire population of Europe, Asia, Australasia and
the Americas are descendants from an estimated 250 people who
left Africa all that time ago. This is why among rugby players, Lote
Turquiri (a Melanesian from Fiji) is more closely related to Stephen
Larkham (a white Australian) than George Gregan (who was born
in Zambia).
Given our common ancestral lineage, how did we develop our
obsession with difference? How we appear to each other has become
more important than how we feel, taste and smell. We have become
acutely sensitive to small differences which we use to evaluate and
judge others. We create groupings around these differences in order
to belong—whether to race, gender, a religious group or even the
book club we join.
Unfortunately, in the process, we also create assumptions about
other groups and their relative hierarchy to our group. We tend
to associate power with other groups, as an aspiration (“I want to
belong to that group”), or because we fear that our choice might be
incorrect. This often leads to judgement, for example, that the other
group is “wrong” or “inferior”. This habit has sparked many reli-
gious and ethnic conflicts and wars.
To understand and manage diversity we need to look at the vari-
ous elements that constitute difference, looking in some detail at
race, gender, language and religion.

Race
Although skin colour is a surface adaptation to climate conditions,
it still makes a huge difference to how we see people … and how we
see ourselves.
Ramphele (2008:73) defines racism: “Racism is essentially the use
of the concept of ‘races’ to establish a hierarchy of power relation-
ships by assigning value to categories of people defined as inferior or
superior. It is a socio-economic and political mechanism that justifies
treating fellow human beings as ‘others’.” As Ramphele states, we
assign value either inferior or superior to the “other”.
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 211

Race differentiation is particularly pertinent in South Africa

due to its history. I once gave a client an article, “Dear White Boss”
(Caver and Livers, 2002), which he said he could have written him-
self. A compilation of the experiences of African Americans in the
USA, the article expressed feelings of alienation, and how some felt
they could not trust their white colleagues or bosses to support them
when they made mistakes. As a result, these individuals did not feel
they could contribute fully at work. One African American manager
said: “The executive team saw me, not as a seasoned strategist, but
as an authority on race relations” (Caver and Livers, 2002). Another
story, told by an inebriated white colleague over dinner, was that
blacks get too many breaks and are not smart enough to be in execu-
tive positions. This is not dissimilar to what I hear from my black
clients in South Africa, comments such as: “If I am quiet, I am told I
am not assertive enough—and when I speak up, I am told I am too
aggressive”.
In Our Separate Ways, Bell and Nkomo (2001) talk about the expe-
riences of white and black females in the USA. They talk about the
journey of women with ambition and armed with degrees: working
hard, contributing to the bottom line, proving themselves, putting
in excessive time, often at the expense of their personal lives, only to
be told to wait for opportunities, while the ones who decide not to
leave often find that the rewards are not in line with the costs. They
talk about what is different for black and white women, and how
black women more readily find their authority questioned. These
are worldwide issues.
Differences can concern eye contact, greetings and apologizing.
Westerners view lack of eye contact as offensive or shifty, whereas
Africans cultures regard it as a sign of respect. Loud conversation
between Africans is a sign that no secrets are withheld, while West-
erners regard it as bad manners. Generally speaking, greetings with
Europeans are a simple habit and carry little meaning. The per-
son who asks you “How are you?” expects a superficial answer.
In African culture, it is a ritual that has to be done with respect and
attention. One student told how he walked through his village as a
child. He stopped in front each person, asking about all the family
members and their well-being. This was done every time he walked
through the village, even if several times a day.
212 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Deborah Tannen, the well-known American socio-linguist, in

The Power of Talk (1995:142) mentions that “we speak in ways our
culture has conventionalized and expect certain types of responses.
Take greetings for example. I have heard visitors to the United States
complain that Americans are hypocritical because they ask how you
are but aren’t interested in the answer. To Americans, How are you?
is obviously a ritualized way to start a conversation rather than a
literal request for information. In other parts of the world, including
the Philippines, people ask each other, ‘Where are you going?’ when
they meet. The question seems intrusive to Americans, who do not
realize that it, too, is a ritual query to which the only expected reply
is a vague ‘Over there’.”
Differences can be even more obvious in language. Africans gen-
erally say “sorry” to indicate that they witness your discomfort or
pain; “sorry” does not indicate an apology for it. A few years ago,
I worked with an American colleague who tripped over a wire on
a conference room floor. The technician setting up the computer
equipment said “Sorry”. My colleague turned around in surprise
and said, “It wasn’t your fault” and the technician, who was black,
just shook his head.
It is no secret that the ethnic debate in South Africa is complex,
but it is not the only nation facing similar issues. On a daily basis,
there are media stories about people from other African countries
who complain that they are badly treated by ordinary citizens and
the police in South Africa. As I write, the dominant story in the news
is the ethnic violence in townships in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Dr Mamphela Ramphele in Laying Ghosts to Rest references ethnic
chauvinism, and the way different ethnic groups in South Africa
“experience their sense of belonging in different regions in South
Africa” (Ramphele, 2008:98). She cites the example of President Julius
Nyerere of Tanzania, who abolished the formal role of traditional
leaders in the interest of national unity. This allowed Tanzanians to
see themselves as Tanzanians first, in contrast to South Africa where
tribal leaders and ethnicity are recognized by the Constitution.
“Indigenous laws and practices can only enrich our democracy if
they are properly reviewed and aligned with the values we aspire to
in our national Constitution. Otherwise tradition will continue to be
a source of disadvantage and division” (Ramphele, 2008:98).
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 213

HOW TO USE THIS

Self-awareness and practice
Developing self-awareness and personal wisdom only translates
into changed behaviour when we decide what we may need to
do differently, practising changes first in ourselves and then
being observant inside the coaching conversation. This exercise
is taken from Nancy Kline’s work for coaches and consultants in
the Thinking Environment® (1995).

• List your assumptions about your own race versus other

races; which if any are inherently true?
• What assumptions do you make about the different types of
power of your race versus other races?
• What assumptions do you make about your clients, their abil-
ities, their habits and potential?
• Which assumptions are stopping you from seeing the poten-
tial of your clients?
• Ask your clients how their racial experience affects their view
and behaviour towards others, both at work and in their per-
sonal lives?
• How is your racial experience impacting the way you coach,
and what might be a more liberating alternative view for you
to enhance your success as a business coach?

Gender
We know that many women and men diverge in interests,
abilities and desires. But is this a problem that should be fixed?
(Pinker, 2008:255).

In this section, we explore gender, choices women and men make,

and the different ways in which men and women communicate. We
also look at how both parties are affected in a business context, and
what this would mean for the coach.
South Africa is regarded as one of the most progressive countries
in terms of gender representation. Gender equality is written into the
South African Constitution. Nevertheless, “Women are still treated
214 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

as lesser beings in the name of culture. They are considered minors,

possessions of their patriarchal families in many settings, and they
can be denied the right to inherit. Pride in the distinctiveness of
African customs is cited as a reason for continuing practices that are
in conflict with our constitution” (Ramphele, 2008:75). In addition,
South Africa is reputed to have one of the highest incidences of vio-
lence against women in the world, including rape.
In general, most women with whom I work do not want to be
treated differently. What they want is choice and equal opportunity,
equal responsibility and equal pay.
Aiming for balanced representation might not be the ideal solu-
tion, even if it seems to be the obvious one. Pinker (2008) wrote
about research on this issue in the USA, Canada and Europe. Pinker
says that her book is about what women want and why they want it,
and asks whether it makes sense to use men as the base model when
we talk about women at work. She shows distinct differences in the
psychological profiles of men and women: learning problems, atten-
tion deficit disorder, and autism spectrum disorders are four to ten
times more likely to occur in boys, whereas anxiety and depression
are twice as likely in girls. Despite learning disabilities, boys tend to
be successful in adult life, while the girls, despite forging ahead of
the boys in social skills and learning, usually choose different paths
from those that would give them lucrative careers and status.
Pinker (2008:10) points out that “Equal opportunity doesn’t nec-
essarily lead to equal results”. Currently women outnumber men at
universities throughout the developed world. Women far outnum-
ber men in veterinary science, pharmacy, law and medicine. In the
awarding of business degrees, the numbers are equal, while more
degrees are awarded to men in architecture, physics and engineer-
ing. Added to this, in spite of the percentage of degrees awarded,
there are far fewer female than male physicians and lawyers prac-
tising. As much as this might be due to current incumbents coming
from years when the degrees obtained were more skewed to males,
Pinker shows that women often start their chosen careers and subse-
quently leave to take up alternative options.
What is this about, then? Grouzet et al. (2005) researched this
topic via a survey of nearly 1 900 people in 15 countries regarding
intrinsic versus extrinsic goals. Intrinsic goals were defined as mak-
ing a difference and belonging, whereas extrinsic goals were defined
as the search for financial reward and status. The research showed
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 215

that the goals are in conflict, and that people seldom pursue both.
The research study also indicated that women are more likely to be
motivated by intrinsic goals, where men are motivated by extrin-
sic goals. Further research indicates that these results vary from
more affluent or developed countries to less affluent or developing
countries.

Communication styles
We also need to consider how men and women differ in their styles
of communication. Tannen’s (1995) research indicates that men talk
about “I” and women talk about “we”. In US businesses, men’s
speaking style, as the majority voice, dominates. Women tend to
be ignored and interrupted. Women in a business environment
say “we” even when they do the work themselves. Pinker (2008)
indicates that men tend to blame externally when something goes
wrong, yet accept praise internally. Pinker indicates that women
do the opposite, and are more inclined to attribute their success to
chance and failures to their own failure or inability.
If we consider confidence, women tend to minimize their certainty
and men their doubts. This may create the impression that women
lack confidence. This can be due to their tone of voice, hesitancy in
speech or use of language. Some of this, especially in South Africa,
might be due to speaking in a second or third language. As women
are more inclined to feel they must know everything before speak-
ing, and men are often happy to know 50 per cent and fake the rest
(Pinker, 2008), women tend to ask more questions. Again, although
not necessarily an indication of a lack of confidence, it could create
that impression. Studies show that women are more likely to down-
play their certainty and men more likely to minimize their doubts.
One study provides evidence that, what comes across as lack of con-
fidence on the part of women, may actually reflect not one’s actual
level of confidence but the desire not to seem boastful (Tannen,
1995:142). However, in business, and particularly in the USA, the
style of interaction that is more common is the assertive style used
among men.
Often men and women in the same position end up being paid
unequally. Usually, we attribute this to gender discrimination and
injustice, but there may be an alternate reason. Babcock and Laschever
(2003) showed in several studies that women do not negotiate
216 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

for more money. Even women trained in negotiation skills do not

negotiate salaries and perks for themselves. Men tend to strongly
negotiate on salary, position and authority; women are often more
concerned about whether they are qualified enough to do the job.

HOW TO USE THIS

Self-awareness and practice

• How do you experience discrimination against your gender,

and what are your views on the opposite sex?
• How does this influence the way you experience your clients’
issues and their choices?
• Think of a time when one of your clients had an opposing
view to yours; how did that affect your ability to be objective
and to coach the client without judgement?
• Think of a difficult experience a client has experienced with a
boss or direct report of the opposite sex? How did this affect
their thinking and behaviour? What would they have done
differently if the person in question was of the same sex?

Changing behaviour, fundamentally and transformationally,

requires you as a coach to help yourself and the client to reflect
on assumptions that cause specific behaviour, and to review the
belief systems that underlie those assumptions. Identifying and
transforming limiting assumptions to empowering ones can in
itself lead to behaviour change.

Language and linguistic patterns

As I live and work in a country with 11 official languages, it is nec-
essary to view language as a diversity issue. Although the stand-
ard business language is English, it is sometimes forgotten that
for many of us English is not our first language. Although an
Afrikaans-speaking South African, I speak English most of the day
and tend to think and dream in English. I recently facilitated a group
session where I noticed that a black man was frowning. I asked him
if I had said something with which he disagreed. He spoke fluent
and beautiful English, and his answer surprised me. He explained
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 217

that he was translating my words into his own language, and that
one word did not have a direct translation. He clarified that he tends
to think in his own language, and when he goes home on Friday he
leaves English in his car, picking it up again on Monday when back
in the office. I was astonished that two people who, in spite of not
having English as a first language, speak it fluently all day long yet
have such different experiences. It made me aware of how easy it is
to make incorrect assumptions about people’s use of language.
Often I find myself coaching in English, my second language,
with a client who is also speaking English; but for them, English
may be their second, third or fourth language. One observation
made by a colleague in a supervision session recently, was that
because she speaks, thinks and works in a second or third language
as a coach—it heightens her focus, attention and being present for
the client.
Other than language, how we say what we say is learned behav-
iour and differs from one person to the other. We all, including our
clients, have probably had the experience of speaking to a group of
people, realizing later that the interpretation of what we had said
varied from person to person. Similarly, in talking to individuals,
we may have experienced one person being overly sensitive to criti-
cism or feedback, and another hardly noticing it at all. We often
think that what we say is easily interpreted and understood, but
that is not necessarily so. It is said that one should treat people the
way you would like to be treated, but there are subtleties to this
rule. Your view of how you would feel if spoken to in a certain way,
is not necessarily the same as that of the person being spoken to.
In African tradition, for instance, when you lend something to a
friend or neighbour, you may not ask for it back. If you want your
lawnmower back, you need to ask to borrow it back from the same
neighbour.
As a socio-linguist Tannen (1995) discusses how linguistic style
determines our view of people and ideas, and how our assump-
tions can be mistaken. She explains that there is a visible difference
between the way men and women communicate. We assign meaning
to linguistic behaviours, such as apologizing, questioning, being
direct or indirect, and in the process we can easily misjudge oth-
ers. In the fast-changing business world, success often depends on
recognizing good ideas and implementing them. However, should
218 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

an executive miss an idea because it was not voiced confidently

enough, it could have serious repercussions for the business.
Table 2 shows the rationale behind various styles of talking, the
assumptions behind each style, and the unintended and potential
consequences due to misinterpreted stylistic differences.
As coaches, we should be aware of our own linguistic behav-
iour when coaching executives, and be able to help them to become
observant, recognizing their own and their team’s style and
behaviour.
Taking turns to speak is at the centre of any conversation or meet-
ing, yet knowing when it is appropriate to speak depends on reading
signals. Often meetings deteriorate because some feel it is accept-
able to interrupt or to finish a colleague’s sentences. Some people
have a rather long thinking pause and might feel left out if not given
time to speak; alternatively they might choose to not participate at
all. Kline (1999/2004) advocates a meeting process where everyone

Table 2. Style of talking and possible consequences thereof.

Style of talking Unintended
consequences
of style

Sharing credit Uses “we” rather Speaker doesn’t get

than “I” to describe credit for accomplish-
accomplishments. Why? ments and may
Using “I” seems too hesitate to offer
self-promoting. good ideas in
the future.
Acting modest Downplays their certainty, Speaker appears to
rather than minimizing lack confidence
doubts, about future and, therefore,
performance. Why? competence; others
Confident behaviour reject speaker’s
seems too boastful. good ideas.
Asking Asks questions freely. Speaker appears
questions Why? Questions ignorant to others;
generate needed if organization
knowledge. discourages speaker
from asking
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 219

questions, valuable
knowledge remains
buried.
Apologizing Apologizes freely. Speaker appears to
Why? Apologies express lack authority.
concern for others.
Giving Notes weaknesses only Person receiving
feedback after first citing strengths. feedback concludes
Why? Buffering criticism that areas needing
saves face for the improvement aren’t
individual receiving important.
feedback.
Avoiding ver- Avoids challenging others’ Others conclude that
bal opposition ideas, and hedges when speaker has weak
stating own ideas. ideas.
Why? Verbal opposition
signals destructive fighting.
Managing up Avoids talking up Managers conclude
achievements with that speaker hasn’t
higher-ups. achieved much
Why? Emphasizing and doesn’t deserve
achievements to higher- recognition
ups constitutes boasting. or promotion.
Being indirect Speaks indirectly rather Subordinates con-
than bluntly when telling clude that manager
subordinates what to do. lacks assertiveness
Why? Blatantly directing and clear thinking,
others is too bossy. and judge manager’s
directives as
unimportant.
Source: Tannen, D. (1995).

speaks once before anyone speaks twice. This is helpful if everyone

is to be heard, and Sunny and I use this methodology to great effect.
I have found that when teaching groups, individuals who pause,
taking longer to speak, find this process very useful and contrib-
ute well. Extraverts or very vocal participants may at first find it
frustrating as they cannot speak as often as they would like to.
220 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

HOW TO USE THIS

Self-awareness and practice:

• What is your home language or mother tongue, and are the

two different?
• What is the home language or mother tongue of your client?
If there is a language differential, how does this affect both of
you?
• Are any of the language patterns shown in Table 2 true for
you? How does this affect you in your communication with
people around you, and especially with clients?
• How does your client gauge their effectiveness in communi-
cating with colleagues, direct reports and more senior people
in the organization?
• Are any of the language patterns in Table 2 useful for your
client?
• How can you help your client to be more aware of their lin-
guistic patterns, and what can they change in order to have a
greater impact or influence in the workplace?

Ask your client to keep a journal observing when their linguistic

patterns are successful and when not in the workplace. Once
your client is aware of the effectiveness of their communication
and the cause of potential ineffectiveness, you can agree goals
and an action plan to create substantial change.

Religion
Religion comes into play in South Africa as well, although not as
radically as in other parts of the world where wars are fought over
religious differentiation. It is possible that with the variety of races
in South Africa, and given the country’s history, religion is not as
critical a point of differentiation as elsewhere. Freedom of religion
is entrenched in the South African Constitution, Clause 15 of which
provides that “Everyone has the right to freedom of conscience,
religion, thought, belief and opinion”. This is similar to the First
Amendment of the US Constitution, which includes the provision
that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”.
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 221

Coach practitioners need to have an understanding of religion,

without letting their own views on religion and spirituality cloud
how they work with their clients. When conducting research a few
years ago on the status of coaching in South Africa, I spoke to a
coach who was a devout Christian. He insisted that Christianity be
brought into his coaching practice with all of his clients. My view
is that if clients are aware of this, and choose him accordingly, that
is fine. If not, it is inappropriate. With most of my clients, I respect
their beliefs and endeavour to gain enough understanding of their
religion to coach them within their belief system.
This view is supported by Barney Pityana, then chairman of
the South African Human Rights Council (HRC), in his foreword
to Clued-up on Culture: A Practical Guide for South Africa (2001). He
indicated that religious freedom is found where a group observes
its rituals without infringing on the rights of others. It is therefore
important to understand the basics of other beliefs and cultural prac-
tices. Pityana says, “Religion cannot be confined to the performance
of ritual; it is pre-eminently a lifestyle as well.”
It is also important to note that religious belief is not necessarily
evident, and people do not always adhere to the religion associated
with their race or cultural group.

HOW TO USE THIS

Self-awareness and practice

• What are your religious or spiritual beliefs?

• How do they impact on your view of other religions?
• What religion, if any, does your client practise?
• If so, how important is it in their life and how does it impact on
their business environment?
• How much do you understand about your client’s faith?
Should you learn more?
• If the client’s religious beliefs fundamentally differ from yours,
should you consider not taking the contract?

Cultural differences in the workplace

It is important to consider how culture is defined, particularly
within a business context, including classifications and dimensions
of culture, and how these may be applied to business coaching.
222 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Culture may be defined as a collective programming of the mind

that shows in the values, symbols and rituals to which we hold fast
(Hofstede, 2001). Values may be defined as people’s aspirations of
how things should be done, and beliefs as practices within the cul-
ture (Javidan and House, 2001).
Rosinski (2003) advocates understanding different cultures as
necessary for a coach to broaden their understanding and be bet-
ter equipped to assist the client. He talks about professional or
organizational culture versus national culture, and indicates various
groupings of diversity such as geography and nationality (including
region, religion and ethnicity), discipline, profession and education,
organization (including industry, corporation, union and function),
social life (including family, friends, social class and clubs), and gen-
der and sexual orientation.
He compiled a Cultural Orientations Framework of seven catego-
ries, and within each of these categories are several dimensions:

• a sense of power and responsibility round the question, “Do you

control nature or does nature control you?” (Rosinski, 2003:51);
• time-management approaches;
• identity and purpose;
• organizational arrangements;
• territory;
• communication patterns; and
• modes of thinking.

This work creates understanding between people who work

together, and helps coaches understand the clients with whom they
work, as well as the environment within which their clients operate.
Robbins (2001) attests that a flaw in most organizational behaviour
research is that it is chiefly (80 per cent) conducted by Americans
in the USA. Hofstede’s original research included South Africa, but
because the respondents were primarily English-speaking white
males, the research is hardly representative of the population.
Although strongly Eurocentric, Hofstede’s dimensions are
internationally acclaimed as descriptive of regional, ethnic and reli-
gious cultures (Schneier, 1998). In 1998 Schneier conducted qualita-
tive research in South Africa to determine whether these dimensions
are relevant and sufficient to describe South African ethnic culture.
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 223

Her research is based on the premise that an overarching imperative

in cross-cultural research is the issue of meaning. She argues that
quantitative calculations of dimensions may be similar or equiva-
lent but that this does not necessarily imply their similarity or
equivalence in terms of meaning. “The effective communication of
meaning requires an awareness of how others view their world”
(Schneier, 1998:3).
Schneier’s (1998) results indicated that, although relevant,
Hofstede’s five dimensions are not sufficient to describe South
African ethnicity. Values that are distinctly African emerged in two
main areas: communalism and procedure-driven, time orientation.
Communalism is described as implying an interdependence of a
uniquely African kind; it stands separate from individualism and
collectivism. Hofstede’s reference to time in his fifth dimension links
time to entrepreneurialism. He does not refer to a past, present and
future orientation nor to a linear, circular or procedural perspec-
tive of time. Schneier (1998) argues that acknowledging an African
procedural-traditional time orientation may play a role in focus-
ing on the quality of an experience or intervention and its results
in addition to maintaining efficiency within the traditional Western
linear time orientation.
Relevant is the finding that management effectiveness is inde-
pendent of culture and race, and that ethnically diverse manage-
ment will not inhibit corporate competitive performance (Thomas
and Bendixen, 2000:516). This confirms our view that the purpose
of any of these studies is to assist our clients in becoming global
managers.
It also confirms that research is needed in all countries where
coaching is taking place that will help both coaches and organiza-
tions to understand the cultural implications of their work with sen-
ior managers and executives. For example, in Indonesia, a series of
ten local culture research projects was aimed at researching regional
cultural values with the aim of making “local cultures national”,
and “connecting the Republic of Indonesia together with cultural
diversity through the state-slogan, ‘Unity in Diversity’” (Jones,
2005:278). For coaches in our global economy today, and particularly
for those who may be coaching by telephone from another part of
the globe, it is important to understand the culture of the country, as
well as the culture of the organization.
224 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

As Percy Barnevik, then CEO of the Swedish firm Asea Brown

Boveri, put it, “Global managers have exceptionally open minds. They
respect how different countries do things, and they have the imagina-
tion to appreciate why they do them that way … Global managers are
made, not born” (Javidan and House, 2001:292). As coaches, we can
assist in the “making” of global managers if we have open minds and
have a deep understanding of our own individual worldview.

HOW TO USE THIS

Self-awareness and practice

• How aware are you of the cultural differences within your

client’s organization?
• How do these differences influence their style of communica-
tion and how do they inhibit clear communication?
• As a coach, how can you communicate across the differences
between your culture and that of your client?
• If your client operates in a multinational organization in a vari-
ety of countries, how does this impact on their behaviour?
• What needs to happen to broaden understanding for the
client?
• How can you help your client to change their communication
style and behaviour?

Example: For example, Sunny is working with a female client

who has a humane and very gentle orientation. The client is
working within what the client feels to be an aggressive, male-
dominated multinational. One of the areas with which she is
helping her client, is to develop a style of assertive interven-
tion to get her point across, while at the same time propos-
ing a communication strategy behind the scenes with her line
manager to change the aggressive culture of meetings. Sunny is
working with her client on style of communication, i.e. linguis-
tic patterns that do not serve the client’s ability to communicate
assertively, and body language that will be influential rather
than submissive. She is also working with her client to help her
to identify the benefits and consequences of changing her style
of speaking and presenting.
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 225

In any multicultural or multinational organization, it is useful to

conduct a survey to understand how individuals view managing
people, resolving conflict, taking decisions and solving problems
differently. Once differences are identified and understood, the indi-
vidual or group can aim to create agreed guidelines for behaviour
towards colleagues and in teams.

Individualism versus collectivism

One of Hofstede’s five dimensions (Robbins, 2001) is individualism
versus collectivism. Hofstede defines individualism as the degree to
which people act as individuals rather than members of a group, and
collectivism as the opposite. Hofstede (1999) also defines individu-
alism as something that occurs in a society where the ties between
individuals are loose. Everyone looks after themselves and immedi-
ate family only. The Thomas and Bendixen (2000) study indicated a
strong score on individualism for all the groups that participated.
In a collectivist society, people are part of a cohesive unit from
birth and this continues throughout their lifetime with unquestion-
ing loyalty. Rosinski (2003) has a similar definition. Countries like
Japan and South Korea have become more affluent, tending to take
care of their elders less than in previous decades; however, they are
by no means as individualistic as Western countries.
According to Allik and McCrae (2004), Asia and Africa are predom-
inantly collectivist, and Europeans and Americans individualist.
Peterson (2007) describes common values in collectivist cultures as
group achievement, harmony, keeping relationships over time, con-
tributing to the well-being of the group, and being friendly, agreeable
and sympathetic. Values associated with individualist cultures are
personal achievement and advancement, dominance, autonomy and
self-reliance, openness to new experience, and having fun.
Hofstede (1999) also points out that, according to his research
during the 1960s and 1970s, this dimension has seen the biggest
change in 30 years, and there is a correlation between a shift to
individualism and economic affluence. He stresses that this is not
a radical shift but rather a gradual movement. In South Africa, we
have noticed the tendency in black cultures to be more collectivist,
where it is assumed that elders will be taken care of. My godfather,
a judge, tells the story of an old man in KwaZulu-Natal who came to
226 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

see him in circuit court pleading with him to help. He had spent his
money providing his children with a good education; however, once
educated, they moved away and were not interested in providing for
him in his old age. They said he should have provided for himself.
Javidan and House (2001) distinguish between an institutional
emphasis on collectivism and in-group collectivism:

• Institutional collectivism: People are encouraged to belong to

larger groups within society. This belonging is encouraged through
incentives for such societies and groups. The society or institution
decides how resources, such as the provision of child-care facili-
ties, should be allocated. Group membership is highly valued. The
group makes the important decisions, and group goals are more
important than individual goals. Countries such as Greece, Italy
and Argentina score low and value their individual freedom and
autonomy. Self-interest is more important than the collective good.
By contrast, countries such as Sweden, South Korea and Japan value
group harmony and cooperation and score high in this dimension.
• In-group collectivism: This dimension measures the level to which
people value and take pride in belonging to small groups such as
family and a close circle of friends or the organization they work
for. There are strong expectations of these close-knit ties, such as
being favoured for positions and rewards. It is accepted and often
expected to use these ties to get doors opened. Countries such as
Sweden, Denmark and New Zealand score low, and favouritism
and cronyism are unacceptable.

Senghor (1965) describes African collectivism as “communalism”,

where individualism is not in contrast to but co-exists with com-
munalism. I have found that my clients often grapple with these
apparent dichotomies. I have several clients who take care of families
or even extended families, understanding that this is expected of
them. Some are drawing a line as to the extent to which they are
prepared to continue to do this. A few clients believe that their
organizations and/or government should take care of them; others
believe that they need to do it themselves.
The distinctions between individualism, collectivism and commu-
nalism, and how these are experienced by ourselves and our clients,
raise interesting questions with regard to the values underpinning
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 227

the different relationships between the individual and the collective

in society. In her research, Schneier (1998) presents an argument that
dominant forms of European thought, such as those that gave rise to
the dimensions of collectivism and individualism, are based on mate-
rialist values while communalism has humanism as its value base.

HOW TO USE THIS

Self-awareness and practice

• Do you have a tendency to be more collectivist, individualis-

tic or communalistic?
• What are your clients like: individualist, collectivist or
communalistic?
• How do they manage the expectation of behaving one way at
work and another at home?
• How does their being either individualist, collectivist or com-
munalistic affect them and the organizations within which
they operate?
• How does this influence their aspirations and goals?

Context
Peterson (2007) points out that executive coaching is about the
individual, and the coach works with the individual. Diversity, or
in his definition culture, plays a different role in a group setting,
especially in multicultural environments. Should the coach deal
with a diverse group, as in a team-coaching situation, the various
cultures represented need to be taken into account. When the coach
works with an individual, culture plays a different role. It becomes
one of various factors that shape the personality and values of the
individual—and assumptions about the culture should not “inter-
fere with coaching the individual” (Peterson, 2007:262). Peterson
cites an instance when working with a group: the Americans in the
group were the most vocal, and the Japanese in the group were the
least vocal. However, the individual who dominated the session
was Japanese, contrary to the group norm. He states, “The deeper a
coach’s insights into how culture has shaped their own beliefs and
values, the more sensitive they can be to how their assumptions
228 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

shape their reactions and advice to the people they coach” (Peterson,
2007:262).
What is the context within which you coach? The client with
whom you work might not fit the norm of their culture; but what
is the norm for the organization within which the client operates?
The Japanese in the above example might have a different experi-
ence working in an American company as opposed to a Japanese
company. Wilber (2000a) points out that the individual works
within a system. We should consider all of the systems within
which an individual works, from the family, community and
organization and how all of these influence the client’s views, val-
ues and beliefs.
An important context in South Africa is Black Economic
Empowerment (BEE) and its implications. Ramphele says of the
exodus of skills, “South Africa is inflicting a double injury to itself.
It is losing sorely needed skills in engineering, medicine and the
humanities. It is also throwing away the significant investment
made by taxpayers in educating these young people. We behave
like a person who is limping from an injured foot who then
shoots himself in the other foot to even the score” (Ramphele,
2008:86).
People who are part of the dominant culture of any organization
or country are often unaware of culture, as it is their norm. It is the
minority who tend to be more acutely aware of their own culture and
the way it differs from the norm which surrounds them. For exam-
ple, if we take the experience of a white man versus a black female,
what are the power and rank issues that arise? The white male in
most organizations in South Africa represents the dominant group,
and represents authority and therefore sets the norms of behaviour.
On the other hand, the white male is today’s marginalized voice;
white men could be angry about BEE and are the ones who often
choose to leave the country.
The experience of a black woman could be entirely different as
she tries to unpack the nature of power relationships that happen
between people in the workplace. For example, her experience in
a predominantly white, male-dominated, large corporate could be
different to working in a government ministry for a democratically
elected black government.
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 229

HOW TO USE THIS

Self-awareness and practice

• Overall, as a coach, what is your experience of context—and

how do the various contextual settings affect how you view
yourself and your ability to function at your best?
• Just as cultures have a dominant leadership style, so do com-
panies. What is the dominant leadership style of the company
or corporation within which your client operates and how is
that different from your client’s view on leadership and their
dominant leadership style?
• What contrasting experiences has the client had in other com-
panies with different teams, and more particularly with other
line managers who demonstrate contrasting styles of leader-
ship that perhaps conflict with that of your client?

What is acceptable in one context is not necessarily acceptable in

another. Some organizations value aggressive and assertive behav-
iour, whereas others prefer a more humane orientation. Understand-
ing that these differences are not about right or wrong, but more
about assisting the client to build their capacity to discern and adapt
to difference, helps to build sustainability for clients developing new
skills and competence.

Bringing it all together

The great organization must not only accommodate the fact
that each employee is different, it must capitalize on these dif-
ferences (Buckingham and Clifton, 2002:5).

