Conceptions of Coaching

According to International Coach Federation (2020), “Coaching is all about helping people make positive changes”. In other words, the request for coaching is triggered by change (Rogers, 2016). The Seashore’s Use of Self model grounds on the belief that personal potential links to the person’s world of change. To act as one’s own agent of change, a person has self-awareness, reframes own sensations and perceptions, receives feedback from own and others, recognizes self as an instrument for growth and development (Seashore, Shawver, Thompson & Mattare, 2004). This conception is an important foundation of what coaching is. Integral sees coaching as a co-evolving process to unlock a person’s potential, in which Use of self can expand the client’s perspectives, deepen the reflections, and open opportunities to improve.

Coaching helps a client to acquire what Mezirow calls “transformational learning” – gaining new knowledge, reflecting on it, gaining new insight and then acting on that insight. Integral uses coaching to support the client in a self-discovery process to clarify the issue, generate possible actions and hold the client responsible and accountable, which resonate to the coaching principles stated by Rogers (2016), “client is resourceful, and the coach and the client are equals”. This notion is further manifested by Gallwey’s three principles of coaching (non-judgmental awareness, trust in one’s own self, and the exercise of free and conscious choice) during coaching engagement (Wildflower, 2013).

Coaching is a Self-discovery Process

Integral believes that the non-judgmental awareness best takes place with a strength-based approach in coaching, through which the client becomes more aware of and appreciative to what he/she already is. A coach is helping the client to “ride the wave” of personal development. A coach takes a whole person approach in helping the client to take self-responsibility and awareness for growth. Professional coach facilitates the client’s self-discovery process. With an understanding of different theories, for instance, adult learning, humanistic psychology, adult development, group dynamics, a coach can integrate client’s needs and issues, and craft them into powerful questions to help the client to discover and reflect for possibilities to have a better self.

In a nutshell, coaching is a self-discovery process for the client to seek inspirations and insights, which requires a trust coach-client relationship. Most important, a coach should be aware ofbeing present in the coaching process – full of consciousness, openness and flexibility. Humility is the fundamental quality of a coach, who walk the talk.

References

Jackson, P. (2004). Understanding the experience of experience: A practical model of reflective practice for coaching. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 2(1), 57-67.

Seashore, C., Shawver, M., Thompson, G., & Mattare, M. (2004). Doing good by knowing who you are. OD practitioner, 36(3), 42-6.

Tannen, D. (1995). The power of talk: Who gets heard and why. Harvard Business Review, 73(5), 138-148.

Wildflower, L. (2013). The hidden history of coaching. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).