Psychological approaches in coaching:

an introduction

Keith Nelson

Institute of Continuing Education

Contents

• Key psychology themes

• Inner game

• Psychodynamic

• Cognitive behavioural

• Carl Rogers

• Emotional intelligence
Three core elements

Personal
development

Academic and theoretical Coaching

knowledge skills
Personal development: psychological mindedness

Awareness of me
as a coach

Awareness Awareness of
of the client the co-created reality
Lots of approaches, lots of disagreements, but…

• Awareness & responsibility…

• “…is the common ground between most, if not all, coaching authors and is captured in the
proposition that awareness is the starting point for growth and change.
• Bluckert, 2006, p. 5

• Awareness
Leads to
Responsibility (the ability to respond)
Leads to
Action
Inner Game (1)

• Self 1: the invented self

• Self 2: the natural self

“It was like a dime-store computer giving orders to a billion-dollar

mainframe, then wanting to take the credit for the best outcomes while
blaming the mainframe for the worst.”

Gallwey, (2000, P.7)

Inner Game (2)

• Performance = Potential – Interference

Awareness

Choice Trust
Carl Rogers

“When someone understands how it feels and seems to be me, without

wanting to analyze me or judge me, then I can blossom and grow in that
climate.”

• Carl Rogers (2004, p.62)

• Non-directing & person-centred

• Three conditions:

1. Congruence

2. Accurate, empathic understanding

3. Unconditional positive regard

Behavioural coaching (1)

“Behavioural based coaching is possibly the most popular of the coaching models used by
UK coaches in the form of the GROW model”
Passmore (2007, p.73)
“We define behavioral coaching as a structured, process-driven relationship between a
trained professional coach and an individual or team, which includes: assessment,
examining values and motivation, setting measurable goals, defining focused action
plans, and using validated tools and techniques to help coaches develop competencies
and remove blocks to achieve valuable and sustainable changes in their professional and
personal lives.”
Skiffington & Zeus (2003, p. 6)

• Goals, behaviours, action plans, competencies – all resonate with organisational life….
Behavioural coaching (2)

“Organizational behavioral coaching is defined as the science of

facilitating the performance, learning and development of the individual
or team, which, in turn, will assist the growth, or the organization.
Increasingly, coaches are adopting a behavioral model. There is
growing recognition of the need to assess, strengthen and change
behaviors and to evaluate these changes within a scientific framework.”

Skiffington & Zeus (2003, p.6)

Cognitive behavioural coaching

• “The steps involved in cognitive-behavioural counselling are to teach the client

to:
(a) monitor emotional upsets and activating events;
(b) identify maladaptive thinking and beliefs;
(c) realise the connections between thinking, emotions and behaviour;
(d) test out maladaptive thinking and beliefs by examining the evidence for and
against them;
(e) Substitute the negative thinking with more realistic thinking.”

Trower, Case & Dryden (2008, p. 5)

Ellis & the ABCDEs

• This is a system for altering your perceptions, attitudes and behaviour

that was pioneered by Dr. Albert Ellis.

• Ellis insisted that you can modify and change your feelings by means of
logical and deductive reasoning, instead of allowing your feelings to get
the better of you.

“You can probably learn to have a more fulfilling, creative, and less
disturbed life by getting in touch with and revising some of your
misleading thinking.”

Ellis & Harper (1997, p.15)

Psychodynamic / systemic

Therapeutic, but not therapy

“Executive coaching and clinically oriented leadership education draw heavily on
psychotherapeutic frameworks and skills. After all, both coaching and
psychotherapy deal with behavior, emotion, and cognition, and both depend on
meaningful discussions between the client and the therapist or coach…In
coaching, as in psychotherapy, there may be an exploration (depending on how
deep the coach and the client are prepared and willing to go) of blind spots,
defensive reactions, forms of distorted thinking, and irrational thoughts.
However, executive coaches need to have a broader perspective than
psychotherapists. To be effective, coaches need to take a more systemic
approach to working with a client. The coach must also have a deep
understanding of the overall organizational context.”

