Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

David B. Drake, PhD is the Executive Director of the Center for Narrative coaching in California (www.narrativecoaching.com). The Center works with organizations to improve their coaching capabilities and to develop an integrated strategy so that coaching becomes the way business gets done. David teaches advanced narrative/coaching skills around the world, and he works with several universities on coaching development and narrative research. he is a co-founder of the Coaching Commons (www.coachingcommons.org). David has written over twenty articles, papers and chapters on narratives, evidence, and coaching.

Diane Brennan is an executive coach and consultant working with individuals and organizations in the fields of health care, academics and business. She holds a Master's in Business Administration and is credentialed by the International coach Federation (ICF) as a Master Certified Coach. Prior to coaching, Diane spent over 20 years in executive and clinical practice positions within private and publicly traded health care organizations in the United States.

Kim Gørtz holds a master degree in philosophy and psychology from the University of Copenhagen. He has taught at the Copenhagen Business School for seven years as well as Roskilde University and the University of Southern Denmark. For the past three years Kim has been conducting an industrial PhD research project for the Nordea bank, with a focus on coaching, leadership development and engagement. he has published several books on philosophy in business life, philosophy and coaching, and value-based leadership.

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"This is exactly the kind of book the field needs - it is very insightful, theoretically grounded and immensely practical. The hands-on usefulness is exceeded only by its rigor and readability. It is rare to find a book that is useful on multiple levels. The Philosophy and Practice of Coaching is quite brilliant. Thank you for bringing it into the world! I found it helpful for my practice as well as my teaching and writing. This book will be a springboard for taking your coaching work to the next level of excellence." -- Carol Kauffman

"This is an important book for many reasons. The opening chapter sets coaching in its psychological context perfectly. The theoretical history and underpinning of different forms of coaching, and the case study examples, provide a rich cornucopia for the coach. It is a book to which I can and will refer to often, as it is so relevant to so much." -- Sir John Whitmore

"The Philosophy and Practice of Coaching is a much needed addition to the serious coaching literature. Its chapters identify a stimulating range of very pertinent issues and challenges for coaching, introducing as they go, new concepts, and expounding emerging applications. The book more than meets its claim to involve us in a 'deeper conversation. It is an inspiring read, with the addition of some weighty coaching questions to involve readers in the dialogue begun in the book and challenge them to think deeply. Now isn't that what coaching is about?" -- Dr. Elaine Cox

Aus dem Klappentext

As coaching continues to grow, there is a need for a deeper conversation about its current state and its future directions. This book makes an important contribution to this conversation in provocative yet grounded ways. Our authors are internationally recognized coaches, educators, researchers and writers. the book offers you a unique opportunity to look inside their minds and practices as a guide to reflect on and advance your own work.

Check out our website at www.practiceofcoaching.com interviews and discussions with the authors.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

The Philosophy and Practice of Coaching

John Wiley & Sons

Chapter One

Patrick Williams

This chapter charts the course of some of the psychological theorists of the twentieth century who laid the groundwork for the emergence and evolution of personal and professional coaching. Relevant evidence-based research and theories will be noted along with their application and significance in coaching today. It is important for professional coaches to know that quality coach training and education is based in a multidimensional model of human development and communication that has drawn from the best of humanistic psychology, positive psychology, integral psychology and others in this field. Coaching also draws from other fields such as organizational development, adult learning theory, and systems theory, but they are not the focus of this chapter.

It is important to cite the theories and research from the established field of psychology and note how specific techniques and/or skill sets can be applied in coaching conversations so that coaches can develop a greater variety of tools in communicating with clients. Many of the same techniques that originated in clinical psychology are useful in assisting clients to reframe their experience and to discover their strengths. These techniques include powerful questions, guided imagery (Psychosynthesis), empty chair technique (Gestalt therapy), time lines and future pacing (NLP), and even techniques and theory from Transactional Analysis (Eric Berne), client-centred counselling (Carl Rogers) and life-stage awareness (Carl Jung, Frederic Hudson, Carol Gilligan, and Robert Kegan, among others). This chapter focuses particularly on the philosophy and practice of life coaching as it relates to high-quality human communication that empowers the client. Some nuances require adaptations for various cultures, but since coaching is a co-created conversation to empower the receiver of the coaching, an expert/client paradigm is intentionally absent. Many of the theories and techniques cited in this chapter are unique to Western cultures but can be adapted for use in most other cultures as well.