Diversity is a universal theme. It is important in a fast-

changing and ever-diminishing world for everyone—organizations,
leaders, managers as well as coaches—to understand and embrace
diversity. “No matter how highly skilled, well trained, or intelli-
gent you are, if you are making wrong or culturally inappropriate
assumptions, you will not be accurate in your assessment, meaning-
ful in your understanding, or appropriate in your interactions as a
leader” (Connerley and Pedersen, 2005).
230 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

We like to ask clients to tell their life story as a start to building the
relationship. Rosinski (2003) supports this when he states that in the
beginning of a coaching relationship he sets aside several hours to hear
the client’s story. The goal here is to understand, not judge. Their story
will bring out some of the themes we have discussed in this chapter.
It is important to note, however, that the client may not initially share
much more than superficial facts. Over time, as trust is built, this should
improve, leading to more information being offered at deeper levels.
In Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success (2008:19), he
says that “People don’t rise from nothing. We do owe something to
parentage and patronage … It makes a difference where and when
we grew up. The culture we belong to and the legacies passed down
by our forebears shape the patterns of our achievement in ways we
cannot begin to imagine”. His research shows that we “are products
of our history and community, of opportunity and legacy” (Gladwell,
2008:285), and that “cultural legacies matter” (Gladwell, 2008:231).
If the coach ignores the cultural background of a client and all the
subtleties that entails, the coach will almost certainly end up being pre-
scriptive, interpreting the client’s needs and experience through the
coach’s own lens and unconscious bias. At the worst, this could end up
being invasive rather than reflective. In this sense, it is the coach’s role to
try to see the client’s world, upbringing, background, culture and work
experience through the client’s eyes, helping them to reflect on how that
may impact both their business practice and perspective on the world.
The various diversity themes mentioned in this chapter are a start-
ing point, not an end destination. Although understanding diversity
in all of its facets is relevant to building self-awareness, we should
not underestimate its complexity. Human beings are not unlike a
five-billion piece jigsaw puzzle. Coaching assists the client in starting
a lifelong journey to discover those pieces, realizing that they may
change over time; some may fall away and new ones be taken on.
Connerley and Pedersen (2005) suggest that multicultural aware-
ness can be learned but not taught. They emphasize that training
can provide the knowledge and skills necessary to cultivate better
interaction and the growth of awareness. Their recommended frame-
work for dealing with multicultural environments is a process that:

• cultivates awareness;
• acquires knowledge; and
• practises and applies the required skills.
 DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND GENDER 231

They also indicate that the reasons why most training programmes
fail are because of an overemphasis on one of three components
while neglecting the other two; in coaching we should be aware of
all three. Awareness is the first level which starts by beginning to
understand your own culture—and in particular how it influences
your worldview. The second level is to find the information and
knowledge that will help you to understand how and why people
are different from you. The third level is to start acquiring and prac-
tising your newly acquired skills, competences and behaviour that
will help you to manage diversity.
In this chapter we have explored various themes of diversity, cul-
ture and gender issues. It is up to you to cultivate self-awareness,
continuing your own professional development and applied practice
when working with diversity, culture and gender issues in an organ-
izational context. An integrated understanding of this chapter’s core
themes can only enhance your success as a business coach.

Regardless of the amount of cultural knowledge a coach has,

the best coaches will always be those who coach with an open
attitude of curiosity and interest, who meet people where they
are, who accept them for what they are, and who project a
genuine desire to be helpful to each person on their own terms
(Peterson, 2007).

Our aim is to deepen your understanding and to provide helpful

pointers on which to reflect. It is strongly recommended that you
enhance your understanding through your own personal develop-
ment and diversity work. Every practitioner needs to expand their
own ability to work with business clients who may well see the
world through not just a different perspective, but through multiple
lenses. For those who wish to study further there are recommended
resources at the end of the chapter.

Coach’s library
Babcock, L., and Laschever, S. (2003). Women Don’t Ask: Negotiation and
the Gender Divide. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Baez, F. (2006). Coaching across cultures. WABC Business Coaching
Worldwide eZine, 2(4)20–23. Webpage: www.wabccoaches.com/
bcw/2006_ v2_i4/edge.html.
232 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Bell, E.L.J., and Nkomo, S.M. (2001). Our Separate Ways: Black and White
Women and the Struggle for Identity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Busi-
ness School Press.
Caver, K.A., and Livers, A.B. (2002). Dear White Boss. Harvard Business
Review, 80(11):76–81.
Connerley, M.L., and Pedersen, P.B. (2005). Leadership in a Diverse and
Multicultural Environment. London: Sage.
Eriksen, T.H. (2001). Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social
and Cultural Anthropology. London: Pluto Press.
Foo, S.L. (2004). Asian perspectives in coaching. Tomorrow’s Life Coach,
3(5):7–8.
Gladwell, M. (2000). The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big
Difference. Boston, MA: Little Brown.
Javidan, M., and House, R.J. (2001). Cultural acumen for the global
manager: lessons from Project GLOBE. Organizational Dynamics,
29(4):289–305.
Kline, N. (1999/2004). Time to Think: Listening with the Human Mind.
London: Ward Lock.
Lévi-Strauss, C. (1958). Race and History. Paris: UNESCO.
Ngũgı̃ wa Thiong’o (1986). Decolonizing the Mind. Oxford: James
Currey/Nairobi: EAEP.
Peterson, D.B. (2007). Executive coaching in a cross-cultural context.
Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 59(4):261–271.
Pinker, S. (2008). The Sexual Paradox: Men, Women and the Real Gender
Gap. New York, NY: Scribner.
Rosinski, P. (2003). Coaching Across Cultures: New Tools for Leveraging
National, Corporate and Professional Differences. London: Nicholas
Brealey.
Tannen, D. (1995). The power of talk: Who gets heard and why. Harvard
Business Review, September–October.
UNESCO (1950). The Race Question. Paris: UNESCO. Webpage: unesdoc.
unesco.org/images/0012/001282/128291eo.pdf.
Wirth, L. (2001). Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling: Women in Manage-
ment. Geneva: International Labour Office. Webpage: www.ilo.org/
public/ libdoc/ilo/2001/101B09_102_engl.pdf, January 2009.
Wirth, L. (2004). Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling: Women in Management:
Update 2004. Geneva: International Labour Office. Webpage: www.
ilo.org/dyn/gender/docs/RES/292/F267981337/Breaking%20
Glass%20PDF%20English.pdf, January 2009.
CHAPTER SEVEN

Existential and experiential

learning issues

In a nutshell, what leadership coaches offer their clients is

independence. True independence means being free from the
domination of one’s unconscious needs and desires and being
courageous enough to choose one’s own destiny (Kets de Vries,
2006:272).

CHAPTER OUTLINE
• Freedom—an existential moment
• What is existentialism?
– Being versus doing
– Existential dilemma: meaning and purpose
– Four ultimate existential concerns
• Existential themes at work
– Management culture
– The coach/client relationship
• Coaching for meaning
– Decision making
– Past versus present versus future

233
234 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

• Human systems
– Relationships and systems
• Using experience for learning
– Discovering barriers to learning
• In conclusion
• Coach’s library

In this chapter, we explore existential and experiential learning issues

that confront the coach and client at every stage in their coaching
conversation, as well as the impact of psychological research in these
areas. The relationship between coach and client is crucial to the suc-
cessful conclusion of whatever the coaching process is seeking to
accomplish. The coach’s intent is not always outcomes-based; it can
also focus on learning, development, meaning and transformation.
The complexity of these issues is often influenced by the three-way
intervention between the organization, the client and the coach.
Existential philosophy regards human existence as unexplain-
able, and emphasizes freedom of choice and taking responsibility
for one’s acts. Within the business coaching context, the coach helps
the client to articulate existential concerns such as freedom, purpose,
choice and anxiety, and to identify and replace limiting paradigms
with empowering paradigms, thus leading to positive change.
These existential issues are relevant to the coach too. For example,
if you look at purpose, the coach might be tempted to confuse their
own individual purpose with that of the client, and in the process
be seduced to use their position or power to influence the client.
The coach often holds “guru” status, especially in the beginning of
the relationship, and it is therefore important for the business coach to
be aware of their own existential issues as well as those of the client.
As in existentialism, the “relationship” comes up as an important
factor in learning from experience. According to Boud, Cohen and
Walker (1996:11), experience is created in the “transaction” between
the individual and the environment in which they operate—in other
words, it is relational. More is often lost than gained by ignoring the
uniqueness of each person’s history and ways of experiencing the
world.
In existential terms, the meaning of individual experience is not a
given; in coaching, it is subject to interpretation by the individual cli-
ent. In the coaching conversation, experiential learning is viewed as an
 EXISTENTIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ISSUES 235

active process in which the individual executive works with their own
experience again and again to appreciate the meanings associated with
it. In other words, the coaching client learns to actively reconstruct
their own experience, attaching their own meaning to events, and yet
understanding commonly accepted interpretations of their world.

Freedom—an existential moment

This exercise is adapted from an audio CD by Dr Michael Wetzler
(2000).
“Imagine yourself in a field or a meadow at the base of a moun-
tain. It is quiet, peaceful and safe. You’re going to climb this moun-
tain, wearing comfortable boots. When you’re ready, begin to climb.
Observe the scenery and the woods as you move. Feel the shade of
the trees. You come to a stream. Listen to its soothing sounds. It is
fresh, and you drink from it. Perhaps you freshen your face and your
hands in its cool waters. You go further and, in due course, you reach
the tree line where there are no more trees. As you look back over the
valley, the view is unobstructed. It is a view of your everyday life:
your comings and your goings; your struggles and your victories;
your relationships with others and with your own everyday self.
“Now, you resume your journey. In front of you is a large abyss,
spanned by a bridge. The bridge is strong and safe. You begin to
cross the bridge and eventually you reach the other side. It is good
to be on the mountain once again with your feet on solid ground.
You climb on, up steeper and steeper rocks, going higher and higher
until you reach the top. Here the view is breathtaking and the air is
thinner. You feel that you are on top of the world, so rest here for a
few moments. Not far from the top, you can see a small shelter made
out of wood or stone. It is beckoning to you. You move towards it,
and once inside you find a haven, a place of peace. To your surprise,
as you are resting here, a figure enters. You are not afraid. You real-
ize this figure is a guide, a mentor, of great wisdom. This being looks
at you and knows you. You feel loved, known, understood and rec-
ognized. You may have a question that you need to ask about any
area of your life. So ask it and listen to the response. Is an answer
forthcoming, a gesture, or even a look? Allow yourself to hear the
response, even if you hear it with your own voice. Or, perhaps, you
even just hear a semblance of what the response might be.
236 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

“If anything else needs to be said, by you or your mentor, now is

the time. When you’re ready, your mentor hands you a gift. What
is it? You acknowledge and receive it with gratitude. You begin to
take your farewell, whether it be with a hug, a handshake, a look
or a gentle parting. You leave the shelter, taking another look at the
breathtaking view as you turn to walk down the mountain. With
your comfortable boots you soon find yourself by the bridge. How
do you feel now? You cross the bridge. Once again, you look out
over the valley and behold your life.
“You have returned with your gift. Is there any way you sense
that this image of your life is changing for the better? You move on
down the mountain, through forest and glade, crossing the stream,
till once again you find yourself in the meadow at the bottom of the
mountain. For a moment you reflect on the journey you have taken.
Now gently, very gently, you become conscious of being where you
are in the room, in this place, listening to the sounds, conscious of
your breathing, conscious of your body, and conscious of your own
self and your entire life right now, today. And, you know that in
future, you can always return whenever needed, to that place of
peace and wisdom within you.”
This concern with change and the client’s journey through life is
a core component of the coaching process, and combined with the
question of “who am I”, can present various dilemmas for coach and
client within an organizational system. We explore several of these
dilemmas in this chapter.

What is existentialism?
Much confusion surrounds the terms “existentialist” and
“existentialism”. Existential concerns have been discussed from
the beginning of philosophical debate about the human condition,
encompassing thinkers such as Socrates and his dialogues. The liter-
ary, philosophical and artistic response to modern cultural crises has
also massively influenced existentialism. Yet existentialism remains
elusive to define, and consequently today there is no cohesive school
of existential therapists or coaches.
Existentialism displays a concern with individuals in crisis. The
term “existence” refers to coming into being or becoming. It derives
from the Latin root ex-sistere which means to “stand out or emerge”.
 EXISTENTIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ISSUES 237

Existential psychology has grown out of the awareness that serious

gaps exist in our way of understanding human beings. It sought to
analyze the structure of human existence to “understand the reality
underlying all situations of human beings in crisis” (May, 1983:44).
Basically concerned with ontology, or the science of being, exis-
tentialism is based on the underlying fact that “you and I alone
must face the fact that at some unknown moment in the future we
shall die” (May, 1983:51). Existential vocabulary includes terms
such as being, choice, responsibility, freedom, death, isolation,
mortality, absurdity, purpose in life, limitations and willing.
Rollo May (1983:49) describes existentialism as the “unique and
specific portrayal of the psychological predicament of contempo-
rary Western man”. Jean-Paul Sartre is the philosophical and literary
figure most associated with existentialism, although he represents
an extreme and is better known for expressing many of his themes
through plays and novels rather than psychological analyses (May,
1983:55).
In the United States, there was an initial resistance to the existen-
tial movement for various reasons. Firstly, it was assumed that all
major discoveries had been made in the fields of psychology, psy-
chotherapy and psychiatry. Secondly, existentialism was considered
to be a philosophical encroachment into psychiatry. The third area of
resistance to existentialism in the USA was the most crucial, accord-
ing to May (1983:13). He describes it as the pragmatic tendency to
be preoccupied with technique and an active concern in helping and
changing people.
The existential movement in the fields of psychology and psy-
chotherapy developed in a fashion that was more, rather than less,
empirical, but it also crucially acknowledged that “human beings
reveal themselves in art and literature and philosophy and by prof-
iting from the insights of the particular cultural movements which
express the anxiety and conflicts of contemporary man” (May,
1983:45).

Being versus doing

Ernesto Spinelli, previously existential professor of psychology
at Regent’s College London, noted in a lecture in Cape Town in
February 2005 that:
238 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

At the moment, we inhabit a culture which places tremendous

importance on expectations. A group is growing in numbers,
who are seen as ‘experts-in-living’ and who are working with
clients. We need our clients to see us as experts, but if some-
one asks ‘What is your expertise?’, our tendency is to translate
expertise in terms of skills, competences, specialist knowledge,
certain forms of personality test. Our primary focus is ‘doing’—
experts do.
Existentialism challenges the notion of expertise as ‘doing’
and reconsiders expertise from the point of view of ‘being’. The
question then becomes, ‘How is it that I am with other human
beings, with other living beings, with living and non-living
objects?’
The basic idea is this, that the way I reveal myself with other
beings or the world in general exposes not only that moment of
being, but gives a sense of totality—that individual’s general
stance towards reality. How I am with you reveals how I am,
not only to you, but to myself, to others and to the world in
general (Spinelli, 2005).

Being emphasizes the activity rather than the goal. Being in becom-
ing emphasizes who the person is rather than what the person can
accomplish. But it still emphasizes the concept of development. The
doing orientation emphasizes accomplishments that are measur-
able by standards outside of the acting individual (Yalom, 1980:121).
If we are to transform organizations—culturally, socially, emotion-
ally and cognitively—then the ultimate goal of coaching is seeking
transformation of self.
Culture plays an important role in the shaping of individual
values. Florence Kluckholm, who pursued research in cultural
value orientations, suggested three anthropological value
orientations for the individual human: being, being in becoming,
and doing (Kluckholm and Stroedbeck, 1961:15). There is constant
discussion in contemporary coaching circles about which comes
first, being or doing; but little mention is made about “being in
becoming”. This may, in fact, be the existential category where
coaches most often work with their clients (McWhinney et al.,
1993:28).
 EXISTENTIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ISSUES 239

Existential dilemma: meaning and purpose

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather
wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to
yearn for the vast and endless sea (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,
1900–1944).

Often in the business coaching environment, the client will state that
one of their objectives is to determine meaning in their personal and
professional life. The client may be questioning why they do what
they do. The start of this personal philosophical thinking tends to
originate from questions such as, “What motivates you?” and “What
is important to you?”. One well-known example concerns two stone
masons who were asked what they were doing. One answered,
“I am cutting a stone”; the other said, “I am building a cathedral”. To
ask your client, “What is the meaning and purpose of your work?”
can be the beginning of a quest of self-discovery. A surgeon in India
wanted to make cataract operations very inexpensive for the poor.
Rather than tell his team that this was the ultimate aim, he explained
that their real vision was to “cure blindness”.
Faith or spirituality speaks to our underlying values and drivers,
often being a search for something greater than we are. “Who am I and
why am I here?”, is ultimately a search for meaning and purpose in life.
Often, individuals turn to faith or a spiritual journey with these ques-
tions. From a coaching perspective, a client may ask questions about
a possible change of career, or even start to think about unfulfilled
challenges. Typically, these questions evolve to “Who are they?” and
“How do they be who they are?”. Although coaches love to work with
existential questions, such questions present a dilemma. If the organi-
zation pays the coach’s fees, and the aim of coaching is performance-
related, yet the client focuses on an inner search for meaning and
purpose, this may present an ethical challenge for the coach. Some
clients are lucky and the organization contracts the coach to pave the
individual’s road to self-discovery. This, however, is not the norm! It
is useful to build this possibility into the contracting process. One way
to manage this process can be to contract with clients that those indi-
viduals who undergo the coaching process sign an agreement to stay
for one year from the end of the coaching intervention—but I have yet
to see this implemented by the organizations with whom I work.
240 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

“The belief that one’s life is controlled by external forces is

associated with a sense of powerlessness, ineffectualness and ...
can lead to low self-esteem” (Yalom, 1980:163). This is particularly
relevant for clients who work within a large family-dominated
organization with a legacy to fulfil, or a large bureaucratic corpo-
ration hampered by policies and procedures. It is here that Yalom
defines anxiety: “Anxiety is a signal that one perceives some threat
to one’s continued existence”. Coaches consistently work with anxi-
ety, although most clients tend to label this “stress” originating from
external sources.
Yalom (1980:188) states that death anxiety exists at the deepest
levels of being, is heavily repressed and is rarely experienced in its
full sense. He says anxiety is a guide to point the way to an authentic
existence, and that life cannot be lived nor faced without anxiety.
A framework for coaching (in Yalom’s view) may be a synthesis
of the business belief system, the coach’s model with its theoretical
underpinnings, plus the development of the relationship. Spinelli,
in his Cape Town supervisory session in April 2004, indicated that
the “relationship” is the core factor in any therapeutic, coaching,
supervisory or counselling session, and perhaps even for research.
My work and research have examined this and underlined, time
and time again, that no matter what level the coaching interven-
tion, it seems that the fundamental work of the coaching interven-
tion establishes the importance of the relationship. As Yalom puts it
(in the context of psychotherapy):

I am convinced that the surreptitious ‘throw-ins’ made all the

difference ... I believe that, when no one is looking, the thera-
pist throws in the ‘real thing’. But what are these ‘throw-ins’,
these elusive, ‘off the record’ extras? They exist outside of for-
mal theory, they are not written about, they are not explicitly
taught ... Indeed, is it possible to define and teach such qualities
as compassion, ‘presence’, caring, extending oneself, touching
the patient at a profound level, or—that most elusive of all—
wisdom? (Yalom, 1980:3–4).
Existential psychotherapy is a dynamic approach to therapy
which focuses on concerns that are rooted in the individual
existence ... it is the relationship that heals (Yalom, 1980:5).
 EXISTENTIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ISSUES 241

According to May, in the Western world, we have managed to

dominate nature, but in the process we have repressed the sense of
being—the ontological being. Robert Hargrove (2003) says a coach
is something that you “be”. He asks whether the coach is “being”
or “doing” when helping clients inside the coaching conversation.
Hargrove promotes the idea of “Kokoro”, i.e. perfecting one’s inner
nature. “One must not only master the technique but also perfect
the way of being consistent with the discipline, having a calm and
centred inner spirit; to be able to teach people, one must perfect his/
her own nature” (Hargrove, 2003:44).
Hargrove (2003:48), who often brings in an existential point of
view, says we have the power to choose who we are being. Choice is
one of the existential concerns in the coaching process and is related
to the process of setting goals and taking action. He says the coach
can help the client declare new possibilities for themselves through
the power of language, and that the power to choose who you need
to be exists in your conversations, in your speaking and listening,
and not in grappling with your history. This emphasizes the per-
formance model versus a psychological model.
Within the coaching conversation, the coach is not necessarily
looking for the psychological paradigm, but listening more to what
underpins language and linguistic patterns. This resonates with my
linguistic background, which predisposes the coach to analyze the
context, content, structure and meaning of language when working
with clients, either when shadowing them at work or in the coaching
conversation.

Figure 21. Becoming—transforming self.

Source: Adapted from Weiss (2004).
242 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

THE RABBIT HOLE STORY

One of my clients wanted help to structure the way she
approached her daily life and business. I helped the client to
translate her actions and her way of thinking into meaningful
experience. The client discovered that she thinks linguistically
and kinaesthetically, but it did not help her to structure her day
using words and feelings. She decided that she needed to inter-
pret her world differently, i.e. visually, in order to have more
meaningful experiences and make life work better for her.
When the coach and client constructed a learning contract at
the end of a first session, the client had as her purpose: to learn
to structure her thinking differently; as her strategy: to use the
new way of thinking to manage her life and her business more
effectively; and as specific outcomes: (1) to work daily with vis-
ual thinking and visual language, and (2) to journal daily from
words into pictures into visual language.
Previously, the client had constructed a kinaesthetic view of
the world and had ascribed meaning to it kinaesthetically and
linguistically. She needed to bring in visual thinking to make
more sense of her world and to be able to “see her day”. The
coach and client focused on her limiting assumption that she
could not think visually. That changed on the day when client
and coach “went down a rabbit hole” in the coaching conver-
sation. The client discovered herself visually by describing her
journey down the “rabbit hole”; she came out into the light of
the natural world with a visual rather than a kinaesthetic recon-
struction of her experience.
In the light of these coaching conversations, the coach was
helping the client to interpret her own reality and to see how
she constructed meaning within that reality. The client achieved
her goal at the end of the “rabbit hole” session—i.e. to identify
her avoiding behaviours when trying to think visually (Stout-
Rostron, 2006c:167).
According to Hargrove (2003), masterful coaches make an
existential choice to make a difference in the life of an indi-
vidual, a team or an organization. He says that it is important
to introduce powerful ideas into the client’s thinking because
that is what has the capability of shifting paradigms. Hargrove
 EXISTENTIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ISSUES 243

mentions the importance of questions. In the coaching process,

the purpose of questions is to create insights, shift limiting
assumptions, and help decisions to be made and goals to be set.
Interestingly, Hargrove (2003) insists that, if the relationship
is to be powerful or profound, it is important for the coach to
provide information that could possibly be difficult or threat-
ening or embarrassing, but which is necessary for growth and
learning. This is contrary to how we see the coach’s role, i.e. as
one of teasing out the thinking of the client. Rather than being
the active agent, the coach’s role is to make observations that
are challenging, but which are neither judgemental, directive,
nor interpretive (a therapist might choose to be analytical or
interpretive). I would suggest that, if Hargrove is recommend-
ing that the coach as “guru” provide answers, this could set up
a relatively disempowering relationship that renders the cli-
ent more passive in the thinking process. It is more valuable
to focus on the empowerment of the client as an “active” agent
and thinker which encourages personal responsibility.

Personal responsibility and awareness

One of our first areas of focus is awareness: helping the client to
grow in awareness and to accept personal responsibility to create
change for themselves. How the client takes up responsibility for
change emerges from the coaching conversation.
“Locus of control” measures, at a superficial level, whether an
individual accepts personal responsibility for their behaviour and
life experiences, or whether the individual believes that what hap-
pens to them is unrelated to personal behaviour and is therefore
beyond personal control. Individuals who accept responsibility are
considered to have an “internal” locus of control, and those who
reject it have an “external” locus of control (Yalom, 1980:262).
A question arises: how directive should the coach be, and what is
required by coaching clients with an internal locus of control versus
an external locus of control? Does your coaching process account for
both? In the coaching process, the assumption of personal responsi-
bility is a key step towards growth, achieving professional goals and
creating desired individual change—personally and professionally.
244 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Existentially, choice and change offer a way of taking responsibility

and defining one’s own self. Sartre also wrote, “authenticity versus
self-deception is the absolute personal responsibility” (Peltier,
2001:157). “We cannot make life deliver what we want, but we can
control what we think and desire; rigorous self-disciplined thought
is the key” (Olson, 1962:11, cited in Peltier, 2001:158). Not specifically
an intervention, but ten existential guidelines are offered for the
executive coach by Peltier (2001:164–167):

• anticipate anxiety and defensiveness;

• clients must figure things out in their own way;
• commit to something;
• create and sustain authentic relationships;
• encourage choice;
• get going;
• honour individuality;
• manage conflict and confrontation;
• value responsibility taking;
• welcome and appreciate the absurd.

Coaching guidelines could advocate: reflection, developing insight

and awareness, setting goals, using language appropriately, mak-
ing choices and taking action. Peltier (2001:168) says, “authentic
individualism requires extensive self-examination and the willing-
ness to live with the decisions one makes as a result”. This may
be in contrast with other belief systems or cultural values, such
as the principle of ubuntu in African cultures, where it is not so
much individualism that is important, but relationships within the
community.

Ubuntu
The African notion of ubuntu can be defined as “morality, humane-
ness, compassion, care, understanding and empathy. It is about
shared values and humanity” (Boon, 1996:31). In ubuntu terms, you
are only who you are in relation to others. In other words, ubuntu
is about interaction within the community. Ubuntu sends you as an
individual on a journey where you will find out who you are when
 EXISTENTIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ISSUES 245

you meet the people in your life. It is about life, relationships and
values, and in many ways, this is a very existentialist philosophy.
Northern European individualism is a very different philosophy
from ubuntu, which experiences existence in relation to others, and
within a sense of community.
The term ubuntu is important in the South African context as it
refers to an African view of life and worldview. Ubuntu powerfully
suggests that man is essentially a social being and that “a person is
a person through other persons” (Devenish, 2005). Justice Yvonne
Mokgoro of the South African Constitutional Court says that ubuntu
is the basis “for a morality of co-operation, compassion, community
(spiritedness) and concern for the interests of the collective, for oth-
ers and respect for the dignity of personhood; all the time emphasis-
ing the virtues of that dignity in social relationships and practices”
(Devenish, 2005).
Ubuntu is more aligned with the second of the two famously
assumed existential states of being: being-for-itself and being-for-
others. Ubuntu requires the “right balance between individualism
and collectivism and is made possible by taking seriously people’s
need for dignity, self-respect and regard for others. Its emphasis is
not on differences, but on accommodating these” (Devenish, 2005).

Four ultimate existential concerns

Yalom (2001:xvi) defines existential psychotherapy as “a dynamic
therapeutic approach that focuses on concerns rooted in exist-
ence”. In its technical sense, “dynamic” is rooted in Freud’s model
of mental functioning, assuming that “forces in conflict within
the individual generate the individual’s thought, emotion, and
behaviour”. The importance of this definition is that “these con-
flicting forces exist at varying levels of awareness; indeed some are
entirely unconscious”. These inner conflicts are not just from the
individual’s struggle with suppressed instinctual strivings or from
traumatic memories, but are also “from our confrontation with the
‘givens’ of existence” (Yalom, 2001:xvii). These “givens” or “ulti-
mate concerns” are the “deep structures of experience”. The four
most closely aligned with psychotherapy are death, freedom, isola-
tion, meaninglessness.
246 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

FOUR ULTIMATE CONCERNS: DEATH, FREEDOM,

ISOLATION, MEANINGLESSNESS
The first concern is death. The existential conflict is the “tension
between the awareness of the inevitability of death and the wish
to continue to be”. The second concern, freedom, is usually con-
sidered to be a positive factor in life. Existentially, freedom refers
to each individual being responsible for their own individual
worldview, life design, choices and actions. The existential ten-
sion is the implication of nothingness when human beings wish
for groundedness and structure. The third concern is isolation,
which is a fundamental, unbridgeable isolation from others. We
enter the world alone and exit alone. The existential conflict is
the tension between our “awareness of our absolute isolation
and our wish for contact, for protection, and our wish to be
part of a larger whole”. The fourth concern is meaninglessness.
If we are ultimately alone in a meaningless or indifferent uni-
verse, what is the point of living? Without a preordained design
for each individual human being, “each of us must construct
our own meaning in life”. The existential conflict is the result of
another paradox; human beings who seek meaning are thrown
into a universe with no meaning (Yalom, 1980:8–10).

Paradigms and the four concerns

What is relevant to us as coaches is the construct of paradigms or
worldviews. Yalom (1980:26) writes that paradigms “are self-created,
wafer-thin barriers against the pain of uncertainty”. He talks about
the importance of meaning, how important it is for the individual
human being to construct meaning in their life. He says that the exis-
tential paradigm assumes that anxiety emanates from the individ-
ual’s confrontation with those four ultimate concerns in existence:
death, freedom, isolation and meaninglessness.

EXISTENTIAL DILEMMA: INDIVIDUAL VERSUS COLLECTIVE

PURPOSE
An interesting dilemma is the client whose family’s politi-
cal purpose was not aligned with the career choice that she
made. She began working for an NGO, which made her family
 EXISTENTIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ISSUES 247

happy, as she was brought up in a family with strong socialist

values. She completed her studies, moving into a helping
profession where she became very dissatisfied. With great
difficulty, she made the decision to fulfil her entrepreneurial
talent by starting her own business, even though she knew it
was against the principles of her family. She has subsequently
become financially successful, showing that she has the ability
and capacity to be a success in the commercial world. How-
ever, her family continues to disapprove of her newfound
capability, and vociferously lets her know of their disappoint-
ment. Her dilemma is: should she continue in business or
move back into the NGO environment to please her family?
Will she be desperately unhappy if she cannot align her own
vision for her life with that of her family? Does she need their
approval to have meaning in her life, and how isolated will
she be without it?

The question for executive coaches is how do these four ultimate

concerns affect coaching? How do these ultimate concerns affect the
client in the workplace? Is it more about purpose because people
want to be doing a job that is meaningful? We know that human
beings want meaningful work, and often the workplace is a major
contributor to human purpose and significance. And where does
their job and career fit into the rest of their life, and how does it
impact on their sense of meaning, purpose or isolation?
May (1983) talks about the “organization man”, i.e. the corpo-
rate executives who live, eat and breathe their work, deriving their
identity from their position, power and status inside the organiza-
tion and society at large. May calls this the “outer-directed man”
who conforms and disperses themselves to such a degree, and par-
ticipates and identifies so much with others that their own being is
emptied.
Closely related to the “workaholic” executive are individuals who
have always strived “for competent effective power and control ...
getting ahead, achieving, accumulating material wealth, leaving
works behind as imperishable monuments”. These driving pres-
sures can become a way of life that effectively conceals the questions
about our ultimate concerns (Yalom, 1980:120).
248 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness

Yalom (1980) says that death is only one component of the human
being’s existential situation, and that anxiety can be understood
by understanding death. According to Yalom, freedom helps us
to understand the assumption of responsibility, commitment to
change, decision and action; isolation illuminates the role of rela-
tionship; and meaninglessness turns our attention to the principle of
engagement with ourselves and others.
The assumption of personal responsibility has a parallel with
coaching. It plays a major part in any business coaching conversa-
tion: what is, and what will be, the commitment and responsibility
that the executive will undertake as a step towards achieving goals.
The coach is ultimately trying to help the client take responsibility
for their actions, to become aware of their actions, and to be con-
scious of how their behaviour impacts on others. In order to look at
these existential concerns as they relate to coaching, it is useful to
look briefly at the research in existential psychotherapy, as well as
some findings from sports coaching.