Kets de Vries, Korotov & Florent-Treacy (2007, pp. xlvii-xlviii)

Psychodynamic / systemic

“The clinical paradigm

• All human behavior, even in its most odd or deviant forms, has a rational
explanation
• Our unconscious plays a tremendous role in determining our actions, thoughts,
fantasies, hopes, and fears.
• Our emotions contribute to our identity and behavior.

• Human development is an interpersonal and intrapersonal process.

…Every executive and every employee brings their inner theater, with all its
dramas and comedies, to the workplace. Dysfunctional behaviour arises when
we try to keep the curtain closed; ultimately the show must go on.”
Kets de Vries & Korotov (2007, pp. 3-5)
Relational coaching: de Haan’s 10 commandments

1. First, do no harm;
2. Have confidence;
3. Commit yourself heart and soul to your approach, even if you know that it doesn’t matter which
professional approach you choose;
4. Feed the hopes of your coachee;
5. Consider the coaching from your coachee’s perspective;
6. Work on your coaching relationship; discuss it explicitly;
7. If you don’t ‘click’, find a replacement coach;
8. Look after yourself;
9. Stay as fresh and unbiased as possible;
10. Don’t worry too much about your specific behaviour in the moment.
De Haan (2008, OBC)
Emotional intelligence (1)

“Peter Salovey and Jack Mayer, who created the term “emotional
intelligence,” describe it as “the ability to perceive emotions, to access
and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions
and emotional meanings, and to reflectively regulate emotions in ways
that promote emotional and intellectual growth.” In other words, it’s a set
of skills that enables us to make our way in a complex world – the
personal, social and survival aspects of overall intelligence, the elusive
common sense and sensitivity that are essential to effective daily
functioning.”

Stein & Book (2000, p. 14.)

Emotional intelligence (2)

• Four steps, plus an underlying factor:

• 1) Self-awareness

• 2) Self-management

• 3) Relationship awareness

• 4) Relationship management

• Motivation
Four models of coaching

Output

GROW Model Cognitive Behavioural

Focus on behavioural

Primary aim
Based on Gallwey’s ‘Inner
Game’, seeks to increase outcomes in action and
awareness and responsibility. performance.
Whitmore, Downey. Psychology-based firms may
adopt this approach.

Individual Primary focus of attention Organisation

Therapeutically informed
Most often used by independent Role Consultancy
practitioners trained originally as Systems psychodynamic.
therapists of various schools e.g. Focus on increasing awareness
Rogerian, psychodynamic, of relatedness of person, work
Gestalt. system and organizational
Focus on personal development. context, to improve effectiveness
in role.

Insight

Roberts & Jarrett (2006, p.15)

References

• Gallwey, T., 2000. The inner game of work: overcoming mental obstacles for maximum performance. London: Orion
Business.
• Rogers, C., 1961. On becoming a person: a therapist’s view of psychotherapy. 2004 ed. London: Constable.
• Skiffington, S. and Zeus, P., 2003. Behavioural coaching: how to build sustainable personal and organisational strength.
North Ryde: McGraw Hill.
• Trower, P., Casey, A. and Dryden, W., 2008. Cognitive-behavioural counselling in action. London: Sage.
• Ellis, A. and Harper, R., 1997. A guide to rational living. Chatsworth: Albert Ellis Institute.
• Kets de Vries, M, Korotov, K. and Florent-Treacy, E., 2007. Coach and couch: the psychology of making better leaders.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Stein, S. & Book, H., 2000. The EQ edge: emotional intelligence and your success. New York: Stoddart.
• Roberts. V. & Jarrett, M., 2006. In Brunning, H. (Ed). Executive coaching: systems-psychodynamic perspective. London:
Karnac.

• De Haan, E. (2008) Relational coaching: journeys towards mastering one-to-one learning. Chichester: John Wiley.