Life Coaching as an Operating System

Personal and professional coaching has emerged as a recognized career in the last decade and it has created new options for people who seek help with life transitions in finding a guide to partner with them in designing their desired future. While coaching has grown to incorporate a variety of specialized applications, the case can be made that life coaching as a whole-person, client-centred approach is the foundational operating system. As an operating system, the whole life approach is always in the background of the conversation, just like an Operating System (OS) in a computer system. Invariably, any specific focus of a coaching relationship will be interconnected to other areas of a person's life. If you have a client who wants to be a better manager, or make a career transition, you will find that conversations about their significant relationships, or their personal wellness, or their stress level could and should come up in the conversation. They are all intertwined in a whole person approach. For your coaching practice, this means that you need to be willing to open up conversations through asking questions about other areas of the client's life. What is working well? What is less than in satisfying? How do energy drainers in one area of the client's life bleed over into effecting their stated goals?

Before about 1990, there was little mention of coaching except in the corporate culture. Although there were a few people who were doing personal work and calling it coaching before that time. Vikki Brock (Brock, 2008) who has written some research on the origins of coaching notes that Results Unlimited in the UK was begun in 1980 and was providing life coaching. And Sir John Whitmore helped begin one of the first training schools in the UK in 1988 based on the 'inner game' theories of Tim Gallwey. Mentoring and executive coaching were resources that many top managers and CEOs utilized, either informally from a colleague or formally through hiring a consultant or psychologist who became their executive coach. This chapter documents the rise of life coaching within the broader movement of personal and professional coaching and its roots in psychology.

The rise in the profession can be seen in the following ways. The International Coach Federation was founded in 1995 but did not have a real presence until its first convention in 1996. The ICF has kept detailed archives of media coverage on coaching since the early 1990s. Two newspaper articles appeared in the US media in 1993 (there were reportedly earlier articles in the UK media in the 1980s), four in 1994 (including one from Australia), and seven in 1995. The majority of articles appeared in publications in the United States. Then, in 1996, a huge increase in publicity occurred, with more than 60 articles, television interviews, and radio shows on the topic of coaching. Every year since, media coverage has increased to hundreds of articles, radio programmes, and television venues such as Good Morning America, Today, CNBC, BBC, and others around the globe. The only books before 1990, that were written about coaching were geared to corporate and performance coaching. Since then, numerous solid books about life coaching, executive coaching, career coaching, wellness coaching and other specialties have been published, with more every year, and a few recent ones have even become national bestsellers. At last count, over 35 universities across the globe offer at least a certificate in coaching and an increasing number of universities offer graduate degrees in coaching. All of this is to show the rapid evolution of this profession globally with different roots in different parts of the world.

Life coaching was originally thought to have originated in the United States and has rapidly spread worldwide. But through more recent research and conversations with other coaches, it really started in the UK in the 1980s and then the work of Thomas Leonard and others in the US influenced its growth in the UK even more. I contend that coaching will soon reach a critical mass in society - people will have heard of coaching, know when they need a coach, know how to find a coach, and know the difference between partnering with a life coach versus seeking the services of a therapist or counsellor. Understanding coaching's historical roots provides current and prospective life coaches with a framework for understanding their profession and insights into future opportunities. This framework also helps life coaches place themselves squarely within the larger context of a profession that is still evolving. Life coaches will understand the present more accurately and become better prepared as life coaching expands in the twenty-first century if they looking across the diverse threads of the past upon which the work is based. An examination of the evolution of life coaching also helps counsellors and others from the helping professions to make the transition to life coaching by clarifying the similarities and differences between life coaching and their professions (Hart, Blattner, and Leipsic, 2001).

What Are the Roots of Life Coaching?

Coaching has a unique paradigm, but much of the foundation of coaching goes...