Lessons from sports coaches

What has emerged from the success of athletic coaches is the impor-
tance of dreaming and setting goals: aligning everything and “going
for it”. Athletic coaches introduced the concept of “balance” in one’s
life: where does work fit into your life and dreams; how driven do
you want to be? On the other hand, “positive mental health and
self-esteem are greatly enhanced when a person is excellent at some-
thing” (Peltier, 2001:170).
Failure can set up a sense of loss and isolation. One fundamental
underpinning of success is to be able to make mistakes and
to learn from failure: the coach needs to be able to empathize
with the client and to discern how the client views failure, and
help the client to see where failure can be a turning point. The
client then makes the decision to change, looks at how to view
things differently and learns something completely new, which
is put into practice. A crucial component to learn from failure is
awareness.
 EXISTENTIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ISSUES 249

Existential isolation
Yalom (1980:357) gives a definition of existential isolation: “Existential
isolation refers to an unbridgeable gulf between one’s self and any
other being; the separation between the individual and the world,
separation from the world”. In freedom, there is existential isolation,
and the paradox of relationship is the problem of isolation. “One must
learn to relate to another without giving way to the desire to slip out of
isolation by becoming part of the other, but one must also learn to relate
to another without reducing the other to a tool” (Yalom, 1980:359).
Yalom mentions the encounter group as a means of self-expression,
but suggests they are simply monologues disguised as dialogues.
If the coach is not careful, we can simply be listening to a mono-
logue (with no room for awareness, introspection and reflection) on
the part of the client. This also flags the necessity for awareness in
group coaching. Unless the lead coach is trained in a methodology
to include all voices, and to have all voices heard, the group process
will simply be that of various individuals’ solo thinking.
Very often in the first half hour of a coaching session, I find that
I am listening to a monologue—so, eventually and when appropri-
ate, I step into the labyrinth of the monologue with interventions
such as clarifying questions. I would suggest that in coaching, the
coach turns toward the client with the same “listening intensity” as
is developed in psychotherapy.
A very interesting question is always: how many other people
are there in a room, even if it seems it is just coach and client? Yalom
suggests that all other people must be swept away before an authen-
tic relationship between client and therapist can be developed. In
coaching, it is essential to explore the system. In other words, the cli-
ent’s relationships with others in the workplace, as well as personal
relationships, are to be discovered. Although Yalom (1980:401) says
that the “encounter itself is healing” and that “a positive relation-
ship between patient and therapist is positively related to therapy
outcome”, in business coaching it is somewhat different. Although
the relationship between coach and client is one key relationship,
there is also the relationship with the organization.
As a consequence of coaching, the organization will be looking
for visible results. These results could be made visible in a number
250 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

of ways, depending on how the outcomes are defined. In the

business world, it is necessary for the client to make change visible,
often in behaviour or some kind of tangible results. Often the client
is developing in self-awareness, and may be grappling with vari-
ous existential issues. However, unless the learning is made visible
in the workplace, the organization will wonder what it is to which
they are contributing. If results are not forthcoming, there could be a
physical (if not existential) isolation opening up for that executive!

The importance of relationship

The key concept of Yalom’s research and writing is that the relation-
ship heals. And he says that the “throw-ins” in psychotherapy, the
off-the-record contributions, help to build that relationship. He asks,
“How does a therapeutic relationship heal?” He answers it firmly
and finally by saying “There is much evidence for the argument that
it is the relationship that heals and that the real agent of change is the
relationship” (Yalom, 1980:404).
The basis of my own research has been to establish if it is the
relationship that determines the success of the coaching interven-
tion. Although relationship is in fact one of the key parameters for
success, there are other components that need to be in place for the
intervention to be successful. For example (Stout-Rostron, 2008):

• assessing qualitatively and quantitatively what has shifted dur-

ing the coaching intervention;
• being coached yourself;
• being flexible;
• creating a development plan with goals;
• developing EQ;
• identifying which new client behaviours are visible and how per-
formance has improved;
• learning from experience;
• making your ethical code explicit;
• measuring coaching results; and
• understanding the roles of others.

Sartre (Russel, 1978:38) says that engagement is the ultimate mean-

ing. However, the difficulty is that actually one must invent one’s
 EXISTENTIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ISSUES 251

own meaning, and then permit oneself to fulfil that meaning. Maslow
(1968:21) says we live in order to fulfil our potential. The Austrian
psychiatrist and creator of logotherapy, Viktor Frankl, believed that
three categories help to determine life meaning:

• what one accomplishes or gives to the world in terms of one’s

creation;
• what one takes from the world in terms of encounters and experi-
ences; and
• one’s own stand towards suffering, and towards a state that one
cannot change (Frankl, 1946).

Frankl (1946) emphasizes the uniqueness of each person’s individual

meaning, and that engagement emerges as an answer to meaning-
lessness. A core concept from Yalom (1980) and Spinelli (1989) is that
it is the relationship that helps the client to move on. My work shows
that the development of the relationship emerges from engagement
and intervention.

Existential themes at work

Of course, coaching is very different from psychotherapy. Hargrove
picks up an existential theme, quoting Peter Senge: “I believe we
suffer every day; in every single business meeting we go to”. He
mentions the despair that many managers experience: “they feel
they are unable to have authentic communication where they dis-
cuss the un-discussable, talk about problems openly, and overcome
the game playing” (Hargrove, 2003:174).
Coach practitioners often explore the client’s values, ethics, mean-
ing of life, life’s purpose, significant and challenging work, choice,
will, action, responsibility, decision, relationships, building alliances,
self-creation and desire for self-actualization.

EXISTENTIAL DILEMMA: VALUE SYSTEMS CLASH

Another potential dilemma develops when the client feels
that their underlying value system clashes with that of their
organization. People often have a strong sense of ethical, moral
or faith-based values. When they voice their concerns inside a
252 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

coaching assignment, they are reflecting on whether their value

system is in conflict with the values of the organization. The
issues frustrating them may not be clear-cut, and more often
than not are complex. The issues raised could be related to per-
formance ratings, recruitment procedures, or even whether the
organization’s actions are in alignment with its public claims—
i.e. whether they are “walking their talk”.
One of Marti’s friends, for example, started a new job and
questioned several of the organization’s business processes,
indicating that they were unethical. The answer offered to him
was that the company was not involved in illegal activities; their
business reaped enormous capital return, and they did not plan
to change their business model.
An organization’s value statement may recommend specific
rules and regulations, yet the leadership team might not follow
or act in accordance, even behaving unethically or inappropri-
ately. Other examples are organizations who do not adhere to
environmental laws, or who pay lip service to corporate social
investment for marketing purposes. Although there have been
changes in corporate governance worldwide, there is still room
for “massaging the numbers” or flexible management.

Management culture
Whitmore (2002:28) defines management coaching as “the manage-
ment style of a transformed culture”. The key existential themes to
emerge from his model are responsibility demands choice, and choice
implies freedom. He says because stress has reached epidemic levels
worldwide, and because people are allowed little personal control in
the workplace, this has impacted heavily on self-esteem. “Self-esteem
is the life force of the personality, and if that is suppressed or dimin-
ished so is the person” (Whitmore, 2002:30). Whitmore’s argument
is that coaching for performance is a means to obtain optimum per-
formance, but that it demands fundamental changes in attitude, in
managerial behaviour and in organizational structure.
Existential therapy takes a different view of the specific forces,
motives and fears that interact within the individual. The existential
view emphasizes a different type of basic conflict: the existential con-
flict stems from the individual’s confrontation with the “givens” of
 EXISTENTIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ISSUES 253

existence—those ultimate concerns that are inescapably part of each

individual existence in the world. The four existential “concerns”
do arise in the coaching context, and, although not explored as
deeply as in a therapeutic context, it is important for the coach to be
sensitive to them.

The coach/client relationship

“Relationship” is a key variable determining the coach’s exper-
tise. Spinelli’s (1989) analysis is that we need to move away from
“doing” to an authenticity which will take the coach straight to the
“heart” of the relationship between the coach and the client. This is
of particular significance to coaches because no matter what model
or methodology a practitioner uses, it is, according to Spinelli, “the
relationship” that affects the outcome of the coaching or therapy. It is
the “quality” of the relationship that is of importance.
The coaching discipline worldwide has only recently begun to
research the importance of the relationship in the coaching process,
although psychotherapists have been analyzing the skills needed in
the therapeutic environment for over 100 years. The fields of exis-
tentialism and psychotherapy are very useful to us in terms of their
research into the “encounter” and the ”relationship” between prac-
titioner and client.
Whitmore’s (2002:20) focus is on the question of relationship:
“the relationship between the coach and coachee must be one of
partnership in the endeavour of trust, of safety and of minimal
pressure”. To develop the relationship effectively, Peltier (2001:68)
looks at the principles and concepts of the Rogerian, person-centred,
relationship-oriented and experiential approach. This grew out of the
existential philosophical tradition, and has an underlying humanist
vision. Peltier describes it as particularly American, i.e. pragmatic,
optimistic, and believing in the unlimited potential of the individual.
Similar to the approach suggested by Yalom and Spinelli, Rogerian
theory requires that the therapist listen with acceptance and without
judgment if clients are going to be able to change.
The core skills of the client-centred approach are active listening,
respecting clients and adopting their internal frame of reference. The
structure of the coaching intervention needs to be framed by the ability
to listen and to actively intervene only when needed. However, the
coach/client relationship is based on equality. This is different to the
254 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

therapist/patient relationship, which is often not considered to be an

equal relationship. In a coaching relationship, one is not superior to
the other; both are travellers on the client’s journey. A “safe thinking
environment” is built through the development of the relationship,
and the relationship is what can help with the onset of change.
A vital aspect of the coaching intervention is the value of positive
support of coach to client. Not only does it build trust in the rela-
tionship; it may be one of the few places where the client is uncon-
ditionally supported in their personal and professional life. The
three essential characteristics identified by Carl Rogers for effective
therapy are unconditional positive regard, genuineness and accu-
rate empathy (Rogers, 1961:281–283).
This is aligned with the “appreciation” component of Nancy
Kline’s Thinking Partnership® in her six-stage coaching process. Giv-
ing support means a willingness on the part of the coach to give, but
it also models the giving of support. I see this as a very important
aspect of coaching. It is also important that both coach and client
change as the relationship grows. “I urge you to let your patients mat-
ter to you”, wrote Yalom (2001:26–27), “to let them enter your mind,
influence you, change you—and not to conceal this from them”.

The throw-ins
Yalom mentions the “throw-ins” that make all the difference in
successful therapy. These “throw-ins” are just as relevant in business
coaching. Yalom (1980:3) believes that, when no one is looking,
“the therapist throws in the ‘real thing’ like a chef”. These throw-
ins, or off-the-record extras, are not written about, studied or even
explicitly taught. Therapists and coaches may not even be aware
of them. Most therapists, according to Yalom, cannot explain why
many patients get better. This is why, in the emerging discipline of
business coaching, it is critical that practitioners begin to develop
a body of knowledge through research—to begin to identify what
works, and what does not work, with the organizational coaching
intervention.
The critical “throw-ins” or ingredients exist outside of formal theory.
They are not written about, and are qualities such as “compassion,
presence, caring, extending oneself, touching the patient at a profound
level, or—that most elusive one of all—wisdom” (Yalom, 1980:4).
 EXISTENTIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ISSUES 255

The existential approach helps us, as coach practitioners, to ask

questions about relationships, e.g. how does your client relate to
themselves and to others? As we know, participation involves risk,
and interacting with others to develop relationships, the core of any
business, involves personal risk and vulnerability. The question of
relationships, building alliances with others, is a common thread in
business. The old adage, “people do business with their friends” is
relevant here. This influences the individual’s journey or search for
personal values and purpose.

EXISTENTIAL LIFE-CHANGING DILEMMA

What about taking on an assignment when the client has no
understanding of how the coaching may change their life? Marti
once turned down a potential client, who, in his initial conversa-
tion with her, revealed that he had never experienced an equal
partnership in any of his relationships. He tended to fall into
the role of parent or child. In marriage, he played the role of
parent. He had married a much younger woman and mentored
her through her academic studies. Once she was qualified, he
helped her to start her professional career—then she left him. At
the time of the conversation, he was in a similar relationship.
A friend had recommended that he find a coach, but he did
not have a particular aim for the assignment; he said he was
happy with life as it was. Marti surprised him by saying that
she would rather not enter into a coaching engagement. She
explained that, although he was very comfortable with his life
the way it was, it did not fit the norm of a rounded or balanced
set of relationships. Working on a “relationship” because society
indicated he should, would require a lot of work, which could
cause major personal upheaval, and it was possible that therapy
was more relevant. He agreed and they parted.
Marti addressed her own concerns with the client, and would
have referred him to another coach had he insisted. Her usual
approach to any potential client who asks existential-type ques-
tions, is that the client needs to be prepared to question every-
thing in their life and be committed to the process. A recent client,
on completion of a long coaching intervention, said that although
256 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

she had warned him, he hadn’t really internalized what was going
to happen. He also said he wouldn’t have engaged for so long if it
hadn’t been so fundamentally life-changing for him. The coaching
helped him to realize that it’s important to be able to understand
the choices available to you; in that way you can move on.

My work has examined this and underlined, time and time again,
that no matter at what level the coaching intervention, it seems that
the fundamental work of the coaching intervention is to establish the
possibility for the relationship. It is from this position that change is
possible.

The encounter
The integration of questions with the components that help to build
the relationship seems fundamental to the success of the coaching
intervention. The coach helps to create the container or space for
the client to feel safe, even when surrounded by 20 fellow students.
When compassion, presence, caring, extending yourself, touching
the client at a profound level (Yalom, 1980:4) begins to open the client
up to the core issues of existence such as freedom, choice, purpose
and values, only then will the coaching process begin to deepen.
So, the professional encounter can cause both joy and anxiety,
but it is essentially a creative experience. According to Jung, change
must occur in both client and practitioner, otherwise the therapy will
not be effective (May, 1983:22). May suggests that the phenomena of
the encounter must be studied as “it is not possible for one person
to have a feeling without the other having it to some degree also”
(May, 1983:23). In some ways, there is a case here for all coaches to
have a theoretical understanding of cognitive behavioural psychol-
ogy as well as systems theory (including family systems theory), in
order to understand some of the mechanics of “relationship” that
happen within the helping professions.

QUESTIONS TO DEVELOP THE RELATIONSHIP

A recent experience has led me to re-evaluate the balance between
the “use of questions” by the coach and the “relationship”
between coach and client and how that develops. One of my
 EXISTENTIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ISSUES 257

students and I demonstrated a very simple coaching process in

front of a larger group of 20 students. I, as the coach, asked the
student three simple questions: what’s working; what’s not work-
ing; and what if anything can you do differently? The purpose of
the demonstration was for the other students to observe and give
feedback on what worked and what didn’t work between coach
and client, and to identify how important the questions were.
As it turned out, how the questions were asked, and how
attentive and focused the coach was on the client, and the coach’s
ability to “sit” with the client in her thinking space, proved to
be the most powerful part of the process. As coach, I interrupted
the process several times to turn back to the group to discuss
where we were in the process. What I have learned from work-
ing with Nancy Kline, is that as long as the client knows explic-
itly what is going to happen (i.e. that you will stop and turn to
the audience periodically), the client goes right on thinking until
you turn back to the conversation between the two of you.
In this three-question process, the client’s core values started
to be identified, with a depth of understanding of self. The ques-
tion process allowed a key value, “health”, to pop up. As it turned
out, this was the crucial value. What allowed the student (as cli-
ent) to courageously explore this value (being held internally but
never made explicit in actions, commitment or taking responsi-
bility) was the non-judgemental focus of the coach on the client
and staying with the client in the most difficult moments.

Coaching for meaning

Man’s search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life
(Victor Frankl, 1946:105).

Reconstruction of meaning is one of the most important levels in

which practitioners work with their coaching clients. In coaching
today, clients raise the issue and often focus on the meaning and pur-
pose in their professional and personal lives. Whitmore (2002:119)
mentions that one of the goals of humanistic psychology is the fulfil-
ment “of human potential through self-awareness”.
Elisabeth Denton defined spiritual intelligence as “the basic
desire to find ultimate meaning and purpose in one’s life and to live
258 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

an integrated life” (Whitmore, 2002:120). Zohar and Marshall (2001)

in Spiritual Intelligence say that in business today people are facing a
real crisis of meaning. This theme is being carried forward in most
of the contemporary coaching literature. Many coaches work and
integrate meaning in all four quadrants (Wilber, 1997) and work at
the levels of IQ, EQ and SQ (rational, emotional and spiritual intel-
ligence) with their clients inside the coaching relationship.
Whitmore (2002) says coaching can help people to clear away
their defensive shields and self-imposed blockages, often coach-
ing their clients through various crises of meaning in their lives. He
makes a salient point that maybe it is better for some businesses to
steer away from the complexities of meaning and purpose. For the
coach, this has an impact in how they work with the client.

FAMOUS PARENT DILEMMA

One particular executive is the daughter of famous parents, and
feels that she never quite measures up to their expectations.
Marti experienced this to a certain degree with her scientist
father and fashion designer mother. Being interested in both
fields, she studied science at the university where her father
was well known. Whenever she gained high marks it was said,
“Well, no wonder, look who her father is, he probably helped
her”, and when she did not do well the comment was, “Do you
know who her father is? He must be so disappointed.” Simi-
larly, when Marti entered the fashion industry, she was always
her “mother’s daughter”, and the whispers suggested that this
was the reason she was hired, or asked to design clothes for
fashion shows, or gained media publicity: it was because of her
mother. And her parents were not necessarily famous, simply
well-known. What must it be like to be the great-grandson or
great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud, Pablo Picasso, or a
child of Nelson Mandela?
This is a real dilemma for children of famous parents. They
often struggle to find themselves in a world where they are in
the first place someone’s child, and in the second themselves.
Marti attended a lecture by Richard Olivier, son of Lawrence
Olivier and Joan Plowright. He tells how he thought he would
go into the family business—acting—and then realized that
 EXISTENTIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ISSUES 259

with a father who is regarded as one of the best actors in the

world, it would be too difficult to be the best actor even within
his own nuclear family.

Decision making
Decisions are a skill and an art for the business executive. Decisions
are a lonely act; they not only force the individual to face the limita-
tion of possibilities, but force “one to accept personal responsibil-
ity and existential isolation” (Yalom, 1980:319). Yalom describes a
decision as a boundary situation, not dissimilar to an awareness of
death as a boundary situation: “To be fully aware of one’s existential
situation means that one becomes aware of self-creation” and “deci-
sion, insofar as it forces one to accept personal responsibility and
existential isolation, threatens one’s belief in the existence of an ulti-
mate rescuer; decision is a lonely act, and it is our own act” (Yalom,
1980:319). Decision forces one to accept personal responsibility and
this existential isolation creates anxiety.
For an executive in a senior position, the importance of the deci-
sions taken, based on the data collected, can often either represent
a risk to the business that may catapult the executive to success—or
be a comfortable decision that keeps the business on a safe track
without embracing the executive’s or the team’s creativity and inno-
vative thinking. Ultimately, all decisions impact on the business; this
is the existential dilemma for the executive.
The exact relationship between decision to change and insight
is hard to define. “Insight” is defined by Webster’s (1983) as “an
instance of apprehending the true nature of a thing, especially
through intuitive understanding, or penetrating discernment”.
In its broadest sense, Yalom (1980:339) says that insight refers to
self-discovery, an inward sighting: “Once having made a decision ...
one has constituted one’s world differently and is able to seize truths
that one had previously hidden from oneself”. Insight is a tool or a
catalyst for change used by both therapists and coaches.

Past versus present versus future

Yalom argues that “psychotherapy is successful to the extent that it
allows the patient to alter their future. Yet it is not the future but the
260 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

past tense that dominates psychotherapy literature” (Yalom, 1980).

According to Yalom, psychotherapists often believe that to provide
insight the therapist must relate the present event to some past situ-
ation. The therapist may explain a patient’s behaviour by examining
conscious and unconscious motivations which currently affect that
individual. Yalom incisively asks, “Where does the ability to change
come from if we are determined by the past?”
Most therapists take the position that the client’s circumstances
were beyond their control when a child, and that paradoxically ther-
apy sessions offer release from the past, yet appeal to the client to take
responsibility for the future. Yalom suggests existential therapists tend
to focus less on the past and more on the future than other therapists;
and, although it is important to learn to forgive oneself, many indi-
viduals take on too much responsibility and guilt for the actions and
feelings of others. Finally, Yalom (1980:350) reiterates that “the real
agent of change” is “the therapeutic relationship ... and the past is
explored in order to facilitate and deepen the present relationship”.
Coaching, different to therapy, more often explores the present
in order to go into the future. This is one of the reasons that coaches
focus on creating a professional development plan which defines the
client’s overarching purpose for the coaching, the strategy required
to achieve it, developmental objectives which relate to competence
and capacity building, and finally actions agreed during the coach-
ing conversation. The past can be touched on for insight but is not
probed in the same depth as in a therapeutic relationship. However,
it is critical that the coach is trained to recognize when the client
should be referred for therapy. Bruce Peltier (2001:xix) defines coun-
selling as “personal” and “aimed at personal problems,” and he
appropriately indicates that coaching carries a more positive impli-
cation in the corporate world.
However, as Peltier indicates, contemporary psychotherapy lit-
erature is relevant and invaluable for executive coaches because it is
systems-oriented; it draws from the models of humanistic, existen-
tial, behavioural and psychodynamic psychology to help executives
develop themselves and become more effective (Peltier, 2001:ix–xx).

Human systems
In recent years, “systems thinking” has become an increasingly
useful and popular approach to understand how organizations,
 EXISTENTIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ISSUES 261

businesses and groups of people behave, and how change comes

about within those structures. “Systems thinking” teaches us about
the interconnectedness of people, professions, disciplines and other
“structures” within a team, organization, business or family.
Family system therapies developed to explain individual behav-
iour “arising from the behaviour of the family system or of the
immediate family plus other relevant people and institutions”
(McWhinney et al., 1993:45). Systems theory, although originally
developed to work with the nuclear family, is seen to be very rel-
evant to organizations, teams, other work groups and communities,
i.e. work, social, cultural and religious.
In coaching, we are particularly concerned with “human and
organizational systems” (rather than mathematical or economic
structures) and the way these function and change. “Human sys-
tems” take into account the various components of human nature,
i.e. thinking, feeling, and attitudes, thinking patterns and the behav-
iours that impact on performance within the working system.
All the components of a system have an organized, consistent
relationship to one another. These components interact in a predict-
able, organized fashion with one another and are interdependent
on one another. A complex model contains smaller subsystems that
make up the larger “super-system”. Within each of these subsystems,
different levels of power are exercised, different skills learned, and
different responsibilities are assigned. It is also possible to belong to
more than one subsystem at a time, which may imply a different set
of relationships, responsibilities or levels of power. An example in
the business world is the tiered hierarchy of executives, managers,
supervisors and employees.
When dealing with human systems one is always and ever con-
cerned with the relationships between the people in the system.
In a coaching conversation, it is the immediate relationship between
coach and client; in the larger system it is the others to whom the
client relates—the tiered workplace or the family or social system.
Relationships can include conscious and overt relationships as well
as the unconscious and covert relationships between members of the
system.
Within my client coaching conversations, we talk a lot about
building alliances with others (colleagues, customers, suppliers)
in order for them to build personal and professional credibility
in the workplace. We also discuss the necessity of understanding
262 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

which alliances, coalitions and triangles already exist that could be

threatening to the individual executive.
People need symbols and coherent systems of belief to manage
meaning and purpose in their lives. Systems help us to understand
the interrelationships that articulate a cultural worldview, and as
McWhinney et al., suggest, it is time to choose “the elements of a
new worldview”, or, as Thomas Kuhn expresses it, to participate in
a “paradigm shift” (McWhinney et al., 1993:2).
The coaching conversation is an important factor in helping
business clients to develop self-awareness and an understanding
of their own perceptions (or lenses) through which they view the
world. First, by understanding all of the systems in which they play
a part; i.e. family, team, organization, community and society. Sec-
ond, the experiential nature of the coaching conversation helps them
to “shift”, not just their worldview, but their behaviour. This often
relates to a shift in the limiting assumptions they hold about them-
selves, or the systems within which they operate, and the groups
with which they identify or to which they are resistant.

Relationships and systems

May (1983:17) defines “anxiety” as the “patient’s fear of his own
powers, and the conflicts that arise from that fear”. May looks at
“transference”, another psychological mechanism which refers to
the relationship between two people (for our purposes between cli-
ent and coach).
As May describes it, the patient brings into the consulting room
previous or present relationships with others (mother, father, part-
ner, children, work colleagues, friends) and perceives the prac-
titioner as similar to those beings; thus building their world with
the practitioner in the same way. From a systems point of view, the
practitioner can simply become another part of the system within
which the client exists.
This is an important concept for the business coach who often
works with clients in a corporate environment. The coach needs to
stay aware at all times of the system within which the client works,
so that the coach does not simply become part of that system. Freud
emphasizes how deeply we are bound to each other: “We live in oth-
ers and they in us” (May, 1983:18). The concept of transference can
 EXISTENTIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ISSUES 263

undermine the entire experience and “rob the client of the sense of
responsibility” (May, 1983:18–19).

SYSTEMS DILEMMA
I encountered this recently at a group coaching supervision ses-
sion in which I am not the lead supervisor. The coaches had
recently started to discuss their own blind spots—and where
they, within the group supervision process, were parallel track-
ing the system of the clients within the organizational system.
The coaches realized that they were beginning to interact with
each other in a way not dissimilar to the way their organiza-
tional clients were behaving, and that they needed to look at
their own behaviour and thinking processes to ensure that they
were not simply re-enacting an already existing dysfunctional
system.

Using experience for learning

‘Construction of experience is never-ending’ because experi-
ence of life is never-ending (Boud, Cohen and Walker, 1996:12).

The basic approach in this book is that the coaching intervention

helps to build the rapport and the relationship between client and
coach, which leads naturally to the success of the coaching conversa-
tion. Throughout this book, I have assumed the base of the coach-
ing conversation to be the concrete experience of the client. The
conclusion by Boud, Cohen and Walker (1996:8) in Using Experience
for Learning is that experience is the foundation and the source of
learning, and that every experience is potentially an opportunity for
learning.
In studying existential philosophy, it is clear that there are certain
universal themes. Experience is not simply an event that happens,
it is an event with meaning, or it could be said that experience is
a meaningful encounter. However, because experience is so “mul-
tifaceted, multilayered and so inextricably connected with our
experiences ... we must take account of, and build on, the unique
perceptions and experiences of those involved, for without this
264 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

we are dealing with only the most superficial aspects of learning”

(Boud, Cohen and Walker, 1996:7).
In Using Experience for Learning (Boud, Cohen and Walker, 1996),
a wide variety of writers share their research in using experience
for learning, asking, “How do we learn from experience; how does
experience impact on individual and group learning; what is the
role of personal experience in learning; and do emotions have a vital
role to play in intellectual learning?”
When I began my research project I thought I would search for the
perfect template of coaching interventions, and very soon began to
realize this was not realistic, and that, due to the unique life experiences
of all clients, there would be no such thing as the perfect template.
In other words, question frameworks need to be tailored to the client.
Below are the five propositions that Boud, Cohen and Walker (1996)
make about learning from experience.

1. Experience is the foundation of and stimulus for learning

It is meaningless to talk about learning in isolation from experi-
ence. Learning can only occur if the experience of the individual is
engaged, at least at some level, and every experience is potentially an
opportunity for learning (Boud, Cohen and Walker, 1996:8). In other
words, learning always relates, in one way or another, to what has
gone before. This means that the effect of all experience influences
all learning, which further implies a seeking of new meanings from
old experience. We do not simply see a new situation afresh, but we
see it in terms of how we relate to it and how it resonates with what
past experience has made us.

2. Individuals actively construct their experience

Individuals attach their own meaning to events, and reach commonly
accepted interpretations of the world. This suggests that experience
is always subject to interpretation. As in existentialism, the meaning
of experience is then not a given.
It is interesting that “relationship” comes up as an important
factor in learning from experience. According to Boud, Cohen and
Walker (1996), experience is created in the “transaction” between
the individual and the environment in which they operate; in other
 EXISTENTIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ISSUES 265

words, it is relational. How learners construct their experience is

what Boud, Cohen and Walker (1996:11) term the individual’s “per-
sonal foundation of experience”.

3. Learning is a holistic process

The authors make a common division between cognitive, affective
and conative learning. Cognitive learning is concerned with think-
ing, while affective learning is concerned with values and feelings.
Conative or psychomotor learning is concerned with action and
doing, as “conative” pertains to the nature of conation, or express-
ing endeavour or effort—conation is the part of mental life having
to do with striving, including desire and volition (Webster’s, 1989).
Learning is cognitive, affective and psychomotor; therefore learning
involves feeling and emotions (affective), the intellectual and cer-
ebral (cognitive) and action (conative).

4. Learning is socially and culturally constructed

Individuals do not exist independently of their environment, and
learning does not occur in isolation from our social and cultural
norms and values. While individuals construct their own experience,
they do so in the context of a particular social setting and range of
cultural values. Other considerations are language, social class, gen-
der, ethnic background and our own learning from an early age.
The most powerful influence from the social and cultural context on
our learning occurs through language. This is critically important
for those coaching in multicultural contexts.

5. Learning is influenced by the socio-emotional context

in which it occurs
Denial of emotions leads to a denial of learning. There are two
key sources of influence in learning: past experience and the role
of others in the present that support our learning. Furthermore,
different kinds of learning occur depending on whether the context
is perceived as positive or negative. “The way in which we interpret
experience is intimately connected with how we view ourselves”
(Boud, Cohen and Walker, 1996:15–16). This determines how we
266 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

develop confidence and self-esteem, which are necessary to learn

from experience.

AN EXISTENTIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING DILEMMA

One of my financial sector clients recently discovered that he
was not to be promoted into the top executive position in his
organization. His dilemma became one of “now what?”—“Do I
stay or do I go?”—as everything he had been working towards
had been aimed at taking over this particular position within his
organization. Coach and client looked at the pros and cons of all
the possibilities. We used his experience in building, maintain-
ing and running the business as the base point to answer the
question: “Where do you have freedom of choice?” We identi-
fied three potential scenarios: (1) accepting the new reporting
structure, in the short term, to sit on the new Board; (2) accepting
the status quo of his position yet influencing the continued inde-
pendence of the business unit; or (3) looking elsewhere in the
financial sector for a new position. As coach and client recon-
structed the client’s experience, it became clear that he had many
possible scenarios for action that would enable him to continue
to create change and build relationships internally and exter-
nally, which was his forte. We identified what the current posi-
tion gave him in terms of: freedom of movement, integration of
activity within the organization, and being able to manage his
700 people in a relationship-oriented way. His key learning that
would ultimately influence his final decision was that he was
not observant of the politics which had influenced the choice
of his new line manager. Coach and client began to reflect on
the areas where the client was resistant to identifying how and
when to play the game of politics within the organization, and
how he would choose to learn to do so, or not.

Discovering barriers to learning

With a focus on the client, practitioners need to identify what are the
barriers for their clients in beginning to learn from their own experi-
ence. How does experience transform their perceptions? What is the
 EXISTENTIAL AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ISSUES 267

relationship between their personal experience, and their ability to

reflect and learn? As coaches, do we provide enough time for reflec-
tive activity? Reflection on experience leads to awareness and an
ability to identify what is working, what is not working, and what
needs to change.
Finally, how can you as a business coach use your coaching model
to help the client reflect on and learn from their experience? What-
ever else we do as reflective practitioners, it is important that we
help the client to consider their entire experience as relevant and not
be too surprised when critically reflecting that they make connec-
tions which previously they were unable to see.

