If you’ve ever found yourself intrigued by how coaching works, then you’re in good company because it’s sparked endless curiosity. It’s also the big question on researcher’s minds in this area too. Which is why we’ve embarked on an extraordinary adventure to uncover the secrets of coaching as a transformational practise and we need your help to find out! For over 20 years, research has shown that coaching has an incredible power to inspire people to develop their self-awareness and achieve their goals. However, the exact mechanics of exactly how coaching works still remains a mystery.
We’re delighted to be partnering with Tia Moin, PhD Researcher from the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences at the esteemed University of Reading. Tia’s research intends to understand the inner workings of coaching, so that we can aim to better evaluate what makes coaching truly effective and support coaches in becoming extraordinary guides. This is important research as it will form the basis of how coaches are trained in the future and can help us to learn more.
Read on to learn more from Tia about the scientific research behind this profession that we’re all so passionate about, and how you can get involved in this ground breaking research.
Over 20 years of research informs us that coaching works in helping people to develop and achieve goals, it explains why the coaching industry is estimated at over £2.4 billion pounds globally (ICF, 2020). While it’s great to know coaching is effective, what we don’t know for sure is exactly how coaching works. In this article, we will briefly review what coaching research tells us about what works, highlight some questions that we don’t yet know the answer to yet and how you can help to answer them!
While there may be similarities between coaching and other helping conversations, coaching is believed to be different because it focuses on empowering individuals to take control over their own development. As coaching pioneer, Sir John Whitmore stated, the coach plays the role of facilitator rather than teacher. Yet more work needs to be completed to explore what it really means to facilitate as a coach, and how this relates to coaching outcomes.
Why do we need to know?
Not knowing makes it difficult to evaluate what good coaching behaviour is or isn’t, and consequently, knowing how to support people to grow into amazing coaches. If we can pinpoint the kinds of coaching behaviours that have the most positive impact on coaching clients, we can offer valuable insight to support coaches seeking to improve their coaching performance and outcomes for their clients.
The first couple of decades of coaching research focused on defining what coaching is and establishing whether coaching works. Several coaching researchers have established through “meta-analyses” (studies that combine the results of many coaching studies over the years) that coaching works (What Can We Know about the Effectiveness of Coaching?)! There is an observable difference in achievement between people who receive coaching and people who don’t receive coaching.
Another piece of good news for novice coaches who may be starting out in their coaching journey is that less experienced or younger coaches can be more effective than more experienced coaches (Who's Your Coach?)! One possible explanation may be because your training is more recent and you may be working harder not to slip into “bad habits”. As coaches we could ask ourselves, how can we ensure that we maintain this focus throughout our coaching practice as we mature and gain more experience?
As a coach, you spend time, energy and expertise into guiding your client towards personal and professional growth. But what happens if you didn’t see a great improvement in your client after coaching, or you don’t see the significant improvements that you and your client hoped for?
Research has shown that certain client characteristics can be significantly impact the effectiveness of coaching. By understanding these traits we can better assess whether your client had ample room to grow.
We know that those most likely to benefit from coaching are those who are open to new experiences, who may start out with a lower evaluation of themselves and those who tend to focus on avoiding negative outcomes while goal-setting (The Effects of Coachee Personality and Goal Orientation on Performance Improvement Following Coaching: A Controlled Field Experiment).
Evaluation of your own practice is crucial for continuous improvement as a coach. When evaluating your own coaching, apart from seeking objective markers of success, you could also seek direct feedback from your coaching client (an anonymous online survey might work best) to understand where you can make improvements in your practice. Or by asking questions about their experience, the clarity of your communication and effectiveness of the strategies employed.
Finally, in terms of coach characteristics, personality and gender matching is less important than the level of rapport, trust, and commitment between you and your coaching client. A good coaching relationship (The relationship between working alliance and client outcomes in coaching: A meta-analysis) can support a better coaching experience and minimise the potential for negative coaching outcomes. So consider what are you doing to ensure you nurture trust and commitment with your coaching clients?
The Coaching Academy, has a reputation of ensuring they are keeping ahead of trends and changes within the coaching industry and also research in the area of coaching too. This is why I’m so pleased to be partnering with The Coaching Academy to investigate the mechanics of coaching in greater depth.
We're thrilled to invite you to be a part of our coaching research and contribute to the growth of our understanding in the science of coaching. Your involvement is invaluable as we delve deeper into the attributes and behaviours of both coaches and coaching clients, and how they shape motivation and outcomes.
If you joined us for June's Coaching Conversations on How Does Coaching Actually Work?, you already experienced our interactive online quiz that explored various coaching behaviours throughout different stages of the coaching process. It's fascinating to consider the impact of different goal-setting approaches on a client's motivation and overall outcomes. Your participation will make a real difference, so we hope you'll join us on this exciting journey of discovery!
For example, there are many ways to set goals in coaching, but what impact (if any) do the various approaches have on the client’s motivation and outcomes?
And when attempting to build accountability and commitment, what strategies might work best in supporting your client to achieve the coaching outcomes that they are working towards?
The images above show what Coaching Conversations attendees believe works, but we really won’t know the answers to what the best approach is unless we conduct more rigorous coaching research.
As researchers, if we could be “a fly on the wall” in the coaching room that would be amazing however, we don’t want to intrude on coaching in any way. That’s why our study is via an online survey – where both you and your coaching clients complete some pre-and-post surveys online; and a brief check-in post-coaching (over the course of three sessions; the total time investment spread across many weeks is approximately 35 minutes).
More information on the process is available in the downloadable infographics: for coaches and for your coaching clients.
All you need to do is register using the link below and have coached 3 clients over 3 sessions by August when the study finishes, learn more and sign up here.
Alternatively, please email Tia Moin (PhD Researcher): f.k.t.moin@pgr.reading.ac.uk.
Ms. Tia Moin CPsychol is a Coaching Psychologist, BPS Division of Coaching Psychology Committee Member (EDI Lead) and PhD Researcher at the University of Reading. She builds on a 20+ year career in Organisational Psychology and is passionate about applying coaching and psychology to help people flourish and thrive in life.
This study has been granted ethical approval from the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences at University of Reading.
If you missed June’s Coaching Conversation with Tia, or you’d like a refresher, you can watch the recording below:
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