In conclusion
In the context of the coaching conversation, when the client talks
about their experience, they are creating a story. Storytelling con-
structs meaning in a different way than merely describing an experi-
ence. There is power in the client’s use of language and in the content
of their story, and the significance which comes from the interpreta-
tion and structure of the story.
But, if clients do not see themselves as learners, or as learning
from experience, or even see their stories as reconstructions of their
own reality, then we need to ask how we can use the coaching con-
versation, and especially coaching interventions, to help clients to
learn, change and achieve their outcomes. Learning, and particu-
larly learning from experience, seems to be a major component of
the coaching conversation.
In existential philosophy, all human beings must create meaning
for their own lives. Existentialism emphasizes freedom of choice
and taking responsibility for one’s actions. Existential issues that
arise in the coaching conversation, such as “freedom”, “mean-
ing and purpose” and “choice”, are aligned with anxiety. Work-
ing with the client in the coaching conversation, from this point of
view, is about coming to a new way of understanding ourselves
and our interaction with the world and all of the systems of which
we are a part.
Spinelli’s analysis is that we need to move away from “doing”
to an authenticity which will take the coach straight to the heart
of the relationship between the coach and the client. This is of
268 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

particular significance to coaches because no matter what model or

methodology a practitioner uses, I agree with Spinelli that it is “the
relationship” which affects the outcome of the coaching or therapy.
However, it is the quality of the relationship that is of importance.
The relationship which develops as a result of the coaching con-
versation is to shift or move the client from the level of “doing”, to
developing competence and capacity through “learning”—ultimately
“becoming” and living out their full potential as a human being. This
then provides us with some serious reflection for thought, research
and debate as we continue to explore the dynamic of experiential
learning, the development of the relationship, and the existential
concerns which arise as a result of the coaching.

Coach’s library
Boud, D., Cohen, R., and Walker, D. (Eds.). (1996). Using Experience for
Learning. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press.
Frankl, V.E. (1946). Man’s Search for Meaning. London: Hodder and
Stoughton.
Hargrove, R. (2003). Masterful Coaching: Inspire an “Impossible Future”
While Producing Extraordinary Leaders and Extraordinary Results. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer.
May, R. (1983). The Discovery of Being. New York, NY: Norton.
McWhinney, W., Webber, J.B., Smith, D.M., and Novokowsky, B.J. (1993).
Creating Paths of Change: Managing Issues and Resolving Problems in
Organizations. Venice, CA: Enthusion.
Peltier, B. (2001). The Psychology of Executive Coaching: Theory and Applica-
tion. New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge.
Rogers, C.R. (1961/2004). On Becoming a Person: A Therapist’s View of Psy-
chotherapy. London: Constable and Robinson.
Whitmore, J. (2002). Coaching for Performance: Growing People, Perform-
ance and Purpose. London: Nicholas Brealey.
Wilber, K. (1997). An integral theory of consciousness. Journal of
Consciousness Studies, 4(1):71–92.
Yalom, I.D. (1980). Existential Psychotherapy. New York, NY: Basic
Books.
Zohar, D., and Marshall, I. (2001). Spiritual Intelligence: The Ultimate
Intelligence. London: Bloomsbury.
CHAPTER EIGHT

Supervision, contracting and ethical

concerns

CHAPTER OUTLINE

• Contracting with the reader

• Contracting
– Contracting the relationship
– Contracting for change inside the bigger picture
– Logistics: fees, legality and subcontractors
– The scope of the contract
• Supervision
– What is coaching supervision?
– What are the benefits of supervision?
• Ethics
– What ethical codes for coaching are in existence?
– Confidentiality issues
– What are ethical concerns?
– The complexity of supervision and ethics
• Models of supervision
– The Seven-Eyed Model of Supervision

269
270 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

– Supervision as a form of empowerment

– Developing a professional approach
• Coach’s library

Throughout the world, coaching supervision is still in its infancy. It

is influenced by the role supervision plays for psychologists, who
are required to be in professional supervision throughout their train-
ing and years of practice. This chapter examines how supervision is
defined and practised internationally, and explores how you should
go about being supervised and/or play the role of supervisor.
The chapter then looks at the role of ethics in business coaching,
and ethical codes that have been developed in recent years through
professional bodies such as the Worldwide Association of Busi-
ness Coaches (WABC), European Mentoring and Coaching Council
(EMCC), International Coach Federation (ICF), Chartered Institute
of Personnel and Development (CIPD), and Coaches and Mentors
of South Africa (COMENSA). Ethical dilemmas are as important as
the professional codes themselves, and the author explores some
of the potential dilemmas that arise during a coaching intervention
period.
A third corporate governance issue for business coaches is the
standard contract they draw up for agreement with the client. This
chapter makes recommendations for key areas to consider when
contracting with a client, a client organization and a supervisor.
Throughout this book, I refer to ethical dilemmas that emerge
during the coaching process, the need for supervision for all coach
practitioners, and contracting with the client for the logistics of the
coaching process. I discuss the context and guidelines for contract-
ing, the importance of committing to an ethical code, and the ration-
ale for coaching supervision. All three areas are related, and for this
reason are all addressed within this chapter.

Contracting with the reader

What I would like to ask of you, the reader, is that we contract
together as you work through this chapter. As you read, what types
of questions go through your mind, particularly as you read some
of the stories and incidents that are explored? For example, what
 S U P E RV I S I O N , C O N T R AC T I N G A N D E T H I CA L C O N C E R N S 271

are your thoughts, your assumptions, and do you wonder how you
might address the dilemma? How conscious are you of informa-
tion that comes into your awareness at any given moment? Are you
always aware of the ethical and professional questions that might
arise during the coaching conversation, or that might be overrid-
den by your own emotional or belief system … or perhaps assump-
tions that might be operating? This aspect of high-level professional
awareness may need reinforcement—this would include the self, the
other, and any systems that may need to be held in your awareness.

Contracting
Contracting the relationship
We contract in supervision with our coaching supervisor, and in
coaching with our client. According to Spinelli, contracting is deeply
challenging to our normal way of “being” in the world. We normally
just “do” without agreeing the parameters of the relationship. The
contract leverages the entire relationship, creating a set of conditions
or framework within which the coach can work (Spinelli, 1989, cited
in Stout-Rostron, 2006c:38).
Developing the habit of both formal and informal contracting
is one of the first steps in beginning to understand the dynamics
of formulating a coaching relationship. The coach and client agree
to conditions of time, space, fees, confidentiality and goals. In con-
tracting, the business coach agrees to a specific set of conditions. For
example:

• As your coach I agree to support you in achieving the results you

want. In turn, I expect you to give your best. Your success and
your results will be determined by the commitment and responsi-
bility to which we both commit ourselves.
• I will always act with integrity, honesty and openness, and I will
consistently take responsibility for my actions, communicating
any concerns or issues I have.
• I will provide excellence in coaching, offering value and
professionalism.
• I will respect the confidentiality and boundaries of our relation-
ship at all times.
272 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

• The measure of my effectiveness as a coach will be in your success

and achievements.
• I agree to respect the boundaries of the contract that we structure
together.

The purpose of the contract is to open up the potential for trust

between coach and client. This is essential if the client is to trust their
own self-exploration. As the agreement lays the foundation for the
relationship, it must be adhered to in action for trust to develop.

Contracting definitions
The contract between coach and client sets out which services have
been agreed and delineates all fees as well as the outcomes and deliv-
erables that can be expected. The contract sets out ground rules for
the coaching relationship so that both parties are aware of their obli-
gations. This helps prevent future misunderstandings and provides a
firm basis to deal with disagreements. The contract describes the rela-
tionship between the coach and multiple parties, such as the individual
client, the client organization, the HR unit, and line management. It is
important for the contract to describe the difference between coaching
and other helping disciplines such as therapy, counselling, mentoring
and training. Objectives for the individual executive and for the organ-
ization need to be clarified, with boundaries made explicit in terms of
confidentiality, fees, cancellation and termination of the contract.
Often in coaching, the contracting process is linked to the gen-
eration and fulfilment of outcomes. Contracting usually deals with
the management of the process, roles played, evaluation of the proc-
ess, learning and outcomes, and the exit clauses. As a function, con-
tracting has emerged as a critical function of coaching supervision.
“The contracting for therapy and coaching have similarities in their
purpose, i.e. to provide safety, set boundaries, manage time, money
and ethical issues—but what is contracted and to what end creates a
distinction. The contracting and the relationship building are crucial
to the outcomes of the coaching intervention and this is no different
to that of supervision” (Pampallis Paisley, 2006:85–86).
Contracting is complex as it determines in what areas, and how
deeply, the coach can work with the organization at an individual,
team and systemic level. A question raised in Pampallis Paisley’s
 S U P E RV I S I O N , C O N T R AC T I N G A N D E T H I CA L C O N C E R N S 273

(2006) research was, “How do you get change in coaching that is

innovative and not superficial if you do not go deep?” This is a serious
question for supervision, and needs to be considered in the contract-
ing process.

Questions to ask when setting up the contract

1. What are the needs of the individual executive client versus those
of the organization?
• What is the organization looking for?
• What are the goals for the individual client?
• Which performance improvements are desired?
• What are the organizational goals for the coaching prog-
ramme?
• What are the organizational conditions and are they conducive
to coaching?
• Are the line manager and senior management supportive of
the process?
• Is the individual ready for coaching and is coaching appro-
priate?
• How do you know?
2. Coaches must be able to define their work in terms of outcomes
and solutions:
• What will be better as a result of coaching?
• How will we know, and what difference will it make?
• How will we measure success, effectiveness and value for
money?
• What will be the initial goals?
• Which pre-coaching assessments are recommended?
• Who will provide the feedback?
• Will there be a specific action and development plan to achieve
goals?
• How is the coaching contract terminated?
• What follow-up and monitoring will occur after the coaching
has been completed?
3. Coach and client need to discuss and agree the structure of the
coaching sessions:
• How many sessions will there be?
• How often should they take place?
274 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

• How long will they last, depending on the individual needs

and breadth and depth of the client’s issues?
• Where will the coaching sessions take place?
• Will the sessions be face-to-face, by telephone, or a combina-
tion of both?
• Will there be any contact by telephone or email between
sessions?

Contracting for change inside the bigger picture

Bruce Peltier (2001:xxiii–xxiv) defines the coaching intervention as a
four-step process:

1. Get things started: coaches must define their work in terms of

outcomes and solutions, confidentiality, recording relationships,
dimensions of the project and contracting (i.e. time, money and
methodology).
2. Gather information and make a plan: with executives, it is
important to develop a clear plan that includes measurable
outcomes (executives work best to a development plan with clear
goals and end-points).
3. Implement: it can take from three months up to two years to
produce results, develop skills and achieve objectives. The
implementation may include work shadowing, when the coach
walks alongside the executive in the workplace and observes the
client in action.
4. Lock in the changes: the coach should arrange for ongoing
improvement and support, for short-term behaviours to be
translated into long-term behaviours. (This author has changed
“gains” to “behaviours”.)

Common pitfalls
For the business coach, a common pitfall can be to mistakenly
assume that the relationship between coach and executive happens
in isolation from the dynamics of the executive’s team, or outside
the organizational dynamics. In other words, the coaching relation-
ship is set within the context of the team and the organization. It is
part of the overall system within which the executive works. This
has huge implications for the coach’s interventions with the execu-
tive. “If the prevailing organizational culture is one of blame and
 S U P E RV I S I O N , C O N T R AC T I N G A N D E T H I CA L C O N C E R N S 275

fear, then perception of learning needs and opportunities is likely to

be correspondingly low” (Parsloe and Wray, 2000:35). Grayson and
Larson (2000:121) define the six most common pitfalls as:

• failure to commit;
• unrealistic expectations;
• defensiveness;
• passive role in the coaching process;
• playing it safe; and
• failure to involve others.

It does not help that you are potentially the best coach in the world
if you cannot recognize these and navigate the relationship, i.e. say
no to the coaching assignment or walk away. Noer (2000) states that
there are three big derailment factors:

• lack of clarity as to who is the client;

• coaches using a single model or approach; and
• creating a dependency relationship.

In the coaching conversation, Mary Beth O’Neill advocates three

core principles for the coach: (1) self-management, (2) a systems per-
spective and a methodology, and (3) the use of backbone and heart.
She cites her four phases of coaching as using a systems lens to
contract, plan, conduct live action interviews and debrief (O’Neill,
2000:xvii;10).
The bigger picture needs to be part of the contracting process. It is
important for the coach to recognize the larger systems at play and
the “force field” that shapes and influences all the individuals work-
ing within the system. Therefore coaches need to hold a “bifocal”
view, being able to see their client in the system, as well as seeing
oneself in the system (O’Neill; 2000:xv). It is important to remember
that contracting determines at which level the coach will work indi-
vidually and systemically.
Another important aspect of contracting is the evaluation of the
contract, including termination or renewal. In any business con-
tracting process, it is important to draw up the “marriage” and the
“divorce” papers at the beginning: a bit like a prenuptial contract.
It is as important to specify the boundaries and parameters of the
entire coaching intervention, i.e. how the process will proceed from
276 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

beginning to end, and how to terminate the process, whether at the

contracted termination point or sooner if required by either party.

Defining coaching in your contract

It is useful to include a definition of coaching within your contract,
specifying how coaching differs from the other helping profes-
sions. For example, “the services to be provided by coach to client
are coaching as designed jointly with the client. Coaching, which is
not advice, therapy, or counselling, may address specific personal or
professional projects, business issues, or general conditions in the
client’s life or profession”.
Also to be included could be the following clause which we use in
our own coaching contracts:

Throughout the working relationship, the coach will engage

with the client in direct conversation. The client can count on
the coach to be honest and straightforward in asking questions,
making interventions and facilitating the setting of goals. The
client understands that the power of coaching is in the relation-
ship between client and coach. If the client or the coach believes
the coaching is not working as desired, either client or coach
will communicate this.

Client questions in the contracting phase

The contracting phase of the intervention is about building the rela-
tionship, identifying the executive’s goals, determining the bounda-
ries for the coaching relationship, and setting up expectations for
coach, client and the organization. Your contract needs to make
explicit to the client what will happen within the entire coaching
intervention. Here are several questions clients may ask you during
the contracting phase:

• How quickly can you begin to understand my position, the envi-

ronment within which I work and the pressures that I need to
learn to negotiate?
• What can you understand about my needs and position?
• How practical and effective will you be in helping me to achieve
my goal?
 S U P E RV I S I O N , C O N T R AC T I N G A N D E T H I CA L C O N C E R N S 277

• How will you help me to work more effectively within the

organization?
• How will we work together?
• What is the breadth and depth of your coaching experience?
• Share with me some of your successes and failures as a coach.
• How will you help me to become a more effective leader and
manager?
• Here is one specific issue I have to deal with ... what would you
advise or ask me?
• What could possibly get in the way of our coaching relationship
that I might not have thought about?

Client commitment to the coaching process

During the contracting phase, the commitment of the client to the
coaching intervention is vital. For example, the client may commit
themselves to:

• being frank, open and honest with the coach at all times;
• communicating with the coach specific concerns about the client/
coach relationship;
• taking responsibility to communicate with the coach at all times;
• understanding that the essence and strength of the coaching con-
versation is in the “relationship”; and
• agreeing to be “coachable” and considering the coach’s observa-
tions on all issues.

Logistics: fees, legality and subcontractors

The written contract needs to include the coaching commencement
date and the agreed period of the coaching intervention. For exam-
ple, the intervention could be for 20 hours, six months or one year,
renewable after an agreed period. Built into the contract will be the
agreed meetings between coach, executive and line management,
and the structure of the coaching fees.
The legal contract may be overseen by a sponsor, an HR divi-
sion, or another third party. Whichever, for your contract, we sug-
gest a workable and flexible system for payment of fees. It might be
on a monthly, hourly, or retainer basis, or paid in several tranches
throughout the agreed period of the coaching intervention.
278 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

The contract will build in the supervision sessions with line

management, or with the lead coach if the individual coach is subcon-
tracted through a lead coach. If you as coach are subcontracted by
a lead coach, ensure that you sign a legal contract that protects you
for payment of fees, cancellation and for indemnity purposes. Many
subcontractors build into the contract that you are responsible for
your own coaching consultancy boundaries. Also, if you have been
subcontracted, the client organization is not your client, but is the cli-
ent of the lead contractor. Ensure that your contract includes details
of how to handle future contracted work if offered to you.
It is useful to obtain samples of contracts from colleagues, coach
training institutions and your professional body. Ensure that, if you
supply the contract, an attorney approves that it will stand on its
own as a legal document.

Managing cancellations and additional requests

Suggested clauses to include in your contract to handle cancellations
and miscellaneous requests:

• We agree to provide one another with one month’s notice in the

event it is desired to cancel further coaching after the initial period
of …
• We agree to let each other know of any overseas or long-distance
meetings or holidays at a minimum of two weeks’ notice.
• The coach is available to speak on request by telephone, in addi-
tion to the normal face-to-face coaching sessions. Where the coach
can, they will take the client’s call. Failing that, client and coach
will agree a time convenient to both.

The scope of the contract

The two most critical areas in contracting are possibly those of
ethical issues and defining the scope of the overall coaching inter-
vention. Both of these should be addressed in the coaching con-
tract. Coaching processes often fail due to poor or insufficient
contracting (Nowack and Wimer, 1997). As we have discussed
above, contracting should include ethical issues such as the non-
disclosure of personal and inappropriate information to a client’s
 S U P E RV I S I O N , C O N T R AC T I N G A N D E T H I CA L C O N C E R N S 279

superior (Williams, 1996), and aligning the contract to corporate

objectives in order to be credible (Olesen, 1996). Conflict of interest
between the goals and expectations of the individual being coached
and those of the company, as well as the issues of quality standards
and confidentiality, can impact on trust between the individual exec-
utive and the coach (Janse van Rensburg, 2001b:24–25).
Success means contracting and goal setting. Outcomes and goals
are typically discussed and reviewed at each subsequent session as
agreed between coach and client. The contract needs to specify the
parameters of the overall coaching period: for example, whether
there will be the creation of a personal/professional development
plan, and how outcomes will be measured from the beginning of
the contract to the end. In terms of the coach’s intervention, the
underlying goal in the contracting phase is the development of the
relationship.

FIRST MEETING WITH THE CLIENT

I include a “coachable moment” during the first meeting with the
client. This is to introduce the client straight away to the “feel”
of a coaching session and the beginnings of a coaching relation-
ship. The client usually begins to talk about their issues in your
first meeting anyway, and you will have characteristically asked
what are their overall aims for the coaching intervention. If you
contract in the first session without beginning the coaching proc-
ess (if only to identify the client’s aim for coaching, the possible
strategy of working together, and overall goals) there is a risk
that the client may remain confused about how the process is
to work. The client begins to understand how you work and it
helps the client to decide about the reality of working with you.

Husserl’s (1962/1913) concept of “intentionality” would be

important in many areas of coaching—and definitely in the area of
contracting, i.e. what is the intention of all parties, coach, client and
organization? This would be similar for supervision contracting.
What O’Neill (2000:93) terms “the partnership”, I call the rela-
tionship. It begins when the executive actually begins to talk about
280 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

their specific issues and where they are currently stuck. O’Neill’s
(2000:94) recommended coaching intervention questions in the con-
tracting phase are:

• Which recurring patterns are present in this situation?

• Which patterns work well and which detract from the effort?
• How are you a part of these patterns?
• How have you responded to this issue?
• What is your knee-jerk contribution?
• Can you imagine a different pattern?
• How willing are you to develop the stamina required to stop your
part of the pattern that is no longer effective?
• How will this help you get to your goal?
• How can I be useful to you?

O’Neill (2000:215–219;97) suggests interventions at specific stages

in her four-step model, and in alignment with certain themes (con-
creteness, empathy, confrontation, respect):

A. Concreteness—invite the executive to be more specific about

their issue.
B. Empathy—make an effort to show you understand the leader’s
concerns.
C. Confrontation—point out discrepancies between what the leader
says and what they actually do.
D. Respect—believe the executive has the ability to handle their
situation.

Contracting interventions
Mary Beth O’Neill (2000) recommends other possible questions for
contracting. Many of the questions O’Neill adapted and used, with
the permission of Rob Schachter (1997), come from “Questions when
contracting with leaders”, from an unpublished document (Stout-
Rostron, 2006c: endnote 13–14):

• Which business challenges are you facing?

• Have you met this challenge successfully before?
• What is your best thinking about this issue?
 S U P E RV I S I O N , C O N T R AC T I N G A N D E T H I CA L C O N C E R N S 281

• What are the gaps in meeting the same kind of challenge this time?
• What is keeping you from getting the results you want?
• How have you responded to this issue?
• Do you have any sense of your part in not meeting the challenge
this time?
• How urgent are you?
• How much time do you have to achieve this?
• What do you find personally challenging about leading this effort,
given the results you have to date?
• How do you think I could be useful to you?
• Do you have the authority to sponsor this plan, or do you need
sponsorship from someone else?

Always build debriefing into the coaching contract. Here are four
suggested categories to the debriefing session (Stout-Rostron,
2006c:39):

1. Celebrate achievements.
2. Identify key recurring patterns.
3. Assess the alignment of roles.
4. Develop a personal and professional plan.

What should be in your written contract?

1. Ground rules and parameters such as confidentiality, report-
ing relationships, and dimensions of the project (people to be
coached, timing and fees) must be established.
2. Include deliverables, explicit ways to know if and when you have
accomplished your goals.
3. What will you deliver and how will you know when you have
done so?
4. How will you make goals measurable and achievable?
5. Establish what will be different as a result of coaching.
6. Clarify your code of ethics and standards and the professional
association of which you are a member. Clinicians use formal
ethics codes and standards. As coaching is a new, emerging
profession and formal structures are in the making, it is important
to clarify to which code you are committed.
7. Negotiate explicit contracts that are fair to all parties.
282 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

8. Do you have a malpractice or liability carrier? Let them know

that you are doing coaching as part of your professional practice.
Check with other coaches to find out whom they are using.
9. Find out which contracts are currently in use and check the
coaching literature (Whitworth, Kimsey-House and Sandahl,
1998:180).

Individual learning contracts

As well as the overall contract, which defines the parameters of the
coaching relationship, you may develop learning contracts with
your clients. These are “works in progress” throughout the entire
coaching intervention period. Within my coaching process, at the
end of a coaching session—to fully integrate the learning with goals
set and commitment to action—we complete a learning contract to:

• Redefine the vision, where the client is going.

• Outline the strategy, how the client is going to achieve the vision.
• Identify the specific outcomes that need to be accomplished in the
intervention period in order to work towards achieving the vision
and putting the strategy into action.
• Identify the obstacles to achieving the goals identified, and the
strengths that will enable the client to progress.
• Summarize what the client gained from the session in order to
help underline self-reflection and continue to help the client to
understand that they are responsible for their own thinking, feel-
ing and behaviour.

The learning contract becomes the focus at the beginning of the next
session with the client, and is the beginning of the client’s learning
or leadership development plan.

Supervision
When contracting with a client, ethical issues such as confidentiality
and boundary management are critical to the success of the interven-
tion. Key areas to be clarified centre on fees, boundaries and confi-
dentiality. For the coach practitioner in supervision, ethical issues and
dilemmas often emerge as core topics for exploration. I have tried to
include some of the main issues that have arisen for myself and my
colleagues, as coaching professionals, within our own practices, as
 S U P E RV I S I O N , C O N T R AC T I N G A N D E T H I CA L C O N C E R N S 283

well as those that have emerged with the founding and maintaining
of our relevant professional body. There are consistent themes that
have arisen in our own individual supervision, as well as issues that
have emerged when supervising fellow practitioner coaches.

AN EARLY EXPERIENCE—WITH CONSEQUENCES

I often tell the story of an early experience in supervision. I did
not clearly contract the parameters of confidentiality, or the
ethical guidelines and boundaries for supervision in this instance.
I was working from a set of assumptions with my supervisor,
rather than a defined contract, because of a long-standing rela-
tionship with my supervisor. Even so, it demonstrates the conse-
quences of not clearly contracting, verbally and in written form.
As a coach, I shared some of my uncertainty at how to best
manage some of the difficulties I had recently faced with a cli-
ent, whom I did not name. The supervisor listened, made obser-
vations, and even offered some advice about how to deal with
the emerging systemic issue. At a later date, I was in a coach-
ing conversation with this client, only to discover that the client
knew all about the content of my conversation with my supervi-
sor. How did that happen?
The coach and the supervisor had not clearly contracted the
boundaries of confidentiality, including the ethical consequences
of divulging client information. The supervisor somehow did not
realize the damage that could be done in sharing this information
with the client. So what was the damage? Essentially, the trust the
client had in her coach was bruised, and it would take some time
for it to be restored. Furthermore, the coach was dismayed, felt
betrayed, and lost faith in her supervisor. What should she have
done to clarify the situation?
We all make mistakes, and so it is important to be big enough
to say, “Whoops, I really messed up here” and to take responsibil-
ity for one’s own errors. The coach has done so with her client.
However, her relationship with her supervisor also needs to be
addressed. The coach needs to be clear with her supervisor about
the consequences of broken confidentiality, the ethical dilemmas
broken confidentiality can present, and what the boundaries in
future should be. As we continue to discuss ethics and supervision
in this chapter, it may be helpful to reflect back on this story.
284 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

What is coaching supervision?

The role of the supervisor is to support the development of the coach
practitioner and to assess their competence. The term “supervision”
describes the process by which the work of the practitioner is over-
seen and guidance is sought. The process may differ in significant
ways from that undertaken in other professions, such as psychother-
apy and counselling. Usually, both coach practitioner and supervi-
sor will be bound by the Code of Ethics of their professional body.
The purpose of supervision is to ensure that the coach maintains the
highest standards of competence; best serves the needs of the client;
is professionally trained and skilled in the practice of coaching; and
is committed to a programme of continuing professional develop-
ment throughout the years of their practice.
Within the emerging discipline of coaching, supervision has
become a requirement for membership in many professional associ-
ations. However, if supervision becomes a monitoring function, it is
possible that it might overstep the bounds of intention in the global
environment of the developing profession of coaching.

Purpose of clinical supervision

The importance of the “coach being coached” or in supervision can-
not be over-emphasized. While supervision has been a fundamental
underpinning of therapy from the beginning, it is not yet a given
for the coaching industry worldwide. The importance of coaching
supervision is to ensure that the coach understands what the cli-
ent goes through, and more importantly, to work through their own
issues so that they do not become entangled with client concerns.
Some of the main themes that have arisen from research into exec-
utive coaching supervision are (Pampallis Paisley, 2006:76):

• boundary management;
• how to cope with the complexity of the supervisory system in
which client, coach and organization were represented—i.e. the
triangulations;
• the depth to which one should go in the coaching relationship;
• the importance of creating a space to think;
• whether supervision interventions needed to have a client-centred
or coach-centred focus, or both.
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As Yalom (2001:48) says, human problems are “largely relational”

and an individual’s interpersonal problems will ultimately manifest
themselves in the here and now of a therapy encounter. The same is
true of the coaching environment. The client’s interpersonal issues
will soon emerge in the relationship between coach and client. The
client can trigger a coach’s underlying drivers, even in a small way.
For example, if coach and client are undergoing divorce simulta-
neously, it is important that the coach is able to maintain a “meta”
position throughout the coaching intervention if divorce comes into
the conversation. And, similarly, in my story, the next time I am in
supervision, I need to be sure that I have cleared the air with my
supervisor so as to be free of feelings of doubt or mistrust.
Caplan (1970) distinguishes between supervision and consulta-
tion. Supervision is an ongoing process of inspecting the work of
the individual being supervised in a hierarchical power structure;
consultation is a less formal, intermittent interaction between col-
leagues arising out of current work-related problems (Stout-Rostron,
2006c:80). What coaching supervision refers to is actually consulta-
tion arising out of the needs of the coach, individual executive and
client organization.
Kadushin (1976) describes the three main functions of supervision
as educative, supportive and managerial. He describes these func-
tions as formative (namely educational), normative (which focuses
on policies, organization and evaluation), and restorative (includ-
ing a debriefing of both positive and negative feedback on practice).
Hawkins and Shohet (2000) describe four categories of supervision,
the fourth category being particularly relevant to coach practitioners:

1. tutorial—focusing on the educational function, but may include

supportive and managerial aspects;
2. training supervision—where supervision is normative and
managerial;
3. managerial supervision—which relates to hierarchical line
management; and
4. consultancy supervision—for experienced practitioners.

Where does supervision originate from?

Supervision within health and social care originated in the psycho-
logical mental health care fields. The development of counselling
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has had a formative impact on the creation of a supervision model,

and in occupational therapy, supervision has been in practice since
the 1970s. The UK Department of Health defines clinical supervision
as “a formal process of professional support and learning which
enables the individual practitioner to develop knowledge and com-
petence, assume responsibility for their own practice and enhance
consumer protection and safety of care in complex clinical situa-
tions” (Jones and Jenkins, 2006:26).
The UK Chartered Society for Physiotherapy (CSP) guidelines
state: “Clinical supervision can be seen as a collaborative process
between two or more practitioners of the same or different profes-
sions. This process should encourage the development of professional
skills and enhanced quality of patient care through implementation
of an evidence-based approach to maintaining standards in practice.
These standards are maintained through discussion around specific
patient incidents or interventions using elements of reflection to
guide the discussion” (Jones and Jenkins, 2006).
The UK perspective positions “clinical supervision within serv-
ice quality and governance, and professional development and life-
long learning”. The USA perspective defines clinical supervision as
a specific aspect of staff development dealing with the clinical skills
and competences of each staff member. The structure for clinical
supervision is typically one-to-one or small groups who meet on a
regular basis (Jones and Jenkins, 2006:23–24).

Why do coaches need supervision?

Due to the international growth and development of coaching and
mentoring as disciplines, most professional coaching bodies now
recommend an ethical code of conduct for their members; and, as
part of that code, a commitment to supervision on the part of the
practitioner.
The European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) states
in its Code of Ethics that “a coach/mentor must maintain a relation-
ship with a suitably qualified supervisor, who will regularly assess
their competence and support their development” (EMCC, 2008b).
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in
the UK cites guidelines for buyers of coaching and recommends that
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practitioners articulate what formal supervision arrangements they

currently have in place (Jarvis, 2004).
In South Africa, COMENSA’s policy on supervision is to “allow
practitioners to reconstruct their experience, reflect, understand,
design their professional reality, and develop new responses for
future practice within the supervision context. Supervision can be
described as a collaborative, co-constructed space in which coach-
ing and mentoring competence and professional development are
explored” (COMENSA, 2006b). The COMENSA (2007a) Revised
Code of Ethics requires that all members have regular supervision
with a suitably qualified supervisor who will regularly assess their
professional development and competence. COMENSA’s (2006b)
Interim Policy on Supervision details the guidelines for their practi-
tioner members, recommending a ratio of 1:15 hours of supervision
to coaching or mentoring.
Supervision is useful as it ensures that the coach works to the
executive’s agenda, not to the coach’s agenda. The need for super-
vision is something that international professional coaching bodies
are recommending for all coaches in their continuing professional
development (CPD).
A key component of a coach’s personal and professional approach
to their coaching practice is to work on a regular basis with a super-
vising coach, counsellor or therapist. The purpose of this is three-
fold: first, and crucially, to deal with any unresolved issues of their
own (an ongoing process for any coach), and specifically to learn
not to bring their own personal concerns to the coaching conver-
sation; second, to benefit from invaluable and ongoing supervision
for the individual’s coaching practice; and third, the supervision
process provides the coach with an invaluable tool to understand the
client/practitioner process from another perspective, i.e. from the
client perspective rather than from the perspective of the practi-
tioner. It provides an excellent alternate perspective on the coaching
intervention (Stout-Rostron, 2006c:14).

The structure of group supervision

An individual supervision session usually takes place in a one- or
two-hour timeframe. Group supervision with anything up to ten
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practitioners usually lasts about three hours. One way to structure

group supervision consists of:

1. A group check-in: what is going well with the client–coach

relationship? This allows the group to break the ice, and to con-
nect with each other within the coaching and the organizational
system.
2. A “round” (where everyone speaks once before anyone speaks
for the second time) to flipchart key issues and challenges each
practitioner wishes to address in the supervision session. This
includes emerging systemic issues, if the coaches are working
for a specific organization. A subsequent round-table discussion
focuses on the specific issues and challenges highlighted. The
group could break up into pairs to discuss and bring their
thoughts back to the plenary session, or the discussion could be
around the key topics highlighted from the previous round.
3. A demonstration with supervisor and an individual coach to
work on one of their challenges. The other practitioners observe
the conversation, making notes about what is happening in the
coach-supervisor dialogue, what the supervisor is doing, and
their own thoughts and feelings throughout the dialogue.
4. Feedback from coach and supervisor as to any learning gained
from the dialogue; followed by a discussion bringing in the other
practitioner observations, recommendations and questions.
Questions help the supervisor to facilitate the next round of
discussion. The supervisor and the participants encourage the
supervisor to be aware of their own internal processes that are
evoked when listening to the contributions from the practitioner
participants. The discussion brings in any parallel processes that
are occurring as a result of the supervisory dialogue and the
subsequent discussion. Feedback is given to the supervisor on
their own performance.
5. Subsequent coaching conversations with an observer. This could
be done in triads, with coach/coachee/observer. At the end, the
triads bring their learning and questions back into the round
format. At each supervision session, it is important to vary who
adopts each of the three roles.
6. Discussion in a “round” format. Each individual shares their
learning from the process, blind spots they have noticed in
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themselves, and any queries that may have occurred. The process
allows lead coach and practitioner participants to learn from all
perspectives.

The supervision session may also include feedback from the

Lead Coach on surveys conducted since the introduction of the
coaching intervention, and any feedback from the organizational
Co-ordinator and line management.

What are the benefits of supervision?

There are multiple benefits for the individual practitioner in super-
vision, as well as for the team and the client organization. The coach
practitioners have a chance to meet, with the supervising coach ensur-
ing that all practitioners have a sound understanding of the organiza-
tional systems at play. Coaching supervision is an important regular
meeting where the coaches can connect with each other, and can
begin to understand the connections between their individual clients,
particularly if they work within one organization. It is an important
meeting where the individuals in the group learn from each other.

THE NEEDS OF COACHING SUPERVISION

In Pampallis Paisley’s (2006:96–97) research into supervision for
executive coaching, she identified a range of primary needs that
emerged with a high degree of frequency. Her conclusion is that
the coaching supervisor needs to empower the coach to:

• assess the level at which the client, the team, and the organiza-
tion is working;
• clarify that what the coach identifies may indicate a need to
refer for therapy;
• be ethically responsible and ask for permission; and
• be aware of outcomes. Is this the best option for this subject/
issue/client? Or is it the coach’s need?

There is a big question about the sustainability of shifts and

the likelihood of “relapse” to old behaviours if the coach only
works in the client’s sphere of conscious competence and an
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emotional/ counselling component is not involved. Containment

is important as the client needs to remain able to function in the
world. This can become an ethical issue when coaching in an
organization, as the initial contract may have a time limit.

Supervision helps practitioners to grow their skills and compe-

tence whether they are supervised individually or in groups. The
capacity of the coaches to facilitate learning for their clients is also
significantly increased. Other benefits are:

• ensuring that the client organization is getting a good return on

investment (ROI) for their business;
• ensuring that a high value is placed on truly understanding
clients;
• ensuring that the coach is as likely to enhance and develop self-
awareness as the client; and
• the creation of a safe space to explore the heart of the practitioner’s
coaching practice.

There are some disadvantages to group supervision, and practition-

ers need to be particularly careful when managing client confidenti-
ality. The advantages are the observations that the group can make
when observing each other. The 1:1 supervision encompasses more
intimate learning on the part of the individual coach with the time
to go into depth about the client situation and one’s own individ-
ual issues or concerns as a coach. It is almost inevitable that the
coach can become enmeshed in some of the organization’s systemic
dynamics. It is helpful to have an observant supervisor who can
help the coach to step into a bigger picture position, looking at the
client–coach–system dynamics from a fresh perspective.
For the moment, there are no international guidelines to measure
the positive impact for clients and coach practitioners. This may be con-
sidered as a possibility for future research; see Pampallis Paisley (2006)
for an example of doctoral research on supervision. Finally, coaching
supervision will observe the developmental stages of the practitioners
within their group forum. This type of supervision is more collegial
and consultative, encouraging the practice of self-supervision. The
lead coach or supervisor also needs to take note of their own develop-
mental stages in the profession as they gain in expertise.
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Managing the complexity of supervision

Supervision requires a tremendous amount of self-awareness and
organizational awareness to meet the levels of complexity within
which senior executives are working. This is to enable the depth of
questioning and guidance that is needed in managing multiple lev-
els and contexts.
The complexity of supervision is also noted when working with
a diverse group of participants who embody a range of levels of
awareness and competence. They will be in different stages of per-
sonal and professional development, and will exhibit a range of
learning styles and interpersonal skills. This presents an enormous
challenge for the supervisor.
Pampallis Paisley (2006) considered the nature of working within
different contexts in her supervision research, while working with a
group of coaches from widely diverse backgrounds. She says:

All may be utilising different models and frameworks, and

have varying levels of competences, training and conscious-
ness, which impacts on what is brought into the supervisory
room. Unlike therapeutic supervision for example, where an
object relations therapist would work with a supervisor who is
skilled in object relations theory and practice, this in-depth but
narrow band—or what I call ‘vertical depth of field’ of speciali-
sation may not be the domain of the coaching supervisor.
There may be specialist areas that would require a mentor-
ing process. With regards to the supervision of coaches working
with leadership in complex organizations, coaching supervisors
would need to have a broader focus, or what I call a ‘horizontal
depth of field’. It follows then that the supervision of coaching is
in itself a complex discipline—one that requires levels of under-
standing and a comprehensive framework of knowledge and
skills which cover both the horizontal planes and vertical depths
that coaching encompasses (Pampallis Paisley, 2006:108–110).

How to find a supervisor

Within most professional coaching bodies today, supervision has
become the number-one question to be addressed. The importance
of coaching supervision is to ensure that the coach understands what
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the client goes through, and more importantly, to support the coach
in working through their own issues so that they do not become
entangled with client concerns.
The role of the supervisor is to support the development of the
coach practitioner, and to assess the practitioner’s competence. Coach
training organizations are beginning to offer professional group
supervision through their academic and practitioner training links.
Your criteria when hiring a supervisor will include someone who:

• has knowledge of ethical, legal and regulatory aspects of the help-

ing professions;
• is able to form a peer/collegial relationship as a supervising
consultant;
• is sensitive to diversity issues of culture, ethnicity, gender, age,
socio-economic and educational background;
• has knowledge of current research in the coaching supervision
field;
• has competence and expertise as an executive/business coach; and
• has training in supervision.

Different types of supervision

In organizations and coach training institutions today, there are sev-
eral ways to access supervision. There is one-on-one supervision,
peer supervision, team supervision and group supervision. Many
coach training institutes set up a peer supervision process for sen-
ior and junior graduates to work together in the supervision proc-
ess, either individual, peer or group. We define the four specific
types of supervision as educational, administrative, supportive and
managerial.
Educational supervision is to assess the skills and needs and
to facilitate the learning for practitioner coaches, and is usually in
alliance with an educational development programme in coach-
ing. Administrative supervision is to monitor the workload of the
coaches within the group or the organization, ensuring that the
purpose, vision and goals of the organization are met. Supportive
supervision is to provide an environment for practitioners where
their emotional needs are met, and where they are able to build
skills and competence, whether in a one-on-one or group forum.
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Managerial supervision is to ensure that individual client, coach

and line manager meet regularly to ensure that the client is on track
to meet the objectives set out for the coaching intervention.

What happens when supervision doesn’t work?

In supervision, there are similarities with coaching practice. If con-
flicts arise in supervision sessions, it is often due to the lack of skill
on the part of the supervisor and facilitator. It is important for there
to be open, transparent dialogue about what is working, and what
is not working for supervisors and practitioners in any session. For
example, I have experienced poor supervision when the super-
visor, or even one of the practitioners, has been operating from a
lack of awareness of their blind spots. Also, if the practitioner begins
to “advocate” for the supremacy of their “client” versus another
“client”, it is often a demonstration of the practitioner having become
part of the systemic dynamics of the organization. The parallel proc-
esses and complexity of supervision require skill and self-awareness
on the part of the supervisor and practitioners alike. The parallel
processes are frequently where the greatest learning lies.

Ethics
Ethics can be defined as ‘a set of moral principles’. Ethics are
most often recognized as the rules of conduct in respect of a
particular group or culture, or the moral principles of an indi-
vidual. Ethics is known as the branch of philosophy dealing
with values which relate to human conduct (Webster’s, 1983).

What ethical codes for coaching are in existence?

All professional bodies define the values, standards of compe-
tence and ethical benchmarks to which their members are held
accountable.
The Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC) requires
members to adhere to its Code of Business Coaching Ethics and Integ-
rity, which includes WABC’s “Business Coaching Definition”,
“Principles”, and “Safe Harbour Conciliation and Adjudication
Process”. The code tries to address the diverse range of business
294 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

interactions faced all over the world by members, and has established
a process to handle ethical dilemmas and issues (WABC, 2008a:1–4).
(The WABC Code of Business Coaching Ethics and Integrity is available
at www.wabccoaches.com.)
The European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) has been
established to promote best practice and to ensure that the highest
possible standards are maintained in the coach-mentor/client rela-
tionship. This is requested by the EMCC’s Complaints and Disci-
plinary procedures. The EMCC’s (2008b:2–4) Ethical Code defines
five key ethical areas: competence, context, boundary management,
integrity and professionalism. (The EMCC Ethical Code is available
at www.emccouncil.org.)
The International Coach Federation (ICF) defines its ICF Code of
Ethics explicitly in terms of professional conduct at large; conflicts of
interest; professional conduct with clients; and confidentiality/ pri-
vacy (ICF, 2008b:2–3). All members acknowledge and agree to hon-
our the ICF Pledge of Ethics (ICF, 2008b:4). (The ICF Code of Ethics is
available at www.coachfederation.org.)
The purpose of COMENSA’s Code of Ethics (COMENSA, 2006c:1)
and Revised Code of Ethics (COMENSA, 2007a:1) is to “set the ethical
standards for South Africa in the fields of coaching and mentoring”.
It is agreed among members that this is an “organic” code which
will evolve over the years as the discipline of coaching continues to
emerge and gain recognition as a profession (COMENSA, 2007a:1).
The COMENSA (2007b) Membership Criteria and Standards of Compe-
tence Framework requires that all members commit to the ethical code
as a foundation for their coaching practice. The COMENSA Revised
Code of Ethics defines its “core values” as autonomy, beneficence,
non-maleficence and justice, and its “guiding principles” as inclu-
sivity, dignity, competence, context, boundary management, integ-
rity, professionalism, and principles for the handling of breaches of
the code (COMENSA, 2007a:2–5). (COMENSA’s Revised Code of Eth-
ics is available at www.comensa. org.za.)

To whom does a coach owe loyalty?

In business coaching, the question often arises, “To whom does
the coach owe loyalty?” To the individual client, or to the organi-
zation who is paying the coach’s fee? In fact, it is to both, which
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can sometimes create an ethical dilemma. For instance, what if your

client asks you to coach them out of the organization and into a new
job? The question then arises, what are you bound to in your con-
tract with the client organization in terms of client confidentiality
and boundary management?
A coach must be able to understand the point of view of the
organization with whom they have a coaching contract, and must
find a way to synthesize the two interests: cooperative and competi-
tive. Peltier (2001:222) appropriately quotes Robert Solomon (1997):
“the search for excellence, whatever it may be, begins with ethics”.
Peltier explains that executive coaches have to navigate two types of
cultures: the business culture, which is a proprietary culture based
on market enterprise; and the individual client culture, which culti-
vates the ethics of care, where looking after the client’s best interests
engenders a cooperative culture.
In clinical practice, clinicians look after their client’s interest.
These interests are the hub of the contract, and the arrangement is
a cooperative one. However, in business there is a proprietary cul-
ture based upon a competitive market philosophy. Both providers
and buyers of coaching compete for the best deal they can get, and
each party expects the other party to behave competitively. One
party does not expect the other to look out for them or their inter-
ests. Coaches need to navigate these two cultures. One is a business
culture, where profit is the motive, and the other is the ethics of care
for individual clients. A coach needs to understand the point of view
of the organization and find a way to integrate the cooperative and
the competitive points of view. This can often present a coach with
dilemmas that challenge their ability to be loyal to both the organi-
zation and the individual client.
In terms of client intervention, Peltier (2001:224) suggests three
overall steps:

1. Develop clear written contracts—with clarity from the begin-

ning of the relationship about confidentiality and boundary
issues.
2. Whistle-blow when colleagues behave poorly or are found to be
incompetent.
3. Know your limits and practice within those limits with
supervision.
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Peltier’s main message is to focus on the single thing that one does
best as a business coach, creating sustainable competitive advantage
and being exceptional. His second step, to whistle-blow, is some-
thing most coaches would be reluctant to do, not wanting to damage
their image or a colleague’s in the marketplace. However, without
legislated ethical guidelines (unlike psychotherapists), coaches need
to establish their behavioural norms through their working practices
and commitment to their professional body’s ethical code. Further-
more, if there is a definite dilemma regarding a colleague, the first
step is always to speak to the person in question; second to speak to
the lead supervisor confidentially; finally if unresolved to speak to
the Ethics Committee of your professional association in complete
confidence. However, any communication must be done having
informed the colleague in question.
Human behaviour is always complex. In my supervision story ear-
lier in this chapter, the coach only discovered the broken confidenti-
ality in a subsequent coaching session with her client. She needed to
first clear the situation with her client, then to clear the air with her
supervisor. In this case, it did not need to be brought to anyone else’s
attention. One of the key difficulties with an emerging profession is
that there are not necessarily precise guidelines for ethical behav-
iour, which is what all the international coaching bodies are gradu-
ally trying to build into their coaching guidelines for members.

Who is the client?

Coaches often forget to consider who the actual client is. Is it the
organization that hires and pays the coach’s fees to help with a busi-
ness need? Or is it the individual who is seeking to grow, develop and
move forward in their career? The question is essentially answered
when the executive personally pays the coach’s fee. However, what
happens when the company pays the bill? To whom does the coach
owe loyalty?

ETHICAL DILEMMA
What happens if the client decides to focus on skills that the
organization clearly does not condone, or skills that the client
wishes to use in a future job or career? It is important to clarify
 S U P E RV I S I O N , C O N T R AC T I N G A N D E T H I CA L C O N C E R N S 297

the parameters of capacity building in your contract so that you

do not find yourself in this situation.
What happens when a client is angry, contemplating legal
action against the organization, or is plotting their next move
to a new organization? How can the coach work with this cli-
ent? What information needs to be shared with the organiza-
tion? When does it become unethical for the coach to continue
to work with the individual client?
In this situation, once again, it is important to have stipulated
in your contracting process, how you will handle a conflict of
interest between the individual client and the organization. In
this instance, you have several choices. You can advise your
client to speak with the appropriate superiors within their
organization, or you can advise your client that you and the
client should possibly meet with the line manager, HR or OD,
and that you will facilitate the discussion. Or, if those two sce-
narios are unacceptable to the client, you can withdraw from the
contract, letting the client know you can no longer work with
them as they are unwilling to address the issue in a manner
appropriate to the situation. If it is stipulated in your contract
that you are facing an inappropriate conflict of interest between
client and organization, only then would we advise taking it
to the appropriate superiors in the organization. However, it is
important that, if you are unsure of what to do, your first port of
call may be to discuss it with your supervising coach.

Confidentiality issues
Another issue is that of confidentiality. It is often said that the rules
for content confidentiality are up for grabs when it comes to coach-
ing. To what extent is the relationship between coach and client con-
fidential? In clinical practice, the counselling relationship and the
content of that relationship are confidential. The only relationship
that is legally protected in terms of confidentiality is that between
lawyer and client, and we are aware of at least one case where a
psychologist was subpoenaed to testify in court.
Many organizations insist that coach and client work in an
organizational meeting space for their sessions. Often coach and
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client work in public spaces such as hotel foyers, coffee shops, and
organizational canteens. What is the impact on privacy and confi-
dentiality in these situations? How do you introduce your client
when someone you know enters and interrupts your meeting? Have
you agreed in advance how you will introduce each other when you
meet other individuals you already know? How will interruptions
influence the coaching conversation?
Coaches and clients must establish, in their contract and work-
ing arrangement, how they will manage the boundaries of confi-
dentiality. For example, some clients are happy to introduce you
as their coach; others will not introduce you at all, and others will
introduce you as a colleague. Furthermore, the coaching relationship
is not as strict as the therapeutic relationship. For example, coaches
can be invited to product launches, media presentations, business
and social events with their clients. It is important to address the
boundaries of these events with your clients. How will you be intro-
duced; what behaviour and feedback is expected from you?

HONOURING THE CLIENT’S AGENDA

A few years ago, a colleague had a client who was uncomfort-
able with being in the limelight and wanted to be coached on
dealing with all the social and networking requirements of
her new role. She invited her coach to join her at one of these
events to observe her behaviour. Coach and client agreed that
the coach would be introduced as a supplier, not as a coach. The
coach played the role and to her surprise found herself intro-
duced as “my coach”. The client had changed her mind and was
very comfortable with people knowing she had a coach. What
is important is that only the client could make this choice, not
the coach.

Part of a coach’s code of ethics is to honour confidentiality in

the coaching conversation. There will be a contracted agreement
between client and coach about what is communicated to superiors
in the working environment. This confidentiality must be agreed to
and honoured at all times. The client entrusts the coach with confi-
dences, and must feel safe to do so.
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CONFIDENTIALITY DILEMMA
A question around confidentiality that needs to be addressed
is to what extent does the coach owe the organization a confi-
dential relationship, and take responsibility for the confidential
boundaries defined in that relationship?
Coaches are consistently presented with confidential infor-
mation about the company, its systems, processes, challenges
and mistakes. For example, say you are working with a client
organization about which there is much controversy in the mar-
ketplace and in the media. An example could be an organization
responsible for media and communications, or for the supply of
energy.
How do you handle information that, if passed on to the
media, could expose your client’s organization? What hap-
pens if you mention this piece of information in passing to a
colleague, breaking the bounds of confidentiality, and this col-
league, without thinking, then shares it with a journalist friend
who reports it in the media, thus exposing your client’s organi-
zation? What is your ethical responsibility in this instance?
Should you confess your part? What bounds of confidentiality
have you trespassed?
Firstly, in this instance, you have broken the bounds of con-
fidentiality and are therefore in breach of contract with your
client. Secondly, the person you spoke to who subsequently
passed it on to the media, is in breach of confidentiality with
you. However, there are no legal guidelines as coaching is only
an emerging discipline. So, you have a problem. What should
you do?
You may choose to speak honestly to your client, or your client
organization, to let them know it came from you. Furthermore,
you will need to clear it with your colleague who passed it on. If
there has been any damage done to the client organization, you
may face the consequences of your client losing trust in your
services. It is for this reason that having indemnity insurance
is critical in case the organization takes up legal proceedings
against you. The moral of the story is to keep all confidences to
yourself at all times; it is hard for most human beings to resist
gossip.
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What are ethical concerns?

Think about some of the ethical concerns that you have encountered
as a coach. Examples may include fraud, broken confidentiality,
three-party dilemmas, having a sexual relationship with your client,
or seemingly coaching someone out of a job. For example, what do
you need to have in place in your contract to ensure that, if your cli-
ent is involved in some kind of criminal activity, such as embezzling
funds, theft or fraud of any kind, you are protected if the client con-
fesses to their organization and their organization chooses to inform
the legal authorities? If this is the case, and you knew about the ille-
gal activity and did not report it to the organization in question, the
need for indemnity insurance may become an issue.
Other concerns centre on malpractice for coach practitioners,
where “malpractice” is defined as “failure of a professional person
to render proper services through reprehensible ignorance or neg-
ligence or through criminal intent, especially when injury or loss
follows; or any improper negligent practise; misconduct or misuse”
(Webster’s, 1989). For example, what if a client organization sues you
for failure on your part as a coaching professional to render serv-
ices as contracted? How important is it to have insurance indemnity
protection, i.e. “protection or security against damage or loss, or
compensation for damage or loss sustained” (Webster’s, 1989), in a
similar manner to clinical psychologists? Do you have an arbitration
clause in your contract about what the procedures are if conflict or
misunderstandings arise?
These seem like abstract issues that may not concern you at
present. But, as coaching continues to grow as a discipline, there
will be claims against practitioners who do not fulfil contracts as
promised. As an emerging profession, there is currently no leg-
islated protection for practitioners. This is one of the reasons for
setting up professional bodies such as EMCC, ICF, WABC and
COMENSA. These organizations do not necessarily provide
indemnity insurance as they consider that to be the responsibil-
ity of the individual practitioners. However, they can help prac-
titioners to think about which types of protection are needed for
them to practise with confidence and security. This is one of the
key benefits of creating ethical guidelines, in parallel with an eth-
ics complaint process.
 S U P E RV I S I O N , C O N T R AC T I N G A N D E T H I CA L C O N C E R N S 301

How can you manage your ethical dilemmas?

Which ethical dilemmas have arisen for you in your practice? It is
useful in your supervision sessions to discuss, on a regular basis, any
ethical issues that arise. Here are several dilemmas a coach can face:

1. It is recognized that there are circumstances where the coach

may have two “clients”, the individual being coached and the
organization who may have commissioned the coaching. How
do you handle the giving of information to the senior manager
and the organization? What needs to be in a written contract, and
what do you need to verbally agree with your individual client?
We tend to ensure that the written contract specifies the bounds of
confidentiality between all parties, with agreed terms for report-
ing back to the organization. However, we also verbally contract
with the individual client to ensure we are in agreement about
how each of the coaching conversations will be held, and how we
will handle written reports to the organization. We believe that
any written communication to the third party needs to be seen
and agreed to by the individual client before it is passed on to the
relevant senior authority.
2. What if you coach your client out of a job, and they leave the
organization when under your coaching? This may be a result
of the client specifically asking you to coach them into a new job.
Or, it may be that in developing self-awareness the client realizes
that the job in which they are currently positioned is no longer
suitable to their intrinsic drivers, values and career aspirations.
What is your responsibility to the organization? Should you
inform them? I experienced this recently. One of the senior
executives I was coaching grew in self-awareness and decided to
move out of his current position in the organization. There was
no opportunity for him to do so within his current organization
for at least a year, and he was bored. The discussion came up in
the coaching conversations, and client and coach discussed the
ethical difficulty under which this placed both coach and client.
We agreed we would continue to work on his developing self-
awareness and possibilities for growth—but the coach would not
help him to leave the organization. The coach suggested that the
client discuss his thinking with his line manager; he chose not to.
302 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

By contrast, another colleague had a coaching client where the

client’s boss, and therefore the representative of the company pay-
ing for the coaching, indicated that the individual client needed
to figure out what they wanted—and if that meant that the client
would leave the organization then that would be acceptable.
3. Should you coach all the members of one team including the
team leader or line manager? This question often arises in super-
vision. Is it ethical in terms of boundary management for you to
coach a team leader and one or more of their direct reports? What
needs to be put in place in your contract to manage confidential-
ity? You will be in a very privileged position of knowledge, and
you may lose the trust of one or more individual clients by sim-
ply carrying an individual’s closely guarded secrets in terms of
aspirations, personal conflicts, self-doubts and self-esteem issues.
I and other colleagues have experienced lead coaches divulg-
ing information about team members to the entire team. In one
instance, this led to the client organization refusing to hire exter-
nal coaches in the future.
4. How do you honour confidentiality when coaching a senior
manager and their boss? Is it ethical, and if not why not? How
can you manage the boundaries of confidentiality? A typical
scenario is that you are in the process of coaching a senior
executive in an organization, and they recommend to their line
manager that you would be suitable to coach them too. What are
the issues of confidentiality that must be managed, and how do
you go about it? Would it be useful to meet with both of them
to discuss and agree the parameters, and what will, and will
not, be disclosed to the organization as a result of the coaching?
Usually, we agree that all conversations remain confidential, and
the only results shared are those of the professional development
plan i.e. vision, strategy, overall goals, obstacles to success and
outcomes achieved. How can you ensure that individual clients
are satisfied that their confidentiality will be respected and all
boundaries honoured?
5. Do you have a policy about meeting with the individual
executive and line manager together? Have you contracted this in
written form so that it is open and transparent to the organization
(i.e. HR, OD or line management)? Most importantly, how do
you manage the issue of confidentiality if you meet the line
 S U P E RV I S I O N , C O N T R AC T I N G A N D E T H I CA L C O N C E R N S 303

manager without the individual client? And, how do you manage

confidentiality when the line manager, coach and individual
client all meet together for the regular intermittent session? In our
work, we often agree to meet several times during the contracted
intervention period to align overall objectives on the part of
individual client, line manager and the organization. How should
you facilitate that session, and what are the parameters of what
you can disclose to the line manager? We usually plan the session
with the individual client, asking the client for their objectives
of the meeting, and what is appropriate to be shared during the
session. Once all three parties are together, the individual client
facilitates the session, and brings into the conversation the overall
objectives of the line manager for that session. What is important
to be discussed, and what are the organization’s expectations
of both the coach and individual client for the duration of the
coaching intervention?
6. Ethical questions regarding a sexual relationship with a client.
In the field of psychology worldwide, this is strictly legislated
against. However, in the fields of coaching and mentoring it is not
necessarily defined as a part of ethical boundary management. It is
important to understand what the professional conduct guidelines
are for the professional body of which you are a member, and
to be sure you understand the ethical conduct review process if
it arises as an issue. It is essential to find out what the client’s
organizational policy is for colleagues/consultants working
together, and many organizations have specified that it is or is
not policy. The questions that arise are due to the consequences
of such a relationship occurring. What are the implications for
the success of the coach/client relationship, and how do the
intimate boundaries created in a sexual encounter impact on the
professional boundaries of coach/client? As a coach is always
looking out for the client, a key question would be what the
consequences for the individual would be if such a relationship
occurs.
7. Interference from the leading executive in the coaching
intervention. This is an interesting situation. An executive can
readily see the benefits of coaching, and introduces coaching
into their department. On perceiving the impact that they could
achieve on bottom-line results, this leader instructs the coaching
304 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

supervisor to direct the team of coaches to work on specific

business outcomes. However, this type of goal setting was not
made explicit or agreed at the outset of the coaching intervention,
or during the contracting process. The question is how coaches
should manage the pressure of organizational demands from the
sponsoring executive and yet confidentially hold the individual
client’s needs.

The complexity of supervision and ethics

It is critical that the coach develops self-awareness with the ability to
self-regulate. Awareness of the ethical situations that arise is a first
step; the second step is to manage them. Without self-awareness,
integrity and the ability to manage complexity, ethical decisions
may prove difficult or even remain in the unconscious. Personal
lives, careers and organizations are often at stake, and there is a high
moral responsibility in this interpersonal journey. Bonds of trust,
openness, fragility and honesty are developed at high levels, and
these need to remain honoured and deeply respected.
Supervision serves both the coach and their client, while also pro-
viding a place for learning. Supervision is a complex process, and in
addition to the demanding aspect of this discipline, it needs to be in
the hands of an experienced practitioner (Bluckert, 2008). The super-
visor may be supervising a team of coaches, and as such would have
to be able to hold multiple perspectives and processes in conscious-
ness, and would therefore require a framework that would support
this complexity.
Part of the complexity in executive coaching is its multiple trian-
gular relationships. In business, coaches often work with an individ-
ual client, as well as other members of a board or team. This raises
boundary and ethical questions as well as issues around managing
psychological and systemic processes.

The organization itself becomes a third party (the first triangle)—

which forms a very powerful third force that can pull a coach
into an enactment. The supervisory relationship is yet another
triangle (the second triangle) that has to be negotiated, but one
that can be extremely useful in highlighting parallel processes,
i.e. what happens in the supervision relationship may mirror a
 S U P E RV I S I O N , C O N T R AC T I N G A N D E T H I CA L C O N C E R N S 305

pattern that is prevalent in the organization or other individual

relationships (Pampallis Paisley, 2006:26–27).

Supervisors contain and hold the stories told by the coach, the exec-
utive and the organization. Adherence to the highest levels of exist-
ing professional codes is paramount.

Developing a professional body for practitioners

One of the wider issues that became apparent during my doctoral
research project (2002–2006), was the vital matter of ethics. When I
commenced my doctorate, there was no accepted professional body
in South Africa to represent or regulate the emerging disciplines of
coaching and mentoring. This clearly led to the possibility, espe-
cially with a relatively new profession, of the abuse of standards and
exploitation by opportunistic practitioners.
A core group of committed practitioners spearheaded and
founded a professional body to discuss the creation of standards
of competence, ethical guidelines and a recommended supervision
framework, along with suggestions for the continuing professional
development (CPD) of all practitioners. COMENSA has recognized
the need to develop at the same pace as the disciplines of coach-
ing and mentoring in South Africa. However, the body is creating
organic frameworks for practice as needs arise, while remaining in
alignment with international standards.
In other emerging markets there is a call for the founding of a
professional body, for networking purposes and for creating a com-
mitted body of practitioners who can work together collaboratively
to build the profession. In South Africa, COMENSA sought help
from the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) and
the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC). Both con-
tinue to respond very generously. However, if a relatively developed
country such as South Africa needed such help, COMENSA may
have a role to play assisting sister professional bodies as they grow.
The Global Convention on Coaching (later the Global Coaching
Community or GCC) has acknowledged that, in the interest of the
reputation of the coaching profession internationally, established
bodies need to work together more proactively to promote the values
and ethics of the coaching profession. The GCC was established to
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create a collaborative framework of stakeholders in coaching, with

the aim of professionalizing the industry. Nine working groups were
established by the GCC’s Steering Committee to discuss critical
issues related to the professionalization of coaching. All nine groups
produced “white papers” across a 12-month working period (July
2007–July 2008) on the current realities and possible future scenarios
of each area. These papers were presented at the GCC Convention
in Dublin in July 2008. A tenth group, Coaching and Society, was
added just prior to the July 2008 convention.
Because COMENSA was mentored throughout its process, it may
be helpful for other organizations to think about how to play a men-
toring role to assist other emerging bodies, where coaches may be
operating in a similar vacuum and might benefit from its experience
and expertise.

GCC Working Group on Developing a Code of Ethics

From July 2007 to July 2008, the role of the Global Convention on
Coaching (GCC) was one of worldwide collaboration to bring the
best thinking of coach practitioners and researchers together. At
the end of the week-long convention in July 2008, the Working
Group on Ethics published a statement. They stated that in their
year-long dialogue it had become evident that a strong Code of
Ethics is of paramount importance, and they believe that a Code
of Ethics underpins the emergence of coaching as a profession—
i.e. its status, education and development, and core competences.
They stated they believed that a strong Code will help sustain the
profession, and that it is evident that such a Code needs account-
ability mechanisms.
Ultimately, their aspiration is that there will be a draft Universal
Code of Ethics with regional tribunals made up of stakeholder rep-
resentatives. The Code will be made up of the common features
across the six available codes we have today (International Coach
Federation, European Mentoring and Coaching Council, World-
wide Association of Business Coaches, Association for Coaching,
Coaches and Mentors of South Africa, and European Coaching
Institute). The Working Group on Ethics invited further contribu-
tion from parties not represented at the convention, making it clear
that local codes will have their own accountability mechanisms.
They envision it will be accompanied by a set of practical guidelines
 S U P E RV I S I O N , C O N T R AC T I N G A N D E T H I CA L C O N C E R N S 307

and tools to support ethical decision making and practice (GCC,

2008b).

Extending the social range of coaching

The GCC made an effort to take into account the cultural worldviews
of the various nations which took part in the global dialogue. This
is important in South Africa, for example, where the principles of
empowerment and transformation influence the particular social and
historical conditions of the country. Many practitioners’ clients reflect
the diverse facets of the South African community.
As currently practised, however, coaching is usually a top-level
management or corporate activity. In the specific historical reali-
ties of South Africa, this often still means that previously privileged
executives are the ones who chiefly benefit from the great riches that
coaching has to offer. The irony is that many who would equally
benefit are working in the same corporations, but are “previously
disadvantaged” (i.e. black men and women who suffered under
apartheid), and do not qualify for coaching within their organiza-
tions, as they are not yet employed in sufficiently senior executive
positions. With coaching, they might be.

EXTENDING THE REACH OF COACHING

One of my female senior executive clients, Miriam, would not
normally have had the luxury of a coaching experience had
we not agreed to a collaborative pro bono coaching relation-
ship. Miriam’s work in developing “previously disadvantaged”
women highlights, for me, the fact that not only was my client a
prime candidate for executive coaching, but other managers in
her non-governmental organization (NGO) would have gained
immeasurably from such an experience. Sadly, the view of coach-
ing is often that of an expensive “luxury” far beyond the finan-
cial parameters of the institution. This is an ethical dilemma in
South Africa, which has been raised within COMENSA, but has
yet to be resolved. Most practitioner coaches are keen to ensure
that the coaching profession in South Africa does not appear
“elitist” and exclusive. This dilemma may or may not apply, to
a greater or lesser extent, in other countries, but could be some-
thing worth considering by other professional bodies.
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The requirement for diversity could impact on the training of

coach and mentor practitioners, looking at their gender and back-
ground. In the interests of being fully representative—particularly in
South Africa—it is important that coaches from all facets of society be
encouraged to join the coaching profession, to make it truly reflective
of the community within which it works. For example, COMENSA
has already begun to consider these important social issues. Steps are
being taken by several COMENSA member coach training institutions
to provide a system of learning and mentoring for coaches from disad-
vantaged backgrounds to ensure that the emerging profession becomes
inclusive rather than exclusive. The creation and maintenance of this
body is an important initiative which will have a long-lasting impact
and influence on coaching and mentoring in South Africa.
The variety of perspectives and cultures involved in coaching
worldwide calls for a high level of sensitivity and awareness from
coaches. One place to develop and refine this consciousness is in
supervision.

Models of supervision
The Seven-Eyed Model of Supervision
There are many different models of supervision, but one of the most
common models used today is the Seven-Eyed Model of Supervi-
sion. This framework is used in the supervision of coach and men-
tor practitioners, and in other helping professions. The model was
developed by Peter Hawkins and Robin Shohet (2000). The seven
modes of supervision are (Mike the Mentor, 2008a):

1. The Client System: The focus is on the coachee situation; the

problem the coachee wants help with, how they represent the
issues, and the choices that they are making.
2. The Coach’s Interventions: The focus is on the interventions the
coach made, how and why they made them, and what else they
might have done.
3. The Relationship between the Coach and the Client: The focus
is on neither the coach nor the client, but on the conscious and
unconscious interactions between the two of them, so that the
coach develops a better understanding of the dynamics of the
coaching relationship.
 S U P E RV I S I O N , C O N T R AC T I N G A N D E T H I CA L C O N C E R N S 309

Figure 22. The Seven-Eyed Model of Supervision.

Source: Mike the Mentor (2008a).

4. The Coach: The focus is on the coach’s own experience as an

instrument for registering what is happening beneath the coachee
system.
5. The Parallel Process: The focus is on what the coach has absorbed
from the client system, and how it may be playing out in the
relationship between the coach, and supervisor.
6. The Coaching Supervisor’s Self-reflection: The focus is the
supervisor’s “here and now” experience with the coach and how
this can be used to shed light on the coach/client relationship.
7. The Wider Context: The focus is on the wider organizational,
social, cultural, ethical, and contractual context within which the
supervision is taking place.

The seven modes of supervision are illustrated in Figure 22.

To Practise the Seven-Eyed Model of Supervision

1. Focus on the coach/client situation. The practitioner identifies
their problem or challenge, focusing on what actually happened in
their sessions with clients, how the clients presented themselves,
what was discussed, and any connections between issues.
2. Explore the coach’s interventions with the client. The supervisor
focuses on the interventions made, the coach’s rationale, and
helps in developing alternative strategies for interventions, and
examines consequences now and for the future.
3. Explore the relationship between coach and client. The
supervisor focuses on the dynamic between coach and client, at
310 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

both a conscious and unconscious level. This step in the process

can assist the coach to understand the deeper, underlying processes
which could affect the outcome of the coach/client intervention.
The aim of this mode is to help the coach gain greater insight and
understanding of the dynamics of their relationships with clients.
4. Focus on the coach practitioner’s experience. The aim of this
step is to increase the capacity of the coach to engage with clients
effectively. This offers the opportunity to develop self-awareness,
deepening the learning about how to deal with conscious and
less conscious assumptions and behaviours.
5. Focus on the supervision relationship. This is a parallel process
to the coach/client relationship. This part of the discussion
offers valuable perspective as to the dynamics present between
coach/client that are played out in the supervisor/practitioner
relationship. This process focuses on what is happening in
the relationship between the supervisor and the coach and
explores how it is playing out or paralleling the coach/client
relationship.
6. The supervisor self-reflects. The supervisor observes and notes
what they are experiencing in the supervision sessions. The aim
of this step is for the supervisor to use their responses to provide
another source of information to the coach. This is a very similar
process to clinical psychology supervision.
7. Focus on the bigger picture or wider context. The supervisor
and practitioner/s reflect on the wider client and organizational
context. This brings in the ethical, cultural, systemic, organizational
and social aspects of the coaching intervention. The aim of step 7
is to observe and understand the wider context to build capacity
on the part of the practitioner.

The Double Matrix or Eight-eyed Supervisor Model

The Double Matrix or Eight-Eyed Supervisor Model is an adaptation
of Hawkins and Shohet’s Seven-Eyed Supervision Model discussed
above. It consists of the following components (Jones and Jenkins,
2006:30) which I have adapted to the coaching conversation:

1. Reflection on the content of the coaching session;

2. Exploration of the strategies and interventions used by the coach
practitioner;
 S U P E RV I S I O N , C O N T R AC T I N G A N D E T H I CA L C O N C E R N S 311

3. Exploration of the coaching process and relationship;

4. Focus on the coaching process as it is reflected in the supervision
process;
5. Focus on the supervisee’s transference;
6. Focus on the here-and-now process as a mirror or parallel of the
there-and-then process;
7. Focus on the supervisor’s counter-transference; and
8. Focus on the wider context.

Individual supervision
My model of individual and group supervision (Figure 23) is a pré-
cised version of the Seven-Eyed Model summarized above (although
I also place it on a background of four quadrants with reflection
on the UL; practice on the UR; and observation split between LL
and LR). Working with an individual practitioner, I will ask the
practitioner for their reflections on the challenges currently facing
them. Supervisor and coachee/s prioritize the issues to discuss,
and work on one at a time. The supervisor leads the session in a
coaching manner, by facilitating thinking on the part of the practi-
tioner rather than thinking for them. However, the supervisor may
share their observations and experience. The supervisor is helping
the practitioner reflect on the content of a coaching session, as well
as on their own internal dialogue and their response to the client.
The supervisor will ask the practitioner to explain their processes

Figure 23. Sunny’s supervision model.

312 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

and other interventions that might be useful or appropriate. The

practitioner is adopting a meta-position, looking at the coaching ses-
sion in question from first, second and third positions; in NLP terms,
this would be third-position thinking. In psychotherapeutic terms,
the practitioner would be identifying any transference and counter-
transference between client and coach. In third-position thinking,
the practitioner can see themselves in miniature as if looking down
from a corner of the ceiling. This reflective practice helps to develop
self-awareness.
In the practice part of the session, the practitioner may coach the
supervisor, with feedback from the supervisor at the end. At the end
of this, the supervisor and practitioner move back into a reflective
space to develop self-awareness, and identify what went well in
terms of content, process and any parallel processes that might have
been happening. It is important here for the supervisor to be aware
of their own internal process; the supervisor is modelling coaching
and self-awareness with the practitioner.
In terms of observation, the practitioner notices the learning
gained overall from the session and any changes needed to their
overall practice. Any steps for action or reflection are noted and the
next session booked. Observation is about the wider context. How
does the learning from this session impact on the overall coaching
intervention with the client, and the overall coaching style of the
practitioner? The supervisor needs to help the practitioner refer
back to the context in which the coach, supervisor and client organ-
ization are working together, as well as the wider context of the
practitioner’s developing competence and capacity within their
profession.

Group supervision
Reflection
With group supervision the facilitator begins a “round” asking a set
of questions and hearing from each individual. Sample questions
could be, “What’s working for you in your coaching practice?” and
“Which issues or dilemmas do you wish to work on today?” The
facilitator elicits all challenges and issues and then breaks the group
into pairs/triads. The pairs/triads select several issues to reflect on,
creating strategies or recommendations for managing each issue.
 S U P E RV I S I O N , C O N T R AC T I N G A N D E T H I CA L C O N C E R N S 313

The group meets again in plenary and the facilitator takes thoughts
and recommendations from each pair/triad. The issues that can be
addressed in a reflective discussion are either answered here, or
saved until the end of the supervision session.

Practice
The group prioritizes the issues and challenges that have been raised
in the reflective session. A few practitioners volunteer to take part
in a supervision demo. The lead coach, or supervisor, supervises a
coaching conversation with the volunteer practitioner and coachee.
The rest of the group gather round in a circle and observe, quietly
taking notes. If necessary, the lead supervisor takes time out to
speak to the group as part of the teaching. It is important that coach
and client contract confidentiality and boundaries in this fish-bowl
situation.

Observation
At the end of the supervision demo, the facilitator solicits thoughts,
observations and questions from the volunteer coach, coachee and
the group, and facilitates a discussion on the questions raised. The
group shares their learning from the session overall in a final round.
If there has been no demo, but simply plenary rounds and thinking
pairs/triads, the facilitator facilitates a discussion of learning gained
from the session.

Supervision as a form of empowerment

In supervision, there is the cultural context of the organization and
society as a whole to be aware of. Traditional models of supervi-
sion have been developed in Western consumer cultures, and more
particularly in academic environments. These environments do not
necessarily share the same assumptions as the developing coaching
cultures in Argentina, China, East Asia, India or South Africa. We
have discussed culture and diversity at length in Chapter 6, and the
supervisor needs to be aware of the capacity and limitations of the
practitioners under their supervision.
Coaching is fundamentally about empowering people, resulting in
their ability to think through their challenges and issues successfully. In
a very real sense, therefore, the role of supervision is to help empower
314 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

the coach practitioner to think through all the perspectives that can
impact on client issues and dilemmas. Supervision can be seen as both
an empowerment tool as well as a commitment to best practice.

Developing a professional approach

Supervision may be the new and innovative context for coach prac-
titioners to contribute to the development of self-reflective practice
and practitioner research. In this way we may begin to move for-
ward to being “professional”.
The need to educate coaching supervisors, practitioners and
managers in understanding the need for supervision is critical. The
supervision relationship is a complex one, and the benefits from
supervision are exponential for practitioners and client organiza-
tions. Developing an interprofessional approach is a sound one.
Coaching can learn from the other helping professions until more
research is undertaken worldwide. Whichever supervision model is
worked with in the coaching context, it is important to develop a
number of highly skilled supervisors who can help practitioners to
work with greater knowledge, depth, skills and competence.
Contracting, supervision and ethical conduct are not new con-
cepts. They have been practised in the helping professions for dec-
ades. However, they are not yet regulated and require understanding
at all stages of development for practitioners. We have looked at each
of the roles and functions of these three key areas and, although there
are as yet no internationally agreed guidelines on the regulation of
supervision, ethics and contracting, all of the professional bodies
worldwide in alignment with the Global Coaching and Mentoring
Alliance (GCMA) and its precursor the Global Coaching Community
(GCC) are assessing and establishing what frameworks need to be in
place for their member practitioners. Ultimately, these processes will
benefit and protect coach, client and organization. The development
of professional supervision, contracting and ethical codes is emerg-
ing as a vital function within the discipline of coaching.

Coach’s library
Coaches and Mentors of South Africa (COMENSA). (2006b). Interim
Policy on Supervision. Cape Town: COMENSA. Webpage: www.
 S U P E RV I S I O N , C O N T R AC T I N G A N D E T H I CA L C O N C E R N S 315

comensa.org.za/dotnetnuke/ProfessionalPractice/Supervision/
tabid/79/language/en-ZA/Default.aspx.
Coaches and Mentors of South Africa (COMENSA). (2007a). Revised
Code of Ethics. Cape Town: COMENSA. Webpage: www.comensa.
org.za/ dotnetnuke/ ProfessionalPractice/CodeofEthics/tabid/78/
language/ en-ZA/Default.aspx.
European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). (2008b). Code
of Ethics. Webpage: www.emccouncil.org/fileadmin/documents/
EMCC_Code_of_Ethics.pdf.
Hawkins, P., and Shohet, R. (2000). Supervision in the Helping Professions.
Buckingham: Open University Press.
International Coach Federation (ICF). (2008b). ICF Code of Ethics.
Lexington, KY: ICF. Webpage: www.coachfederation.org/about
%2Dicf/ethics%2D%26%2Dregulation/icf%2Dcode%2Dof
%2Dethics/.
Jones, R., and Jenkins, F. (Eds.). (2006). Developing the Allied Health Profes-
sions. Oxford: Radcliffe.
Kadushin, A. (1976). Supervision in Social Work. New York, NY: Columbia
University Press.
Noer, D. (2000). The big three derailment factors in a coaching rela-
tionship. In: Goldsmith, M., Lyons, L., and Freas, A. (Eds.), Coaching
for Leadership: How the World’s Greatest Coaches Help Leaders Learn
(pp. 317–324). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer.
Pampallis Paisley, P. (2006). Towards a Theory of Supervision for Execu-
tive Coaching: An Integral Vision. Unpublished DProf dissertation.
London: Middlesex University.
Steere, J. (1984). Ethics in Clinical Psychology. Cape Town: Oxford
University Press.
Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC) (2008a). Code of
Business Coaching Ethics and Integrity. Webpage: www. wabccoaches.
com/includes/popups/code_of_ethics_2nd_edition_december_17_
2007.html.
CHAPTER NINE

Developing a body of knowledge—

coaching research

CHAPTER OUTLINE
• What is research?
– What motivates research?
– What research is available?
– Building your knowledge base
• Developing a new model of research
• An emerging profession
– The ICRF
• The need for collaboration
• Coach’s library

One of the primary emerging disciplines in coaching is research.

Its role is to determine the competences necessary to educate and
develop coaches worldwide, as well as to create a definition of coach-
ing that the global community will accept. Another way to describe
it is “ongoing critical appraisal” of your own coaching practice. This
chapter examines the current global thinking in terms of coaching
research, stressing the importance of writing-up your findings as
you work within the business environment. This requires more than
just being coached yourself and participating in supervision.
317
318 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

The work of the Research Agenda at the Global Convention on

Coaching (GCC) in Dublin, July 2008, defined research as “the life
blood of practice. It feeds our continuing development and brings
fresh perspectives to our work. It can be the place to visit in our dilem-
mas and in our successes. In valuing research we are valuing our work,
as one is the exploration of the other. Engagement in that exploration
sustains our practice and fuels our own development” (GCC, 2008d).
The escalating demand for coaching has motivated a wide range
of providers and consumers to advocate the professionalization of
the industry in order to safeguard the quality, effectiveness and ethi-
cal integrity of coaching services. In turn, a growing awareness of the
potential benefits to the industry of professional status has led to an
interest in international dialogues, such as the Global Convention on
Coaching (GCC), and the current Global Coaching and Mentoring
Alliance (GCMA), which were both established with the explicit aim
of exploring the professionalization of coaching.
The original role of the GCC was to research the rising profession
of coaching worldwide, and to begin to build an international com-
munity who could share issues, concerns and ideas. What emerged
was a prototype of a global coaching community, who have stated
the need to develop a knowledge base for coaching through research,
and the critical reflective practice of dedicated coach practitioners,
in a global collaborative effort. In September 2008, the International
Coaching Research Forum (ICRF), consisting of internationally rec-
ognised researchers, coaching professionals and other stakeholders,
met at Harvard to produce 100 research proposal outlines to advance
coaching as an evidence-based discipline. These papers are available
online at www.instituteofcoaching.org.

What is research?
Research can be defined, in the traditional sense, as an academic
investigation into the origins and developments of a given subject.
However, it is not just academic research that is needed at this criti-
cal stage of the emerging profession of coaching. We are looking
to encourage practitioner research, defining it as “specific critical
reflection and evaluation” of your given practice.
The GCC defines research as “a ‘search’ for new knowledge
and understanding, which can be undertaken in many different
 D E V E L O P I N G A B O DY O F K N O W L E D G E 319

ways and from many perspectives. It becomes a continuum which

includes individual critical reflective practice and goes through to
distinct projects undertaken as teams” (GCC, 2008d).
A very new approach is to consider all practitioner coaches, in
the local and global coaching community, as potential contributors
to the emerging body of knowledge. This requires three specific sets
of skills on the part of practitioners: a critical reading of research, an
application of research to practice, and the capacity and ability to
generate research. This should not in any way reduce the need or the
requirement for quality. A body of knowledge has to be sustainable.
At present, it is acknowledged that academics and practitioners are
both responsible for good and bad research.

What motivates research?

Organizations buying coaching services today are well informed
about the business coaching process and the value of coaching for
their executives and their business overall. They are asking for:
(1) measurable results; (2) the evidence base that underpins coach-
ing; and (3) the qualifications and experience of the coaches they
employ. Many large organizations have begun assessment inter-
views to develop a bespoke bank of external coaches, and are
looking to educate their internal coaches in quality coach training
programmes with the appropriate credentials.
Although it is believed that coaching provides a positive interven-
tion in building executive and management capability, there is very
little empirical research into how the coaching relationship builds
executive aptitude and impacts business positively. One reason for
this lack of empirical research is that it has proved difficult to use
longitudinal designs and control groups when evaluating coach-
ing interventions. Rigorous evaluation historically is through ran-
domized controlled trials (Grant and Cavanagh, 2007a). A second
reason is that coaching is not yet a defined profession with regulated
requirements for professional coaches.
Two other difficulties are that research often needs substantial
funding and is not necessarily the domain of the newly “skilled”
coach practitioner. The Research Agenda for the Global Conven-
tion on Coaching (GCC) has recommended that all coach train-
ing programmes internationally offer a basic module in research
320 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

methodology and application. Other possibilities to build a body of

knowledge are either for the supervision process to create a founda-
tion for research into practice, or for a coach practitioner to work in
conjunction with an academic student who is looking for a project.
This idea is sound, particularly if your practice forms part of a coach-
ing services business involved in large coaching interventions, and
if you are interested in providing some kind of qualitative or quan-
titative benchmarking for your clients.
It has been previously assumed that coaches are scientist-
practitioners, conducting research that ultimately informs and
enhances their own practice. Another term applied to coach prac-
titioners who critically appraise their own practice is that of the
“scholar practitioner”, i.e. someone who is a student of their own
practice. However, research is expensive, and most coach practition-
ers are neither critically reflective of their own practice, nor do they
research the outcomes of their coaching interventions. Research is
needed to show a range of results: from the coaching process, to the
skills and competence of the coach, the results of coach supervision,
how organizations benefit from supervision, and the overall out-
comes of coaching for the individual executive and the business.
Another possibility is to work collaboratively with other coach
practitioners. This could be called a “partnership” model in which
both full-time researchers and full-time practitioners work together,
bringing their respective strengths to the research process (Green,
cited in GCC, 2008c). However, partnership needs management.
I recently spoke to a South African doctoral student at the Univer-
sity of South Africa (UNISA) who hopes to investigate core coaching
competences being used by South African coaches. However, he has
found it difficult to access coaches who are prepared to take part in
such a research project. Although we cannot all spend time facilitat-
ing enquiry or research into our practice, it is crucial that we either
facilitate or participate in building a body of knowledge for our dis-
cipline through critical reflection on our own coaching processes.

What research is available?

It has been recommended, as a result of the GCC process and the
work done by the ICRF and the Institute of Coaching at Harvard
McLean Medical School, that we need empirical evidence proving
that coaching makes a difference for individuals, organizations, and
 D E V E L O P I N G A B O DY O F K N O W L E D G E 321

society. Because there still remains a lack of clarity and consensus

as to what professional coaching actually is, and what makes for an
effective and reputable coach, it has been agreed that research needs
to be conducted around the globe. For example, the Australian
Research Council (ARC) has begun funding coaching research
through Australian universities to encourage the development of
the discipline (Grant, 2008:96).
A major question today is: what is the value of existing coach-
ing research—particularly as there is no one existing database of
research? Although a substantial body of coaching literature has
emerged in the last few years, there are only a few academic coach-
ing journals currently published, including the coaching journal,
Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice. The
International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring was
established in August 2003, and the International Coaching Psychology
Review in April 2006.
Fillery-Travis and Lane (2006) argue that those who wish to
research whether coaching works are asking the wrong question.
Their argument is that we first need to determine how coaching is
being used and within which framework and only then can we ana-
lyze what is working. According to Baek-Kyoo (2005), “executive
coaching has become increasingly popular despite limited empirical
evidence about its impact and wide disagreement about necessary
or desired professional qualifications”.
In the last few years, there have been a number of business coach-
ing, non-executive coaching, and life coaching studies. We list a vari-
ety of sources at the end of this chapter, including the compilationw
of research papers gathered by the GCC Research Agenda Working
Group during their 2007/8 dialogue.

Building your knowledge base

A major reason to encourage practitioners to critically reflect and
appraise their own practice, either in supervision, in partnership
with other practitioner coaches or through academic research, is due
to the need to build the knowledge base for coaching. A current defi-
nition of the knowledge base for coaching is that of competent prac-
tice, where competence drives the discipline and the knowledge
base grows through the application of defined competences.
In Chapter 3, we explored the competences required by various
322 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

professional coaching bodies, and the GCC has recommended

that a foundation of core competence be researched and accepted
internationally.
However, if in future coaching is to emerge as a profession, key
requirements include “identifiable and distinct skills; education and
training to acquire proficiency; recognition outside the community
as a profession; a code of ethics; public service by coaches; a for-
malized organization; evaluation of credentials and self-regulation;
an established community of practitioners for networking and
exchange of ideas; public recognition that coaching is a profession”,
and finally: “a coaching practice grounded in theoretical and factual
research and knowledge” (Bennett, 2006:241–2).
In coaching, the knowledge base is multidisciplinary, yet the
field is undefined. Coaches are informed by various theoretical
bases, including the following (GCC, 2008e:1):

• Learning theory (Kolb, Bloom, Bandura, Boud, Mumford);

• Change (Hudson, Batson, Kotter, Scott and Jaffee);
• Developmental (Kegan, Dubrowsky, Kohlberg);
• Ego (Loevinger, Cook);
• Communication (Wittgenstein, Watzlavick);
• Systemic thinking (Lewin, Senge);
• Social psychology (Izen);
• Organizational development (Ulrich, Smallwood, Schein, Beckhard,
Burke);
• Process work (Mindell);
• Action learning (Revans, Board, Weinstock);
• Culture (Schein);
• Self-directed learning (Boyatzis);
• Leadership (Bennis, Jaques, Blanchard, Greenleaf);
• Existential theory and philosophy (Yalom, Spinelli);
• Chaos theory (Poincaré, Wheatley);
• Cognitive behavioural psychology (Beck, Ellis, Bandura, Skinner,
Thorndike, Seligman);
• Emotional intelligence (Pert, Goleman); and
• Spiritual intelligence (Zohar).

At the moment, the knowledge base for coaching is driven by

market forces, the momentum of its practitioners, and the different
 D E V E L O P I N G A B O DY O F K N O W L E D G E 323

learning contexts for practitioners and commercial innovation.

There is a growing interest in evidence-based and peer-reviewed
coaching journals. This includes demands from clients to meas-
ure the return on coaching investment (ROI), with tangible proof
of rigour and credibility in coaching as a developmental tool for
business. More and more books are being written about coaching,
and coach education programmes have a growing foundation in
universities. The downside is that practitioners need money for
research projects, and are not necessarily skilled in the rigour and
techniques of research.
There is a gulf between practitioners with and without academic
know-how who have the rigour to initiate practitioner research or
to facilitate evidence-based work. Even so, what does the accumula-
tion of evidence mean for the coaches themselves? Will they actually
apply the findings of current research to their own practice, and cru-
cially, how can they apply new findings if they themselves are not
rigorously and critically reflecting on their own practice?
The majority of coaches are not necessarily trained in psychologi-
cal science whose foundation of practice is its established knowledge
base (Grant and Cavanagh, 2007a:241). Instead, coach practitioners
tend to be trained in proprietary models with an unproven evidence
base. Hence, the growing divide between psychologists and coaches
not trained in psychological practice. In parallel with the Human
Potential Movement (HPM) of the 1960s and 1970s, there is a strain of
“anti-intellectualism” within the coaching community globally that
reflects a strong desire among some “to liberate themselves from the
bonds of socio-political systems that stifled individuality including
science” (Spence, 2007b:259).
As a result, many coach practitioners do not see the value in
researching evidence or outcomes from their practice. The conse-
quence of this move could be towards a fashionable human devel-
opment industry which is resistant to any mandatory professional
training or accreditation. This may eventually result in the loss of
freedom, so greatly sought after, due to inevitable future regulation
and market demands. One of the emerging themes of the GCC was
the need for coaching to regulate itself before someone else does,
creating guidelines in ethics, supervision, core competences, and
a research agenda in order to move coaching practice towards a
robust, self-regulated, evidence-based, multicultural discipline.
324 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Developing a new model of research

One of our recommendations is for coach practitioners to think
about how they reflect on their practice, assessing and evaluating
their skills and competence through supervision. One of the dis-
cussion points at the GCC was the potential for supervision to be a
place for research and critical enquiry into practice. We recommend
that coach practitioners begin to write up and publish case studies
on their findings, but from a reflective and critical place of appraisal.
The thinking that emerged from the GCC recommends that value be
given to practitioner enquiry into practice as well as the high value
given to academic and psychological research.
One possibility for non-academic coaching research could be from
a supervision point of view. According to COMENSA, “Supervision
allows practitioners to reconstruct its experience, reflect, under-
stand, design their professional reality, and develop new responses
for future practice within the supervision context” (COMENSA,
2006b).
Today, there is no widely recognized “non-academic” model of
research for coach practitioners, which means doing a little “research”
yourself to find e-zines, professional magazines, journals, and other
media which will publish your findings. This is not about position-
ing or promoting your practice commercially. It is more about writ-
ing up discoveries, dilemmas and complexities to contribute to the
growing body of knowledge for business coaching. The partnership
model, working with a scholar or academic who will help you to
research and write up your findings, is worth considering.
Clearly, continuing research is critical if we are to build the knowl-
edge base necessary to “professionalize” coaching and enhance
coach education curricula. Key questions we need to research are:
“What visibly is changing as a result of coaching in organizations,
and what visibly needs to be addressed for business coaching to
evolve?” (Stout-Rostron, 2013).

An emerging profession
Throughout this book, I have spoken about what is required for
coaching to be recognized as a regulated discipline or profession.
Grant and Cavanagh (2006:3) have indicated that one requirement is
that it should be done through peer-reviewed and accepted research.
 D E V E L O P I N G A B O DY O F K N O W L E D G E 325

Spence concluded that the accepted foundation of a profession

includes a requirement for members to have formal academic quali-
fications, that they adhere to an enforceable code of ethics, that
licensed practice is only granted to qualified members, that members
comply with applicable state-sanctioned regulation, underpinned
by a common body of knowledge and skills (Spence, 2007b:261).
There is at present a gap between the criteria needed to develop
a profession, and the current reality of coaching internationally.
This gap presents a challenge to professional coaching bodies for
several reasons. First, there is uncertainty about the role played by
psychology in the development of the coaching profession. Spence
(2007b:263) suggests, “psychologists have a unique role to play
in securing the future of coaching and helping to establish it as a
respected and credible sub-discipline of psychology”. This point
of view will never be popular with many practising coaches, and
needs to be resolved in the current climate. What is greatly needed
is for coaching-related research to be carried out “in order better to
understand and refine the coaching process and hence coaching out-
comes” (Linley, 2006:1).

The ICRF
In September 2008, a group of 40 internationally recognized
coaching researchers, professionals and other coaching stakeholders
came together in an historic meeting at Harvard. The International
Coaching Research Forum (ICRF) had very specific aims. Firstly, to
promote the field of coaching research worldwide by creating 100
coaching research proposals that could be disseminated to all coach-
ing practitioners, academics and organizations; and secondly, to fos-
ter coaching research on a global scale to collaboratively advance
this emerging profession.
While by no means inclusive, the ICRF participants met together
with a third goal to build coaching research networks which would
support coaching research at all levels. These individuals, who are
considered to be at the forefront of academic coaching research and
professional coaching practice, came from seven different countries.
Collectively they publish books and peer-reviewed journal articles
on coaching and coaching-related topics; lecture at academic and
practitioner level; and work to facilitate positive change by coaching
professional clients and their teams.
326 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

A final aim was to communicate the message that practitioner

and academic research is one of the primary ways to advance coach-
ing as an evidence-based discipline, and to signpost that coaching is
a powerful incentive to create positive change for both individuals
and society. The document produced at the forum is available on the
Institute of Coaching’s website (www.instituteofcoaching.org).
You can access the 100 coaching-related research proposals which
the forum hopes will prompt new coaching research at all levels of
practitioner and academic coaching worldwide. The ICRF was spon-
sored by The Foundation of Coaching, and The Coaching and Positive
Psychology Initiative of Harvard University at McLean Hospital. The
newly formed Institute of Coaching at Harvard (IC) is committed to
sponsoring executive and life coaching research through their grant
process to encourage the advancement of the field.
Key themes that emerged at the ICRF as important to coaching
research are in: coaching specialities; modalities and process; out-
comes and methodology; business coaching, politics, ethics and
governance; training, development, and knowledge base; theoretical
frameworks; definitions of coaching; coaching skills and core com-
petences; coaching and society; and core diversity issues. One of the
key questions to emerge from the ICRF for further consideration is
how to most effectively mobilize and coordinate coaching research
resources within each country and internationally.
The ICRF will also engage with other bodies including the GCC
as it promotes research in important areas such as coach training,
education and development; theoretical frameworks; selection of
potential coaches; coaching sustainability; and methodologies for
coaching research.

The need for collaboration

The GCC recommended that research should be included as a
core competence in all coach development programmes—with
every practitioner taking responsibility to research their own prac-
tice, including coaching supervision as a fundamental research
process.
If coaching is to emerge as a discipline with impact and a future,
a series of difficult conversations still need to take place in future
forums and in other professional body events. How can we educate
 D E V E L O P I N G A B O DY O F K N O W L E D G E 327

providers, buyers and stakeholders alike; where is the most useful

coaching research to be found; and what are the barriers to individ-
ual practitioner involvement in research? Who will develop effective
measures and outcomes to study the effectiveness of coaching, and
who will undertake to develop a coaching research methodology for
practitioners who are not academics?
Although we live and work in a diverse world, we still mistrust
differences. We have just begun a global dialogue and collaboration
to understand the status of coaching within each country and cul-
ture, acknowledging that our common needs are similar. However,
issues of power and diversity may impact on how and which initia-
tives are taken forward. What are the issues of power that we need
to address in order to be willing to listen to each other, and how can
we move coaching towards becoming a more rigorous field?
In this chapter, we have sought to broaden the definition of
research, and have identified possible contributing roles for coach
practitioners, academic researchers and coaching psychologists. To
cultivate the sustainability of practice through a growing body of
knowledge, we believe that collaboration provides a dynamic and real-
istic way forward, meeting the needs of all coaching stakeholders.
A growing knowledge base is critical for the mature establish-
ment of coaching. Worldwide, a principle is emerging, which is that
every practitioner has the responsibility to research their own prac-
tice. The GCC recommends that practitioner and academic research
equally be considered to be of value, and that education in research
be included in all coach programmes at an appropriate developmen-
tal level. We believe that research is the vital component to grow
the coaching profession. If it was a core competence for practitioner
education, it would ensure the sustainability of coaching, whether
or not coaching emerges as a defined profession.

Coach’s library
Baek-Kyoo, B. (2005). Executive coaching: A conceptual framework
from an integrative review of practice and research. Human Resource
Development Review, 4:462–488.
Carter, A., Wolfe, H., and Kerrin, M. (2005). Employers and coaching
evaluation. International Journal of Coaching in Organizations, 3(4).
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Dagley, G. (2006). Human resources professionals’ perceptions of

executive coaching: Efficacy benefits and return on investment.
Interna-tional Coaching Psychology Review, 1(2):34–45.
Feldman, D.C., and Lankau, M.J. (2005). Executive coaching: A review and
agenda for future research. Journal of Management, 31(6):829–848.
Fillery-Travis, A., and Lane, D. (2006). Does coaching work, or are we
asking the wrong question? International Coaching Psychology Review,
1(1):23–36.
Kauffman, C.M., Russell, S.G., and Bush, M.W. (Eds.) (2008). 100 Coaching
Research Proposal Abstracts. International Coaching Research Forum.
Cambridge, MA: The Coaching and Positive Psychology Initiative,
McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School and The Foundation of
Coaching. Webpage: www.coachingresearchforum.org.
Laske, O.E. (2004). Can evidence-based coaching increase ROI? Interna-
tional Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring, 2(2):41–53.
Lawton-Smith, C., and Cox, E. (2007). Coaching: is it just a new name for
training? International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentor-
ing, Special Issue.
Mackie, D. (2007). Evaluating the effectiveness of executive coaching:
where are we now and where do we need to be? Australian Psycholo-
gist, 42(4):310–318.
Stout-Rostron, S. (2013). Business coaching in 2020: Collaboration and
contribution. ETD Online, May.
Thach, E.C. (2002). The impact of executive coaching and 360 feedback
on leadership effectiveness. Leadership and Organization Development
Journal, 23(4):205–214.

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Bennett, J.L. (2006). An agenda for coaching-related research: A challenge
for researchers. Coaching Psychology Journal: Practice and Research,
8(4):240–249.
Cox, E. (2007). Collaborative Dialogue on the Research Agenda for Coaching.
Proceedings of a meeting of the Oxford Brookes Coaching and Men-
toring Society on 14 December 2007. Mimeo.
Fillery-Travis, A. (2007). Where’s the Evidence? First Steps into the Litera-
ture. Mimeo.
Fillery-Travis, A. (2008b). Current State of Knowledge Production in the UK.
Mimeo.
Fillery-Travis, A., and Lane, D. (2008). How to develop your research
interests. In: Palmer, S., and Bor, R. (Eds.), The Practitioner’s Handbook:
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A Guide for Counsellors, Psychotherapists and Counselling Psychologists

(pp. 176–192). London: Sage.
Grant, A.M. (2003a). The impact of life coaching on goal attainment,
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Grant, A.M. (2003b). Keeping up with the Cheese! Research as a Foundation
for Professional Coaching of the Future. Keynote presentation to the
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and Coaching, Denver, CO, November.
Grant, A.M., and Cavanagh, M.J. (2007a). Evidence-based coaching:
flourishing or languishing? Australian Psychologist, 42(4):239–254.
Lane, D.A., and Corrie, S. (2006). The Modern Scientist-Practitioner:
A Guide to Practice in Psychology. Hove: Routledge.
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CHAPTER TEN

Integration and synthesis

CHAPTER OUTLINE
• Continuous reflection, learning and practice
– The complexity of the coaching process
– Coaching from a systems perspective
• Developing competence
– Knowledge, wisdom and experience

How can you move to the next level in your practice? If we talk
about adult stages of development, coaching as an emerging profes-
sion is currently journeying from adolescence into its adult phase.
A danger is that it becomes a fashion to call oneself a coach, or to be a
coach in training. In other words, rather than a respected profession,
coaching becomes a passing bandwagon.
Although coaching in the USA, UK, Europe and Australia is mov-
ing into maturity in terms of its life curve—in emerging markets
such as Argentina, China and East Asia, India, and South Africa,
coaching is more in an adolescent stage, with “hormones racing up
and down”. Right now, coaching needs direction, and the continual

331
332 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

building of a knowledge base, in order to begin to define its move

towards professional practice.

Continuous reflection, learning and practice

I have based this book on my and my colleagues’ research, teaching
and business practice, emphasizing the need for continuous reflec-
tion and learning. The purpose of the book has been to integrate
wisdom and practice with recommendations and suggestions for
practitioner coaches, HR and OD professionals, and managerial
leaders who want to fine-tune their business coaching skills and
competence.
Throughout the book, I have endeavoured to provide a broad
understanding of the business coaching process. Throughout the
book we have looked at the origins and current reality of coaching,
the influence of psychology, adult and experiential learning, exis-
tential and diversity theories as well as the theoretical and develop-
mental underpinnings of coaching.
Coaching embraces a process of experiential and continuous
learning for client and coach. Although I have explored how to
use various question frameworks and models, these are not by any
means all that is available to the business coach. In examining diver-
sity issues that clients and coaches experience, we have identified
diversity, cultural, linguistic and gender issues that require flex-
ibility and the development of new competences on the part of the
coach. We have endeavoured to share with you a broad range of
business coaching approaches that will help you to identify gaps in
your knowledge, but also to integrate new learning into your own
practice.

The complexity of the coaching process

We have analyzed the complexities of the coaching conversation—
the basic tool of the business and executive coach. Business coaching
has a huge contribution to make to leadership competence inside
organizations, and I have tried to take an in-depth, dynamic and
integrative look at the coaching process, question frameworks, how
to use current coaching models, examining current coach/client con-
cerns such as ethics, contracting, supervision and the “relationship”
 I N T E G R AT I O N A N D S Y N T H E S I S 333

between coach and client. The book’s focus has been on the hub of
the coaching conversation: learning from experience, which my col-
leagues and I believe is crucial for individual and organizational
transformation.
The importance of experiential learning is that it emphasizes a
client’s individual, subjective experience. In existential terms, the
meaning of experience is not a given, and is subject to interpretation.
Coach and client use the business coaching conversation to actively
reconstruct the client’s experience, with a focus on setting goals that
are aligned with the client’s internal drivers, by which we mean
their intrinsic values, beliefs and feelings. However, it is important
that there is some kind of synthesis with the values of the organiza-
tion within which they work.
Jaques and Clement (1991:xiv–xv) advocate that managerial lead-
ers acquire qualities of cognitive complexity, appropriate knowledge
and skills, and wisdom about people. Coaching is an egalitarian
relationship, even if the focus is that of the coach on the client. Both
individuals bring their experience, expertise and wisdom to the rela-
tionship. In coaching, the coach will adapt their style according to
their model, but most important is the development of the relation-
ship through the client/coach interactions.

Coaching from a systems perspective

Coaching models help us to understand the coaching interven-
tion from a systems perspective, and to understand the need for
“structure” in the interaction between coach and client. Models help
us to develop flexibility as coach practitioners, offering structure
and an outline for both the coaching conversation and the overall
coaching journey.
Specific frameworks of questions are useful for the business
coach, either as a way to get started with a new client, or simply as a
tool to be used as part of their own coaching model. Common expe-
riences which shape the culture of a society may impact on which
frameworks are more useful to you than others.
Most cultures today embrace complexity, multiple cultures and
diversity—yet within organizations there will be commonly shared
values, beliefs and assumptions about leadership, management,
responsibility, experience and language. We have looked at question
334 B U S I N E S S C OAC H I N G I N T E R N AT I O N A L

frameworks simply as tools to structure the coaching conversation.

Gradually, as you begin to refine your own coaching model, it will
become clear which question frameworks are most useful to you.
In this book, we have explored a range of diversity themes: from
personality traits to gender, race, ethnicity, language and linguis-
tic patterns, as well as religion and styles of communication. In the
business environment, the coach needs to become aware of, and to
manage, their own responses to questions of diversity before they
can begin to coach a client on similar issues. We have focused on
raising the business coach’s awareness to crucial diversity issues,
both within themselves and within their individual and organiza-
tional clients.

Developing competence
Defined and benchmarked skills and competences serve a dual pur-
pose. They give clarity in terms of how coaches are selected for an
intervention, and they give the coach guidelines on client expecta-
tions and how to continually self-develop and improve. However,
as coaching at this stage is very much an unregulated industry,
skills and competence are basically defined by coaching associa-
tions as part of a philosophy or as a means to membership of their
association.
We aim to help you identify your own level of skill and compe-
tence, recognizing your own strengths as well as targeting areas for
development. We explained in detail the required skills and com-
petences defined for business coaches by professional bodies, high-
lighting specific competences on which you should focus within
your continuing professional development (CPD).
Although contracting, supervision and ethical conduct have been
practised in the helping professions for decades, they are not yet
regulated for coach practitioners. We have looked at each of the roles
and functions of these three key areas, as ultimately these processes
will benefit and protect coach and client. The development of pro-
fessional supervision, contracting and ethical codes is emerging as a
vital function within the discipline of professional coaching.
A very new competence under appraisal as a result of the
work done through the Global Coaching Convention (GCC) and
the International Coaching Research Forum (ICRF), is that all
 I N T E G R AT I O N A N D S Y N T H E S I S 335

practitioner coaches are potential contributors to an emerging and

sustainable body of knowledge. This requires very specific skills
from practitioners, including the ability to read and apply research
and to generate critical enquiry into practice.

Knowledge, wisdom and experience

We see the business coaching process as one that helps business
executives and leaders to develop a clear understanding of their
roles and responsibilities. Business coaching, like sports coaching, is
about high performance, but ultimately embodies sustained behav-
ioural change and breakthrough performance.
Today, coaches need to understand human behaviour and human
complexity. Within the business coaching context, the coach helps
the client to articulate existential concerns such as freedom, purpose,
choice and anxiety, and to identify and replace limiting paradigms
with empowering paradigms, thus leading to positive change.
Although existential philosophy regards human existence as unex-
plainable, it crucially stresses freedom of choice and taking responsi-
bility for one’s acts.
In a sense, you have been building your knowledge base, look-
ing at how to transform your skill and competence into wisdom
and experience as you work with individual executives and teams.
Covey (1990) advocated that individuals need to change first if
organizational transformation is to be sustainable. He inspired the
dream that trust can be built within an organization, insisting that
leadership begins with the individual. It is the same in business
coaching—the work starts first with the individual coach to enable
them to work with their executive clients.
Reflection and learning from experience must be applied by
the coaching practitioner and professional in their own work. We
attempt to model best practice, while at the same time helping the
client to self-reflect and learn from experience. We hope this book
will be of lasting value to you, and that you will take what you have
learned here and turn it into practice. As coaches, we believe that we
should always be striving for excellence.
APPENDIX

COMPETENCES IN BUSINESS
COACHING

APPENDIX OUTLINE
• Competence frameworks
– International Coach Federation (ICF)
– Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC)
– European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC)
– Coaches and Mentors of South Africa (COMENSA)
• Specific competences required
– Building the coaching relationship
– Listening
– Questioning
– Self-awareness

Competence frameworks
This section outlines the structures of competence frameworks deve-
loped by four leading international and national professional bodies
for coaches:

• International Coach Federation (ICF);

• Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC);
337
338 APPENDIX

• European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC); and

• Coaches and Mentors of South Africa (COMENSA).

These bodies represent a valuable spectrum of international stand-

ards and requirements for business coaches today. There is consid-
erable consistency among these professional bodies with respect to
the skills and competences required for a coach, although coaching
competences are yet to be empirically validated. Based on studies
to date, these bodies recommend specific core competences to build
your capacity as a coach.

International Coach Federation (ICF)

The ICF has definitions and related behaviours for each competency,
distinguishing between behaviours that should always be present
and visible and those that are called for only in certain coaching
situations. The 11 competences are listed below in their four group-
ings, with the related behaviours omitted for the sake of clarity (ICF,
2008a:1–3):

A. Setting the foundation:

1. Meeting ethical guidelines and professional standards.
2. Establishing the coaching agreement.
B. Co-creating the relationship:
3. Establishing trust and intimacy with the client.
4. Coaching presence.
C. Communicating effectively:
5. Active listening.
6. Powerful questioning.
7. Direct communication.
D. Facilitating learning and results:
8. Creating awareness.
9. Designing actions.
10. Planning and goal setting.
11. Managing progress and accountability.

The complete ICF competence framework can be found on the

Federation’s website at www.coachfederation.org.
 C O M P E T E N C E S I N B U S I N E S S C OA C H I N G 339

Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC)

The WABC Business Coaching Competencies are divided into three
areas (WABC, 2008b:2):

• Self-management—knowing oneself and self-mastery;

• Core coaching skills base; and
• Business and leadership coaching capabilities.

The WABC business coaching competence framework is outlined as

follows, with the illustrative examples for each competence omitted
for the sake of brevity (WABC, 2008b:2–10):

A. Self-management—knowing oneself and self-mastery

1. Knowing yourself: self-insight and understanding:
(a) Having ready access to your thoughts and feelings and being
aware of how they affect your behaviour.
2. Acknowledging your strengths and development needs:
(a) Having a realistic perception of your strengths and development
needs—knowing your strengths and limitations and showing
a commitment to continuous learning and self-development.
(b) Self-belief—believing in your self-worth and capabilities.
3. Self-mastery: managing your thoughts, feelings and behaviours
in ways that promote behaviour contributing to career and
organization success:
(a) Self-regulation: managing your reactions and emotions
constructively.
(b) Integrity: choosing ethical courses of action and being
steadfast in your principles and beliefs.
(c) Self-responsibility: assuming personal responsibility and
accountability for your performance.
(d) Adaptability: flexibility in handling change.
(e) Emphasizing excellence: setting for yourself and confidently
pursuing, challenging goals and high standards.
(f) Initiative: taking independent action to change the direction
of events.
(g) Creativity and innovation: being receptive to new ideas and being
able to generate alternative ways to view and define problems.
340 APPENDIX

B. Core coaching skills base

1. Creating the foundations for business coaching:
(a) Working within established ethical guidelines and professional
standards.
(b) Agreeing on a clear and effective contract for the coaching
relationship.
2. Developing the business coaching relationship:
(a) Establishing trust and respect.
(b) Establishing rapport.
3. Promoting client understanding:
(a) Listening to understand.
(b) Questioning effectively.
(c) Communicating clearly.
(d) Facilitating depth of understanding.
4. Facilitating personal transformation:
(a) Promoting action.
(b) Focusing on goals.
(c) Building resiliency.
(d) Managing termination of coaching.
5. Professional development:
(a) Maintaining and improving professional skills.

C. Business and leadership coaching capabilities

1. Alignment:
(a) Understanding the business and displaying a strong grounding
in business knowledge and competences.
(b) Demonstrating proficiency in systems thinking.
(c) Aligning coaching initiatives with the business.
2. Leadership knowledge and credibility:
(a) Acting as a strong and influential role model.
(b) Possessing a thorough working knowledge of the world of
the executive leader and leadership development.
(c) Displaying highly developed communication and interper-
sonal competences.
3. Coach as leader and developer of own business:
(a) Creating and managing business relationship networks.
(b) Collaborating with other coaches.
(c) Developing yourself in a business capacity.
 C O M P E T E N C E S I N B U S I N E S S C OA C H I N G 341

4. Creating and maintaining partnerships with all stakeholders in

the business coaching process.
5. Understanding organizational behaviour and organizational
development principles.
6. Assessment:
(a) Assessing the client.
(b) Assessing the individual and organizational benefits of
business coaching.
7. Having respect for and knowledge about multicultural issues
and diversity.
The complete WABC competence framework can be found on the
Association’s website at www.wabccoaches.com.

European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC)

The EMCC Competence Framework defines eight mentoring/coaching
competence categories, as follows (EMCC, 2013:4):

1. Understanding self—Demonstrates awareness of own val-

ues, beliefs and behaviours; recognises how these affect their
practice and uses this self-awareness to manage their effective-
ness in meeting the client’s, and where relevant, the sponsor’s
objectives.
2. Commitment to self-development—Explore and improve the
standard of their practice and maintain the reputation of the
profession.
3. Managing the contract—Establishes and maintains the
expectations and boundaries of the mentoring/coaching contract
with the client and, where appropriate, with sponsors.
4. Building the relationship—Skilfully builds and maintains an
effective relationship with the client, and where appropriate,
with the sponsor.
5. Enabling insight and learning—Works with the client and
sponsor to bring about insight and learning.
6. Outcome and action orientation—Demonstrates approach and
uses the skills in supporting the client to make desired changes.
7. Use of models and techniques—Applies models and tools,
techniques and ideas beyond the core communication skills in
order to bring about insight and learning.
342 APPENDIX

8. Evaluation—Gathers information on the effectiveness of own

practice and contributes to establishing a culture of evaluation of
outcomes.

The EMCC Competence Framework includes “capability indicators”

for each of the above eight competence categories across four levels
of coaching/mentoring accreditation (EMCC, 2013:2;5–11):
• Foundation;
• Practitioner;
• Senior Practitioner; and
• Master Practitioner.
The complete EMCC Competence Framework can be found on the
Council’s website at www.emccouncil.org.

Coaches and Mentors of South Africa (COMENSA)

During 2005–2006, Coaches and Mentors of South Africa
(COMENSA) developed a simple framework of standards of profes-
sional competence for coaches, which defined competences in five
functional areas at four levels of expertise. The five functional areas
were (COMENSA, 2006a:1):
• questioning;
• listening;
• building rapport;
• delivering measurable results; and
• upholding ethical guidelines and professional standards.
The four levels of competence within each functional area ranged
from Level 1 (i.e. unacceptable) to Level 4 (i.e. master/expert)
(COMENSA, 2006a:1–3).
During 2007, COMENSA developed a revised competence frame-
work, the draft Membership Criteria and Standards of Competence (MCSC)
Framework, based on the EMCC’s Competence Standards, defined
in terms of the following “measurable outcomes” (COMENSA,
2007b: 21–26):

1. Self-awareness/Who we are—personal attributes for coaching:

1.1 Beliefs and attitudes.
1.2 Self-awareness.
 C O M P E T E N C E S I N B U S I N E S S C OA C H I N G 343

2. Managing the process—what we will do as part of our coaching

practice to maintain and develop an effective and professional
approach:
2.1 Managing the relationship.
2.2 Managing the contract.
3. Ability to coach—skills we will use during the coaching
process:
3.1 Communication skills.
3.2 Technical skills.
3.3 People development skills.
4. Facilitate learning and development—how we will demonstrate
that we are able to apply what we have learned.

The draft MCSC Framework includes examples of how the compe-

tences should be demonstrated within each of the following levels
of practice (COMENSA, 2007b:22–26):

• Minimum competence standards for all coach practitioners.

• Registered Practitioner (in addition to minimum competence
standards).
• Certified Practitioner (in addition to minimum competence
standards).
• Master Practitioner (in addition to minimum competence
standards).
The complete COMENSA draft Membership Criteria and Standards of
Competence Framework can be found on the Association’s website at
www.comensa.org.za.

Specific competences required

This section includes excerpts from the competence frameworks
developed by the ICF, WABC and the EMCC, outlining the specific
competences stipulated by them for the following aspects of the
coaching process:
1. building the coaching relationship;
2. listening;
3. questioning; and
4. self-awareness.
344 APPENDIX

1. Building the coaching relationship

International Coach Federation (ICF)
The ICF (2008a:1–2) defines competences in building the relation-
ship as follows:

Co-creating the relationship:

Establishing trust and intimacy with the client—ability to create a
safe, supportive environment that produces ongoing mutual respect
and trust:

• Show genuine concern for the client’s welfare and future.

• Continuously demonstrate personal integrity, honesty and
sincerity.
• Establish clear agreements and keep promises.
• Demonstrate respect for client’s perceptions, learning style,
personal being.
• Provide ongoing support for and champion new behaviours and
actions, including those involving risk-taking and fear of failure.
• Ask permission to coach client in sensitive, new areas.

Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC)

The WABC (2008b:5) defines business coaching competences in
building the relationship as follows:

Core coaching skills base:

Developing the business coaching relationship:
Establishing trust and respect:
• Demonstrate a genuine concern for the client’s welfare and
success.
• Demonstrate a strong belief in the boundless potential of others.
• Consistently work to establish trust and honest communication
with the client.
• Establish clear agreements and keep promises.
• Clearly and candidly share your values, attitudes, beliefs and
emotions when appropriate.
• Encourage the client to take on new and challenging tasks, while
providing appropriate support.
 C O M P E T E N C E S I N B U S I N E S S C OA C H I N G 345

• Create an environment of safety and security when dealing with

sensitive issues.
• Create an environment of safety and security in which the client
is able to share all sides of themselves (e.g. their ambitions, needs
and fears).
• Be honest and truthful in difficult situations (e.g. be prepared to
tell the client what they need to hear but others won’t say).
Establishing rapport:
• Have an open and responsive presence.
• Be comfortable sharing your intuitions with the client.
• Demonstrate a willingness to take risks and to enter the
unknown.
• Have a very flexible approach to coaching and be able to adapt
your style to what works best for the client.
• Make appropriate use of humour to make the work more fun.
• Be able to tolerate open expression of strong emotions directed at
you without becoming defensive.
• Be able to manage the client’s expression of strong emotions about
their situation without getting caught up in their emotions.
• Be able to work with a variety of learning styles in individuals.
• Give objective feedback in a non-judgmental manner.

European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC)

The EMCC Competence Framework defines the following com-
petences in building the relationship required by the respective
EMCC member categories (EMCC, 2013:8):
Building the relationship—Skilfully builds and maintains an
effective relationship with the client, and where appropriate, with
the sponsor.
Foundation capability indicators:
• Explains how own behaviours can affect the mentoring/coaching
process.
• Treats all people with respect and maintains client’s dignity.
• Describes and applies at least one method of building rapport.
• Uses language appropriate to the client.
• Develops trust through keeping commitments and being non-
judgemental with client.
346 APPENDIX

Practitioner capability indicators:

• Demonstrates empathy and genuine support for the client.

• Ensures requisite level of trust has been established for effective
mentoring/coaching.
• Recognises and works effectively with client’s emotional state(s).
• Adapts language and behaviour to accommodate client’s style
while maintaining sense of self.
• Ensures client’s non-dependence on the mentor/coach.

Senior Practitioner capability indicators:

• Attends to and works flexibly with the client’s emotions, moods,

language, patterns, beliefs and physical expression.

Master Practitioner capability indicators:

• Demonstrates a high level of attentiveness and responsiveness to

the client in the moment while holding responsibility for working
towards outcomes.

2. Listening
International Coach Federation (ICF)
The ICF (2008a) defines competences in listening as follows:

Communicating effectively:
Active listening—ability to focus completely on what the client
is saying and is not saying, to understand the meaning of what is
said in the context of the client’s desires, and to support client self-
expression:

• Attends to the client and the client’s agenda and not to the coach’s
agenda for the client.
• Hears the client’s concerns, goals, values and beliefs about what is
and is not possible.
• Distinguishes between the words, the tone of voice, and the body
language.
 C O M P E T E N C E S I N B U S I N E S S C OA C H I N G 347

• Summarizes, paraphrases, reiterates, mirrors back what client has

said to ensure clarity and understanding.
• Encourages, accepts, explores and reinforces the client’s expres-
sion of feelings, perceptions, concerns, beliefs, suggestions, etc.
• Integrates and builds on client’s ideas and suggestions.
• “Bottom-lines” or understands the essence of the client’s com-
munication and helps the client get there rather than engaging in
long descriptive stories.
• Allows the client to vent or “clear” the situation without judg-
ment or attachment in order to move on to next steps.

Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC)

The WABC (2008b) defines business coaching competences in
listening as:

Core coaching skills base:

Promoting client understanding:
Listening to understand:

• Adjust easily to the client’s agenda.

• Hear the client’s expectations about what is and is not possible.
• Confirm understanding by observing and interpreting non-verbal
signals (e.g. body language, facial expressions, tone of voice,
etc.).
• Use positive body language and non-verbal signals to demon-
strate openness and undivided attention.
• Demonstrate active listening by seeking clarification, rephrasing
the client’s statements and summarizing to check understanding.
• Encourage the client to “say more”—create a positive climate for
the client to express their feelings, perceptions, concerns, sugges-
tions, etc.
• Acknowledge the client’s ideas and suggestions and build on
them in discussions.
• Offer non-judgmental responses that encourage the client to
explore and validate their feelings, concerns and aspirations.
• Use silence as an appropriate intervention to elicit more information.
• Listen to the client’s emotional undercurrents.
• Pay attention to what the client isn’t saying about issues
discussed.
348 APPENDIX

European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC)

The EMCC Competence Framework defines the following competences
in listening required by the respective EMCC member categories
(EMCC, 2013:9):
Enabling insight and learning—Works with the client and spon-
sor to bring about insight and learning:

Foundation capability indicators:

• Demonstrates belief in helping others to develop.

• Believes that others learn best for themselves.
• Checks thoroughly for understanding.
• Uses an active listening style.

Practitioner capability indicators:

• Explains potential blocks to effective listening.

• Is alert to tone and modularity as well as to explicit content of
communication.
• Identifies patterns of client thinking and actions.

Senior Practitioner capability indicators:

• Listens at a deeper level.

Master Practitioner capability indicators:

• Supports clients effectively with their increasingly complex range

of needs.

3. Questioning
International Coach Federation (ICF)
The ICF (2008a:2) defines competences in questioning as follows:

Communicating effectively:
Powerful questioning—Ability to ask questions that reveal the
information needed for maximum benefit to the coaching relation-
ship and the client:
 C O M P E T E N C E S I N B U S I N E S S C OA C H I N G 349

• Asks questions that reflect active listening and an understanding

of the client’s perspective.
• Asks questions that evoke discovery, insight, commitment or
action (e.g. those that challenge the client’s assumptions).
• Asks open-ended questions that create greater clarity, possibility
or new learning.
• Asks questions that move the client towards what they desire, not
questions that ask for the client to justify or look backwards.

Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC)

The WABC (2008b:5–6) defines business coaching competences in
questioning as follows:

Core coaching skills base:

Promoting client understanding:
Questioning effectively:

• Ask questions that reflect an understanding of the client’s point of

view.
• Ask challenging questions that help the client to self-discover.
• Pose open-ended questions that help the client to clarify issues.
• Ask questions that help the client to develop new perspectives
and new possibilities for action and learning.
• Ask questions that evoke commitment to action.
• Ask questions that steer the client towards their desired
outcomes.

European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC)

The EMCC Competence Framework defines the following competences
in questioning required by the respective EMCC member categories
(EMCC, 2013:9):
Enabling insight and learning—Works with the client and spon-
sor to bring about insight and learning:
Foundation capability indicators:

• Explains the principles of questioning and at least one

framework.
• Offers feedback in an appropriate style.
• Offers advice and ideas only when appropriate.
350 APPENDIX

Practitioner capability indicators:

• Uses a range of questioning techniques to raise awareness.
• Enables client to create new ideas.
• Uses feedback and challenge at appropriate times to help client
gain different perspectives, while maintaining rapport.
Senior Practitioner capability indicators:

• Flexible in applying a wide range of questions to facilitate

insight.
• Uses language to help client reframe or challenge current thinking/
understanding.

Master Practitioner capability indicators:

• Enables significant and fundamental shifts in thinking and

behaviour.
• Adapts approach/technique in the moment in response to client
information, while also holding a focus on outcomes.

4. Self-awareness
International Coach Federation (ICF)
The ICF does not define specific competences for self-awareness.

Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC)

The WABC (2008b:2–3) defines the following business competences
for self-awareness:

Self-management—knowing oneself and self-mastery:

Knowing yourself: self-insight and understanding:
Having ready access to your thoughts and feelings and being
aware of how they affect your behaviour:

• Be aware of your own emotions and able to recognize what you’re

feeling at any given time.
• Know the reasons why you feel the way you do.
• Recognize how your feelings affect you and your work
performance.
 C O M P E T E N C E S I N B U S I N E S S C OA C H I N G 351

• Have a high degree of awareness of what is important to you and the

contribution you want to make—your values, purpose and vision.
• Know what you want and go after it.
• Know when your self-talk is helpful.
• Know when your self-talk is unhelpful.
Self-mastery: managing your thoughts, feelings and behaviours in
ways that promote behaviour contributing to career and organiza-
tion success:
Self-regulation: managing your reactions and emotions
constructively:
• Monitor and contain distressing emotions and regulate them so
they don’t keep you from doing the things you need to do.
• Maintain self-control under adverse or stressful conditions (e.g.
maintain demeanour, composure and temperament).
• Manage your own behaviour to prevent or reduce feelings of stress.
• Be able to think clearly and to stay focused when under pressure.
• Accept negative feedback without becoming defensive.
• Talk yourself out of a bad mood.
• Distinguish between a client’s contribution and your own contri-
bution to your emotional reactions.

European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC)

The EMCC Competence Framework defines the following compe-
tences in self-awareness required by the respective EMCC member
categories (EMCC, 2013:5):
Understanding self—Demonstrates awareness of own values,
beliefs and behaviours, recognises how these affect their practice
and uses this self-awareness to manage their effectiveness in meet-
ing the client’s, and where relevant, the sponsor’s objectives.
Foundation capability indicators:
• Behaves in a manner that facilitates the mentoring/coaching
process.
• Manages issues of diversity in their mentoring/coaching
practice.
• Describes their own values, beliefs and attitudes that guide their
mentoring/coaching practice.
• Behaves in alignment with their values and beliefs.
352 APPENDIX

Practitioner capability indicators:

• Builds self-understanding based on an established model of

human behaviour and rigorous reflection on practice.
• Identifies when their internal process is interfering with client
work and adapts behaviour appropriately.
• Responds to client’s emotions without becoming personally
involved.

Senior Practitioner:

• Builds self-understanding based on a range of theoretical models

and structured input from external sources with rigorous reflec-
tion on experience and practice.
• Proactively manages own ‘state of mind’ to suit the needs of the
client.

Master Practitioner capability indicators:

• Synthesises insights derived from extensive exploration of theo-

retical models and personal evidence.
• Accounts for moment-by-moment decisions during their
practice.
• Critically reflects on practitioner paradigms and their impact on
clients and client systems.
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INDEX

action learning see learning American/s 16, 87, 175, 177,

active listening see listening 183–184, 186–187, 193, 211–212,
Adler, Alfred 27 222, 225, 227–228, 253
adult development 11, 24, 26–28, anxiety see coaching process
32, 55, 60–63, 78–79, 88, 93, 101, appreciation see coaching process
118, 123, 129, 137–139, 145, 177, archetypal, archetype 27, 134–135
189, 231, 234, 238, 250, 279, 291, Argentina 7, 14, 33, 43–45, 170, 182,
331, 334, 339–341, 343, 348–349 226, 313, 331
adult learning see learning Asia, Asian 7, 14, 33, 42–43,
advice see coaching process 182–183, 206–207, 209–210,
Africa, sub-Saharan Africa 57, 65, 225, 313, 331
184, 186–189, 195, 197, 206, assessment, assessment profiles
209–212, 214, 217, 223, 225–226, 40, 45, 61, 67–68, 81, 95, 98, 117,
244–245 121–122, 126, 131, 135, 174, 229,
African American/s 186–187, 211 250, 273, 281, 284, 286–287, 289,
African/s 184–187, 197, 203, 211–212, 292, 314, 319, 324, 341
214, 217, 223, 226, 244–245 Association for Coaching (AC)
America see United States of (UK) 36, 49, 306
America Association for Management
American Management Education and Development
Association (AMA) 16, 53, 62 (AMED) 36

373
374 INDEX

Association for Professional 220–222, 227–228, 240, 244,

Executive Coaching and 259, 262, 271, 333, 339, 341–342,
Supervision (APECS) 36 344, 346–347, 351
assumptions see coaching process blind spots see coaching process
attitudes see coaching process Boud, David 32–33, 58, 234,
Australasia 209–210 263–265, 322
Australia 7, 14, 33, 38–39, 170, 210, Brazil, Brazilian 177, 190,
321, 331 193, 195
awareness see coaching process British Psychological Society (BPS)
36
balance see coaching process British Association for Counselling
barriers to learning see learning and Psychotherapy (BACP) 36
becoming 55, 125–128, 130, 166, Business Best Year Yet® see question
236, 238, 241, 249, 268 frameworks
behaviour:
conscious 7–9, 14, 17, 22–27, Canada 214
29, 44, 52–53, 57, 59–63, Cavanagh, Michael 22, 53, 319,
66, 68–69, 71, 80–82, 86–87, 323–324
90–93, 95, 100–101, 103–106, Chartered Institute of Personnel
110, 113, 120–122, 125–128, and Development (CIPD)
130–132, 135–136, 140–142, 36–38, 48, 270, 286
144, 146–148, 156–157, 163, Chartered Management Institute
174, 177–178, 181, 183–185, (CMI) 36
188, 190–191, 198–199, Chartered Society for
204–205, 213, 216–218, 220, Physiotherapy (CSP) 286
222, 224–225, 227–229, Chile 43–45
231, 242–243, 245, 248, Chilean Association for Coaching
250, 252, 260–263, 274, 282, 44
289, 295–296, 298, 310, 335, China 7, 14, 33, 41–43, 205, 313, 331
338–339, 341, 344–346, Christian, Christianity 209, 221
350–352 CLEAR model see models, question
unconscious 7, 14, 17, 23–25, frameworks
131, 175, 177, 181, 200, 206, Clement, Stephen D. 15, 20, 28, 333
230, 233, 245, 260–261, 304, client-centred approach, person-
308, 310 centred approach 21, 65, 76,
behavioural psychology 26, 91, 256, 253, 284
322 coach training 4–6, 8, 10–11,
being versus doing 237–238 34–35, 37–40, 43–45, 49, 68–69,
beliefs, belief system 27, 29–30, 71–72, 78, 116, 118, 120, 138,
32, 46, 68, 71, 73, 77, 87–92, 171, 229–231, 249, 260, 270, 278,
131, 134, 140–141, 144–146, 284–285, 291–292, 308, 319–320,
179, 198–199, 207, 209, 216, 322–323, 326, 331
 INDEX 375

Coaches and Mentors of South decision making 2, 15, 18, 29,

Africa (COMENSA) 10–11, 39, 47–48, 63–64, 83, 99, 103,
48, 67, 72–74, 270, 287, 294, 300, 105, 107, 184, 189, 191, 202,
305–308, 324, 338, 342–343 225–226, 243–244, 247–248,
coaching: 251, 259, 266, 304, 307
coaching conversation 1–2, process see coaching process
5–10, 16, 21, 27, 30–32, 34, foundation-stones 7, 14,
51–84, 87–89, 95–97, 100, 105, 17–19
112–113, 115–118, 120–122, shadow coaching 61, 122, 241,
126, 129–130, 132, 134, 137, 274
139, 142, 145–158, 161–164, team coaching 4, 21, 44, 60, 110,
171, 178, 181, 184, 213, 234, 227
241–243, 248, 257, 260–263, coaching process:
267–268, 271, 275–277, 283, active listening see listening
285, 287–288, 298, 301–303, advice 8, 16–17, 24, 37–38, 48,
310, 313, 332–334 77, 86, 105, 228, 276–277,
coaching for meaning 257–259 283, 297, 349
coaching from a systems anxiety 3, 10, 23, 29, 89,
perspective 9, 82, 116, 275, 123, 129, 152, 154, 165, 177,
333–334 214, 234, 237, 240, 244,
coaching models see models 246, 248, 256, 259, 262, 267,
coaching relationship 2, 7, 14–15, 335
21–25, 32, 39–40, 53–56, 59–60, appreciation 62–64, 106–107,
62, 64–66, 69–70, 72–77, 79, 86, 168, 254
88, 95–96, 101–102, 113, 128, assumptions 8–9, 17, 23, 29,
137, 154, 163, 184–185, 193, 33, 42–43, 52, 55, 58, 64, 75,
208, 230, 234, 240, 243–244, 77, 87–88, 93, 98–99, 104,
249–251, 253–264, 267–268, 106–107, 112–113, 120–122,
271–286, 292–300, 303–310, 124, 126, 128, 130–131, 142,
314, 319, 332–333, 338–346, 152–155, 157–158, 162–164,
348 174–176, 178–182, 190–192,
coaching technique 2–4, 27, 72, 194–198, 200, 206–207,
78, 117–118, 120, 122, 150, 209–210, 213, 216–218, 225,
162–164, 190, 237, 241, 323, 227–229, 237, 242–243,
341, 350 245–246, 248, 262–263, 271,
coaching tool 1–3, 26–27, 274, 283, 286, 310, 313, 320,
29, 67, 72, 87–88, 97, 110, 333, 349
112, 117–118, 120, 122, 135, attitudes 27–28, 52, 58, 68, 73,
162–164, 171, 259, 287, 307, 82, 87, 106, 112–113, 128, 135,
314, 323, 332–334, 341 175–178, 181–182, 192, 195,
corporate coaching 7, 14, 18–19, 200, 206, 231, 252, 261, 342,
183 344, 351
376 INDEX

awareness 3, 7, 9, 14, 17–18, 148, 154, 157, 244, 249,

22–24, 52, 54, 59–61, 63, 267–268, 282, 286, 309–312,
69–70, 72–74, 76–78, 80, 88, 318, 332, 335, 349, 352
97, 101–102, 107, 112–113, restatement 24, 55, 107
118, 122, 124, 129–130, 136, self-awareness 23–24, 52, 54,
139, 141–142, 144–146, 59–60, 63, 69, 71, 73–74,
156–157, 166, 174, 176, 76–78, 80, 82, 88, 97, 102,
178–180, 183, 192, 208, 223, 122, 124, 136, 142, 144–145,
230–231, 237, 243–246, 157, 180, 183, 190, 213, 216,
248–249, 259, 267, 271, 291, 220–221, 224, 227, 229–231,
293, 304, 308, 318, 334, 338, 250, 257, 262, 291, 293, 301,
341, 350–351 304, 310, 312, 341–343,
balance 5, 29–31, 79–80, 89, 96, 350–351
103, 128, 138, 154–156, 183, signature presence 65,
248, 255–256 100–101
blind spots 23, 124, 138, 263, silence 55, 58, 168, 347
288, 293 summarizing 24, 55, 105, 129,
defensiveness 23–24, 98, 119, 146, 164–165, 167, 282, 347
191, 244, 258, 275, 345, 351 thinking process 29, 90, 94, 98,
encounter 55–57, 75, 80, 249, 243, 263
251, 253, 256, 263, 285, 303 throw-ins 240, 250, 254
feeling/s 2, 27, 29–30, 32–33, transference 22, 262, 311–312
46, 53, 55–56, 58, 63–64, 75, transition 25, 29, 63, 80, 107, 165
88–91, 101, 106, 108–109, coaching research 1–3, 6, 11, 14,
113, 121, 125–126, 128–132, 22, 29, 32, 34, 36–41, 45–46, 49,
135–136, 140, 143–144, 55, 62, 64, 67–70, 75, 78, 81–82,
146–149, 152–153, 157–160, 167–170, 221, 223, 240, 248,
163, 166, 168, 176, 181, 185, 253–254, 264, 268, 273, 284,
242, 256, 260–261, 265, 282, 289–292, 305–306, 314, 317–327,
285, 288, 333, 339, 347, 332, 334–335
350–351 coaching technique see coaching
life story 32, 132, 230 coaching tool see coaching
listening see listening cognitive behavioural approach 18,
objectives see objectives 26, 91, 108, 256, 322
observation, observations cognitive psychology 26, 90–91,
23, 48, 54, 58, 62–63, 76, 256, 322
86–87, 96, 115, 122, 124, 126, Cohen, Ruth 32–33, 58, 234,
131–132, 137, 148–155, 162, 263–265
166, 168, 213, 218, 220, 243, collectivism see diversity
274, 277, 283, 288, 290, 298, colonialism, colonization 196–197,
310–313, 347 199–200, 207–208
reflection 55, 69, 74, 76–80, COMENSA see Coaches and
104–105, 112–113, 124, 129, Mentors of South Africa
 INDEX 377

commitment see contracting 216, 228–231, 238, 253, 259,

communication styles see diversity 261, 274, 284, 286, 290–293,
competence/s: 296, 314, 319, 320, 322–326,
competence frameworks 8, 12, 332–335, 337–352
52, 66–73, 81, 294, 337–352 wisdom 17, 20, 41–42, 56,
cultural competence 5, 33, 208, 213, 235–236, 240, 254,
173–231 332–333, 335
experience 1–3, 6–10, 14–15, 17, complexity:
20, 23, 26, 28–29, 32–34, 37– cognitive 20, 333
38, 45–47, 52, 56–58, 61, 64, of supervision 284, 291, 293,
69, 71, 77–79, 87–88, 92–93, 304–308
96, 105, 108–109, 116–132, task, organizational 7, 14,
138–139, 146–158, 162–165, 19–20, 25, 40, 64, 147
171, 177–182, 186–191, conflict 14, 27, 31, 54, 80, 88–89,
193–205, 208, 211–213, 132, 141, 144–146, 168, 175, 181,
216–217, 223–230, 234–235, 190, 192, 210, 214–215, 225, 229,
240, 242–243, 245, 250–251, 237, 244–246, 252, 262, 279,
255–256, 258, 263–267, 277, 293–294, 297, 300, 302
283, 285, 287, 293, 301–302, conscious/unconscious
304, 307, 309–311, 319, 324, behaviours see behaviour
332–333, 335, 352 consulting, consultants 3, 19, 34,
knowledge 2, 5, 11, 20, 22, 32, 38, 40, 53, 77, 124, 164, 179, 213,
37, 54, 67–69, 71, 74, 79, 93, 278, 285, 292, 303
113, 118, 123, 125, 132, 134, continuing professional
137, 147–149, 164, 166, 179, development (CPD) 2, 5, 34, 80,
184, 208, 218–219, 230–231, 171, 284, 287, 305, 334
238, 254, 286, 291–292, 302, continuous learning and
314, 318–327, 332–333, 335, development see learning
340–341 contracting:
knowledge, wisdom and cancellation 272, 278
experience 335 coaching contract 2, 10, 38, 61,
professional standards, 71, 73, 94–95, 103–104, 121,
standards of competence 129–130, 139, 146, 163–164,
12, 34, 37–39, 45–46, 48, 221, 239, 242, 270–283, 290,
66–82, 137, 279, 281, 284, 286, 295, 297–304, 309, 313–314,
293–294, 305, 337–352 332, 334, 340–343
skill/s 4–5, 11, 12, 20–21, 24, 26, commitment 271, 277, 282
29, 32–33, 37, 52, 54–55, 59–64, definitions 272–274, 276,
66–82, 95, 101–103, 112–113, 278–279, 282
115, 117–118, 122, 124–125, deliverables 62, 272, 281
127, 137–138, 141–142, legality 252, 277–280, 292, 297,
145–146, 160, 164, 168, 180, 299–300
182, 186, 188, 191–192, 214, logistics 270, 277–278
378 INDEX

outcomes 272–274, 279, 282, deep listening see listening

289, 302, 304, 310 defensiveness see coaching process
pitfalls 274–276 Denmark 202, 226
responsibility 271, 277–278, developmental 5, 32, 34, 58–61, 102,
282–283 260, 290, 322–323, 327, 332
scope 278–282 development plan, learning plan
subcontractors 277–278 see learning
termination 121, 272–273, dilemmas:
275–276, 340 ethical see ethics
written contract 277, 281–283, existential see existentialism
295, 301–302 Ditzler, Jinny 8, 86, 110–111
corporate coaching see coaching diversity:
counselling 16, 38, 40, 54, 56, 240, collectivism 87–88, 183–184,
260, 272, 276, 284–285, 287, 187, 192, 223, 225–227, 245
290, 297 communication styles 42, 54,
Covey, Stephen 18, 335 56, 61–62, 65, 70, 73, 104,
CPD see continuing professional 108, 168, 183, 185, 193, 213,
development 215–217, 220, 222, 224, 334,
culture: 347
African 57, 186–189, 195–197, cultural differences in the
211–212, 222–223, 225–226, workplace see culture
244–245 culture see culture
American 87, 211–212, 225 ethnicity 33, 42, 61, 177, 179,
Asian 42–43, 182–183, 205–208, 191–192, 200, 202–204, 210,
225 212, 222–223, 265, 292, 334
cultural differences, cultural gender 9, 33, 61, 141, 148,
dimensions 34, 180, 183–184, 174–175, 178, 182, 185, 190,
224 195–196, 198, 200–202, 204,
cultural differences in the 208–210, 213–216, 222, 231,
workplace 221–225 265, 292, 308, 332–334
European 17, 41, 187, 195–199, individualism 45, 87–88, 183,
204–208, 211, 225, 227, 245 187, 223, 225–227, 244–245
Indian 40–42, 57, 239 individualism versus
Latin American, Latino 57, collectivism 225–227
182–186, 190–191, 195 language, linguistic patterns,
ubuntu 244–245 linguistic differences 216–220
power 9–10, 106, 164, 174–175,
death see existential concerns 177–182, 192, 195, 197–200,
decision making: 202, 206–207, 210, 213, 222,
in coaching see coaching 228, 240–241, 247, 261, 285,
in existentialism see 307, 313–314, 327
existentialism race 9, 174–175, 179, 182,
 INDEX 379

195–196, 199–200, 202–203, ethical code, code of ethics

208–213, 220–221, 223, 334 10, 22, 34–35, 48, 68–70, 72,
religion 87, 165, 184, 195–196, 75, 81, 250, 270, 281, 284,
202, 204, 209–210, 220–222, 286–287, 293–294, 296, 298,
261, 334 306, 314, 322, 325, 334, 338,
styles of talking (Tannen) 212, 340, 342
215, 217–220 ethical concerns 10, 300–304
drivers/motivators: ethical dilemmas 10, 46, 270,
extrinsic 29, 64, 89 283, 294–297, 301–304, 307
intrinsic 15, 29–32, 64, 77, 88–90, inclusivity 294, 308, 325
111, 131, 301, 333 integrity 30, 87, 137, 201, 271,
294, 304, 318, 339, 343
EMCC see European Mentoring social range of coaching
and Coaching Council 307–308
emerging profession, emerging triangular relationships 304–305
discipline 11, 14, 16, 19, 21–22, ethnicity see diversity
39, 67, 70, 79, 168, 170, 254, 281, Europe 3, 14, 33, 36–39, 177, 187,
284, 296, 299–300, 305, 308, 318, 195, 197, 202, 205–210, 214, 331
324–325, 331 European Coaching Institute (ECI)
emotional intelligence 2–3, 80, 88, 36, 306
101, 145–146, 180, 322, 339, European Mentoring and Coaching
344–347, 350–352 Council (EMCC) 10–11, 36, 39,
empirical research see coaching 48–49, 67, 71–74, 270, 286, 294,
research 300, 305, 338, 341–343, 345–346,
encounter see coaching process 348–352
equality 36, 55–56, 106, 176–178, European/s 197, 208, 211, 225, 227,
190–191, 195, 198, 200, 202–204, 245
213, 253 evidence-based see coaching
Eriksson, Erik 28 research
ethics: executive coach/es 1–3, 5, 8, 21, 26,
boundary management 93, 41, 65, 68, 97, 100, 116, 189, 244,
106, 121, 130, 163, 271–272, 247, 260, 295, 332
275–276, 278, 282–284, existential concerns:
294–295, 298–299, 301–304, death 165, 237, 240, 245–246,
313 248, 259
client’s agenda 24, 116, 287, 298, freedom 9–10, 89, 226, 234–237,
346–347 245–249, 252, 256, 266–267,
confidentiality dilemma 299 323, 335
confidentiality issues 4, 24, 59, isolation 61, 165, 201, 237,
93, 104, 113, 121, 271–272, 245–250, 259
274, 279, 281–283, 290, meaninglessness 245–246, 248,
294–304, 313 251
380 INDEX

existentialism, existential: Freud, Sigmund 22, 26–27, 245, 258,

absurd, absurdity 237, 244 262
concerns see existential functional analysis see question
concerns frameworks
dilemmas 236, 239–247,
251–252, 255–256, 258–259, GCC see Global Convention on
263, 266 Coaching
decision making 259 gender see diversity
existence 9, 28, 234, 236–237, Global Coaching and
240, 245–246, 253, 256, 335 Mentoring Alliance (GCMA)
givens 245, 252 49, 314, 318
human systems 260–262 Global Convention on Coaching,
issues 2, 9–10, 234–268 Global Coaching Community
meaning 2, 5, 10, 28, 32, 57–58, (GCC) 3, 34–35, 67–69, 79,
79, 130, 137, 197–198, 207, 167–170, 305–307, 314, 318–324,
223, 234–235, 239–243, 326–327, 334
245–248, 250–251, 257–258, global dialogue 48, 68–69, 79,
262–264, 267, 333 167–170, 307, 318, 321,
purpose 2, 5, 10, 27–28, 58, 89, 327
137, 140, 146, 158–159, 222, goals:
234, 237, 239–243, 246–247, extrinsic 213
251, 255–258, 262, 267, 351 intrinsic 213
ubuntu 244–245 goal setting 27, 29, 65, 70, 97, 146,
uncertainty 19, 208, 246 279, 304, 338
experiential learning, experiential Goleman, Daniel 63, 88, 101, 116,
learning issues see learning 145, 322
external coach/es 3–7, 20, 22, 34, Grant, Anthony M. 22, 38–39, 53,
37–38, 40, 45, 53, 60–61, 164, 319, 321, 323–324
302, 319 Greece 17, 41, 226
extraversion 27, 131, 135, 150, 219 GROW Model see models, question
extrinsic: frameworks
drivers/motivators see drivers
goals see goals Hargrove, Robert 54, 66, 241–243,
251
feelings see coaching process Hofstede, Geert 192, 194, 222–223,
Fillery-Travis, Annette 36–37, 321 225
Flaherty, James 75, 78, 136–138 Hong Kong 42
foundation stones see coaching House, Robert J. 222, 224, 226
frameworks see question Hudson, Frederick 19, 28–31, 116,
frameworks, models 158–161, 322
freedom see existential concerns human resources 3, 34–35, 40,
Freire, Paolo 58 58, 183
 INDEX 381

ICF see International Coach goals see goals

Federation introversion 27, 103, 131, 135, 150
incisive questions 54, 105–107, Islam 196, 202
112 isolation see existential concerns
India 7, 14, 33, 40–41, 57, 206, 209, Italy 205, 226
239, 313, 331
individual performance see Japan 225–228
performance Jaques, Elliott 15, 20, 28, 322, 333
individualism, individualism Javidan, Mansour 222, 224, 226
versus collectivism see diversity Jung, Carl 27, 58, 134–136, 256
individuation 27
Indonesia 209, 223 Kline, Nancy 7–8, 17, 52, 62, 86,
Insights see profiles 105–108, 110, 122, 153, 160,
Institute of Directors (IoD) 36 178–180, 213, 218, 254, 257
internal coach/es 4–7, 22, 34, 40, knowledge base see coaching
45, 53, 60–61, 319 research
International Coach Federation knowledge, wisdom and
(ICF) 10–11, 35–36, 39, 48, 67, experience see competence
69–70, 74, 77–78, 270, 294, 300, Kolb, David 30, 32, 58, 74, 79, 116,
337–338, 343–344, 346–350 132, 147–158, 322
International Coaching Research
Forum (ICRF) 22, 34, 49, 67, 318, Lane, David 116, 119, 321
320, 325–326, 334 language see diversity
interpersonal 25, 29, 40, 54, 60, Latin America 43, 45, 57, 182,
65, 103, 122, 125, 127, 141–142, 184–186
145–146, 168, 179, 185, 285, 291, Latinos, Latinas 183–186
304, 340 leadership development 7, 32, 34,
intervene 54–55, 76, 100, 253 40, 62, 102, 120, 189, 207, 282, 340
intervention 2, 4, 6, 9–10, 24–25, leadership development plan see
29, 37, 43–44, 55, 58, 60, 62, learning
65–66, 75–76, 78, 80, 87–88, learning:
96, 100–101, 104–105, 108, 110, action learning 93–94, 322
113, 116–117, 121, 125, 130–132, adult learning 7, 14, 29–32,
135–136, 161, 163, 223–224, 234, 147–158
239–240, 244, 249–251, 253–256, affective learning 32–33, 265
263–264, 267, 270, 272, 274–280, barriers to learning 33, 266–267
282, 284–287, 289, 293, 295, cognitive learning 32–33, 265
303–304, 308–310, 312, 319–320, conative (psychomotor)
333–334, 347 learning 32–33, 265
intrapersonal 25 continuous learning and
intrinsic: development 69, 74, 78–79,
drivers/motivators see drivers 147, 332, 339
382 INDEX

development plan (leadership, McLoughlin, Min 108, 155

professional, personal McNab, Peter 109
learning) 58–59, 61, 79, 95, meaning see existentialism
102, 121, 250, 260, 273–274, meaninglessness see existential
279, 282, 302 concerns
experiential learning 2, 4, 7, measurement see coaching research
9–10, 14, 32–33, 57–58, 77, mentor, mentoring 4, 6, 10, 16–17,
79, 82, 93, 105, 147–158, 21, 35, 39, 41, 54, 60, 71–72,
181, 234–235, 250, 264–268, 101–102, 147, 159, 188–189,
332–333 235–236, 255, 272, 286–287, 291,
learning contract 129–130, 242, 294, 303, 305–306, 308, 341–342,
282 345–346, 349, 351
learning conversation 129–130 Middle East 210
learning organization 7, 14, 19, models:
33, 93 CLEAR 146–147
learning styles, learning modes EQ (Emotional Intelligence) 88,
61, 147–158, 291, 344–345 101, 144–146, 322
organizational learning 19, 43 four-quadrant 117, 132–161, 171
self-directed, self-organized 53, GROW 146–147
58, 123, 130, 147, 322 Habermas’ Domains of
socio-emotional context 265–266 Competence 136–137
learning plan see learning Hippocrates 132–135
learning styles, learning modes see horizontal versus vertical 122,
learning 124, 128, 291
life story see coaching process Hudson’s adult stages of
linguistic, linguistic patterns, development 28–30, 116,
linguistic differences see 158–161, 322
diversity Input, Throughput, Output
Linnecar, Robin 19–20, 36, 60, 78 (ITO) 161–165
listening: Insights 133–136, 145, 158–159
active listening 4, 21, 24, 54–55, Integral 137–144
70, 76, 95, 104, 117, 253, 338, Kolb’s Experiential Learning
346–349 Model 147–158
deep listening 4, 24, 97 Purpose, Perspectives, Process
effective listening 24, 153, 348 118–122
physically listening 24, 27, 152, Scharmer’s U-Process 165–170
190 motivation 24, 26–30, 37, 46, 58–59,
61, 89–91, 101, 111, 119, 121, 127,
management theory 7, 14, 18–19, 134, 183, 189, 209, 215, 239, 257,
182 260, 318–319
Marshall, Ian 258 motivators see drivers
Maslow, Abraham 28, 171, 251 multicultural 25, 71, 87, 192, 225,
MBTI® see profiles 227, 230, 265, 324, 341
 INDEX 383

Mumford, Alan 322 60–63, 68, 74, 82, 87, 95,

Muslim 196 97–98, 125, 127–129, 142, 183,
Myers Briggs Type Indicator 189, 218, 239, 241, 250, 252,
(MBTI®) see profiles 261, 273, 288, 335, 339, 350
organizational 7, 14–15, 18, 46,
Neuro-Linguistic Programming 62, 80, 82, 124, 223, 273
(NLP) 8, 18, 26–28, 44, 86, team 7, 14–15, 44, 46, 59, 93,
108–110, 154, 158, 190, 312 127, 142
New Zealand 226 personal responsibility 8–9, 20, 25,
NLP see Neuro-linguistic 52, 66, 75, 77, 79, 87, 92, 96–97,
programming 108, 127, 146, 168, 214, 222, 234,
North America 183, 205–206 237, 243–244, 248, 251–252, 257,
259–260, 263, 267, 271, 277, 283,
objectives: 286, 299, 301, 304, 326–327, 333,
of the client organization 15, 335, 339, 346
46, 272, 279, 293, 303 personality 121, 132–134, 165, 171,
of the coaching process, 227, 238, 252, 334
developmental objectives Peterson, David 60, 225, 227–228,
4–5, 58–59, 61, 95, 98, 163, 231
239, 260, 272, 274, 293, 303 power see diversity
observation, observations see practitioner research see coaching
coaching process research
O’Neill, Mary Beth 65–66, 100–101, practitioner training/education see
275, 279–280 coach training
ontological coaching/levels 43–44, professional bodies see Chartered
123, 125–129, 241 Institute of Personnel and
organizational learning see learning Development (CIPD), Coaches
organizational performance see and Mentors of South Africa
performance (COMENSA), European
outcome see coaching process Mentoring and Coaching
Council (EMCC), Global
Pampallis Paisley, Paddy 140, 272, Coaching and Mentoring
284, 289–291, 305 Alliance (GCMA), Global
paradigm, paradigms 8, 10, 52, Convention on Coaching
64, 74, 86, 110, 113, 134, 234, (GCC), International Coach
241–242, 246, 262, 335 Federation (ICF), Worldwide
peer-reviewed see coaching Association of Business
research Coaches (WABC)
Peltier, Bruce 21, 24, 26, 91, 101, professional standards see
244, 248, 253, 260, 274, 295–296 competence
performance: profiles 5, 61, 117, 121–122, 126,
individual/personal 7, 14–19, 131, 133–136, 214:
21, 24–29, 37, 46, 49, 53–55, Insights profile 133–136
384 INDEX

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Ramphele, Mamphele 210, 212,

(MBTI®) 134 214, 228
psychological: rapport 24, 56, 72, 108, 121, 263,
disorders 131–132, 214 340, 342, 345, 350
model 21–33, 38, 241, 260, 304 reflection see coaching process
processes 4–5, 26, 29, 33, 53, 90, reflection, learning and practice
263, 304, 310 332
research 134, 234, 324 reflective practice 22, 40, 78, 155,
skills 26, 54, 68 312, 314, 318–319
theory 25, 332 regulation 3, 21–22, 38–39, 45, 48,
underpinnings of coaching 4, 67–68, 82, 101, 141, 187, 189,
7, 14, 21–33, 34, 36, 54, 68, 252, 292, 304–305, 314, 319,
256, 260, 285, 300, 303, 310, 322–325, 334, 339, 351
323, 325, 327, 332 relationship, coaching relationship
purpose see existentialism see coaching
religion see diversity
question frameworks: research see coaching research
Business Best Year Yet® 110 responsibility see contracting
CLEAR 84, 95, 103–105 return on investment (ROI) 4, 21,
eight-stage 108–110 35, 37, 290, 323
five-stage 101–105 Rogers, Carl 21–22, 25, 62, 65,
four-stage 97–101 253–254
functional analysis 91–93 ROI see return on investment
GROW 86, 97–100, 105 Rosinski, Philippe 222, 225, 230
O’Neill’s “executive coaching
with backbone and heart” 65, scientist-practitioner 22
100–101, 275 Scisco, Peter 8, 60, 86, 88, 130–132
six-stage 105–108 self-awareness see coaching process
ten-stage 110–112 self-defensive see coaching process
Thinking Environment® 8, 86, self-directed see learning
106–108, 110, 122, 153, 160, self-motivation see motivation
178–180, 213 self-reflection see coaching process
Thinking Partnership® 104, 106, Senge, Peter 18–19, 43, 166, 251, 322
254 shadow coaching see coaching
three-stage 94–96 Shaw, Peter 19–20, 60, 78
two-stage 88–94 shifts in thinking 53, 129, 134, 154,
Well-Formed Outcomes 166, 242–243, 250, 262, 268, 289
108–110 signature presence see coaching
questioning see coaching process process
silence see coaching process
rabbit hole story 242–243 skill/s see competence
race see diversity Socratic method 17–18
 INDEX 385

South Africa 3, 7, 14, 20, 33, 39–40, Taiwan 42

65, 138, 144, 160–161, 164, 170, talent management, talent
176–177, 180–182, 184–189, 193, development 3–4, 6–7, 14–15,
203, 209, 211–216, 220–223, 225, 20–21, 40, 59–60, 81, 106, 188, 247
228, 245, 287, 294, 305, 307–308, Tannen, Deborah 212, 215, 217, 219
313, 320, 331 Tanzania 212
South America 210 team coaching see coaching
South Korea 225–226 team performance see performance
Spinelli, Ernesto 21, 65, 76, 237–238, therapy 16, 21–26, 34, 54, 57, 75–76,
240, 251, 253, 267–268, 271, 322 108, 130, 237, 240, 245, 248–256,
standards, standards of 259–260, 268, 272, 276, 284–286,
competence see competence 289
Stern, Lew 68 thinking environment 2, 52, 55,
stress, stressing, stressful 3, 15, 64, 75, 84, 107, 179, 254
56–57, 65, 88–89, 123, 128–129, Thinking Environment®
240, 252, 351 see question frameworks
styles of talking (Tannen) see thinking process see coaching
diversity process
summarizing see coaching process third-position thinking (NLP) 27,
supervision 2–4, 10–11, 25, 35–36, 108, 190, 312
38, 40, 45, 48, 68, 78–79, 217, throw-ins see coaching process
240, 263, 270–273, 278–279, Ting, Sharon 8, 60, 86, 88, 130–132
282–293, 295–297, 301–302, training see coach training
304–305, 308–314, 317, 320–321, transference see coaching process
323–324, 326, 332–334 transformation 2, 7, 14, 18, 20–21,
supervision model see supervision 24–25, 39, 52, 54–55, 80, 110,
Sweden 224, 226 112–113, 132, 147, 164–165, 181,
systemic 4, 21, 33, 43–44, 60, 117, 199, 216, 234, 238, 307, 333,
129, 132, 144–145, 272, 275, 288, 335, 340
290, 293, 304, 310, 322 transforming self 33, 55, 107, 113,
systems: 199, 238, 241, 266, 333, 335, 340
human systems see transition see coaching process
existentialism trust 18, 24–25, 47, 56–57, 62, 70, 75,
relationships and systems see 113, 119, 125–127, 137, 153, 178,
existentialism 189, 211, 230, 253–254, 272, 279,
systems thinking, systems 283, 285, 298–299, 302, 304, 327,
perspective, systems theory 335, 338, 340, 344–346
9, 19, 25–26, 32–33, 54,
82, 100, 116, 141–142, 146, ubuntu see culture, existentialism
161–162, 174, 178, 228, 256, United Kingdom 3, 7, 14, 33, 36–39,
260–263, 267, 271, 275, 289, 48–49, 70, 161, 170, 177, 191,
299, 333–334, 340 286, 331
386 INDEX

United States of America 3, 7, 14, Well-Formed Outcomes see

33–38, 46, 93, 161, 170, 177, 184, question frameworks
186, 188, 202, 206–207, 211–212, Whitmore, John 8, 28–29, 54, 76–77,
214–215, 222, 237, 286, 331 86, 97–100, 116, 146, 252–253,
257–258
values 3, 10, 19–20, 27, 29–30, Work Foundation, The 36
32–33, 36, 42, 46, 49, 54, 65, 68, worldview 9, 64, 76, 106, 113, 131,
71, 77–78, 81, 87, 88–90, 96, 102, 141, 149, 162, 175, 177–178, 180,
110, 120–121, 131–132, 137–138, 182, 191–194, 199–200, 224, 231,
140–141, 144–146, 158, 162, 181, 245–246, 262
183, 198–199, 209, 212, 222–223, Worldwide Association of Business
225–228, 238–239, 244–245, 247, Coaches (WABC) 10–11, 14–15,
251–252, 255–257, 265, 293, 301, 39, 48, 67, 70–71, 73–74, 79, 270,
305, 333, 341, 344, 346, 351 293–294, 300, 305, 337, 339, 341,
343–344, 347, 349–350
WABC see Worldwide Association
of Business Coaches Yalom, Irvin D. 21–23, 28, 56–57, 66,
Walker, David 32–33, 58, 234, 238, 240, 243, 245–251, 253–254,
263–265 256, 259–260, 285, 322
Weiss, Pam 55, 123–124, 136, 138,
241 Zohar, Danah 258, 322